Marlborough council passes mixed-use zoning rewrite and $700,000 employee stipend

MARLBOROUGH — March 13, 2023 — Marlborough City Council approves 1% employee stipend 8-3 and ordains mixed-use zoning rewrite in one night. The council voted 8-3 to transfer $700,000 from undesignated funds for a non-pensionable 1 percent stipend on city employees' base salaries, with Ward 5 Councilor John J. Irish moving approval and Ward 2 Councilor David Doucette pressing to confirm overtime was excluded. On unanimous Finance Committee recommendations, councilors approved $1,643,050 in mid-year fiscal 2023 transfers and raised the senior citizen property tax work-off deduction from $1,000 to $1,500. At-Large Councilor Kathleen D. Robey then walked Chapter 650 mixed-use and affordable housing amendments through all four ordinance stages in a single evening, 11-0 at each step, after the City Solicitor advised that area-median-income clauses would require a separate public hearing. The 57 Main Street JW Capital Partners site plan review was extended to April 27 on a 10-0-1 vote.