Somerville planning board begins overhaul of ECBD zoning and Master Plan language; staff directed to refine map and Schedule A

The Somerville Planning Board spent the bulk of its June 24 meeting reviewing a draft Area‑in‑Need study for the ECBD and undertaking a line‑by‑line rethink of the district’s base zoning (EB1–EB3, EPR, ER2), permitted uses (Schedule A), and Master Plan community‑facilities language.

Staff presented the June 22 draft study and noted a factual correction: a parcel (lot 12, with a three‑car garage) shown as privately held is county‑owned. The report recommends redevelopment criteria apply only if county‑owned parcels become privately owned. Planning staff also told the board adaptive reuse of the county detention facility will be challenging if it ever leaves public ownership.

Board members focused on moving commercial density out of flood‑hazard areas and reshaping base zones so higher‑intensity uses (hotels, multifamily, craft beverage producers) are permitted in appropriate locations while protecting single‑family buffers. Several members argued for keeping height limits modest (two‑and‑a‑half to three stories in some zones) while permitting increased use diversity where density can be concentrated.

The board conducted a detailed review of Schedule A (permitted uses). Key proposals and directions to staff included:

• Remove public warehousing and large wholesale distribution from downtown base zones.

• Consider permitting craft distilleries, breweries and meaderies in EB1–EB3 (at least as conditional uses in some locations).

• Restrict rooming/boarding houses and certain heavy construction uses from flood‑prone downtown parcels.

• Treat houses of worship and broad membership organizations as conditional uses where they would otherwise displace single‑family buffers.

• Clarify retail categories (NIC/SIC codes) to ensure that uses such as sporting‑goods retail do not unintentionally allow firearm sales in the ECBD; staff confirmed existing licensing and zoning for firearms is limited and asked to verify how those uses would be categorized in Schedule A.

• Develop clear definitions and siting guidance for antennas and small cell repeaters; members preferred siting on public buildings or selected corridors instead of residential rooftops.

• Treat parking decks as accessory uses to principal development where possible, or require conditional review to prevent a principal‑use parking garage occupying prime downtown parcels.

Board members also discussed whether to expand permitted locations for tattoo businesses in the ECBD (currently tightly limited borough‑wide), noting the prior Division Street approval imposed extensive conditions (privacy, window treatment); staff will supply the prior ordinance language and the conditions used in the earlier approval.

On the Master Plan community‑facilities chapter, the board asked staff to remove building‑value fields, add Let Park and John Long Park to the high‑flood‑risk list, mark Borough Hall as a historic property in the inventory, and combine overlapping objectives about DPW facilities. Members also asked that pedestrian and greenway connectivity language be stronger and action‑oriented — for example changing ‘‘coordinate with the Somerville Downtown Alliance’’ to ‘‘create and invest in walkways and connectivity to and throughout the borough.’’

The board directed staff to produce a clean, parcel‑level proposed zoning map with uses in labeled boxes, to provide clarified definitions for contested items (antennas, private households/accessory offices, heavy construction, wholesale trade, sporting‑goods categories), and to annotate which DSA (Downtown Somerville Alliance) suggestions are new versus already captured in the plan. Staff will return with a consolidated draft of Schedule A and a redline Master Plan for final review at a future meeting.

No formal zoning changes were adopted on June 24; the meeting concluded with direction for staff follow‑up and requests for clearer mapping and annotated Schedule A language.