Beverly Zoning Changes Sweep Through City Council

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly zoning ordinances restricting the heights of new downtown construction and adding affordable housing requirements to new housing projects all passed the City Council Monday night after months of public hearings and debate.

The ordinances eliminate the seven-story "tall building overlay" district on Rantoul Street, create a new zoning district and restrict new building heights on and near Cabot Street, and require 12 percent of units in new housing construction of six units or more be offered at 60 percent of market value.

The votes followed all the recommendations of the City Council Legal Affairs Committee from two weeks ago on the city planning and development office's proposals in Order 297A ago, including one that voted down a proposal that would have lowered the number of units in new construction that triggers the affordability threshold from six units to four.

While the inclusionary zoning changes related to affordability passed quickly and unanimously, there was significant debate over the height restrictions during the three-hour Special City Council meeting. While most Councilors said the restrictions — in conjunction with new proposed citywide design standards — will help curb overdevelopment and preserve the unique character of downtown, Councilor Hannah Bowen, who opposed both the height restrictions, said that they would not accomplish the stated goals while they could limit affordable housing opportunities and send a message — whether intentional or not — to business and potential new residents that they were not welcomed downtown.

Bowen argued that many of the desired aspects of the zoning change could be accomplished through the forthcoming citywide design standards.

"If we limit heights on Cabot Street we are limiting housing production downtown," Bowen said. "We are bringing fewer people downtown to a walkable district, fewer people to support all the coffee shops and the vibrancy, less activity on our historic main street, a less-active main street. Our main street business and neighbors have asked us not to do that.

"If we do that, as a Council, then we as a Council are responsible for that decision. I am not comfortable voting for those limits."

Ward 6 City Councilor Matt St. Hilaire, who this past fall proposed a blanket three-story limit for all new construction across the city, withdrew that proposal on Monday night after what he called the "compromise" of the new height-limiting zoning measures.

"I heard comments that my proposal was too simplistic, that it was radical and not well-thought-out," St. Hilaire said. "To those folks, I just want to say that I think you are missing the point. The goal of my proposal was to spark a conversation about the future vision of the downtown and our city. In that, it's been pretty successful.

"I think our time to act is now," he later added. "I introduced my ordinance changes in September. Here we are now in the middle of February. And we are still talking about it. We have to vote on what we have in front of us. We may never have a perfect proposal and that's part of the process.

"Let's take some action while we can. Let's have some urgency on this."

Councilor Scott Housemen had proposed some additional height restrictions in the new "CC2" district on Cabot Street that were defeated in a 7-2 vote. He also joined Bowen in voting to keep the tall building overlay district.

While Ward 5 Councilor Kathleen Feldman supported the changes downtown she said these changes must be part of a bigger design standard discussion citywide. Several Councilors also said they were in support of Councilor Bowen's ordinance proposal allowing accessory-dwelling units — or so-called "in-law apartments" — that is currently in committee as a way to add more affordable housing in the city.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)