Medford Housing Trust Fixes Bonus Zoning Loophole, Advances Linkage Fee
Affordable Housing Trust · Meeting of September 2, 2026
Medford Affordable Housing Trust closes a zoning bonus loophole and moves a new linkage fee toward City Council. City staff member Catherine and intern Izzy presented a reworked incentive-bonus formula after finding developers could sometimes earn an extra building story without adding any actual affordable unit; the new multiplier-based structure, tested against a 21-unit example, ties bonuses to real unit or affordability-tier increases. A finalized nexus study will now move to ordinance drafting with KP Law before heading to City Council.
Staff also modeled a fractional-payment formula, yielding roughly $80,400 for a hypothetical unit priced at $398,000. Trustees deferred a vote on a standardized funding application pending revisions, and endorsed mayoral nominee Megan Kelly, who told the board "I'm hoping to be an asset to the trust," for the trust's open seat, pending City Council confirmation expected September 15. All four procedural votes, covering minutes and adjournment, passed 7-0.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- The complete report — 3,158 words
Source: the Affordable Housing Trust meeting of September 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 14-day free trial
Subscribe to Middlesex County News to keep reading this post and get 14 days of free access to the full post archives.
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news