Attorney General Andrea Campbell is suing nine Massachusetts communities in an attempt to get the towns to comply with a 2021 law intended to boost housing production near MBTA stations.
Campbell’s office announced Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against the towns of Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington and Winthrop.
The attorney general is asking the court to order the towns to create a zoning district that complies with the law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker and to submit a district compliance application to state housing officials.
The nine communities were required to have compliant zoning districts by July 14, 2025 and Campbell pledged recently to take action by the end of this week if communities did not come into compliance.
To date, 165 out of 177 communities subject to the law have come into compliance and the attorney general cited statistics indicating the law has triggered projects encompassing 7,000 more homes in 34 communities.
The state Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law’s constitutionality in a case involving the town of Milton.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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