Framingham, MA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Framingham's inclusionary housing ordinance, City Code § 435-35, requires any development of 10 or more dwelling units on contiguous parcels to set aside at least 13% of units as affordable housing units (AHU), with 2% of that 13% reserved for households at or below 60% of area median income. Subsection F, the density bonus provision, gives smaller residential projects that don't trigger the 13% mandate a separate incentive: a special permit granted by the Planning Board, sitting as the special permit granting authority, lets an applicant add one AHU for every four market-rate units.

To qualify, the project needs a minimum of four residential building lots that are already allowed by right under the base zoning. Once approved, each of the five lots in a four-market-rate-plus-one-AHU grouping can shrink by 20% in lot area, provided every other dimensional standard in the Table of Dimensional Regulations at § 435-27B, such as frontage, height and yard setbacks, is still met. The reduction scales with the ratio: a project with seven lots gets only five of them the 20% cut, since two lots fall outside a qualifying four-to-one grouping, while a ten-lot project with eight market-rate units and two AHUs qualifies all ten lots for the reduction.

Every AHU created under the density bonus, like every AHU under the base ordinance, must be sold or rented to a qualified income-eligible household under DHCD's Local Initiative Program guidelines, sited so it isn't clustered in the development's least desirable spots, and built with exterior materials and finishes indistinguishable from the market-rate units around it.