Zoning subcommittee recommends Revere Housing Production Plan to full council

The Revere City Zoning Subcommittee voted 4–1 on Feb. 3 to forward the city’s Housing Production Plan (as amended) with a favorable recommendation to the full City Council.

The plan, presented by Tom Skrowski, Revere Chief of Planning and Community Development, would be adopted as a guiding “toolbox” that the city can use in future actions. Skrowski said an adoption by the council would create a state “safe harbor” against certain Chapter 40B developer appeals when the city can show it is actively pursuing a 10% deed-restricted affordability goal under state guidance.

The plan itself does not immediately change zoning or levy new taxes. Skrowski told the committee that individual tools in the plan — including zoning changes, use of tax-title properties and possible ballot measures such as the Community Preservation Act surcharge — would return to the Planning Board and City Council for separate public hearings and votes; a ballot measure would also require a resident referendum.

Why it matters: Adopting a Housing Production Plan can reduce the city’s exposure to state Chapter 40B override developments by demonstrating a local strategy to meet Massachusetts affordability targets. Skrowski said the statewide target is to have 10% of housing stock deed-restricted as affordable.

Key details and questions from committee members included whether Section 8 vouchers count toward the 10% and how the city counts deed-restricted units. Skrowski said vouchers travel with tenants and are not counted; qualifying units must be deed-restricted for at least 30 years. He said Revere currently sits at roughly 7% deed-restricted affordable housing and that the city needs roughly 750 additional deed-restricted units to reach the 10% target; about 50 affordable units are currently permitted but not yet built.

Committee members pressed on specific potential sites identified in the plan, including the municipal parking lot on Central Avenue. Skrowski said any redevelopment there would require balancing senior-center parking and business corridor needs, and would be handled through later RFPs and council review. When asked whether the city would use eminent domain for a redevelopment of that lot, Skrowski replied, “We absolutely won't do that. Not even a consideration.”

Vote: The subcommittee asked whether they were voting to adopt the plan as a framework; the committee then voted to offer a favorable recommendation to the full council. The roll call recorded four yes votes and one no vote; the committee chair recorded the measure as having received a favorable recommendation to the full City Council.

What’s next: If the full City Council adopts the plan, it will be submitted to the state for any determinations related to Chapter 40B safe harbor. Any individual zoning changes, tax measures, or redevelopment actions proposed under the plan will return to the Planning Board and City Council for separate hearings.

Quotes from the meeting: "The vote would be to adopt the plan. At which point it would then go to the state for its approval," Tom Skrowski, Chief of Planning and Community Development, said when explaining the purpose of tonight’s vote.

"We absolutely won't do that. Not even a consideration," Skrowski said in response to a question about eminent domain for the Central Avenue municipal parking lot.

Ending: The Housing Production Plan now advances to the full City Council for consideration; the subcommittee emphasized that the plan itself is a framework and that all specific tools will require later hearings and approvals before any change in land use or taxation occurs.