Marlborough Council approves 276-unit Wood Partners mixed-use permit at Lincoln and Mechanic

MARLBOROUGH — July 25, 2022 — Marlborough Council approves Wood Partners' 276-unit Lincoln Street project 8-1. The City Council granted a special permit to Alta Marlborough LLC for a mixed-use development with 10,074 square feet of ground-floor retail, 276 dwelling units and a 448-space garage at Lincoln and Mechanic streets, subject to 18 conditions including 10 percent affordable units in perpetuity. Members tightened the permit before voting, replacing "may engage" with "shall engage" in the developer-funded traffic peer-review clause after At-Large Councilor Laura Perlman objected to the discretionary language, and rewriting the green-design condition to require all-electric residential units while letting retail tenants use gas under a "best efforts" standard. At-Large Councilor Mark A. Oram cast the lone no, arguing "276 units on 4.4 acres — that's a lot of density, that's a lot of cars," and that the council, not site plan review, is the only body that can cut unit counts if traffic fails. Councilor Steven Dumas recused; Public Services Chair Donald Landis was absent. The council separately set an Aug. 22 public hearing on the WP Marlborough Wolcott Heritage Farms remand from Land Court.