Housing and Economic Development Director Alex Train held a wide-ranging discussion with the Planning Board about his department’s roles and responsibilities at last week’s board meeting.
One of the major areas of discussion was the status of the city’s plans to make changes to the zoning code.
“About a year ago, this department, in conjunction with community-based partners under the leadership of the Chelsea City Council, started a community education process concerning land use planning,” said Train.
Before the pandemic, Train noted that his department was working with the council on the completion of a Master Plan for the city, but that master planning process was waylaid as a result of the pandemic and some other conflicting priorities.
“Yet neighborhood zoning changes were still desired for a multitude of reasons,” said Train. “First and foremost, as many of you experience on a daily basis, neighborhoods across Chelsea are experiencing rampant displacement pressures. Rising housing and utility costs, coupled with declining housing conditions have stressed families and have priced a lot of folks outside of Chelsea.”
The community education process, Train said, is centered on the goal of stemming displacement and promoting housing opportunities for residents.
“We began a community education process that consisted of four workshops centered on zoning,” he said. “The first really was tailored to the history of zoning, particularly to some of the racist origins of land use policy and planning throughout the country as well as in Massachusetts. Then we segued into a discourse about residents’ visions for their neighborhoods, as well as education on the local process for adopting zoning.”
Since those meetings, the city has continued with a roundtable of community partners to synthesize the information and feedback garnered from that set of meetings, Train said. The city is looking to develop a city-wide anti-displacement strategy as a result of those meetings.
“We don’t have recommendations just yet, but over the course of this spring, summer, and fall, we will be holding an additional series of community meetings, resource workshops, focus groups, and other neighborhood engagement in order to develop both policy recommendations as well as new pilot projects that can help accomplish some of the goals that we heard in those first four workshops,” said Train.
The earliest any draft recommendations would come from that process would likely be in the fall, although Train said there could be additional meetings with the Planning Board in the summer to understand the objectives of the board and incorporate them into any future planning.
Planning Board member Sarah Elizabeth Neville asked about efforts to tighten the zoning code as it is to create a more equitable process for the city.
“There seems to be a big disconnect between the proposals we see and the zoning code as it exists,” she said. “People will often come to us looking for relief from a lot of things, and they just say look at all the other houses in the neighborhood, none of them meet the zoning code.”
Neville said that disconnect between the actual zoning code and what ends up being allowed can make for awkward negotiations for the board.
“Quite honestly, without a Master Plan as an overarching guide to form these decisions, it is increasingly difficult,” said Train. “One thing that we do quite frequently is neighborhood planning, so that we can center on specific geographic areas. Right now, we are about to endeavor to create a housing plan for the Shurtleff-Bellingham neighborhood, as well as some topic area plans like one for open space and recreation, which we will be updating this coming fiscal year.”
These more granular plans allow the city to produce many of the same recommendations informed by community input as would come across in a Master Plan, Train said.
“One thing that may be worth talking through and mulling over is how do we go through these planning efforts and the recommendations they yield to creating tools that the board would find helpful, and making sure that the objectives that are outlined in those plans can be front and center as you review proposals,” said Train.