Meadow Brook Residences: East Bridgewater's 40B

The East Bridgewater Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) granted a Comprehensive Permit for the "Residences at Meadow Brook" development on April 9, 2025. This complex project involves a total of 240 housing units, comprising 80 townhouses off Winter Street and 160 apartment units across three buildings along Route 18. The developer, represented by attorney Rob Pellegrini and Peter Freeman, introduced revised plans that included reducing the apartment units by 20 (from four stories to three in two buildings) and significantly increasing the number of parking spaces across the project. Despite these revisions, residents and board members continued to raise concerns regarding traffic impact on Winter Street, parking adequacy, construction vehicle access, and the project's overall scale. The decision to approve came with various conditions and granted waivers from local zoning bylaws and other regulations.The project falls under Chapter 40B, a Massachusetts state law designed to promote affordable housing by allowing developers to bypass certain local zoning restrictions if at least 25% of the units are affordable. East Bridgewater currently has only 3.9% or 3.99% affordable housing stock, which significantly limits the town's ability to reject 40B proposals outright, as the state's threshold is 10%. As the "granting board" for comprehensive permits, the ZBA essentially serves as a single point for developers to obtain necessary local approvals, circumventing the need to apply to multiple individual town boards. While Chapter 40B allows waivers from local bylaws, developers are still required to comply with state regulations such as those from MassDEP (for wetlands protection) and MassDOT (for state highway access). The regional need for affordable housing under 40B is generally considered to outweigh local concerns, making it very difficult for a town to deny such a project without risking an appeal that would likely result in the developer winning and the town losing its ability to impose conditions. Get full access to South Shore News at www.southshore.news/subscribe