Lynn Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance
December 2nd at 4:21pm.
Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson submitted an inclusionary zoning ordinance proposal to the City Council. The ordinance would apply to any multifamily or mixed-use development, any development that changes an existing nonresidential unit to a residential use, or any subdivision of land where two or more additional residential units are created.
Development projects in the Central Business District, Waterfront District, and the Greater Lynn District (all areas of Lynn not in the Central Business District and the Waterfront District) that fits the above project criteria must comply with the following affordability requirements:
- No less than 10% of the dwelling units shall be affordable to a household with income at or below 60% of the area median income as set by HUD
- In the instance a fraction of a lot or a dwelling unit resulting from the affordability requirement, the fractional unit should be rounded up to the nearest whole number (or fraction can be paid using an in-lieu of cash payment)
Developers can apply for a special permit from the Lynn City Council to contribute a cash payment to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in lieu of providing on-site affordable units. The in-lieu of payment will be calculated using the “value gap” method. The “value gap” method takes the market rate rent minus the affordable rate rent and divides it by the capitalization rate (annual net operating income divided by current value of the property).
In the Downtown/Waterfront District the in-lieu of payment is the “value gap” multiplied by 1.2 to capture “market premium existing in those districts”. In the Greater Lynn District, the in-lieu of payment is simply the amount calculated using the “value gap” method.
The Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce is holding a meeting with Mayor Jared Nicholson as a special guest on Wednesday, December 7th to discuss the proposed ordinance. An NSR staff member will be in attendance to learn about the ordinance and to represent the Association’s commitment to private property rights.
