The town submitted a new “preliminary” multifamily zoning plan to the state on Dec. 2 in hopes of earning compliance with the controversial MBTA Communities Act.
On Tuesday, Marblehead Town Planner Alex Eitler said the new plan features two districts: The first and largest includes the Marblehead side of the Tedesco Country Club and golf course, along with the already-established Smart Growth district near the Glover farmhouse. The second parcel is on Broughton Road, where there is public housing. The two districts combined would provide zoning for 897 housing units required by the state.
“This parcel has many positive attributes,” said Planning Board member Marc Liebman about the Tedesco district. “It’s on a main street, close to a town border, it doesn’t create congestion and it’s close to shopping, fuel, food and public transportation.”
The new proposal also includes a review process with required design elements, including:
— Pitched, rather than flat, roofing to provide a more residential character.
— Siding material that resembles cedar or clapboard.
— Double-hung windows to match the surrounding community.
— Landscaping with trees and grass strips between sidewalks and curbs.
The requirements would give these districts a more “neighborhood feel,” Liebman said. “We don’t want this to look like what they’re building in the Bertini’s parking lot (in Salem) or in Revere.
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is “reviewing the parcel information,” Eitler said, and will report back to the town by Jan. 8.
“There is a question about the validity” of including a private golf course as part of the 3A solution, Eitler said.
Asked whether he believed the state would go along with the new plan, Eitler responded, “It’s hard to say.”
He did not know of any other MBTA community that included a private golf course as part of its 3A compliance plan.
The Select Board’s goal is to get a new 3A plan approved at Town Meeting in May. The town has lost millions of dollars in grants due to its noncompliance.
Recommendation for Coffin School: ‘Fair and affordable’ housing
Community Development and Planning Dir. Brendan Callahan said on Tuesday he is sending the Select Board his recommendation to “continue doing due diligence” to determine the best use of the Coffin School property. The Marblehead Housing Committee is sending the Select Board a letter recommending the land be used for “fair and affordable housing.”
Callahan said he’d like to host another community meeting about the Coffin property in January. It will ultimately be up to the Select Board to decide what to do with the land.
The Coffin property is zoned for single-family housing, so if the town were to sell to a developer or partner with the nonprofit developer Harborlight Homes (which has expressed interest), a special permit or zoning change would be required.
