Watertown is compliant with the MBTA Communities Act. The City Council adopted compliant Watertown Square zoning on November 14, 2024, allowing multifamily housing by right in the Watertown Square area, and the state recognized the city as compliant on April 9, 2025. The state required Watertown to zone for a capacity of 1,701 units. For owners and investors, it can expand what you are allowed to build on a Watertown parcel.

What is Watertown's MBTA 3A zoning?

Watertown meets the MBTA Communities Act through the zoning it adopted for the Watertown Square area, which the City Council approved unanimously on November 14, 2024, and which the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities recognized as compliant on April 9, 2025. As an adjacent community, Watertown was required to zone for a capacity of 1,701 multifamily units, about 10 percent of its housing stock. The zoning allows multifamily housing as of right in the Watertown Square district, meaning qualifying projects no longer need a special permit.

Which parts of Watertown are in the district?

The new zoning concentrates by right multifamily in the Watertown Square area, the dense, walkable commercial center the city chose to focus new housing around. Because the boundaries are parcel specific and some lots are excluded, the only reliable way to know if a given property is in the district is to check it against the city's adopted zoning map. Send us the address and we will look it up.

What can you build under it?

Inside the district, multifamily housing is allowed by right at the densities the zoning sets, a meaningful change from the special permit process that previously governed much of the Square, where many lots still hold tire shops, gas stations, and small retail. That can turn a parcel that previously required a special permit for housing into one where a multifamily building is permitted as of right. The exact unit count depends on the lot and the district rules, so each parcel needs its own analysis.

What does this mean for Watertown owners and investors?

If your parcel sits in the district, your development potential, and therefore your value, may be higher than the old zoning implied. What that means depends on who you are:

• Investors: Watertown Square is one of the clearest by right redevelopment opportunities in the corridor, a dense center moments from Cambridge and Boston where housing is now allowed by right.
• Sellers: it is worth knowing whether your lot carries this upside before you price it, since it can change what a buyer will pay.
• Owners holding long term: the added development rights can sit on your balance sheet as future optionality even if you never build.

We run that analysis before clients buy, sell, or hold.

How do I find out if my Watertown property qualifies?

There are two ways to check, in order of speed:

1. Send us the address and we will confirm whether it falls in the district and what that allows, usually same day.
2. Or check it yourself against Watertown's adopted Watertown Square zoning map, published by the city, and look up whether your parcel is inside a district boundary.

Written by Ethan Piani-Hohmann, broker and founder of PH Realty Group, a Greater Boston brokerage focused on multifamily and investment property. Last updated May 2026