Town of Marshfield v. Commonwealth (SJC Rejects Second Municipal Challenge to MBTA Communities Act)
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously rejected a challenge brought by the Town of Marshfield and its select board to the MBTA Communities Act, the state law requiring 177 transit-served communities to zone for multifamily housing as of right. In a 22-page opinion issued September 18, 2026, Justice Serge Georges, Jr. rejected the town's unfunded-mandate, Home Rule Amendment, and Zoning Act claims and held that it lacked standing to assert its town meeting voters' constitutional voting rights, marking the second time the SJC has upheld the law against coordinated municipal resistance.
Why it matters
Removes a significant source of entitlement risk for developers pursuing multifamily projects in MBTA Communities Act zoning districts by foreclosing the strongest remaining legal theories towns had used to resist the mandate. REITs, developers, and their counsel evaluating transit-oriented sites in Massachusetts can now treat the statutory mandate itself as settled, though individual-municipality compliance status still needs to be confirmed before relying on as-of-right capacity.
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