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ZONING A new residential/commercial mix will require
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Current laws are seen as restrictive for any major downtown overhaul plan, and at least one major change to current rules will be required for the development of the Hancock parking lot. But a broader review and tinkering of Quincy’s zoning regulations is likely when a new redevelopment plan is unveiled.
Building heights downtown have been restricted to six stories since a 1987 zoning change. Attempts to drop that guideline in the past have failed, but it is likely to come up again. The prospect of more housing downtown also weighs heavily on future zoning changes, as current guidelines allow mainly for businesses.
One concept that envisions apartments or lofts in mostly empty spaces above retail shops and businesses that line Hancock Street would require zoning changes. And rules about density - setting how many housing units can be built in a certain amount of space - are also likely to be addressed.
The kind of combination of business and housing developments seen by some planners also bucks with Quincy’s current zoning plans.
The future of the Hancock parking lot at the corner of Ryan Parkway (Chestnut Street) and Revere Road looms as one of the biggest specific areas likely for a zoning changes. The long-held hopes of building housing or a mixed-use development will require a zoning change.
Changing city zoning laws requires city council approval and public hearings.
A number of recent development projects downtown have sidestepped zoning problems by winning variances from the city’s zoning board of appeals. Members of that board, however, have repeatedly said they feel like the city’s de facto redevelopment authority and forced to make decisions on stand-alone projects without a master plan or vision to consider.
But zoning is also about relatively minor factors, according to Stuart Meck, senior research fellow for the American Planning Association.
“You need to be concerned in an urban setting with placements of windows,” he said. “You want to make sure you don’t have doors that open onto sidewalks and smack people in the face. You think over older buildings where doors are recessed into buildings.”
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