Committee continues public hearing on Klaskey Common transit‑oriented zoning after planning staff and attorneys respond to use‑table questions

The New Bedford City Council Committee on Ordinances continued a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed Klaskey Common Transit‑Oriented Development (TOD) overlay district after city planning staff and the city attorney answered questions about parking, subdistricts and an accompanying replacement of the city's use table.

Jennifer Carlini, director of the Department of City Planning, told the committee the planning board voted to send a favorable recommendation. “The Class B Common TOD is very similar to the Kings Highway TOD,” Carlini said, and described the proposal as an overlay that leaves existing underlying zoning in place while adding TOD-specific standards for three subdistricts around the commuter rail station.

The ordinance would add a new section 4200C to chapter 9 and amend the zoning definitions and the tables of principal uses and dimensional regulations. Carlini said Subdistrict A (closest to the train station) has a parking minimum of 0.75 spaces per unit and greater allowable heights; Subdistrict B (Purchase Street east side) has a parking minimum of 1.0 and a 65‑foot maximum height with a 40‑foot…