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Committee recommends R&D and ACE zoning changes; amendment to reduce R&D stories to two fails
Summary
The Somerville Land Use Committee recommended approval on June 19 of a new Research & Development base zoning district and revisions to Arts and Creative Enterprise rules, but rejected a proposed amendment to limit the R&D district to a maximum of two stories.
The Somerville City Council Land Use Committee on June 19 voted to recommend approval of two related zoning items: a proposed Research & Development (R&D) zoning district (agenda item 7, 25-0128) and revisions to Arts and Creative Enterprise (ACE) uses (agenda item 8, 25-0129). The committee debated whether the R&D base district should include a height disincentive and considered concerns raised by the ward councilor about uses that could be permitted in a base district if an overlay were not adopted.
Director Gallegani told the committee he had met with the ward councilor (Councilor Scott) and planners and that a recommended change would be to limit the maximum number of stories in the R&D base district to two to reduce the incentive to develop to the base zoning rather than the overlay. Councilor Davis moved an amendment to delete the existing 'min 2 to max 4' and set a maximum of 2 stories. The motion was called and failed on a roll-call vote (Davis and Saeed voted yes; Wilson, Ewan Kampen and McLaughlin voted no).
Planning staff and the committee clarified that changes in ACE definitions and the recent lab-related amendments were intended to preserve artist space and to allow incubator, coworking, scientific research, testing lab, and some maintenance and personal services uses on the targeted parcels. Director Bartman observed that some of the buildings and uses (e.g., Greentown Labs and affiliated companies) already exist on site; the mapping of the R&D district was intended to reflect those existing uses.
After discussion, the committee voted to recommend approval of both zoning items (agenda items 7 and 8) and forward them to the full council. Councilors voted 5–0 in favor of recommending each item.
The committee recorded that if members or the community remain concerned about base-district outcomes absent an overlay, the council has the legislative authority to further revise the base district language at a later date. Planning staff said wholesale replacement of existing buildings with a two-story development was unlikely because of existing building heights and financial feasibility concerns, though a small number of replacements could theoretically occur.
