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Planning Board Endorses Development for East of Broadway

The Planning Board took up a full agenda at its October meeting last week.

The board voted in favor of endorsing all of the final plans for the East of Broadway plan and granted Director of Planning and Development Matt Lattanzi the authority to provide a signature on behalf of the board for the final plans.

Encore is proposing a phased development on the east side of Broadway in Everett that includes an expanded gaming space, a theater, entertainment venues, two hotels, food and beverage facilities, retail facilities, a warehouse support facility, three parking garages, and a pedestrian bridge across Broadway.

In other business, the Planning Board continued a proposal for 33 Oakes Street to its Nov. 13 meeting. The proposal is for the addition of six new units, four of which would be deed restricted affordable, to an already existing four-story residential building, bringing the number of units to 24. The applicant is seeking a variance to lower the percentage of units that are deed restricted as affordable on the project.

The board also continued the 295 Chelsea St. proposal to its November meeting.

The project calls for the redevelopment of a 12,718 square foot lot, currently occupied by a two-story dwelling, with a 27-unit multi-family dwelling. The applicant received all variances needed for the project in 2021, but there was discussion as to whether the variances are still valid or if they have lapsed. Before the next meeting, the city’s building commissioner is expected to provide a determination on the present status of the variances for the project.

The Rivergreen Drive project, which calls for the redevelopment of a 25 acre site within the Riverfront Overlay District, was also continued to November.

Lattanzi said there remains significant peer review on multiple aspects of the project, including engineering, stormwater, environmental, and traffic issues. He stated that board members found the type of project in line with what has been discussed for the district, but that the scale of the proposal with 600 residential units was not a desired use for the constrained area of land.

The Planning Board unanimously supported the proposal at 11 Pearl St. to demolish the existing 8-unit building and two garage structures, which were severely damaged by a fire earlier this year, and construct a new 8-unit building with 2,300 sq. ft. of green space. Three residents who live on Pearl Street came to the meeting to speak in support of the redevelopment and to ask questions about the projected timeline of the construction.

The Planning Board also voted unanimously to provide favorable recommendations to the City Council on two proposed zoning amendments, One of the amendments concerns the use of kennels and pet grooming establishments in the Lower Broadway Economic Development District, and the other removes the regulations and process for short-term rentals from zoning.

Independent Staff:
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