Tom Dougherty Appointed Special Counsel for Milton
Dougherty, who is one of the best attorneys in the country, is expected to file a brief on behalf of Milton regarding its MBTA Communities zoning. He is working pro bono for the town.
Tom Dougherty, the retired Harvard-trained Skadden Arps partner and former clerk for Stephen J. Breyer, has been appointed special counsel for the Town of Milton. Dougherty will work on a pro bono basis.
The news follows a two-hour joint executive session of the Milton Select Board and Planning Board on the afternoon of Friday, June 20.
Dougherty has proposed filing a request for a declaratory judgment regarding Milton’s status under MBTA Communities regulations.
The regulations list Milton as a rapid transit community with a requirement to allow for dense, multifamily zoning equivalent to 25% of the town’s current housing stock.
Dougherty has long maintained that the town is actually an adjacent community because it is within a half mile of a commuter rail station and because the Milton Trolley is not rapid transit.
The court is now expected to settle the dispute.
Dougherty filed an influential brief in the Attorney General v. Milton case.
The town will still submit the 25% plan that passed at a recent town meeting to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and the Attorney General’s office.
