Rezoning of Cinema World land on Highland Ave

Last night was the City Council’s first Ordinances, Licenses, and Legal Affairs (OLLA) meeting of the year. The purpose of the meeting was to review the recommendation of the Planning Board in regards to a zoning change request for 355 and 373 Highland Ave., and 2,3,5,6,10 Cedar Road. The properties are currently zoned B2 (Business Highway) and BPD (Business Park Development). The request is to make them R3 (Multi-family residential). The members of OLLA voted 3-2 to refer out in rejection of the Planning Board recommendation (and in favor of the zoning change).

The Planning Board met in mid November to take up the matter, after the City Council held a Public Hearing with the Board. The item caused much discussion in the Planning Board meeting around what we want Highland Avenue to look like, and more specifically, does it make sense to look at zoning throughout Salem. The Board appreciated the fact that the neighborhood was supportive of the project, which is unique to any project in the city. It was the neighbors who spoke out and said they would rather have housing in that spot, with a nice restaurant, rather than the Cinema World project. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, housing produces less stress on roadways than an entertainment business, which sees the majority of its activity in late afternoon and evening and all weekend. But the Planning Board felt it was important to them to send a message to the City Council to take the matter of a Highland Ave. corridor study and citywide zoning very seriously - and they returned a negative recommendation for the zoning change.

At OLLA, Tom Daniel, the City Planner presented the Board’s recommendation, and touched on the Board’s thinking. Matt Veno from the Planning Board also attended the meeting and spoke about the need for an updated zoning map. He stated that he is not against this project, but the Board really wants to avoid doing these one-off zoning changes for projects.

This property has been sitting vacant on Highland Avenue for decades. Councilor Dibble pointed out that he himself drew the zoning lines on Highland Avenue in the mid-1980’s, and his dream is to find a clean, high paying business that will employ Salem residents to fill this space. Completely understandable and laudable. But it doesn’t change the fact that the land has been sitting there, empty, paying little in taxes. It has been for sale, it has been marketed.

The question has been asked whether this is spot zoning. The written opinion from the City Solicitor is that it is not spot zoning, because there is R3 zoning contiguous to this property. So in effect, the R3 zoning is being expanded to include this property. This illustrates the zoning issues on Highland Avenue though, with a mix of different zoning all in one area (see the zoning map for this area, above).

To the question of why the zoning change is necessary: without the change, the project would be limited because of the B2 and BPD zoning. BPD only allows residential uses, including parking and landscaping, to take up 50% of the property. The B2 zoning limits the height of buildings. This would result in a design that would be a horrible use of land on that corridor, mostly parking along Highland Ave. That’s not what anyone wants. By changing the zoning to R3, a housing project can make better use of the space, with parking being less obvious, and better landscaping and green space.

A word about the Barnes/Clark/Wyman Neighborhood Association: this group and the team working on the development project have set the bar for how these projects should work. The developer listened to the neighbors that spoke up at the “What’s Happening on Highland Ave.” meeting a year and a half ago. They worked with the neighbors and the Association leadership to mold a possible housing project into something that was acceptable for the neighborhood. This should be encouraged throughout the city.

I voted in favor of the zoning change. This is a good use of this particular parcel, which abuts a neighborhood. The developer has been very good to work with and listens to the neighbors. We want to encourage this in Salem. The Barnes/Clark/Wyman neighbors have done their homework. They have attended many meetings, held neighborhood association meetings to discuss the project, suggested changes to the project, and in the end they are happy with it. This means a lot to me, since this is their neighborhood.

The vote was Councilors Madore, Morsillo and Prosniewski in favor of the change, Councilors Dibble and Sargent against. It now goes to the full City Council for a vote. It needs to pass twice for the change to be made.