Woburn begins master plan for North Woburn/New Boston Street industrial area

City of Woburn planning officials and a consultant team kicked off a master-plan process for the North Woburn/New Boston Street study area with a public presentation that summarized market trends, zoning constraints and infrastructure needs and invited public input.

John Cashel, Planning Director for the City of Woburn, opened the meeting and described the presentation as “the initial presentation on a master plan the city is engaged in at this point in time.” He said the study focuses on the industrial and commercial parcels west of the commuter rail from Mishawam Road up toward Wilmington and the northern residential edge of Woburn.

The consultant team — led by RKG Associates with Innis/Land Strategies Group, Inez Associates and Niche Engineering and supported by Ditch Engineering — outlined what they described as the study’s purpose: to review market demand, land use and zoning, and the area’s roads, sidewalks and utilities and then develop strategies and actions. Casey Hagerty, Woburn’s economic development manager, and Eric Halverson, principal at RKG Associates, led the market and strategy discussion.

Halverson said the team found the New Boston Street area is an important economic engine for the city. He summarized several baseline findings: the study area covers about 250 acres, encompasses roughly 100 parcels and about 85 different property owners, and the assessor’s total assessed value for the area is “close to $340,000,000.” The consultants reported regional population and employment growth that has supported demand for industrial, flex and professional services space. Halverson said Woburn added roughly 4,300 jobs — about a 12% increase — from 2014 to 2024 and that professional and technical services grew by nearly 1,200 jobs in that period.

RKG’s market analyst, Ashwarya, reviewed real-estate trends. She said the industrial/flex submarket had added more than 1,500,000 square feet of space in the last two years and that industrial rents had grown while vacancy recently rose to about 8 percent in 2024–early 2025 as the market adjusts. She described the office market as facing the same pandemic-era pressures seen nationally and said multifamily has shown consistent deliveries, strong absorption and average asking rents near $3,000 per unit.

Planner Paula (consultant) and a zoning specialist on the team reviewed existing land-use and zoning. They said most parcels in the study area are in an industrial park district (about 95% of parcels) with an overlay corridor on the north end that permits mixed-use and multifamily under certain conditions. The team flagged several regulatory controls that shape development: a 700-foot residential proximity height limit that reduces permitted building height from seven stories to three within that buffer, minimum lot-size requirements in the overlay (noted as 100,000 square feet), and a city process in which special permits are granted by the Planning Board and City Council. The consultants said the lot-by-lot nonconformity analysis shows the area generally conforms to industrial zoning but is under the open-space requirement (median open space about 16% vs. a 30% requirement).

Ditch Engineering’s Brian Kramer reviewed infrastructure constraints and opportunities. He described the area as largely impervious — “a lot of roofs and a lot of parking” — that drains primarily to Hals Brook and, in the southeast, to Mishawam Lake. He said the network depends on a few key culverts and that maintaining them is critical. On utilities, Kramer said water and sewer connections are largely in good condition but noted reported natural-gas connection challenges on some parcels. He described pedestrian and bicycle network gaps and limited direct transit connections to the regional rail center, and he described a bridge project across New Boston Street as a significant change to area access.

On the New Boston Street bridge, the consultants said the project will open additional access to the north and connect to Commerce Way and Presidential Way. Brian Kramer said the bridge’s “anticipated completion and opening in 2026 will drastically impact . . . the transportation route and the amount of vehicles that go through this site,” while other presenters said the bridge “will be opening in the next few months.” The consultants and city staff framed the bridge as a potential way to shift some traffic away from the congested Commerce Way/Merrimack/Route 128–93 corridors.

Cashel and Hagerty urged property owners, businesses and residents to participate in upcoming engagement opportunities including an online survey the consultants planned to post later in the week. Cashel said the consultant team has conducted site walks and more than 200 stakeholder conversations to date and that the process remains months from completion.

No formal votes or regulatory changes were decided at the meeting. The presentation served as an information and input session; staff and consultants indicated follow-up analysis will cover strategies, actions and further study areas — including potential zoning changes, traffic analysis tied to the bridge opening, stormwater mitigation studies and utility capacity (notably natural gas) for potential redevelopment.

The consultant team stayed after the presentation for an informal visioning session with attendees to gather additional feedback.