SAUGUS — Town Meeting put a stop to multi-family development for the next two years, despite trepidation from the Planning Board.
A section will be added to the town’s bylaws that temporarily prohibits new building permits from being issued for the construction of multi-family dwellings with three or more units.
“The reason for this temporary moratorium is that the town is experiencing an unanticipated increase in the construction of multi-family dwellings,” read the warrant.
Because of this, there will be an analysis and study to determine the impact of the construction on “police, fire, and emergency public safety, the school district, the water, sewer, and roadway infrastructure, and the safety of the general public.”
The Planning Board previously voted 3 to 1 not to recommend the moratorium to the body because of concerns with the language, said chairman Peter Rossetti.
“All board members did support the concept of the moratorium, but were undecided as far as wording,” said Rossetti.
“There’s too much residential being built in town,” said Town Meeting member Michael Serino, who proposed an amendment to the language that protects existing projects being constructed in phases, such as Route 1’s Essex Landing.
The amendment passed unanimously.
“We need to take a step back and breathe in and look at our bylaws again,” said Serino.
Member Martin Costello asked whether the amendment would ease the concerns of the Planning Board, but Rossetti said he was only one member and couldn’t speak for the others.
“There was a concern about existing projects,” he said. “There was also a concern that it is something for Town Meeting to decide, not the Planning Board because the Planning Board is not a policy-making board.”
Units slated to open include 245 apartments at the former Golf Country site, 250 at Essex Landing, and 280 units at AvalonBay Communities, the former site of the Hilltop Steakhouse.
If approved, Saugus Ridge, a 40 B development proposed near Prankers Pond, would add 300 more apartments. That’s more than 800 new units on Route 1 alone.
