Urban Affairs Committee recommends mixed-use zoning flexibility in neighborhood business district

MARLBOROUGH — June 1, 2022 — Marlborough committee advances zoning fix to unlock stalled Lincoln-Mechanic mixed-use project. The City Council's Urban Affairs and Housing Committee voted 5-0 on June 1 to recommend adding a new paragraph F to Chapter 650, Section 39, giving the council special-permit authority to vary dimensional, parking, design and landscaping rules for mixed-use projects in the neighborhood business district. The Planning Board had recommended the change 6-0 on May 23, citing a parcel "problematic for the city for many years." Council President Michael Ossing said the language mirrors existing provisions in the Results Way, Apex hospitality and Forest residential districts and "puts it on us" to oversee project-specific relief. Counsel for the petitioners said a corner-lot site with double front setbacks and planned on-street parallel parking could not be designed under current rules. Councilor Donald Landers, citing a recent balloon test, said he was "quite impressed and quite pleased."