Economic Development Committee advances surface-parking review and debates raising special-permit threshold for housing

The Springfield City Economic Development Committee on Tuesday voted to advance a zoning change that would make new surface parking lots in the downtown subject to a city-council special permit and opened discussion on raising the city's special-permit threshold for multifamily housing from 10 units to 50.

Tim Sheen, chief development officer for Springfield City, told the committee the review grew out of a broader conversation about keeping housing and commercial development moving and cited peer cities' approaches. "Surface parking in the central business district is not the highest and best use of our land," Sheen said, arguing that the current requirement that projects over 10 units obtain a council special permit creates uncertainty for developers.

Sheen said Springfield staff surveyed Providence, Hartford, Worcester and Albany and found that most do not require a special permit for multifamily projects and many limit new surface parking downtown. "I think we collectively need to consider raising it . . . so that the council is dealing with projects of more magnitude than 10 units," Sheen said, adding that he was proposing a 50-unit threshold as an example.

Counselor Justin Hurst, joining the meeting remotely, voiced support for tighter controls on surface parking. "I really love the fact that for the open parking lots that they have to come before the city council. That makes perfect sense to me," Hurst said. Several councilors said they were open to raising the special-permit threshold for smaller multifamily projects so long as the council retains a way to track and review significant proposals.

Counselor Kater Walsh said she wanted to reduce unnecessary red tape for businesses but also wanted a mechanism to stay informed about who is building in the city. "We get informed of who's developing in our city," Walsh said, noting concern that raising the threshold could leave councilors unaware of many projects in the pipeline.

Committee members pressed staff for more data. Sheen said the city has roughly "close to 700 units in the pipeline" but other council comments referenced "600 units," highlighting a discrepancy the committee asked staff to clarify. Sheen also explained that Springfield currently uses three review pathways: administrative review, planning-board review and council special permits. He said projects under the proposed higher threshold would still go through planning-board review and public notice.

Members discussed examples of local projects that would be affected by a higher threshold, including a 99-unit Macaffrey project and a roughly 40-unit conversion of the Brightwood School to elderly housing, and asked for a breakdown of projects above and below any proposed new threshold.

After discussion, Counselor Kater Walsh moved and Justin Hurst seconded a motion to advance the surface-parking zoning item for further consideration. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; the transcript records a voice affirmative but no roll-call tally.

The committee did not take final action on changes to the multifamily special-permit threshold. Members agreed to reconvene and asked staff to provide pipeline statistics, a five-year project summary or a categorization of projects above and below the proposed threshold, and options for keeping the council informed of significant developments even if they no longer require a council special permit.

The committee also paused to confirm that the items had been properly posted for public comment and agreed to bring the surface-parking matter forward at the next meeting after staff verified notice and agenda posting.