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Council adopts ordinance creating site-plan review for certain educational, religious and daycare uses
Summary
After committee revisions, the council voted to adopt new site-plan review rules requiring a new review process, membership and 65-day decision timeline for certain Dover‑amendment uses (educational, religious, childcare).
The Malden City Council on Feb. 4 adopted a zoning ordinance amendment establishing site-plan review for educational, religious and child‑care uses that qualify as Dover‑amendment uses.
The council’s action follows a joint hearing with the planning board and subsequent work in the Rules & Ordinance Committee. The adopted ordinance clarifies which projects must undergo site-plan review and sets procedural rules for the review committee, including committee membership (building commissioner or designee; director of public health or designee; director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development or designee; and a Board of Appeals appointee as needed) and a timeline that requires the site‑plan review committee to provide written recommendations within 65 days of an application. If no action is taken within 65 days, the application will be deemed approved.
The committee and planning-board edits removed language that would have made the site‑plan committee independently decide whether a use qualified under the Dover amendment; that jurisdiction remains with the building commissioner. The committee also clarified quorum and voting rules and removed duplicative conflict‑of‑interest language.
Councilor Winslow, who presented the committee report, summarized the principal changes and said the ordinance was revised to reflect planning-board recommendations about timelines and committee composition. The council adopted the ordinance after a motion to amend the paper per the committee report and then voted to enroll the ordinance.
The new rules are intended to provide a predictable, time‑bounded review path for institutional uses that can affect traffic, parking and neighborhood character, while preserving staff authority to make threshold determinations about Dover amendment applicability.
The roll-call vote to enroll and adopt the ordinance recorded affirmative votes from a majority of councilors; the clerk called the roll as the ordinance was finalized.
