Urban Affairs sends Lazotte overlay and Donald Lynch district to council

MARLBOROUGH -- June 24, 2024, Marlborough Urban Affairs advances Lazotte condo overlay and Donald Lynch district in twin 5-0 votes. The committee recommended a new overlay covering 18 acres on three parcels controlled by a Ferris Development affiliate, allowing up to 250 multi-family condominium units by special permit, with parking raised from one to 1.5 spaces per unit and contractor's yards prohibited once the residential use is triggered. Attorney Brian Falk of Mirick O'Connell said the plan adds "no new impervious" surface, repurposing "an unused sea of parking" around a long-vacant office building. The committee separately recommended a Donald Lynch Boulevard District, the city's 15th, to reshape the Solomon Pond Mall corridor; a motion to lift residential parking there to 1.5 spaces failed after Council President Michael Ossing said his "goal is to eliminate asphalt, not add asphalt." Both items go to the July 22 council; the Lazotte deadline is that night.