The Official Website of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED)

Housing and Economic Development

Mixed-Use Development

Resources that facilitate and/or support the establishment, siting, rehabilitation and/or expansion of some combination of residential, commercial, industrial, office, public, and/or institutional uses.

Primary Resources (see summaries below)

  • Chapter 43D (Expedited Permitting)
  • Community Development Action Grant
  • Community Development Block Grant
  • District Improvement Financing
  • Economic Development Fund
  • Economic Development Incentive Program
  • Growth Districts Initiative 
  • I-Cubed
  • Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion (MORE) Jobs Capital Program
  • Public Works Economic Development Program
  • Transit-Oriented Development Bond Program
  • Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing Program
  • Urban Renewal Program

Secondary Resources (see summaries below)

  • Brownfields Redevelopment Access to Capital Program
  • Brownfields Redevelopment Fund
  • Citizen Planner Training Collaborative
  • Peer-to-Peer Technical Assistance Program
  • Relocation Assistance Program
  • Smart Growth / Smart Energy Toolkit

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Primary Resources: Summaries

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Program:  Chapter 40R (Smarth Growth Zoning Act)          
Purpose:  To substantially increase the supply of housing and enable municipalities to create Smart Growth Zoning Overlay Districts for the production of compact/high density housing. It targets the shortfall in housing for low- and moderate-income households, by requiring the inclusion of affordable units. 

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • All MA cities and towns may apply.
  • Development must include housing:
    • In an area of concentrated development such as town centers, or
    • Near transit stations, or
    • Be in a highly suitable location
  • 20% of housing units must be affordable.
  • Municipality must adopt a 40R zoning district.
  • Minimum residential densities of 8 units/acre for single family; 12 units/acre for 2-3 family; and 20 units/acre for multi-family

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Incentive payments of up to $600,000 (plus a one time density bonus payment of $3000 for each unit) for construction of new housing, substantial rehabilitation of existing buildings, or conversion to residential use
  • 40R projects are eligible for payment under Chapter 40S which reimburses for some of the net increase in the cost of educating students living in new housing in smart growth districts.  This funding is available starting in FY2008

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Program:  Chapter 43D(Expedited Local Permitting)                     
Purpose:  To streamline state and local permitting processes in order that a permit for commercial or industrial development (on a site identified as a Priority Development Site) can be issued within 180 days              

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • The local governing authority approves the use of Chapter 43D for projects.
  • A locally approved project then requires approval by the State Interagency Permitting Board.
  • Priority Development sites must:
    • be zoned for commercial or industrial development
    • involve the development or redevelopment of a building of at least 50,000 square feet of gross floor area (may include existing structures and contiguous buildings)

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Administered by the Department of Business and Technology
  • All cities and towns are eligible for technical assistance grants of up to $150,000 to improve permit tracking and issuance and to support coordinated project review by town boards and commissions
  • Priority development sites are given priority consideration for certain state funding and for on-line marketing

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Program:  Community Development Action Grant (CDAG)          
Purpose:  To provide funding to communities for projects that build local economies, eliminate blight, create jobs and produce workforce and affordable housing that would not occur by private enterprise alone. 

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • Project Need and Community Development Impacts - the project addresses a specific community need and will result in a significant impact on the overall physical and economic condition of the city or town, demonstrated by a combination of characteristics, including: (1) improvement of blighted conditions; (2) support of workforce and/or affordable housing; (3) job creation and/or retention; and (4) new private investment.
  • Feasibility and Readiness to Proceed - the project is feasible and ready to proceed within 120 days of award.
  • Sustainable Development Consistency - the project is consistent with sustainable development principles adopted by the Commonwealth.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • All cities and towns in the Commonwealth may apply for up to $1 million in CDAG funding.
  • Applications accepted on a rolling basis; communities may submit (1) one individual and/or (1) one joint application for the combined FY 2010 and FY 2011 funding round.  Submission and approval of a Notice of Interest to Apply (NIA) is required prior to application.
  • Eligible activities include infrastructure improvements such as water and sewer system upgrades, sidewalk, roadway and streetscape improvements to support new mixed-use housing and commercial development; site preparation and improvements to publicly-owned buildings that may include demolition, new construction and/or rehabilitation of existing structures; and many other eligible activities. 
  • CDAG-funded projects must be publicly owned or managed for a period of not less than 30 years. 
  • Parking facilities are not eligible projects for funding under the CDAG Program.
  • Funding priority in the following order will be given to projects located within a designated district of a:
  1. Gateway Plus Community
  2. Growth District Initiative Community
  3. Chapter 40R Smart Growth District

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Program:  District Improvement Financing (DIF)      
Purpose: 

  • To enable municipalities to fund public works and infrastructure projects by allocating future incremental tax revenues collected from a predefined district
  • To stimulate private investment, which in turn increases the taxable value of property and generates the incremental taxes 

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • All cities and towns
  • DIF Plan required
  • Approval by the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council           

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Administered by the Massachusetts Office of Business Development
  • Incremental revenues can either pay for the municipal improvements (from year-to-year) or,
  • Can be estimated and pledged in advance toward repayment of bonds to be issued to pay for the municipal improvements

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Program:  Economic Development Fund       
Purpose:  To finance industrial, commercial, service, real estate and mixed-use projects and programs that:

  • create and/or retain jobs
  • improve the local and/or regional tax base, or
  • enhance the quality of life in the community

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • All cities or towns not designated as “entitlement communities” by the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Eligible activities include but are not limited to:
  • Pre-development planning  studies
  • Acquisition
  • Micro and small business technical assistance programs
  • Regional revolving loan funds
  • Business technical assistance
  • Public social services related to economic development, and
  • Infrastructure and public facilities projects in support of economic development
  • Direct business assistance for:
    • Purchase of equipment
    • Acquisition of real estate
    • New construction and rehabilitation
    • Working capital, and
    • (In some cases) refinancing

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Program:  Economic Development Incentive Program      
Purpose: 

  • To stimulate business growth and foster job creation
  • To attract and retain businesses in Economic Target Areas

Key Eligibility Criteria:

Businesses within an Economic Opportunity Area that are creating permanent new jobs and:

  • Expanding existing operations
  • Relocating operations
  • Building new facilities

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Administered by the Massachusetts Office of Business Development
  • State tax incentives:
  • Investment Tax Credit
  • Abandoned Building Tax Deduction
  • Municipal tax incentive:
    • Special tax assessment - a phased-in assessment of the total value of the project property, or
    • Tax Increment Financing (TIF) - a five- to 20- year property tax exemption based on the increased value of the project property due to new construction or significant improvements

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Program:  Growth Districts Initiative
Purpose:  To create a level of “development readiness” within identified “growth districts” comparable to that now available at Devens.

Key Eligibility Criteria

  • Municipalities must identify one or more areas within their communities as being appropriate locations for significant new growth, whether commercial, residential or mixed-use.
  • Locations should be proven to be highly attractive to new development and to be truly competitive at a national and international level.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • EOHED will partner with municipalities that have identified “growth districts”.
  • EOHED will work with communities and property owners within identified “growth districts”,  to make districts truly “development ready” with respect to local permitting, state permitting, site preparation (including brownfields remediation), infrastructure improvements, and marketing.

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Program: I-Cubed (Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program)
Purpose:  To support, through public infrastructure investment, certified economic development projects that will result in new jobs and increases in property values, real estate tax revenue, and tax revenue to the Commonwealth

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • The  project would not happen or would not achieve the contemplated level of development or other economic activity without the public infrastructure improvements financed under I-Cubed.
  •  The project must be approved by the related Municipality, the Secretary of Administration and Finance and MassDevelopment in order to be “certified” as eligible for funding.
  • The cost of the public infrastructure improvements financed under I-Cubed may not exceed $50 million and may not be less than $10 million.
  • The projected annual new state tax revenues from each occupied project component must be at least 1.5 times greater than the projected annual debt service on the related bonds.
  • Not more than one other economic development project in the municipality may have been approved for financing under I-Cubed.
  • The project must be financially feasible and the developer must demonstrate sufficient resources to carry out the project.
  • The project must be consistent with sustainable development principles.
  • The project may not receive public assistance under certain other state programs.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Bonds issued by MassDevelopment
  • Investment in public infrastructure improvements in support of certified economic development projects

                                                                      

Program:  Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion (MORE)
Purpose:  To stimulate job creation and economic growth by providing the public infrastructure improvements companies need

Key eligibility Criteria:

  • Municipalities and for-profit entities partnering with each other
  • The public infrastructure development must:
    • Create at least 100 new, permanent, full-time jobs in Massachusetts
    • Maintain the new jobs for at least 5 years, and
    • Generate substantial sales from outside the Commonwealth, or
    • The eligible economic development project must provide an exceptional economic benefit to the public.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses: 

  • Administered by the Massachusetts Office of Business Development
  • Grants
  • Publicly owned infrastructure development

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Program:  Public Works Economic Development (PWED)
Purpose: 

  • To assist cities and towns with funding for transportation infrastructure
  • To complement other discretionary state spending programs that effect development patterns
  • Leverage investment by others, particularly the private sector           

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • All cities and towns
  • Projects must facilitate economic growth consistent with applicable state policy

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Administered by the Executive Office of Transportation
  • Transportation infrastructure that will:
    • Stimulate economic development
    • Create and retain jobs and increase local tax revenue, particularly where most needed
    • Improve mobility through a balanced and multi-modal transportation system
    • Advance smart growth:
  • Within city and town centers
  • On brownfields or underutilized commercial or institutional land, or
  • As part of a transportation oriented opportunity

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Program:  Transit-Oriented Development Bond Program
Purpose:  To increase compact, mixed-use, walkable development close to transit stations.

Key Eligibility Criteria

  • A project must involve at least one of the following:
  • Design, construction, reconstruction or improvement of a pedestrian improvement, bicycle facility, and/or parking facility serving a mixed-use development; or
  • Development or rehabilitation of a housing project, at least 25% of which must be affordable.
  • A project must be situated in an eligible location.
  • A project must receive technical or financial assistance from one or more of the following agencies:  DHCD, EOEA, MBTA, MassHousing or MassDevelopment.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Financing for pedestrian improvements, bicycle facilities, housing projects, and parking facilities within .25 (1/4) mile of a commuter rail station, subway station, bus station, bus rapid transit station, or ferry terminal.

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Program:  Urban Center Housing  - Tax Increment Financing (UCH-TIF)         
Purpose:  To promote multi-unit housing and commercial development, including affordable housing, in commercial centers through tax increment financing.   Such development must be primarily residential    

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • .All cities and towns having designated commercial centers with a need for multi-unit housing
  • Development must be primarily residential, and 25% of housing units produced must be affordable.
  • A participating city or town must adopt an Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing Plan (“UCH-TIF Plan”) for a designated commercial area (the “UCH-TIF Zone”).
  • The UCH-TIF Plan must include development plans for proposed public and private projects in the UCH-TIF Zone and executed agreement(s) with property owners undertaking new development who will be receiving tax increment exemptions (“UCH-TIF Agreements”) on these projects.
  • Before submitting an application for approval of a UCH-TIF Zone and a UCH-TIF Plan to the Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD), a municipality must implement a local review and approval process.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • DHCD provides no direct funding.
  • Cities and towns may grant a real estate tax exemption up to 20 years on all or part of the increased value of improved real estate due to new construction or significant improvements.
  • Tax increment financing may be combined with grants and loans from local, state and federal development programs.
  • Multi-unit housing in designated commercial centers with 25% of units affordable to households with incomes at or below 80% of area median income
  • Primarily residential development

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Program:  Urban Renewal Program (UR)       
Purpose: 

  • To redevelop deteriorated areas (substandard, decadent or blighted open areas) by providing the economic environment needed to attract and support private investment for residential, commercial, industrial, business, governmental, recreational, educational, hospital or other purposes 
  • To help cities and towns establish and strengthen urban renewal agencies
  • To provide technical assistance in the development and implementation of urban renewal plans

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • All MA cities and towns
  • Urban Renewal Agencies (Redevelopment Authorities and Consolidated Departments of Community Development)

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

Funding:  Urban Revitalization Development Grant Program (Requires separate application)

Eligible Uses:

  • Planning
  • Establishment of design and rehabilitation standards
  • Acquisition of land, including taking of land by eminent domain
  • Assembly of land into developable parcels and disposition for private redevelopment
  • Relocation of businesses and residential occupants
  • Demolition or rehabilitation of structures
  • Improvements to infrastructure
  • Issuance of bonds and borrowing of money

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Secondary Resources: Summaries

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Program:  Brownfields Redevelopment Access to Capital  Program (BRAC)             
Purpose:  To encourage private sector lending on contaminated sites by  utilizing environmental insurance to safeguard parties involved in redevelopment from the risk of environmental liabilities associated with Brownfields         

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • Cities and towns
  • Any individual or entity borrowing from participating Massachusetts lenders to cleanup any contaminated site in Massachusetts

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Administered by Mass Business Development Corporation
  • BRAC backs private sector loans with environmental insurance
  • Payment of up to 50% of the premium for environmental insurance
  • Site assessment
  • Site cleanup costs (in the event a remediation project is not completed)
  • Loan guarantees
  • Insurance:
    • Premiums
    • Excess deductibles

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Program:  Brownfields Redevelopment Fund (BRF)         
Purpose:  To provide low-interest loans and grants for site assessment and cleanup

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • Cities and towns
  • Redevelopment authorities and agencies
  • Economic Development and Industrial Corporations
  • Community Development Corporations
  • Within Economically Distressed Areas, and:
    • Significant economic results – i.e. new jobs, or
    • Contributing to economic or physical revitalization
  • MassDevelopment may designate "Priority Projects" though the BRF. Eligibility for priority project designation is determined on a case by case basis by MassDevelopment.
  • The BRF assistance must be necessary to make the project financially feasible

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

Administered by MassDevelopment

  • Grants
  • Loans
    • The applicant must provide matching funds.

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Program:  Citizen Planner Training Collaborative (CPTC)           
Purpose:  To provide technical assistance for planning and zoning to cities and towns

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • City or town officials, including Selectmen, Building Inspectors, and members of Planning Boards and Zoning Boards of Appeal, etc.

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

Trainees pay nominal fees for annual workshops and conferences, including:

  • Comprehensive Permit - MGL 40B
  • How to Hold A Perfect Public Hearing
  • Introduction to the Subdivision Control Law and ANR
  • Roles and Responsibilities of Planning & Zoning Boards

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Program:  Peer – to – Peer Technical Assistance Program          
Purpose:  To provide small grants to municipalities for short-term problem solving or technical assistance projects.  Municipalities may apply for grants of up to $1,000 to employ appointed or elected municipal officials from other communities to provide technical assistance related to community development and/or capacity building at the local level.

Key Eligibility Criteria:

MA cities and towns with populations of under 50,000 that do not receive CDBG funds directly from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • CDBG Technical Assistance Funds provide for grants of up to $1,000.
  • Exclusively for technical assistance related to community development and/or capacity building related to community development at the local level
  • Grant funds may be used to pay for up to 30 hours ($900) of technical assistance and up to $100 for reimbursement of travel, photocopying and/or the cost of incidental materials.
  • A maximum of 10 eligible applications are funded yearly on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Program:  Relocation Assistance Program   
Purpose:  To provide advice, assistance and approvals for and to public agencies that cause businesses and individuals to move as a result of real estate acquisitions (voluntary or involuntary) or takings

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • Any residential or business occupant displaced by a public or private entity using public funds           

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

  • Fair and reasonable relocation payments to displaced persons and businesses must be made under MGL Chapter 79A by any agency or person that is acquiring real property or issuing an order to vacate real property for purposes of rehabilitation or other improvement or for demolition purposes.
  • Actions include:
    • Taking of real property by eminent domain
    • Negotiated sale
    • Rehabilitation or other improvement
  • Demolition

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Program:  Smart Growth / Smart Energy Toolkit      
Purpose: 

  • To provide easy access to information on twelve different planning, zoning and subdivision techniques
  • To increase understanding of smart growth tools and how to customize the techniques to local circumstances

Key Eligibility Criteria:

  • The Toolkit is designed to be both an educational guide and a reference document

Funding and/or Eligible Uses:

Provided by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

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Contact

DHCD Community Services at 617-573-1400