Representative Kasner testified before the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business in favor of H.2302, legislation to expand eligibility for priority development site designation under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 43D.

Kasner told the committee the Chapter 43D program provides an interagency process and an expedited local permitting window — typically described as 180 days — which can help move housing and infrastructure projects more quickly, and argued the tool is underused: “Today, less than a 100 of our 351 communities have sites listed as priority development sites,” she said.

The bill would broaden which locally‑identified sites qualify for priority designation by accepting sites already identified through established public planning processes — for example master plans, housing needs assessments and capital improvement plans — rather than requiring a separate town‑meeting designation in every case. Kasner told the committee that the change is intended to respect local public consensus while reducing duplicative procedural hurdles that can delay projects for several years.

She also proposed making priority infrastructure projects — water, roads and bridges — eligible for the designation and stressed the program’s ties to other state tools such as the Interagency Permitting Board and MassWorks infrastructure funding. Committee members asked whether the proposal makes it easier or harder to obtain a 43D designation; Kasner said it would make designation easier for communities that have already completed public planning processes.

No vote or formal committee action occurred during the hearing.

Representative Kasner said she has filed related bills on site plan review, land‑use board training and other permitting improvements to work in tandem with an expanded 43D program.