Planning board recommends approval of West Chelsea overlay district
By Adam Swift
Following a public hearing last week, the planning board recommended approval of the West Chelsea Mixed-Use Overlay District to the city council.
In addition to recommending the overlay district, which aims to spur development to the area near the Market Basket plaza and better connect the area to the downtown – the board also recommended that the council take input from the city and residents for a more historically appropriate name for the district.
The overlay district area is generally bounded by the Chelsea-Everett border, Second Street, and the Route 1 Memorial Highway. It would allow for dense mixed-use development by-right, emphasizing an engaging pedestrian experience, active ground-floor uses, and walkability, especially along “primary pedestrian streets,” according to city officials.
“One of the major pillars coming out of the master plan is creating a framework for growth, and this framework for growth would be oriented around attracting and managing new growth that really brings benefits and serves the interest of our community,” said Will Cecio of the city’s permitting and land use planning department. “Most of the goals coming out of the master plan require either building and attracting new development – whether that is new housing, new businesses, new job sources – or investing in programs and services which increases the demand and pressure on the city budget. That means growth is not the end, but it can become a means to generate the resources that we need to invest in the vision and the goals that our community has identified.”
The overlay district plan is about cultivating a healthy mix of commercial development, market rate housing, and deed-restricted affordable rate housing that builds a healthy tax base that helps fund all the services and programs the city needs, according to Cecio.
The overlay district would allow for dense mixed-use development by right, emphasizing an engaging pedestrian experience, active ground-floor uses, and walkability, especially along “primary pedestrian streets,” according to city officials.
Housing density is regulated through dimensional controls, including floor area ratio (FAR), building height, and maximum lot coverage. All developments will be required to provide usable open space, with larger developments required to provide publicly accessible open space. An inclusionary zoning requirement will ensure a portion of housing units will be affordable.
The ordinance will eliminate minimum parking requirements and instead implement a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips and encourage alternative forms of mobility. Additional site and design standards will require buildings to be oriented close to the sidewalk, incorporate transparent facades with frequent entrances, and utilize a varied building massing so that larger structures read as multiple buildings. This amendment promotes transit-oriented development, multi-family housing, and expanded employment opportunities.
Cecio noted that while the zoning would eliminate minimum parking requirements, that does not necessarily mean there would be developments totally void of parking, rather it would encourage sensible parking for the designated use. He added that parking would likely be required for loans when developers try to get projects financed.
Several planning board members said they would like to see the parking requirements in the district tied into a larger conversation and reworking of parking requirements throughout the city.
Grove Street resident Stacy Smith said she appreciated the level of development and new urban environment that the overlay district will bring into Chelsea. She also urged city officials not to look past the history of the area, which was largely decimated by the Great Fire of 1973.
“The one thing that stuck out to me tonight is the verbiage when we say we have a missing city or the space was underused,” said Smith. “Prior to the 1973 fire, that district was highly populated with my family and many other families that were burned out of the area. There were funds that were promised specifically for more housing in the district.”
Smith said it was disheartening to her and many others to hear the area referred to as West Chelsea without a sense of its past history.
Commandants Way resident Eddie Gaffney said he would like to see the district take in more of the area close to where a new professional soccer stadium is planned to be built in Everett. He also said he had concerns about pedestrian safety in the area.