Bridgewater Town Council Approves Zoning Reforms In Line with Vision to Reality Initiative, MBTA Communities Legislation

BRIDGEWATER — The Bridgewater Town Council has approved a comprehensive zoning ordinance amendment that will add Bridgewater to the list of communities that have adopted zoning to be in compliance with the MBTA Communities legislation, and the measure complements the Town’s economic revitalization initiative.

Town Council voted 7-1 in favor of the zoning ordinance amendment at its April 23 meeting.

The measure also boosts the expansive Vision to Reality-Revitalizing the Heart of Bridgewater economic revitalization initiative, launched in June 2023. In addition to meeting the requirements of the MBTA Communities legislation, the Town saw an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive strategy that would implement many of the objectives, policies and goals included in the Town’s Comprehensive Master Plan adopted in May 2022.

“The Town of Bridgewater saw an incredible opportunity to include compliance with the MBTA Communities legislation as part of our Vision to Reality,” Town Manager Michael Dutton said. “The Council’s support and understanding of how all these pieces fit together was critical to getting the ordinance approved, and also for future successes, some of which are already emerging from the Vision to Reality initiative.”

The amended ordinance includes adopting a Form-Based Code for a portion of the Central Business District. Form-Based Code allows for predictable development results, which provide the public with high-quality design standards by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle for the code while offering developers an expedited approval process when a project follows the code. Additional information about Form-Based Code can be found in this Zoning Amendment Ordinance. 

Two critical elements included in the Vision to Reality initiative are housing and economic expansion. The Town sees great potential to address both from Bridgewater State University’s Cyber Range. New housing and businesses near the BSU campus helps both the University and the Town by providing living and working opportunities. New housing with new residents also leads to expanded retail, restaurant and professional services currently absent in the Central Business District.

“The opening of the Cyber Range at BSU has the ability to be Bridgewater’s and the region’s biotech,” the Town’s Community & Economic Development Director Bob Rulli said. “We see the potential for private industry in the cyber space to want proximity to the range, the intellectual capital emerging from the program, as well as graduates from the degree programs.”

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