Tewksbury Planning Board backs modular homes, half-acre zoning in NMCOG housing response

TEWKSBURY -- March 23, 2026, Tewksbury Planning Board pushes back on regional housing production goals, backs zoning and modular strategy instead. At the March 23 meeting, member Jonathan Ciampa presented NMCOG's "At Home in Greater Lowell" plan, which calls for 9,800 to 17,800 new regional housing units over 10 years, but the board expressed broad skepticism that construction alone can solve affordability, citing Somerville's experience: 2,046 units added between 2020 and 2025 while the median single-family price still climbed 67 percent, from $780,000 to $1.3 million. Chair Stephen Johnson argued that Tewksbury's own one-acre minimum lot requirement, which he said forces new homes to sell at roughly $800,000, is a core driver of the affordability gap, and the board coalesced around a linked three-part proposal: reduce minimum lots to a half acre, incentivize modular construction on those lots, and create a state- or federally-matched down-payment savings program. The board also unanimously accepted the withdrawal of a site plan application at 485 Main Street and continued active applications at 1325 Main Street and 15 and 41 Astle Street to April 13 and April 27 respectively.