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Fall River planning board backs expansion of HD‑1 overlay district, refers proposal to City Council
Summary
The Fall River Planning Board voted June 10, 2026 to recommend that the city council expand the HD‑1 housing development overlay district by roughly 70 acres — a change staff said would allow properties (including the former Dominican Academy/Atlantis Charter site) to pursue state tax‑credit programs. The referral advances to a council public hearing.
The Fall River Planning Board voted on June 10, 2026 to recommend that the City Council expand the HD‑1 housing development overlay district to include about 70 acres of land, a change staff said would let more redevelopment projects qualify for state housing tax‑credit programs.
City Engineer Dan Aguiar explained the procedure and the purpose of the request, saying the mayor’s April 23 letter led the council to refer the zoning change to the board for a recommendation. Aguiar said the proposed redrawn district would include the former Dominican Academy site, now occupied by Atlantis Charter School, and other parcels along South Main and adjacent streets. He told the board the designation is primarily intended to meet state — not federal — program eligibility: "I think this is only a state," the transcript records.
Board members discussed the item briefly and then moved to send a positive recommendation to the City Council, where the council will hold its own public hearing and final vote. The board’s motion passed unanimously. Members noted that projects inside an HD district can apply under state law for a variety of tax‑credit and incentive programs; staff provided the planning board with the relevant zoning bylaw language and citations to the governing materials included in the packet.
Why it matters: Expanding an HD overlay can make adaptive‑reuse and multifamily projects eligible for state incentives that improve the feasibility of housing redevelopment in targeted neighborhoods. The board’s recommendation means the City Council must now schedule a separate public hearing and take the final action.
Board action and next step: The planning board’s vote is advisory; the recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for a public hearing and final decision. The board packet cites Massachusetts open‑meeting and zoning procedures and references the state guidance in the packet (transcript references the zoning bylaw and 760 CMR subsection 66 and related materials provided to the board).
The board did not take up any site‑specific approvals for development today; the referral is a zoning‑map recommendation only.
