Restrictive zoning faulted for home costs
Could rat tails, pork chops, and panhandles be contributing to the region's sky-high housing prices?
From Wakefield to Rowley, a number of communities in the Globe North circulation area do not allow houses to be built on irregularly shaped lots, and some have even explicitly banned development on any parcel that resembles the shapes of these objects.
According to a housing study released last week, such restrictions could be contributing to the region's housing crisis. The statewide study found that municipal regulations are forcing builders to abide by an array of rules that often make it difficult to build enough new houses to keep prices down.
Amesbury, for example, has a growth cap that limits the number of units that can be built each year. Nahant bans multifamily housing. More than 90 percent of the land in Boxford is zoned for 2-acre lots. And more than half of the 37 Massachusetts communities covered by Globe North have adopted overly restrictive wetlands and septic rules, the study found.
Local officials last week defended their land-use regulations, saying they were adopted to protect community resources.
''Our 2-acre zoning is not something we want to have, but it's a necessity," said Len Phillips, Planning Board administrator and tree warden for Boxford. ''We have no municipal water or sewerage, so all development must be supported by private septic systems and wells. Boxford also has a lot of rocks, hills, and valleys, which are an impediment to development."
The land-use study was written by Edward L. Glaeser, a Harvard University economics professor, and two doctoral students at Harvard. Their findings were based on a two-year study of land-use regulations in the 187 cities and towns within 50 miles of Boston, excluding Boston itself.
''The study shows that what we have been saying for a long time is true: Over-regulation in Massachusetts is driving up the housing costs and driving some residents out of the state," said Nancy Beane, executive director of the North East Builders Association of Massachusetts Inc., which represents builders in 29 communities north of Boston.
''The regulations are turning neighborhood design into a 10th-grade geometry problem," said Amy Dain, a housing policy analyst at the Boston-based research group Pioneer Institute, adding that local regulations are encouraging developers to build large, single-family houses on sprawling lots and bringing multifamily development to a standstill.
The trend toward single-family houses is having an adverse impact on the environment and slowing the pace of construction, the study found. The slow pace of residential growth has pushed the median house price in Greater Boston to $431,900.
If the housing industry had kept up the brisk pace of the 1960s and early 1970s, the study said, the median price would be about $276,100.
Several factors have contributed to the drop in housing construction. Dain, who served as project manager of the Glaeser study, noted that several municipalities have adopted wetlands protection standards that exceed those imposed by the state.
Wenham, Essex, and Lynnfield are among those communities that exclude all wetlands from minimum lot area calculations, making it difficult for property owners to cobble enough land to build a house, according to the study. For example, Essex property owners must have a full acre of land, not including any wetland, to build a house, Dain said.
The study found that when municipalities impose strict wetlands restrictions, new construction falls roughly 10 percent; each time a community increases its minimum lot size by a quarter acre, about 10 percent fewer houses are permitted. Half of the towns surveyed have at least a 1-acre minimum lot-size requirement.
Several recent studies have found that the soaring price of housing in the Boston area is causing many residents to move to other states where real estate is less expensive.
Massachusetts lost more than 10,000 residents between July 2003 and July 2004, according to US Census figures, and 8,600 more by July 2005. It is the only state that lost population in each of the past two years, prompting many business owners to fret about their ability to attract and retain skilled workers.
To address the problem of housing affordability, the study suggests that local planning officials seek state support for dense development, encourage multifamily housing, and allow homeowners to create so-called in-law apartments that are not restricted to use by relatives. The study also suggests that communities encourage developers to cluster houses so that large swaths of open space can be preserved.
Several local communities have adopted provisions for cluster developments, with varying degrees of success. The study found that Ipswich has at least eight such developments, while Lynn, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Merrimac have none, even though they have adopted provisions that allow such projects.
The study found that minimum lot-size requirements often limit a developer's ability to design a cluster development. In much of Manchester, for example, landowners must have at least 10 acres to build a cluster development.
In recent years, state lawmakers have tried to spur housing construction with new initiatives.
The Chapter 40S program, passed in November, compensates municipalities for the extra cost of educating students who live in new affordable housing projects. The Chapter 40R ''smart growth" program, approved by the Legislature last spring, offers communities thousands of dollars to offset infrastructure improvements required for new housing in an effort to encourage dense development near public transit centers, abandoned industrial sites, and downtown areas.
In October, Chelsea became the first community in the state to apply for funding under Chapter 40R.
The city hopes to win state support for redevelopment of the former Janus Fabrications facility and old Atlas bedding factory into a mixed-income neighborhood just outside the downtown area.
The project, a collaboration of Chelsea Neighborhood Housing Services and Mitchell Properties, is expected to add more than $240,000 a year to the city coffers in new taxes, according to Ann Houston, executive director of the nonprofit housing organization.
The database of land-use regulations that served as the basis for Glaeser's study is available online at www.pioneerinstitute.org. Brenda J. Buote can be reached at bbuote@globe.com.
What do you think?
Do you agree that restrictions such as growth caps, 2-acre zoning, and local bans on odd-shaped lots have contributed to the high cost of housing in the Globe North region and Greater Boston? What restrictions would you drop? Do you have ideas to encourage housing construction? Give us your opinion at www.boston.com/northtalk. Or e-mail globenorth@globe.com, or write Globe North, One Corporate Place, Suite 200, 55 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923. 