[ Text of section effective until April 10, 2007. Repealed by 2007, 19, Sec. 5. See 2007, 19, Sec. 54.]
Section 8B. (a) There shall be a commonwealth development coordinating council responsible for preparing a coordinated development policy for the commonwealth addressing housing, transportation, capital development, economic development and the preservation of environmental resources in the commonwealth.
(b) The council shall be comprised of a chair appointed by the governor, the secretaries of the executive offices of economic development, housing and community development, environmental affairs and transportation and construction, and the commissioners of the department of capital asset management and maintenance, and of the division of energy resources, or their respective designees. The chair shall serve at the pleasure of the governor and shall serve as an ex-officio member of the governor's cabinet. The governor shall appoint the following advisory members: the chairman of the Massachusetts water resources authority, the chairman of the Massachusetts Bay transportation authority, the executive director of a regional transportation authority, three regional planning representatives, a municipal planning representative and a professional planner.
(c) The coordinated development policy shall:
(1) discourage wasteful use of land, water and energy resources;
(2) support revitalization and reinvestment in urban areas and older suburbs; encourage reuse and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure rather than the construction of new infrastructure in undeveloped areas;
(3) protect, to the maximum extent possible, environmentally sensitive lands, natural resources, wildlife habitats and cultural and historic landscapes;
(4) support a range of convenient and affordable transportation choices;
(5) protect economically productive natural areas including farmland and forests;
(6) provide an adequate supply of affordable housing for all income levels throughout each community, particularly households earning 50 per cent or less of the area median income, as defined by the federal department of housing and urban development;
(7) encourage a clear and transparent development approval process; encourage regional solutions and approaches to planning for transportation, housing development and water supply;
(8) require coordination among state agencies on sustainable growth efforts; encourage coordination and cooperation amount all state agencies; and
(9) ensure that funding and construction activities by state agencies do not promote development that is inconsistent with state, regional and local sustainable development plans.
(d) The council shall:
(1) coordinate and make recommendations to capital planning done by agencies and political subdivisions of the commonwealth;
(2) resolve inconsistencies between agency plans and local or regional sustainable development plans;
(3) encourage state agencies to consider secondary growth impact in capital planning and to site facilities in areas with infrastructure rather than undeveloped areas;
(4) direct appropriate agencies to provide technical assistance as necessary to municipalities in their growth planning;
(5) develop comprehensive policies and principles regarding the disposition, reuse and development of surplus commonwealth property which shall maximize the development of affordable housing, particularly near mass transit facilities, minimize environmental impact and respect local and regional input;
(6) develop as part of the coordinated development plan, based on public hearing process, a long-term state-wide transportation plan for the commonwealth that includes planning for inter-modal and integrated transportation;
(7) develop, based on public hearing process, procedures to be used for transportation project selection in which the executive office of transportation and construction, the department of highways and any regional planning district organized pursuant to chapter 40B participate to the extent found to be appropriate by the council; and
(8) establish criteria for project selection to be used in the procedures developed pursuant to clause (7).