Urban Affairs sends downtown zoning rewrite to full council on 3-1 vote

MARLBOROUGH -- July 17, 2023, Urban Affairs advances Marlborough Village District zoning rewrite on 3-1 vote. The City Council's Urban Affairs and Housing Committee voted Monday to send a Chapter 650 rewrite to the full council July 24, capping downtown buildings at four stories or 60 feet and striking the current special-permit allowance for seven stories and 85 feet. Hotels and hotels with conference facilities will remain allowed by special permit after Councilor David Doucet argued the council should "see what they're trying to do" rather than prohibit them outright. The draft also requires brick on all ground floors, bars materials "designed to imitate brick, for example faux brick," and allows thin brick veneer, precast concrete panels, flex brick and GFRC panels above. Doucet cast the lone "no," saying he wanted a clean consolidated draft reviewed in committee first. Chair Kathleen Robey, Councilors Sean Navin and Laura Wagner voted yes.