Ordinances committee resumes public hearing on zoning use table; multiple approval-authority changes and targeted amendments approved

The Committee on Ordinances of the New Bedford City Council continued a public hearing on revisions to the city's zoning use table (section 1,200) on Sept. 29, 2025, and approved a series of amendments altering which body grants special permits and which industrial uses are allowed in particular zones. The committee voted to close the hearing and to send drafted ordinance language to the city solicitor for formal drafting and further legal research.

The hearing resumed material referred from May 28, 2025, and continued from an Aug. 25 public hearing; planning staff presented a packet that included a zoning overview and an amended use table. The planning office said it reconciled conflicts between the text of the zoning ordinance and the previously issued use table by deferring to the ordinance where the two conflicted.

"Failing to have a valid reason to maintain the special permit granting authority as listed in the use table, which is in conflict with the ordinance, we chose to move everything to what the ordinance called for," said Mike McCarthy, assistant city planner. He and other planning staff walked the committee through district-by-district changes and the rationale for each change.

Why it matters: The committee's choices change who reviews and decides special permits for specific uses and, for some uses, where those uses can be sited. Council members said those changes affect neighborhood quality of life, waterfront uses and the council's oversight role; in several cases the committee restored the council's authority or directed further review rather than leave decisions to the zoning board of appeals.

Key committee actions and outcomes - Receive and place packet on file. Motion to receive and place the planning packet on file (mover: Councilor Lopes; second: Councilor Giesta). Outcome: adopted (voice vote). - Close public hearing. Motion to close the public hearing (mover: Councilor Gomes; second: Council President Burgo). Outcome: adopted (voice vote). - Change light-service station special-permit granting authority to match the ordinance (deferred to zoning text). Committee voted to revert conflicting granting authorities so the ordinance and table are consistent; outcome: adopted (voice vote). - Restore planning board as granting authority for assisted- and independent-living facility special permits where the ordinance lists the planning board (adopted; voice vote). Planning staff said the change removed instances where the use table named the zoning board of appeals contrary to the ordinance text. - Wireless communication facilities. Committee corrected several entries so the zoning board of appeals is the special-permit granting authority where the ordinance specifies it; outcome: adopted (voice vote). - Restaurants / fast food and site-plan triggers. The committee left site-plan review triggers intact and clarified that restaurants remain subject to administrative or site plan review thresholds even when allowed by right in some industrial districts (adopted; voice vote). - Grocery stores / supermarkets. Planners split the old grocery-store category into two size-based categories (under 15,000 sq ft = grocery store; larger = supermarket) and removed a separate special-permit column because those uses are handled through site-plan review (adopted; voice vote). - Material salvage, recycling and related industrial uses. The committee struck the zoning board of appeals as the granting authority in several industrial categories and replaced it with the City Council (mover: Councilor Schochet; second: Councilor Bergel). Committee members also asked the city solicitor to research whether some waterfront or industrial sitings could legally be changed to prohibited ("N") uses under state law; outcome: the interim change to City Council was adopted (voice vote) pending legal review. - Batch asphalt and concrete plants. The committee approved an amendment to label these uses as not allowed ("N") in specified industrial zones, subject to legal review (adopted; voice vote). - Freight terminal and heavy materials sales/distribution. The committee moved special-permit authority from the zoning board of appeals to City Council across industrial categories (adopted; voice vote). - Contractors' yards. The committee approved a roll-call amendment changing contractors' yards from allowed to not-allowed in Industrial A and Industrial B zones; clerk-recorded vote: 7 in favor, 2 opposed (vote recorded on the motion as passed). - Referral and ordinance drafting. The committee voted to refer the compiled amendments to the city solicitor (David Garatowski) to draft ordinance language and to research applicability of Mass. General Laws cited during the meeting (adopted; voice vote).

What the planners and solicitor said Planners emphasized that many changes simply resolved conflicts between the previously published use table and the text of the zoning ordinance; where the ordinance text specified a granting authority, the update reverted the use table to match it. "Section 4850 of our zoning ordinance prior to the work that we did said light service stations shall be approved by the board of appeals," McCarthy said while explaining one example.

City solicitor David Garatowski advised the committee that a change in zoning that eliminates a preexisting use generally creates a "preexisting nonconforming use" that can continue operating but cannot be expanded; he said the solicitor's office would examine a separate state-law question planners referenced about industrial uses established before 1987.

Next steps and timeline The committee closed the public hearing and asked members who want specific amendments to submit proposed language to the clerk; the full City Council will receive the committee report and the solicitor's drafted ordinances. The council will then re-advertise and re-refer specific amendments for new public hearings before the planning board and the Ordinances Committee as required for zoning changes. The committee indicated it will vote on individual amendments at future ordinance hearings after the solicitor's drafting and legal review.

Ending note Committee members said they will continue fact-finding and may refine individual amendments when the council considers drafted ordinance language. The planning department's packet and presentation were entered into the record and will accompany the draft ordinances forwarded to the full council.