THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, February 21, 2025 Page 17 HOUSING | FROM PAGE 3 ally pass was a motion made by Ward 3 Councillor Amanda Linehan to strike out references to converting the Courthouse and Oak Grove Community Center to affordable housing and to have a detailed discussion by the Public Property Committee on converting surplus property to affordable housing use. Linehan’s motion passed by a 9-1 vote. She has been a driving force and champion of the planning and feasibility research that led to the plan to convert the Courthouse to an arts center. She also pointed out that the cost to renovate the Courthouse was now estimated at between $17 million and $19 million, not $12 million. “I believe in the arts center and I believe in the Oak Grove Community Center,” Councillor Linehan said. “I have also proposed that there can be both uses at the Courthouse: arts and affordable housing.” “There is a very concrete, phased plan we can do. We have more working artists [in Malden] than in any other community in our region,” Linehan said. “The arts community has bounced back since the pandemic.” “I have put five years of work into the Courthouse [arts center plan]. I feel really, really deeply about this project,” Linehan added. “At least we have to give it a shot. This resolve [to convert the buildings] came out of nowhere. I think it’s a false equivalent.” Ward 7 Councillor Chris Simonelli actually stood up at his place on the dais instead of sitting and emphatically said, “My ward is the affordable housing capital [of Malden]. Since I’ve been in office, I have been asked to create affordable housing.” “Show me where you made it,” he said to the other Councillors. “I already made it.” “You might want to watch your mouth about creating affordable housing if you haven’t put any affordable housing there,” Simonelli added. “I’ll get into it with anyone on this floor on affordable housing.” Ward 6 Councillor Stephen Winslow said he took exception to the resolution regarding specific buildings in specific wards without the Ward Councillors being included in the discussion, in this case, Linehan in Ward 3 (Courthouse) and City Council President Ryan O’Malley in Ward 4. “The city has a lot of properties. We should look at parking lots and all of our properties.” For his part, Councillor-at-Large Carey McDonald, who has spent a great deal of time and effort on the Council’s Affordable Housing Trust, along with Councillors Winslow, Linehan and others, said he was pleased with the extensive discussion on the topic. “I’m just thrilled about all this discussion on affordable housing,” Councillor McDonald said, “Hot diggity dog!” “But do we want to try and solve it, or just yell at each other?” McDonald asked. “I would love to support more discussion. Let’s talk about all of our properties. If we are serious about this, let’s talk about how to incentivize mixed use and just talk about how to increase affordable housing.” Councillor-at-Large Karen Colón Hayes said it is important to involve Malden residents in this type of discussion. “We can’t just pop this out in the community without informing the community. Just targeting these two buildings is not fair. We have to have a big talk about all of this.” The end result was that the resolution regarding surplus city-owned properties was referred to discussion at a future joint meeting of the Council’s Public Property and Community Engagement & Inclusion Committees. For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 617-387-2200 or Info@ advocatenews.net Lynn English rushes past Malden High Boys Basketball Team Another strong start but Tornados can’t keep momentum in 60-45 loss Junior De’Shawn Bunch (3) goes up for a layup against Lynn English. (Advocate Photos/Henry Huang) Junior Colin Okoth sees some daylight with this three-point shot. Ma lden senio r capt a i n Wyatt Dessert (5) lines up a jumper. City of Malden Massachusetts INSPECTIONAL SERVICES 215 Pleasant Street, Room 330 Malden, Massachusetts 02148 (781) 397-7000 ext. 2044 MALDEN PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC HEARING The Malden Planning Board will hold a public hearing in the Herbert L. Jackson Council Chamber, Malden City Hall, 215 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 (tabled on September 13, 2023) on the petition of 41 Warren LLC (Permit Application # RES-058977-2023) seeking a special permit under Title 12, Chapter 28, Section 010(D)(1) of the Code of the City of Malden, to alter, structurally change and change use of a preexisting nonconforming property in the Residence A zoning district, namely, to convert the vacant storefront to a sixth residential dwelling unit and to change use of the building from a multifamily dwelling with five units to a multifamily dwelling with six units, at the property known as and numbered, 91-95 Medford Street, Malden, MA and by City Assessor’s Parcel ID# 066 304 407. Petition and plans are available for public review in City Hall, Inspectional Services Department, Room 330, 215 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA and on the City website under Permit Application # RES-058977-2023 at https://maldenma-energovweb.tylerhost.net/apps/SelfService#/home By: Diane M. Chuha Clerk February 21, 28, 2025
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