Zoning Dictionary

"As of right” (or “by right”) means a use or structure is allowed under the town’s zoning bylaw, requiring only a building permit. The Building Commissioner determines if the project complies with all local zoning and state building codes. A Site Plan Review process is sometimes required.

A tract or parcel of land reserved for the protection, development, and promotion of natural resources, and for the protection of watershed resources, as well as for use as open space or for passive outdoor recreation.

Exclusionary zoning refers to restrictions (e.g., dimensional requirements) that seem neutral but increase the cost of housing, thereby limiting the number of low-income people who can live in particular neighborhoods. Such restrictions can end up preserving “enclaves of affluence and social homogeneity,” as a judge noted in an important zoning case.

A town’s zoning bylaw allows certain uses and structures if the special permit granting authority (the Zoning Board of Appeals or Planning Board, as specified in the zoning bylaw) grants a special permit. Special permits are granted if it is found that any adverse effects of the proposal would not outweigh the benefits to the town or neighborhood. The granting authority must hold a public hearing and will frequently impose conditions to address community concerns and ensure compliance with the zoning bylaw. Special permits are sometimes challenged in court, which can tie them up in expensive litigation for prolonged periods of time.

Under state law, the Zoning Board of Appeals can grant a variance (i.e., an exception) from the requirements of the town’s zoning bylaw only if four conditions are met: (1) the project is constrained by unique soil conditions, shape, or topography; (2) literal enforcement of the zoning bylaw would cause substantial hardship; and (3) the exception can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good, and (4) without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent or purpose of the zoning bylaw. All four of these conditions must be met. A variance is much more difficult to obtain than a special permit, and many projects that may be attractive from the point of view of public policy will not meet the strict state variance requirements.

Site plan review is a process developed locally that is not addressed in the Massachusetts Zoning Act (M.G.L. c. 40A). Massachusetts courts have recognized site plan review as a permissible regulatory tool, including for uses that are permitted by right under local zoning and under the Massachusetts Zoning Act. Boards, such as a zoning or planning board, handling site plan review for uses allowed by right have limited discretion. Boards may impose reasonable terms and conditions but cannot disapprove a by-right use or impose conditions that would make a project economically unfeasible, unlike the discretion that a zoning or planning board has to deny approval of a use that requires a special permit. 

An overlay district is a type of land use zoning district that “lies on top of” an existing zoning district. Overlay districts provide one of the most flexible means to alter zoning in a town. Builders working in an overlay district can build either to the underlying zoning rules or to the overlay zoning rules. It is common for an overlay district to provide incentives (e.g., density bonuses) for a builder to build to the new use (e.g., multifamily homes with a larger percentage of affordable housing than usually required).

A zoning map, which must be adopted and amended by Town Meeting, shows the several zoning districts and overlay districts in which, as specified in the zoning bylaw, various types of uses (such as single-family, business, or industrial) are allowed by right or by special permit for  particular areas of town.

A use is the purpose for which a structure or lot is designed or intended to be used, occupied, or maintained. A few example uses are residential, retail, restaurant, and business/professional/medical office.  An accessory use is a use subordinate to and customarily incidental to the primary use, such as a professional home office.

A structure is a combination of materials for permanent or temporary occupancy or use. A few example structures are buildings, swimming pools, and sheds.

An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a separate, smaller living unit with its own kitchen and bathroom facilities and separate entrance that is attached to or included within a larger residence or located in an accessory structure on the same lot as a larger residence.

In Needham, general residence districts allow single-family and two-family detached dwellings and the conversion of a single-family dwelling to a two-family dwelling by right, and, by special permit, a single structure for owner-occupied shared elderly housing for up to six elderly occupants or as a boarding house with no provisions for private cooking or housekeeping.

A combination of two or more distinct uses in a single structure, such as a building with retail on the ground floor and housing on the upper floors. Mixed-use development may promote a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented living and working environment.

The Massachusetts Zoning Act, M.G.L. c. 40A, Section 1A, defines multifamily housing as a building with three or more residential dwelling units or two or more buildings on the same lot with more than one residential dwelling unit in each building.

When a pre-existing lot, building, or land use that complied with previous bylaws does not conform to one or more current requirements, such as dimensional requirements, it becomes a nonconforming structure or use. 

If someone wants to rebuild a single-family or two-family dwelling that is dimensionally nonconforming, they may do so by right provided the new building complies with all the dimensional requirements of the current Zoning By-Law (and a 2-family dwelling may be restricted to its current height), even if it is on an undersized lot, but many circumstances of nonconformity specified in the Zoning By-law require that an addition or reconstruction requires a special permit and/or a finding by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) that no new nonconformities are created and the change is not substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing nonconforming structure or use.

Parking minimums are local zoning laws that require private businesses and residences and certain other uses such as schools to provide off-street parking spaces. 

The Design Review Board shall review applications for all new structures and outdoor uses, exterior additions, exterior alterations, and exterior changes in all business, industrial, and institutional zoning districts as specified in section 7.7.2.2 of the Zoning By-Law, and shall also review requests for all sign permits as required under Article 5 of the Needham General By-Laws.  As part of the amendments proposed by the Planning Board to comply with the MBTA Communities law, there will be a site plan review process for multi-family developments that will include the Design Review Board.

Needham’s current Zoning By-Law does not have design guidelines for stand-alone multi-family dwellings, which are presently allowed only in the Apartment A-1 and Apartment A-2 zoning districts.  As part of the amendments proposed by the Planning Board to comply with the MBTA Communities law, a new site plan approval process is proposed for multi-family dwellings, with the Planning Board being the site plan review authority; the proposed zoning specifies site plan approval shall be granted upon determination that the project meets specified development standards, among other site-plan-review criteria, including design guidelines that the Planning Board will be authorized to adopt and apply.

From https://needhamma.gov/2045/Town-Meeting

Town Meeting is Needham’s legislative body that deliberates and votes on articles proposed by citizens, committees, and boards. Needham has a representative Town Meeting, where 24 representatives are elected from each of 10 precincts, making for a legislative body of 240 elected Town Meeting Members, plus fourteen Town Meeting Members at-large (i.e., chairs of most boards and committees, moderator, town clerk, and assessor). Needham’s Annual Town Meeting is generally held beginning in May. In addition, Special Town Meetings can be called by the Select Board or residents to address interim issues of import.  Zoning By-Law amendments generally require a 2/3 vote of Town Meeting, but recent amendments to the State Zoning Act have created exceptions so that only a majority vote is required for amendments that would reduce dimensional requirements for housing, increase allowed housing density or allow ADUs.

The town Zoning Board of Appeals decides on zoning variance requests and some requests for special permits, although the Planning Board is typically the special permit granting authority for larger developments. The ZBA also handles the local approval process for comprehensive permits for affordable housing projects under state law Chapter 40B and appeals of building permits issued (or denied) by the building inspector under local zoning. The Select Board appoints ZBA five members to three-year terms, as well as two associate members.

What we consider “regular zoning” is established under M.G.L. Chapter 40A. This chapter authorizes cities (other than Boston) and towns to establish local zoning rules and sets standards for their administration.

Adapted from CHAPA.

Informally known as the Anti-Snob Zoning Act at the time of its passage in 1969, M.G.L. Chapter 40B is also known as the Comprehensive Permit Law. It was enacted to expand where low- and moderate-income households can afford to live by reducing regulatory barriers to building affordable housing. Chapter 40B empowers the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to waive certain town zoning and other requirements for projects where at least 20%-25% of the units have long-term affordability guarantees. In towns where less than 10% of housing units or 1.5% of land qualifies for the Massachusetts Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI), there is a strict review of the 40B decisions by the state, and the town has less authority over its decisions. 

Adapted from MAPC:

Housing Choice refers to a number of changes to the state’s zoning law, M.G.L. Chapter 40A, that were enacted in January, 2021, as part of the Economic Development Bond Bill (H.5250). Final guidance for implementing the law was released in 2022.

The law makes major changes to zoning statues in three categories:

• Elimination of the 2/3 vote for certain zoning changes related to housing production, allowing instead a majority vote to adopt those zoning changes;
• Multifamily zoning requirements for MBTA municipalities; and
• Other changes to streamline permitting and discourage meritless legal challenges, including reducing from ⅔ voting for certain special permits to a majority vote instead.

Under the Housing Choice Law passed in 2021, and the Compliance Guidelines (Guidelines) issued by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) on August 10, 2022 and last revised on August 17, 2023, 177 Massachusetts cities and towns that host or are near an MBTA commuter rail or subway station are defined as MBTA Communities. With its 4 commuter rail stations, Needham is a “commuter rail community.” Commuter Rail Communities  must have at least one zoning district of reasonable size that allows multi-family housing by right, among other criteria. The Guidelines require that, for Needham, 90% of the zoning district(s) must be within ½ mile of one of Needham’s commuter rail stations. The  Needham must have its amended zoning approved by Town Meeting and by EOHLC and the Massachusetts Attorney General by December 31, 2024  will lose eligibility for certain state grants if it is noncompliant.

As a general term, housing that costs no more than 30% of a household’s gross income is considered ‘affordable’ for that household. For example, a family whose gross income is $120,000 a year should spend no more than $3,000 a month for rent and utilities. Affordable (with a capital A) is housing created in partnership with local and national government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and MA Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Affordable housing often has long-term income restrictions and residents have to be selected through a fair housing marketing plan. 

Area Median Income is the household income for the median or 'middle' household in a given region. The relevant region for Needham is Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Hud Metro Fair Market Rent (FMR) Area. Depending on the project and its funding, a home may be considered Affordable if it is affordable to households at 40%, 60%, or 80% of the AMI. It’s important to understand that while some of these numbers look high (e.g., 80% of AMI for a family of 4 as set by HUD in 2024 is $130,250) families at and even above the AMI cannot afford to rent or buy in Needham at market rents and prices.

Inclusionary Zoning is a requirement that sets aside a percentage of units in a multi-family development that are required to be Affordable (e.g., with rent or, for condo units, monthly mortgage-utility-tax payments) not exceeding a certain percentage of the Area Median Income). In Needham any project with six or more homes is required to restrict 12 ½ % of the homes in perpetuity as Affordable (one of every 8 homes).

A lot on which housing can be built given the existing floor-to-lot-area ratio, lot size, setbacks, height, wetland preservation and open space requirements. In contrast, a non-buildable lot is a lot in which some restriction or combinations or restrictions makes building housing impossible on that particular lot.

Gross Floor Area (often abbreviated GFA) is defined in the Zoning By-Law as “the sum of the areas of the several floors of each building on a lot including areas used for human occupancy in basements, attics, and penthouses, as measured from the exterior faces of walls, but excluding cellars, unenclosed porches, balconies, attics, or any floor space in accessory buildings or in main buildings intended and designed for the parking of automobiles or for accessory heating and ventilating equipment, laundry, or accessory storage”.

Floor Area Ratio is defined in the Zoning By-Law as “the floor area divided by the lot area.”  This FAR definition continues with a description of Floor Area that differs from the definition of Gross Floor Area: “Floor area shall be the sum of the horizontal areas of the several floors of a building as measured from the exterior surface of the exterior walls.  Parking garages, interior portions of building devoted to off-street parking, and deck or rooftop parking shall be considered floor area.”  For example, a building with a FAR of 2 could be:

• a two-story building covering the entire lot,
• a four-story building covering half the lot, or
• many other variations with the same gross floor area.

The Zoning By-Law defines Setback as the required minimum horizontal distance from a street line or a lot line to any part of a building.   Certain building features are exempted and may exist within setbacks. 

• Front yard setback: the minimum horizontal distance from a front lot line of a lot to the nearest portion of a building (with exceptions for some features).
• Side yard setback: the minimum horizontal distance from a sideline of a lot to the nearest portion of a building (also with certain exceptions).
• Rear yard setback: the minimum horizontal distance from the rear line of a lot to the nearest portion of a building (also with certain exceptions).

The Zoning By-Law defines Lot Coverage as that portion of a lot that is covered or occupied by any building or structure (with the exception of some features such as steps or bay windows, pools or patios).

The Zoning By-Law does not have a generally applicable definition of Open Space.  There is no open space requirement in Needham’s single-family or general (two-family) zoning districts.  Multi-family dwelling developments in the Apartment districts do have an Open Space requirement, which says: “Except for driveways and walks, the front setback area [20 feet in Apartment A-1] shall be kept open and in lawn or landscaped, unparked on and unbuilt upon.  The area between a lot line and a line five (5) feet from and parallel thereto shall be kept open and in lawn or landscaped, unparked on and unbuilt upon. 

Needham has a provision for Planned Residential Development (PRD), by special permit from the Planning Board, providing an alternative to conventional development patterns, which is intended to foster innovative site planning based on the natural characteristics of the land, to encourage the preservation of significant open space for conservation and recreation, to facilitate the economic and efficient provision of public utilities and services, to promote aesthetic and other amenities, and to ensure development which is harmonious and compatible to the surrounding neighborhoods.  Planned Residential Development is permitted on tracts of land in the Rural Residence-Conservation, Single Residence A and Single Residence B districts having an area not less than 10 times the minimum lot area of the zoning district within which it is located.  Not less than 40% of the PRD tract must be designated as open space.  Such open space land “shall have a shape, dimensions, character, and location suitable to assure its use for park, recreation, conservation, or agricultural purposes by at least all the residents of the PRD.”