SAUGUS — Residents and elected officials offered suggestions and feedback on Precinct 2 Town Meeting member Joe Vecchione’s proposed zoning overlay for Cliftondale Square that would allow for the construction of new housing in the area for the first time in decades.
Wednesday evening’s forum was the second held by Vecchione ahead of the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting closing on April 4. Vecchione, a former member of the Planning Board, chaired the town’s Cliftondale Revitalization Committee. This committee is charged with producing a report on the issues plaguing the square, which has seen steady disinvestment. An architect by trade, Vecchione believes implementing new, mixed-use developments in the area could bring it back to life.
The revitalization of Cliftondale Square has been a key goal for town officials in recent years. Town Meeting authorized the purchase of two adjoining properties last year, and both the state and federal government granted money for the revitalization. Those buildings were purchased with the aim of potentially constructing new municipal parking.
Vecchione began the forum attempting to dispel perceived misconceptions surrounding the proposed overlay and his goals in submitting it. The overlay would require commercial use on the first floor of buildings and cap construction at three stories by right. Should a developer want to build taller, they would have to get an S-2 permit from the Board of Selectmen.
Vecchione said the overlay would require long term parking for residents and employees as a part of any development, which would be calculated per unit and per employee per square footage depending on the use.
The forum Wednesday was primarily a way to gather feedback from the community on Vecchione’s proposal, while the first meeting he held in January was aimed at pitching the overall concept of the overlay. At one point in the nearly two hour forum, more than 40 people had joined the Zoom, including four members of the Board of Selectmen and several Town Meeting members.
New housing was zoned out of Cliftondale decades ago amidst the growth of the shopping mall and the rise of single-family homes to support nuclear families, a move that grandfathered in existing properties.
After decades of studies, Vecchione said the time is now to take tangible steps forward.
“It’s time to take action with the momentum that’s currently in the square and the continued deterioration of Cliftondale,” he said. “We have really no incentive to build because nobody’s going to knock down commercial to build commercial, and no real incentive to really get that anchor store that people want to and a lot of barriers in between, between ADA, between the lack of foot traffic, and the non consensus on whether or not there’s too much congestion, or too much speed.”
Vecchione emphasized that any new development would be within the scale of the community, with building heights capped at 40 feet. For smaller lots, Vecchione proposed a special permit up to four stories and 50 feet.
“The key is to make sure there’s a process and a bylaw that we’re not overbuilding in Cliftondale Square,” he said.
He added that he was cognizant of the fact that many residents were not fond of the boom in development along Route 1 that led to the construction of several high-rise apartments along the bustling highway.
As a result, Vecchione said, talk of housing can create an “emotional and visceral response from people.”
Vecchione said 100 apartments already exist in the square. Under the new overlay, should every lot be built to a 20 units per density scale, it would yield a maximum of 142 units in the square. But, he said that scenario was “never going to happen” and the overlay would more realistically result in the construction of dozens of new units.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Anthony Cogliano said one vacant storefront in the square is under lease, with a clothing boutique and sneaker store set to open in the former Tumble Inn Diner space.
Precinct 2 Town Meeting member Peter Rosetti, who owns an insurance agency based in the square, said Cliftondale has a unique opportunity to act as a commercial center not just for Saugus but also for residents of North Revere. But, he said, the square has “nothing to attract them” with no restaurant or other commercial development to serve as an economic anchor.
Chris Riley, a fellow Precinct 2 Town Meeting member, said the ideas of an anchor restaurant and a zoning overlay permitting housing do not have to be mutually exclusive. Instead, he said, they could work in tandem to bring Cliftondale back to life.
“I’ve heard a little bit about some alternatives, maybe consisting of incentives or various subsidies to motivate revitalization. That approach plus the rezoning, they’re not really mutually exclusive,” he said. “One does not preclude the other, there’s plenty of room for both. And there’s a good chance a lot of people would support potential subsidies or other financial incentives to people or businesses who want them to move in.”
Rosetti also asked Vecchione what the proposed bounds of the overlay would be, with definitions of Cliftondale Square varying over the years. Vecchione said Thursday that while he remains open to compromise, the bounds he is set to propose are: Lincoln Avenue from Baker Street to Western Avenue, with the boundary on the north side of the street at St. Margaret’s Church. The overlay would also stretch along Essex Street from the rotary to the MEG building on the south and from the rotary to Staff Road at the north.
Matt Parlante, a Revere firefighter who lives in town, likened the potential redevelopment of Cliftondale to Revere Beach and Main Street Melrose.
Planning Board Vice Chair Jeannie Meredith argued that the overlay may result in increased traffic in the square, adding that she “can’t imagine any more residents down there.”
But, Vecchione said the overlay would have a negligible effect on traffic, in part because residential use causes only about a third of the amount of traffic as commercial use.
With a new multifamily by-right zoning district set to be implemented in town as a result of the MBTA communities law, Vecchione asked attendees, “how do we want to plan our future? Do we want the state to plan it for us or do we want to plan it?”
“That’s something I’m really concerned about and have been concerned about for a while,” he said.
Vecchione said he will absolutely incorporate feedback from the forum into a future draft of the overlay, and will provide Town Meeting members an updated draft before the warrant closes in an effort to continue the feedback process.
“We all want to see revitalization in Cliftondale Square, and it’s a matter of what that compromise is,” he said.
