20221024 Special City Council Meeting Minutes City of Beverly -
Special City Council Meeting
Public Meeting Minutes
Monday, October 24,2022, 7:00pm -
City Council Chambers, 191 Cabot St.
Julie Flowers, City Council President, called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Flowers took
attendance by roll call.
Members Present: Hannah Bowen, Steven Crowley, Kathleen Feldman, Estelle Rand,Todd
Rotondo,Matthew St. Hilaire,Brendan Sweeney, Julie Flowers
Members Absent: Scott Houseman
St. Hilaire led the pledge of allegiance.
Order#237-Councilor St. Hilaire-A proposed zoning ordinance amendment to limit new
building projects in the City of Beverly to three stories
St. Hilaire gave an overview of the order he submitted. St. Hilaire expressed concern about the
pace and scale of development in the City. St. Hilaire stated the proposal does not seek to
eliminate all development in the City or stop any existing projects but to put residents at the
forefront.
Planning Director Darlene Wynne presented on the Beverly Master Plan process, goals,
objectives and strategies. Wynne noted that Mayor Cahill asked for the Bass River Zoning
Overlay District discussions to be slowed in the spring. Then the closing of the Hall-Whitaker
Bridge put all those conversations on hold. Transit-oriented development has an emphasis on
having housing near business, services,transit and recreation. It reduces automobile use,
conserves natural resources, and makes use of already existing public infrastructure. Wynne
estimated that since 2013 there have been approximately 725 units of multi-family housing built
and more than 150 one-family and two-family homes. Development in the 1970s and 1980s was
at a much higher rate. Census data shows that the population in Beverly has been fairly stagnant
until recently where there was an increase of about three thousand residents. Wynne spoke to the
need for housing, stating that the city's rate of creating new housing in the last thirty years is half
of what it was in the thirty years before that. It is a supply issue. Wynne shared a map showing
where buildings over 35 feet tall are currently allowed. Wynne spoke about the design standards
study areas and TOD [Transit Oriented Development] tiers. This has a year-long process and
would be a pretty significant change to the way we look at the zoning ordinance. Wynne spoke
about the MBTA Communities Act and the zoning requirements that must be met to qualify for
certain state grants that the City uses frequently. If the height was restricted to three-stories,we
may not qualify for this throughout the City. Wynne also noted other related work such as
parking supply analysis, looking at accessory dwelling units, increasing inclusionary housing
requirements and pursuing transit alternatives to improve access.
Finance Director Bryant Ayles distributed some information about the new growth statistics and
offered some general thoughts around the financial aspects of zoning. You always want to
consider the new growth component and how that factors into the overall budget. There are also
interconnection costs associated with a lot of the developments that occur,particularly the larger
ones, when it comes to water and sewer. A lot of times those interconnection costs are utilized to
hold down certain fees for users, such as water fees or sewer fees. On the flip side of that, there
are considerations on the cost side of things such as delivering additional services to increased
population or an increased commercial area.
Mayor Michael Cahill stated that a lot of work has gone into communitywide looking at what
future development looks like. The City's commitment to transit-oriented development goes
back about 25 years through two administrations and two master plans. It really is a proven
model both locally, regionally and worldwide. There are a lot of existing challenges that
hopefully will not be challenges forever, like traffic congestion to the highways and that transit
itself is not what we need it to be to support the development. The master plan is something to
look to as a touchstone. To reiterate what Ms. Wynne said, coming out of the master plan, it is
our intention to bring forward a proposal to lower the height/story allowance on Cabot Street and
reverse the tall building overlay on Rantoul for parcels that have yet to be redeveloped there. The
work to create design standards came out of a lot of good conversations, and we have just come
through that process. We are not looking to do anything with the Bass River overlay as long as
we do not have the Hall-Whitaker Bridge open and operational. We are going to need connectors
for transit-oriented development and want to be working on neighborhood centers.
A motion for a brief recess to allow members of the public to sign up was made and seconded. A
vote was taken, and the motion carried(8-0). The meeting recessed at 7:4Opm.
The meeting was called back to order at 7:47pm.
Flowers opened the floor to the public with a four-minute limit per person.
Peter Johnson of 677 Hale St. spoke about not wanting Cabot Street to look like Rantoul Street
and stated that it is crucial to preserving the small city appeal of Beverly that is remaining on
Cabot Street. Johnson asked the Council to work expeditiously to set height standards before
more applications are submitted for large buildings. Johnson suggested a temporary moratorium
on buildings over three stories while it gets sorted out.
Derek Beckwith of 564 Hale St. stated he is a Planning Board and Community Preservation
Committee member but is speaking as an individual,not as a member. In the past four years, the
speed of large projects seems to be getting faster and faster. This summer, in about eight weeks
we heard about four different five-story projects. We have found that neighbors and people who
are affected by these projects don't concur that they fit naturally into the neighborhoods even if
they are "by right"under zoning. We have lost our leverage on the Planning Board. We need to
make sure if you are looking at a moratorium or new zoning regulations that these taller projects
have the need for a waiver that gives the ability to work with the developers in a different way so
that the concerns of the community can be taken into consideration, and so these projects can be
the best that they can be. Beckwith asked for some tools for the boards to use.
Steve Moffet of 32 Eastern Ave. stated he finds the proposal both arbitrary and reductive. It is
the goal of both the city and the state to create more affordable housing and to create it in such a
way that has the least environmental impact. An arbitrary three-story limit undercuts both of
those goals. A moratorium such as this would undercut current efforts to increase affordable and
senior housing. Moffet stated the Rantoul Street revitalization has improved his quality of life as
a Ryal Side resident and that he would like to see that continue. Moffet encouraged the Council
to be creative and think about ways to encourage solutions that make the city more walkable,
more bikeable, and easier to get around.
Caroline Mason of 583 Hale St. stated she is member of the Historic District Commission
speaking as an individual and expressed concern for the historic buildings that would need to be
taken down to accommodate these large projects. These are two entirely different streets with
different purposes. At the very least if we could do away with 55 feet on Cabot Street simply by
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right. Otherwise, some properties will have to be taken down, and we will lose a lot of the
character of Cabot Street.
Jon Ouellette of 27 Pierce Ave. stated he is a landscape architect and a member of the Design
Review Board but is speaking as an individual. Ouellette asked that the Council look at space
around buildings. It would be good to have design standards to put teeth into the process.
Developers like to know what the rules are and what the standards need to be. The pedestrian
realm such as trees and parking has been ignored.
Will Cosmos of 32 Washington St. stated he is a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals but is
not speaking on their behalf. The City can only enforce what is in the rules. We need to be
cautious of"killing a fly with a sledgehammer when you could use a flyswatter" or of using a
citywide approach for different neighborhoods. Cosmos stated he appreciates the impulse but
also would ask for a thoughtful approach.
Rand read comments from a constituent who could not make it to the meeting. In the letter,
Rachel Hand, Executive Director of Family Promise North Shore Boston, expressed opposition
to the proposal to keep all new construction in Beverly at three stories. There is already not
enough housing for the number of people who need it. This will only make the situation worse.
Cities that are accessible via the MBTA such as Beverly have a responsibility to accommodate as
many residents as physically possible. All housing is good housing; we just need more of it.
Rich Vincent of 1 Mulberry St. stated that we know we need more housing and that transit-
oriented development makes sense, but there has been a change on Rantoul and maybe we don't
want that brought to Cabot. Maybe there needs to be more control put on, but 35 feet may not be
the right number. Think about the work that went into putting into place what is here now; that
was done for a reason.
With no other members of the public wishing to speak, Flowers opened it to the Council.
Rotondo asked how long ago the zoning on Cabot and Rantoul was put in place, if there is a
timeline of when the design review standards would be presented to the Council, and how many
projects would be affected if this order were adopted.
Wynne stated she would have to look up the Cabot and Rantoul zoning and when the commercial
zoning was put in place. It is generally in the ordinance. The overlay districts were added around
maybe 2010. Wynne stated the first step for the design standards project would be a public
meeting to vet it before presenting to the Council. Wynne stated she would rather have that
conversation first then be able to submit something to the Council that doesn't require a lot of
changes. A plan can be submitted to freeze the zoning for up to eight years for a project.
Sweeney agreed about trying to add tools for the Planning Board and asked about some of the
instances where the Planning Board can issue a special permit.
Wynne stated there are a variety of special permits that both the Planning Board and Zoning
Board can use. It is something that is allowed but requires additional consideration. We have
tried in the last few years to move away from special permits for more predictability, partially for
the perception of special permits being some sort of special privilege, but also just because
predictability helps everybody. It helps developers know what the City wants to see, and it also
helps residents and abutters know the expectations as well. Knowing what the City wants can
help keep the costs of developments down. Being more clear in the zoning ordinance has been
the goal.
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Feldman stated the proposed ordinance seems to be a simple band-aid to a complicated question.
Feldman stated she would like to do more work in terms of looking at the zoning more carefully
and giving more power to the Zoning Board and Planning Board instead of having a sticker
solution.
St. Hilaire thanked Cahill and Wynne for their work. St. Hilaire said there needs to be a sense of
urgency here. St. Hilaire stated that perhaps a temporary moratorium would be more appropriate,
but he does not know the mechanism for doing that. There is clearly a need for housing. Beverly
has increased housing by 7% in that last 10 years. St. Hilaire stated he has been proud that
Beverly has been a leader on this up until now and that he is in support of housing. St. Hilaire
stated his concern is that Beverly is disproportionately taking on housing compared to other
communities. St. Hilaire asked how a 7% increase compares to our goal. St. Hilaire asked what
the city's goal is and how many units we want to add by when. St. Hilaire asked how this new
state law impacts thinking about housing across the region, our relationship with our neighboring
communities and what our plan needs to be.
Wynne stated that a community housing plan was conducted in 2016 but it stopped short of
specifying production numbers. There is a deep need for affordable housing at very low levels.
We have ten or so strategies and have been tackling them over time to figure out a variety of
ways to build more affordable housing.
Cahill stated there was a number that came with that study but that he would have to check. It
was based on the amount of their monthly income people were paying towards their rental or
mortgage as a way of helping to calculate what the unmet need is in the community. It is a higher
number than the production that has gone on over the last decade. We have been looking to try to
get some things teed up for this fall, and Councilor St. Hilaire has jump started that. There are so
many people who want to come back and buy their first home here in Beverly who grew up here
or whose parents can't find something to downsize. We are going to get 85 units out of Briscoe,
which is deeply affordable senior housing, however,there is far greater demand. Cahill
encouraged working through it together and getting some things in place as well as looking
together at the master plan, which is really a community product.
Rand stated that Ward 2 has seen most of the new developments. The majority of emails
received in response to this height restriction were not in support of limiting it to three stories
citywide; only two were in support of it. Rand asked about the public process of the design
standards and if the fire and police chiefs could weigh in on any safety concerns about
development and how that impacts the ability to deliver services and even just move through the
streets. Rand stated she would also like to hear more on how a proposal like this would affect
affordable housing and the ability to create affordable housing units.
Wynne stated the design standards are a tool-not every community has them. They are changing
the dimensional criteria for buildings in those districts. It's very specific guidance that would be
replacing what we currently have. There are some options in it. It will help with improving the
streetscape. The intent behind design standards is really thinking about clarity. Back to St.
Hilaire's question, in 2016, there was 2,480 rental units based on the numbers of those people
who were spending more than 30% of their income on housing and 1,350 of those were spending
more than half of their income on housing.
St. Hilaire stated that the larger buildings on Rantoul are not really affordable. They are $2,000-
$3,000 per month. St. Hilaire asked how these large scale buildings fit in with what Ms. Wynne
described.
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Wynne stated the more supply we have,that helps to mitigate the increase. It doesn't decrease
rents, but it helps to create more opportunities for people to move into different arrangements.
For any project that has more than 6 units,they are required to add affordable housing units.
Police Chief John LeLacheur stated generally the height doesn't really affect us as much as the
volume of population. Back in the 1980s, there were 86 police officers in the city, then the city
went through some financial struggles. Chief LeLacheur said when he came to Beverly 9 years
ago, there were 65 police officers; now it is up to 74. The FBI and ICP have a statistic of 1.8-2.5
police officers per 1,000 depending on the size of the community. A larger city like Boston
would lean towards the 2.5 and a smaller town would lean more to the 1.8. 1.8 would be 75
officers in Beverly. If Beverly were around 2, with 42,000 people it would be 84 police officers.
Chief LeLacheur stated he and the mayor are working to increase public safety. We handle
24,000-25,000 calls for service every year, so as the population grows, obviously there will be
more calls for service. If we continue development, we will continue to head in that direction.
Fire Chief Peter O'Connor echoed that. The fire department really fell behind in numbers in
2002-2003. Over the last few years, we have really been working to make a change to come
back. There are a couple facets that people are concerned about when talking about the types of
construction in the city. We look at density and what we have for call volume. Ward 2 is our
busiest area; the numbers are big downtown. O'Connor stated he is not as concerned about the
newer buildings from a call volume perspective. There are always positives and negatives. One
of the positives of new construction is the opportunity to make sure they are built appropriately.
O'Connor stated he sees the historic value of a lot of properties downtown but also sees the
potential for not just fires but for people getting hurt. Traffic is always a concern, especially right
now because of the projects going on. A lot of that will get better when the projects are finished.
There are definitely concerns about the bridge. Since some of the work has been done, Rantoul
Street has been easier to get down than in the past.
St. Hilaire stated the perception from Ward 6 is that a lot of public safety needs downtown
detract from other neighborhoods.
LeLacheur stated the goal is always to have a car in each ward.
Andrew DeFranza from Harborlight Homes (formerly Harborlight Community Partners), stated
that generally Harborlight is not in favor of moratoriums or blanket caps. There are two areas of
concern on the affordable housing side. One is that it is very difficult to find sites, so when we do
find a site that is viable and practical and would be higher than 35 feet, we certainly would want
to be able to do that. Particularly, it would limit the ability to do smaller scale in-fill in Ward 2 or
Ward 3. Secondly, as we are looking at a revision of the inclusionary zoning ordinance, which
we are very supportive of, the question about how affordable they are or are not is a good one.
St. Hilaire asked how many of Mr. DeFranza's projects are more than three stories.
DeFranza stated Briscoe is larger than that and Anchor Point is not. Turtle Creek has a four story
section. Generally in the other communities we try to stay under 35 feet. Not many are larger
than that, but they certainly could be. DeFranza stated Harborlight would not want to limit
options when a property for housing becomes available.
St Hilaire asked about the impact of MBTA communities law.
DeFranza stated he is a big fan of the law. The MBTA rules will have a more significant impact
on communities that have not been participating than places like Salem and Beverly.
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Bowen expressed her thanks to Councilor St. Hilaire for initiating this Council conversation. It
seems like we are past ready for this conversation. It is a really complex set of issues. Bowen
stated the pieces that speak most to her are around the anxiety about being able to live in
Beverly, the design standards, and inclusionary zoning improvements. Bowen stated an
accessory dwelling unit ordinance would meet needs in a lot of ways. If we don't do that now,
we are missing an opportunity. The proposal in front of us today starts the conversation well, but
changes that need to be made first are putting in place some design standards and the accessory
dwelling unit ordinance.
Wynne stated the inclusionary piece is probably the easiest. Wynne clarified that with the design
standards what was produced is a document but the edit to the ordinance is not actually done.
That part is a bit more work and not ready yet. We would need to work with the solicitor's office
on a redline.
St. Hilaire asked how much of new growth is attributed to large-scale development.
Ayles stated generally, in average about 10-15% of these new growth figures are attributable to a
particular project. 211 Rantoul and 199 Rantoul combined created about $315,000 in additional
revenue every year in perpetuity going forward. Some of the earlier projects like 79 Rantoul had
a net new growth value of about$100,000. It also depends on the type of development; if it is
commercial or industrial, the economic value to the City is almost double.
St. Hilaire stated the spreadsheet shows a total of$1.3 million in new growth roughly. St. Hilaire
said one of the things he hears from constituents is where is the money going and what would
happen if we stopped building these big buildings and looked for other kinds of new growth. St.
Hilaire stated he recognizes that the new growth has helped fund some capital projects like the
police station and schools. St. Hilaire asked if we were to not have these, how would that effect
our ability to fund future capital projects and the current debt schedule.
Ayles asked what it's being compared to and what the other alternatives are that Councilor St.
Hilaire referenced.
St. Hilaire stated Salem has made a lot from getting in early on the marijuana/cannabis industry
and said maybe there could be the other opportunities or strategies to look at.
Ayles stated when looking at new growth, it is important to remember the amount grows every
year. When looking at the budget, it tends to grow at 34% a year. 80% of our revenue comes
from property taxes, and that can only grow 21/2% per year. We need to find other areas to fill
that other revenue so that we can grow the budget at a pace that can continue the good quality
service residents deserve. We all know costs of services are rising as well, and we need to remain
committed to delivering that as we go forward as a community.
Cahill added that while all of the taxable property can only go up 21/2%, somebody's tax bill may
go up more than a neighbor's. Often costs go up by more than 21/2% every year. The City is
mandated to raise the budget line for pensions by about 4%2%per year. We have built collectively
8 schools, a police station, a lot of other projects, and we have been trying to spend everything
we possibly can on roads and sidewalks every year.New growth allows for those other costs that
come in; that said,we can't be driven by a never-ending thirst for new growth.
Rand asked of a temporary moratorium is an option and if it is legal.
Williams stated it is possible, but it cannot be arbitrary. It would have to protect the health,
safety, welfare of the residents of Beverly and cannot be for an open-ended amount of time.
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Williams stated she was not advising if it was right for this situation or not,just that it is a
possibility.
St. Hilaire asked if the Council could pass a zoning moratorium of a maximum of three stories
for a period of time.
Williams stated she would need to review the language and time of a proposed moratorium.
Should the Council want to pursue some kind of zoning amendment, then, under Chapter 4OA
Section 5, the City Council has to present the zoning amendment as a body as opposed to an
individual city councilor. Ultimately if there is a desire on behalf of the Council for a
moratorium or a change to the zoning,the Council would have to vote to submit as a Council a
zoning amendment rather than just advancing this order to a public hearing.
Flowers stated the item would be carried to the next meeting.
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried (8-0).
The meeting adjourned at 9:3Opm.
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