Proposed Zoning Changes May Be Game Changer

The city's newest proposed zoning map is just a few steps from reality, but putting political and financial ramifications for the city aside, the average resident should expect to see a slow but steady revitalization of the downtown area over the next few years.

City leaders have been entrenched in a battle to update the city's 33-year-old zoning map, crumpling up proposals and bickering at City Council meetings for over four years. Earlier this month the latest proposal passed through the Committee of the Whole as well as the City Council and is now slated for public hearing next month.

So Much of the same in most areas, but the focus on improving the downtown will be the most significant change.

Community Development and Planning Director Karen Sawyer was instrumental in creating and submitting the latest zoning change proposal. She says the effort is now headed in the right direction in part because those involved were able to put politics aside and compromise on what was best for the city.

"There are three interrelated items that are at the forefront to this city. There is the zoning, the flood mitigation efforts and then it is making a more vibrant, safe, user friendly downtown," she said. "It is easy to get hung up on tackling any one of these, but you have to understand the components are all related. What we were able to do with the zoning is take something that has been sitting on a shelf for years and now it is poised to pass through this spring.

"The political will to do this may not have been there previously. It is one thing to be working on something from a staff perspective, but it is another to realize that the City Council plays a critical role in seeing it through."

The most significant change to the map will come in the downtown area, where what was once a combination of light industrial and business central districts has now been rezoned to prevent both large industry and housing from increasing.

The corridor behind Main Street, including Caller Street and parts of Pulaski and Walnut Streets will now be zoned as either general business or general business downtown. This will allow any variety of business to come into the area provided there is no heavy trucking or high rise buildings built on the site.

"I heard a lot of talking from ward councilors that they were not comfortable with adding more housing downtown," said Sawyer. "There is some industrial use down there and there is some existing business that we wanted to keep. The challenge was coming up with zoning that works well with the current uses as well as guides the downtown where we want it to go. We don't want heavy trucking coming through downtown, and we don't have that now, but we needed to change the zoning so that we prevent it in the future."

Once the city effectively locked out the type of developments they did not want, they focused attention on adding wording to the zoning which provides guidelines for incoming business that will help shape its vision for downtown.

New businesses will be given guidelines for everything from building height to signage, parking, landscaping and outdoor decor. The city is also looking to raise its ban on outdoor dining in the downtown area in the hopes of bringing in some more attractive restaurant business.

"What we are saying to folks that want to build is that 'it should look like this,'" she said. "They are just guidelines. We aren't looking to add more bureaucracy to the projects, we just want to let designers know what they should expect."

In addition, Sawyer said the city is already starting to do its part to clean up and beautify its land downtown, adding new signs to parking areas and making sure land parcels are shoveled and cleaned.

"(Mayor Michael Bonfanti) has been working hard the past year to get businesses and land owners downtown to keep their land clean, move snow etc...," she said. "At some point I think we realized that we have to do that to our land, too."

The overall vision for downtown works in conjunction with flood mitigation. For instance, efforts are under way to add two culverts on Foster Street to force water underground and Sawyer said those efforts should come to fruition within the next 18 months.

Along with efforts to make sidewalks and parking more accessible, Sawyer said the city is also going ahead with a proposed river walk project along the North River that will help to beautify an older, more industrial part of the city.

Sawyer said the city has plans to explore turning land at 119 Rear Foster St. into a city park, one that would lead in to the River Walk. She said efforts will still be made to preserve the city's tanning past, and much of the history of the downtown area is intended to be preserved so that the city doesn't "try to be something it is not."

"This is not going to be an overnight change, the zoning may take a while to bear fruit," she said. "But it will show people what is to come and hopefully property owners and potential investors can see the investment we are making and do the same thing."

In other parts of the city, zoning will remain the same, aside from a few minor changes, including on Route 1 where the majority of work was done simply cleaning up zoning language and making it easier to understand what is and isn't allowed in that area. Now zoned entirely business general with one adult entertainment zone, Sawyer said Route 1 is in better shape, although some of the vacant lots can be challenging to fill.

"We have had a lot of tire kicking on lots up there over the past 14 months, so you really learn a lot about the land up there," she said. "Some areas are tough because you can't see the property lines from the highway."

For the most part, zoning changes should not affect homeowners in the city. Homes that are already standing in the downtown area zoned general business will remain, but new investors will not be allowed to build housing in the future.

"We weren't looking to overhaul the zoning, we were looking to fine tune it," she said. "People are going to pass through Peabody. What we want is for them to have a reason to stay here- more than one reason to stay here."