Milton now joins Brookline, Newton, and Somerville in approving rezoning before the communities’ year-end deadline. Failure to meet this deadline risked legal action by the state attorney general’s office.Under the law, Milton is required to amend its zoning to permit at least 2,461 new units of multifamily housing. That number represents how many units would be technically possible within the new zones; the actual number of units ultimately built is expected to be considerably fewer, given how much land within the zones is already developed.Milton’s new zoning plan, put forward by the Select Board, consists of six subdistricts. Roughly speaking, the new zones would be concentrated along the Eliot Street corridor roughly parallel to the Mattapan Trolley line, along part of Blue Hills Parkway, and in East Milton Square and along Granite Avenue. Developments proposed under the new zoning would be subject to a site plan review by the Planning Board, which would not have the power to reject projects that comply with the zoning, but could impose reasonable conditions to reduce effects on traffic, stormwater runoff, and other items, according to town officials.
