Revere councilors hear debate, delay vote on five‑year housing production plan amid misinformation campaign

Revere City planning staff presented a five‑year housing production plan on Dec. 16, describing it as a voluntary “roadmap” to increase deed‑restricted affordable housing and to help the city avoid developer appeals under Chapter 40B. Councilors and residents praised elements of the plan — such as down‑payment assistance and reuse of municipal lots — but several councilors said they wanted more time to review proposals including right‑of‑first‑refusal options, changes to lot‑size rules, and allowing two‑ and three‑family units by right. The Committee of the Whole tabled the plan to its next meeting.

The plan, staff said, was developed over roughly 18 months by a 12‑person working group, included two public meetings and an online survey of nearly 300 Revere residents, and lays out a toolkit of zoning and programmatic options to pursue over five years. "This plan is not time sensitive. It's not anything where our hair is on fire, and we need to approve this tonight," Tom Skorowski, a city planner who presented the plan, told the committee. Skorowski said adoption would show the state Revere is making a "good faith effort" to meet the…