SAUGUS — A proposed zoning bylaw amendment that would require all future housing projects along Route 1 to set aside a percentage of space based on acreage for commercial use will be discussed at Thursday’s Planning Board meeting.
Amending various sections of Article 21: Business Highway Sustainable Development Zoning District of the Saugus Zoning By-Laws, Town Meeting member Joe Vecchione — who co-authored the amendment alongside Selectman Michael Serino — said the change is meant to balance Saugus’ ratio of residential to commercial buildings while eliminating vague language that could expose the town to bad development opportunities.
“The hope is to build more sustainably,” Vecchione said. “Route 1, especially in these developments, lacks public transit options, so every new unit is a new car on the road, which, in an overtaxed infrastructure like Route 1, can get troublesome real quick.”
Prior to a moratorium passed by Town Meeting two years earlier preventing the construction of multi-family dwellings of three or more units, Vecchione said there were simply too many residential housing developments popping up along the highway known primarily for its thriving commercial business scene.
“We’re trying to require a better mixing of uses,” he said. “For example, the Hilltop development was 92 percent residential and 8 percent commercial. Under our new bylaw, we require a minimum percentage of commercial use based on acreage.”
Serino said he was concerned Saugus would take a hit from the loss of tax money if the ratio of residential to commercial units became too disproportionate.
“What came to my mind was the loss of commercial taxpayers along Route 1,” he said. “The residential tax rate is $12 per $1,000, and commercial businesses are paying $25 per $1,000.”
Planning Board Chair Peter Rossetti added that a disproportionate number of housing units can put stress on a town’s resources by requiring the use of more municipal services.
“In that sense, (residential development) is not necessarily a good thing,” he said. “If you took 100 apartments and made them into one department store, the department store is generally open only 12 hours a day and doesn’t require after-hours town services, like police, fire, Department of Public Works, school systems, things like that.”
However, Rossetti said the amendment could also pose some drawbacks, noting that the new standards may scare potential developers away from Route 1.
“These days, the economics are not favoring the development of retail stuff, so if you’re a developer, you’re looking at Route 1, and you say ‘gee, if I build a hundred apartments, I have to have (a portion of that) as commercial,’” Rossetti said. “’Am I going to be able to rent it?’ If the answer to that is no, then maybe I don’t want to develop in Saugus.”
Vecchione argued the benefits of the amendment would ultimately outweigh the costs, and added that clarifying the bylaw’s language could actually help save the town from less-than-stellar development plans.
“It could actually prevent bad development opportunities from coming to Saugus, or (prevent) developers from taking advantage of our building code,” Vecchione said. “Before these amendments, there was no specificity. There was a lot of gray area. For example, there was no required mixing of uses, or much required of anything. The language is now a little more black and white to make sure that developers can’t circumvent the process and take advantage of a volunteer board, such as the Planning Board.
“Keeping too much open for interpretation was just not sustainable on our end.”
Following the Planning Board’s recommendations, the amendment will be voted on during the special Town Meeting scheduled for February 16.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
