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Beverly Zoning Amendments

Posted on
December 13th at 4:36pm.

Beverly Director of Planning and Development, Darlene Wynn, presented a proposal at last week’s City Council meeting that would restrict the height allowance of new buildings in the Cabot Street Corridor (CC2 District) to four stories. An additional proposal was to eliminate the tall building overlay district. The tall building overlay district allows developers to apply for a special permit to increase the height allowance from 55 feet to 75 feet in a section of Rantoul Street.

This proposal comes after City Councilor Matt St. Hillaire called on the city to cap the building height on all new construction in Beverly to three stories. Councilor St. Hillaire cited the proposed five-story residential development at the Dollar Tree property on Cabot Street as the inspiration for proposed the height limit.

In addition, Beverly is considering amending the inclusionary zoning ordinance. Please see the current inclusionary zoning ordinance below and the proposed changes (in bold):

  • Applicability: A project with 6 (amended to 4) or more units is required to provide affordable (or Inclusionary) units.
  • Housing Affordability: Projects requiring affordable units are allowed to provide those units in one of three ways:
    • (1) 12% of units affordable to a household with income at or below 80% of the AMI (only option available to developers)
    • (2) 8% of units affordable to a household with income at or below 60% of the AMI (option no longer available to developers)
    • (3) 10% of dwelling units affordable to a household where 1/2 of the required affordable units for households with income at or below 60% of AMI and the other 1/2 for households with income at or below 80% of AMI (option no longer available to developers)
  • Methods for providing affordable units: Allows a proponent to provide off-site units with a Special Permit (off-site units no longer an allowed alternative)

The proposed zoning ordinance amendments will be discussed at a Planning Department Meeting on Tuesday, December 13th. After the Planning Department meeting, future City Council public hearings will be held.

Updates will be posted on the NSR Blog.