Massachusetts voters Nov. 3 will decide Question 7, a statewide ballot measure that would allow single-family homes on lots of at least 5,000 square feet in residentially zoned areas, subject to reasonable local regulation.
According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s voter information, the lot would also need at least 50 feet of frontage on a street or public way and access to public sewer and water. Towns could still regulate height, setbacks, open space, parking and short-term rentals.
Town Planner Robert Hummel said the Planning Board has not discussed the measure because it is not yet law.
Wayland’s municipal wastewater system mainly serves the town center, extending west to Alta Oxbow and east to the library, which would limit the measure’s reach. The treatment plant’s capacity is limited by state Department of Environmental Protection permits for discharge to groundwater, through the leach field at Alta Oxbow, and to surface water, in the Sudbury River.
Wayland’s Single Residence District has four zones. Minimum lot sizes and frontages are 20,000 square feet with 120 feet of frontage; 30,000 square feet with 150 feet; 40,000 square feet with 180 feet; and 60,000 square feet with 210 feet. The zoning bylaw also lists multiple overlay districts that allow housing, each with its own restrictions. A 5,000-square-foot standard (0.11 acre) is a fraction of the town’s smallest current minimum. The median single-family lot is about 0.8 acre, or roughly 34,800 square feet.
Sixty percent of the single-family parcels in Wayland have an FY 2026 assessed land value greater than their FY 2026 assessed improvement value [the building]: 2,440 out of 4,089 single-family parcels. The assessor’s total database lists 5,684 parcels of which 678 are condominiums. As of October 2026, the median list price in Wayland was $1.13 million across 54 active listings, according to BMNBoston.com, a brokerage that draws on MLS listings.
The federal fiscal 2026 median family income for the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area for a four-person household is $164,600.The income-restricted units in a Chapter 40B development must be reserved for households earning no more than 80% of area median income, adjusted for household size. The HUD income limit at 80% of area median income adjusted for a two-person household is $109,700.
As a rough estimate of an upper limit of affordability, a two-person household at the 80% AMI limit could afford a Wayland home costing about $305,000. That assumes housing costs of no more than 28% of gross income, a 7.3% rate on a 30-year fixed loan, and estimated property tax, insurance and mortgage insurance. It also assumes a 10% down payment, about $30,500, plus closing costs of 2% to 5%.
No estimate is offered in the secretary of the commonwealth’s voter information arguments for the ballot question from Wesley Lima of Legalize Starter Homes of what a house built on a smaller lot might sell for.
