Other Peabody News:
Fitzgerald heads to New Hampshire for town manager job
Warning label handed to PVMHS
70 Endicott could be kept as open space
Children's Hospital announces new location in Centennial Park
Council approves zoning changes downtown
by John Castelluccio
PEABODY – Ward 2 Councilor Arthur Athas has proposed changes to some
residential zoning uses in the city’s central business (BC) district,
which city officials actually agree with. Throughout the past three years
of rezoning talks, Athas has been one of the most vocal opponents of the city’s
plans for the downtown area.
Athas now wants to restrict multiple family dwellings and rooming houses
in BC zones by special permit, whereas both uses are currently allowed by
right. The only other residential uses allowed in the BC district are public
housing for the elderly and for low-moderate income individuals, which also
require special permits from the City Council.
“Such changes…would allow for more input and oversight of development
in the downtown area,” Athas wrote in a letter to the council. He added
on Thursday that the change was in line with the city’s plans and would
protect neighborhoods such as Park Street where the city is trying to attract
developers to rehabilitate two buildings that were foreclosed on. Athas said
it would address fears that the two abutting historic buildings could be demolished
and multi-story complexes erected by right to replace them.
Councilors approved the changes with little comment and Mayor Michael Bonfanti
wrote to councilors that the change is one he has always favored. Councilors
discussed a clause last fall to regulate residential uses in the BC district
by special permit, as city officials suggested.
The existing BC zones are mainly downtown along the length of Main Street
with several stretches of BC property on Walnut, Central, Foster and Lowell
streets. Much of the land surrounding those areas is zoned for industrial
uses and multiple-family residences.
As discussion on rezoning stalled last fall as councilors reached an impasse
over what to do with the downtown and city elections came and went, Bonfanti
urged the new council to resume that discussion over the summer. Ward 3 Councilor
Rico Mello, who chairs the Industrial & Community Development subcommittee
and has been another strong opponent to the city’s plans, obliged the
mayor and eventually offered his own proposal for the light industrial (IL)
zoned land in the downtown. Mello’s plan would convert it all to a Commercial
District (CD) rather than BC, as the city’s plans call for.
Assistant Director of Planning Blair Haney offered an analysis of the proposal
to the council, in which he said it would affect 60 IL parcels from Main to
Tremont streets, allowing mixed uses that the city wants, just not residential
ones. He also said the plan could have unintended consequences, as it would
eliminate 32 commercial uses in that area while only adding eight that are
now prohibited. The new uses include hospitals, nursing homes, museums, cemeteries,
daycare centers, community centers, retail liquor stores, bars with live entertainment,
funeral homes, car washes and broadcasting stations; but those eliminated
would include commercial laundry operations, outdoor auto sales and storage,
warehouses, wholesaling operations and other storage facilities.
“The purpose to rezone certain vacant and underutilized parcels from
one business district to another business district is to spur economic growth
as well as job growth, improve public safety [and] attract better uses,” Haney
wrote.
He pointed out that the plan reduces building height to two stories and
could stagnate growth as bank lenders may see the development costs as too
high for the final projects. He added that allowing four-story buildings,
as outlined in rezoning plans, still restricts “big-box” high-rises
while presenting options to developers.
Haney also said hotel and motel uses would be eliminated in a CD zone,
which could be a viable option downtown as more than 700,000 tourists visit
Salem daily and only a handful of lodging options are available in the neighboring
city.
“For example, the council may wish to consider if Peabody should serve
the tourism and business traveler market with a mid-range priced downtown hotel
to provide a ‘people-generator’ for the local restaurants and shops,” Haney
wrote. The concept of a “people-generator” or commercial anchor
for the downtown has been batted about throughout rezoning talks, but has remained
vague. Community Development Director Jean Delios showed councilors in September
a potential option for an anchor that looked like a mini-mixed use mall. A
design sketch of the building included parking, a theater, shops and housing
above.
And that has been the end of the discussion in recent months; neither Haney’s
response nor Mello’s plan has been taken up in committee.
Mello said last week that it was incumbent upon the council as a whole
to take up rezoning again, but said he hopes to resume the discussion in committee
soon, noting that it has been busy lately with other important issues.
In an interview earlier this spring, Mello candidly aired his criticisms
of the city’s plans.
He believes the concept of mixed-use in a residential/commercial scheme
doesn’t work and the only people it might attract are not looking to
settle in Peabody for very long, which would be difficult for rental owners
to deal with. He said mixed-use fails on another count, since the proposed
BC district doesn’t require it, but only encourages it.
“Nobody in their right mind is going to build mixed-use if they can build
residential,” he said.
He feels the city’s plans will ultimately shrink the commercial base
and cause a budget crisis, as more developers will opt to convert old industrial
land into condos instead of mixed-use office and commercial buildings. Mello
said industries and commercial uses should be increased instead, which he
believes will equal economic vitality rather than increasing the population
in the downtown with more housing.
“We have a population already that’s adequate to revitalize the
downtown,” he said, adding that the area just needs to be made friendlier
to pedestrians.
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