Marlborough City Council enacts 90-day multifamily housing moratorium

MARLBOROUGH — July 19, 2021 — Marlborough City Council suspends rules to pass a 90-day multifamily housing moratorium through Oct. 17. The 11-0 ordinance, sponsored by At-Large Councilor Kathleen D. Robey after consultations with Mayor Arthur Vigeant, gives the city solicitor time to seek formal Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development guidance on whether multifamily zoning changes now require a simple majority or two-thirds council vote under recent state law — including the MBTA Communities provision Robey called a "missing piece for us." The council also approved a $213,852 PEG-funds transfer to launch the OpenGov permitting platform, accepted into the file Urban Affairs' 3-1 recommendation to deny the 188-unit Volaris Marlborough proposal at 339 Boston Post Road East (Robey the lone no), and signed off 11-0 on a Chick-fil-A canopy redesign at 36 Apex Drive after the company agreed to install electric rather than natural-gas heaters. Public hearings on a Raising Cane's drive-through at 141 Boston Post Road West and an X-Golf indoor simulator and bar at 229 Boston Post Road West were referred to Urban Affairs.