What Would SB 79 Look Like Here?

Hi, all! Over the past two years, we have been working on an upzoning proposal for Somerville. With an new city council in 2026, it feels like a good time to move forward on it. In support of that effort, we hereby start a roughly weekly blog post series about upzoning in Somerville. We plan to cover a range of topics -- from open space to housing demand to affordability.

Our first topic is perspective. What are other places doing to address the housing shortage? Enjoy!

Last month, California passed their pro-housing bill SB 79. This landmark achievement overrides local zoning statewide to allow more construction near transit stops. If Massachusetts were to pass an identical bill, what would Somerville’s zoning look like? 

Let’s use this nice summary of SB 79 to guide us for the number of stories allowed for a new construction: 

Which yields this map:

It would mean allowing buildings of 5 stories minimum within ½ mile of every transit stop in the city. Since Somerville is so transit-rich, that would cover over 80% of the city. And due to the red and orange lines, a significant portion would be over 6 stories. SB 79 does give an extra bonus to sites adjacent to transit stops. Somerville has done similar at Assembly and Union Square, but that type of zoning is unevenly applied across the city.

SB 79 ends up being pretty similar in concept to Cambridge’s recent citywide 4-to-6-story upzoning combined with their planned corridor upzoning. This shows a growing consensus that modern housing plans should combine a broad base for transit-rich areas with extra height in the areas closest to transit.