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The day before Thanksgiving, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation increasing state funding for schools in cities and towns that bolsters housing production in "smart growth districts," completing a unique package of incentives to increase housing and grow more efficiently. The new law, known as Chapter 40S, complements the existing law, Chapter 40R, which helps Massachusetts cities and towns establish special zoning overlay districts that allow densities of eight units per acre for single-family homes, 12 units per acre for town houses, and 20 units per acre for apartments, in town centers, downtowns, near transit stations, or on unused industrial land.

The day before Thanksgiving, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed legislation increasing state funding for schools in cities and towns that bolsters housing production in "smart growth districts," completing a unique package of incentives to increase housing and grow more efficiently.

The new law, known as Chapter 40S, complements the existing law, Chapter 40R, which helps Massachusetts cities and towns establish special zoning overlay districts that allow densities of eight units per acre for single-family homes, 12 units per acre for town houses, and 20 units per acre for apartments, in town centers, downtowns, near transit stations, or on unused industrial land. Under 40R, the zoning must allow for mixed use development and 20 percent of the residential component must be affordable. In return, cities and towns can get between $10,000 and $600,000 in state funding, and an additional $3,000 per home, to use as they wish.

Even with that funding as an incentive, several local leaders said that the increased costs of educating school-age children who move into the new developments would outpace any new residential property tax revenue. So the state legislature passed Chapter 40S, which provides reimbursement for the net cost of educating students living in the new districts created undet Chapter 40R.

The additional aid will be available in 2008, and is expected to cost the state $30 to $35 million per year by 2014.

Several municipalities have already expressed interest in creating 40R districts, including Somerville, North Reading, North Andover, and Pittsfield. However, some planners say that the required density in the districts is too high, particularly for suburban locations, and they worry that localities must give up too much control over zoning and the development process.

But the 40R-40S combination is "actually a good way for towns to control their own destinies," says Douglas Foy, secretary for the Office for Commonwealth Development, the state agency coordinating growth in Massachusetts. In contrast to Chapter 40B, the state's aniisnob zoning law, which fast-tracks development in communities where less than 10 percent of the local housing stock is affordable, smart growth districts are seen as a way for local governments to get more directly involved in increasing affordable housing.

"This zoning is not going to be adopted overnight," says Angus Jennings, former town planner for Marshfield, Massachusetts, and currently principal planner at Concord Square Development Company in Boston. But over time, he notes, the financial benefits and the quantifiable advantages of traditional neighborhood development will overcome the "inertia that afflicts zoning in so many places, brought on by aging infrastructure and a school funding system based on local property taxes."

The 40R-40S combination tops a menu of programs now available to Massachusetts cities and towns to manage growth. Communities can also apply for technical assistance, smart growth grants, and money for transit-oriented development; use a new Smart Growth Toolkit that spells out 12 techniques ranging from the transfer of development rights to inclusionary zoning; and register in the Commonwealth Capital program to get the inside track on state funding for public works and economic development projects, based on local sustainable development initiatives.