Urban Affairs Committee backs doubling Forest Park overlay cap to 950 units

MARLBOROUGH -- June 14, 2023, Marlborough committee backs doubling Forest Park apartment cap to 950 units. The Urban Affairs Committee voted 4-0 on June 14 to recommend amending Chapter 650-36 to lift the Executive Residential Overlay District ceiling from 475 to 950 units, clearing the runway for Post Road Residential's Phase 3 and Phase 4. Developer Andy Montelli said the build-out would make the project "by far the largest taxpayer in the city," ahead of TJX and current leader Avalon, and reported just five police incidents and four fire calls between January and late May. The Planning Board recommended favorably 6-0 on June 5. The committee then worked section-by-section through a separate ordinance rewriting affordable-housing tiers at 12 percent of units, doubling the downtown parking buyout to $20,000 per space and rolling back a seven-story height exception, without taking a vote.