Wilmington officials are preparing a third vote on zoning required by the MBTA Communities Act, pointing to Milton’s legal fight and lost grant opportunities as reasons to act locally.

A special Town Meeting scheduled for Nov. 21 will consider a multifamily housing overlay district after voters rejected earlier proposals in December 2024 and May 2025, the Lowell Sun reported.

Town Manager Eric Slagle told the Select Board that approving a locally designed district would give Wilmington more control over the outcome than waiting for court intervention, according to the report.

Slagle described the proposal as an opportunity for “paper compliance”—meeting the state’s zoning requirements while selecting areas officials consider unlikely to produce substantial new development.

That phrase is not a separate legal designation. The law requires communities to allow multifamily housing by right in qualifying districts; it does not require them to build housing. Zoning developed properties also does not prevent future redevelopment.

Milton’s experience

Milton Town Meeting approved compliance zoning in December 2023, but residents overturned it in a Feb. 14, 2024, referendum. Attorney General Andrea Campbell subsequently sued the town.

On Jan. 8, 2025, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law and Campbell’s authority to enforce it. The court also found the state’s original implementation guidelines unenforceable because officials had not adopted them through the required regulatory process. The state then issued new regulations.

Milton adopted replacement zoning in June 2025. State housing officials approved the district on Sept. 2, finding that its 131.8 acres had modeled capacity for 2,467 units—slightly above the town’s minimum requirement of 2,461, according to the official compliance determination.

Before compliance, Milton encountered funding consequences. The town’s grant records identify three applications rejected because of its status: $97,334 for a Council on Aging passenger bus, $55,000 for an accessibility assessment and transition plan, and $250,000 for municipal fiber infrastructure.

A separate $110,000 information technology application did not score high enough for an award. The state also told Milton that funding would have depended on MBTA Communities compliance.

Wilmington’s next decision

Wilmington postponed consideration of its zoning proposal in May 2024 while the Milton litigation proceeded. Voters later rejected the proposal, with 154 in favor and 288 opposed in December 2024, followed by 152 in favor and 165 opposed in May 2025, according to the Sun.

On Jan. 29, 2026, Campbell sued Wilmington and eight other towns over continued noncompliance. The other communities were Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury and Winthrop. At that point, 165 of the 177 covered municipalities had complied, according to a CHAPA statement issued that day.

Neighboring Tewksbury approved its zoning and accompanying district map at an Oct. 6 Town Meeting, the Tewksbury Carnation reported.

Wilmington’s proposed November warrant would separate the zoning bylaw and overlay district from an additional affordable housing requirement, placing them in two articles, according to the Sun.