While the City of Newton is expected to appeal a state ruling disputing claims of having reached the 40B threshold, the Town of Needham has found a different way to keep developers from using the affordable housing law to build projects at unsuitable locations, the Needham Times reports.

 The project would add 400 units to the town’s affordable housing stock, increasing it to include more than 11 percent of all housing in town. This would satisfy the 10-percent state requirement and exempt Needham from the state’s 40B law, which allows developers who plan to include a percentage of affordable units in their multi-family housing plans to bypass local zoning bylaws.

… “We’re supporting this,” [Selectman Chair John] Bulian said about the 40B proposal. “We think this is a good project for the business center.”