In Massachusetts and around the country citizens and civic leaders are grappling with the best ways to use land, plan development and maintain the unique characteristics of their communities. Land use issues are difficult precisely because they raise complex, often conflicting, questions. Where shall I live? Where do I want to educate my child? Where can I find a job? How will I get to work? Will there be any place left that’s beautiful? These are issues that citizens feel strongly about and our answers to these questions will shape the commonwealth for many years to come.

The amount of land developed in Massachusetts over the past 50 years far outstrips the rate of population growth. Between 1950 and 1990, the state’s population grew by 28% while the amount of developed land increased by 188%. This type of sprawling development leads to a number of significant environmental and social consequences including traffic congestion, degraded water quality and inability to meet water supply demands, air pollution, urban disinvestment and loss of farmland and open space.

The Massachusetts Livable Communities Act encourages communities and regions to envision their future and to plan accordingly. It also seeks to make the Commonwealth more proactive in terms of aligning state spending decisions with state goals, and encourages consistency in planning efforts at the state, regional and local level. Specifically, the Act:

• Articulates state principles and goals including:
• State policies and spending decisions should encourage growth in appropriate and identified places.
• State resources should be targeted to support development in areas where infrastructure is already in place.
• State policies and spending decisions should discourage growth in environmentally sensitive areas in order to protect the Commonwealth’s most valuable remaining natural resources.
• Establishes a Council for a Sustainable Commonwealth under the chairmanship of the Governor and composed of the heads of selected state agencies to consider, coordinate and modify capital planning so that it is consistent with state goals.
• Provides incentives to communities to plan through direct funding and priority consideration for discretionary state grants for those communities with approved plans.
• Encourages communities to implement their plans through zoning and bylaw changes.

For more information contact: Senator Pacheco’s office at 617-722-1551 or
Nancy Goodman of the Environmental League at 617-742-2553.