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Planning Board approves preliminary plan and zoning relief for 525 Broadway workforce housing with conditions
Summary
After expert testimony and extended public comment, the Planning Board approved variances, a category‑1 special‑use permit and preliminary development‑plan review for a 38‑unit workforce housing project at 525 Broadway, subject to conditions including 12‑month leases, limits on subletting and parking guarantees.
The Planning Board voted to approve preliminary plan and zoning relief for a 38‑unit workforce housing project at 525 Broadway following testimony from the applicant team, traffic and landscape consultants and more than a dozen public comments. The board’s approvals covered the requested dimensional variances, a category‑1 special‑use permit for multifamily use in the R‑10 zone, and preliminary development‑plan review, all contingent on TRC and staff recommendations and several conditions.
Applicant representative Matt Lees told the Board the project is intended to supply workforce housing the city needs and contains 38 one‑bedroom units averaging about 500 square feet. “The city has a workforce housing crisis,” Lees said in summation, urging the Board to consider the comprehensive‑plan goals and TRC findings in support of the application. The board accepted staff and TRC findings and added conditions the applicant agreed to, including a requirement that all leases be at least 12 months and that subleasing be prohibited.
Board members also required measures to address neighborhood concerns about parking and circulation. The board’s conditions call for at least five guest parking spaces to be deeded on abutting church property and for the applicant to secure five guest spaces at the Cranston Calvert property (or equivalent) and to make reasonable efforts to seek additional parking on the Middletown portion of the parcel. The board also added conditions linking final approval to the city engineer’s review of traffic mitigation measures and to the TRC memo dated 08/13/25.
The approvals were recorded by voice vote after deliberation; members voiced concerns about traffic and neighborhood character but concluded the TRC‑documented mitigation, the applicant’s revisions to architecture and landscape screening, and the required conditions were sufficient. The Board closed the public hearing prior to making its decisions and moved the project to the final administrative review steps required by staff and TRC.
