Massachusetts voters narrowly reject minimum lot size measure

Massachusetts voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure last week that would have forced towns and cities to allow single-family homes on smaller home sites than most local zoning rules currently permit. The vote on the first-of-its-kind ballot initiative nationwide was so close that the Associated Press called the race only on Friday, nearly three days after the election. It was the last ballot question decided because the gap, roughly 32,000 votes, was the smallest margin among the nine questions on the ballot. Local government organizations fought the measure, arguing it was a top-down approach that limited local control over zoning. Municipalities have made that argument against any reform that includes preemption, winning some fights and losing others. In a statement after the AP projection, Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director and CEO Adam Chapdelaine thanked voters for “recognizing that Question 7 was not an effective or workable approach to creating entry-level homes in the Commonwealth.” Still, supporters are treating the close result as a win. “If you told me six years ago that we would have a statewide ballot to change zoning statewide across the entire...