SWAMPSCOTT — Town Meeting members will be asked to approve a zoning change in May, which could bring a hotel or inn to the historic downtown.
The zoning article is sponsored by the Planning Board, which will hold a public hearing on the proposed change on Monday.
Town Meeting approved a new Tourist Lodging Overlay District last May, which was meant to encourage the development of hotels, motels, inns and bed & breakfast establishments. Part of that zoning change included revising the regulations and definitions of those tourist lodging establishments, reads a warrant article.
Now that the overlay and regulations/definitions have been approved and updated, the Planning Board would like to extend those uses within the historic downtown, which is included in the Humphrey Street Overlay District, the article reads.
If the zoning change is approved, hotels, inns and bed & breakfast establishments would be allowed anywhere in the Humphrey Street Overlay District by special permit, according to Peter Kane, director of community development.
There is currently only one bed & breakfast in town, which is on Humphrey Street, and there are no hotels, motels or inns.
The tourist lodging overlay district approved last year includes the portion of Humphrey Street from the Lynn line to the monument. There are also the properties on the east side of Puritan Road, opposite Sandy Beach. The properties are in the neighborhoods that abut King’s Beach and Fisherman’s Beach, and were chosen so they would be adjacent to or across from water, with easy access to beaches, Kane said.
Last year, officials said the tourist lodging overlay district was meant to make Swampscott more of a tourist destination again.
“They’re identified as prime locations should the business decide to locate an establishment like that, but it’s not exclusive. They’re not the only areas,” Kane said referring to the tourist lodging and Humphrey Street Overlay District.
The Humphrey Street Overlay District includes Humphrey Street, considered the historic downtown, from the Monument all the way east almost to Commonwealth Avenue. It also includes properties on Blaney Street and Blaney Circle, along with Hadley Elementary School, Kane said.
Current zoning allows for hotels and inns on the commercially zoned properties in the Humphrey Street Overlay District, but the zoning change would allow for the establishments on residential properties by special permit. Bed & breakfasts are already allowed on any residentially zoned property in town and on the B-1 commercial district properties by special permit. The Humphrey Street district includes B-1 and residential properties.
But even with the change, motels would still not be allowed on residential properties in the overlay district — the Planning Board has historically stipulated that motels shouldn’t be allowed on residential properties because of their higher turnover because of people staying over for shorter periods. But motels would be allowed on commercial properties in the overlay district by special permit, Kane said.
He said last year when the town adopted the tourist lodging overlay district, which abuts the Humphrey Street district, officials set regulations to better define the hotels, motels, inns, and bed & breakfast establishments, and the limitations that could be set for those type of uses. Those limitations included a restriction on the number of rooms, length of stay, and what types of ancillary support elements could be used for each type of lodging establishment, such as whether they could have cafes.
Kane said those uses that have been modified for the tourist lodging overlay district would also be allowed in the Humphrey Street Overlay District. Kane said the special permit process would also be delineated, whether it’s the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals, depending on if the underlying zoning is residential or commercial.
“What this proposal is about is to identify what the special permit process is for hotels, motels, inns and bed & breakfasts within the Humphrey Street Overlay District and reference the regulations made last year as part of the tourist lodging overlay district,” Kane said.
