Municipalities must comply with a controversial transit-oriented housing law in order to receive state grant money for firefighter safety equipment, a change fire chiefs around Massachusetts said they only found out about within the past day.
In an email to fire chiefs Wednesday, State Fire Marshall Jon Davine notified them of “an additional required change to eligibility requirements” for the fiscal year 2025 firefighter safety equipment grant program, according to a copy of the message obtained by the Herald.
A document attached to Davine’s email listed special conditions that applicants for the grant program must comply with before receiving dollars.
The section included a bullet point highlighted in yellow that said “receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the … MBTA Communities Act.”
“Please see the attached revision of the Notice of Funding Opportunity, which was initially issued on Sept. 19, 2024, and previously amended on Nov. 12, 2024,” Davine said in the email. “Please be advised that we are working diligently with our oversight agencies to finalize this year’s awards, make the appropriate notifications, and distribute the associated contracts. We will update you as soon as more information becomes available.”
Duxbury Fire Chief Robert Reardon said he learned about the requirement from Davine’s email and was “disappointed” that grant dollars for fire safety equipment would be tied to cities and towns’ compliance with the MBTA Communities Act, a closely-watched law that survived a court challenge this month.
In an interview with the Herald, Reardon said the Duxbury Fire Department relies on federal, state, and local grants to provide critical equipment to firefighters, including rapid intervention air packs which help firefighters who are trapped or injured in burning buildings.
“In no way am I trying to politically smear anybody,” he said. “I'm just trying to come up with a resolution where we can equip our firefighters with needed equipment.”
He said state officials have not yet denied the grant money for the Duxbury Fire Department even though the town voted in the fall to reject an effort to comply with the housing law, which requires cities and towns to zone at least one district near a transit hub for multi-family housing.
Reardon said if Duxbury sends a letter within 30 days saying that it will comply with the law, then fire officials will be able to receive the grant money.
A spokesperson for Healey said the requirement to comply with the zoning law has been on award letters for discretionary grant programs for the past year.
There are new deadlines in the wake of a Supreme Judicial Court decision that upheld the law but struck down regulations laying out the implementation of the statute.
The Healey administration has not denied any fire safety grants, the spokesperson said, and communities have until Feb. 13 to submit a plan to come into compliance with the law.
The spokesperson said the administration is reviewing the status of the fire safety grants in light of the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is committed to supporting local fire departments and working with communities to come into compliance with the MBTA Communities Law, which is an essential component of our efforts to make housing more affordable,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
This is a developing story…