Bill would cut board's power over housing

Framingham selectmen, who drew flak last year over a housing plan issued by a committee they appointed, would see their power to make housing policy diluted under legislation pending at the State House.

Some Town Meeting members were outraged by last year's plan, arguing that it called for too much affordable housing.

The critics persuaded Town Meeting to pass a measure that calls for any housing policy or plan to be developed jointly by the selectmen and the Planning Board, with a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting needed for final approval.

The measure, which has had a hearing and awaits a vote from the legislative Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, has a lot of support. In addition to Town Meeting, a majority of the Planning Board and even a majority of selectmen support it.

But Katie Murphy, chairwoman of the selectmen, has been a vocal opponent. She has argued that the measure would chip away at selectmen's authority and open the door for a small number of people to try to take away powers from any part of town government anytime they're unhappy with a decision.

In written testimony to the Legislature last month, she said the measure was filed ''because a small segment of town with large houses on large lots fears for its privilege" and she called that a ''weak reason to change the form of government."

The selectmen are the policymaking arm of local government, she said, and if residents truly want to change that, they should form a charter commission to consider changes in the form of government.

Former Planning Board chairwoman Helen Lemoine also wrote the Legislature opposing the power-sharing measure, saying a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting is an impossibly high threshold.

''This will become a surefire veto to ANY housing plan in town, and that's exactly what its proponents meant it to be," she wrote.

Legislators representing Framingham support the measure.

State Senator Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, is an affordable housing advocate, but she said last week in a phone interview that she must honor Town Meeting's wishes.

''When Town Meeting takes an official vote like that, I need to uphold that vote and file the bill to process that vote," she said.

Some legislators at last month's hearing questioned why the state should get involved, said Spilka. It's because unlike many towns, Framingham doesn't have a charter, so any changes to the laws by which it governs itself go to Beacon Hill rather than before local voters, she explained.

The bill will likely win a favorable nod from the committee and go to the House floor for a vote, predicted Spilka. More than 10 percent of Framingham's housing inventory is affordable, which exceeds state guidelines.

Steven Kruger, the Town Meeting member who championed the measure, said the bill seeks to clarify which board should oversee housing policy, because one law points to the Planning Board while another law gives selectmen broad policymaking powers.

''The key point here is that the potential financial impacts are significant enough that we need to make sure those impacts are properly considered, and that any housing policy or plan has broad community support," he said in testimony to the Legislature.

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or by e-mail at lkocian@globe.com.