Page 8 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, December 8, 2023 MBTA | FROM PAGE 1 paper calling for the ordinance change to this week’s joint meeting with the Planning Board. Supporters of the spirit of the new ordinance were scarce that evening. Nearly every Councillor who spoke on the issue said they fully supported aff ordable housing and transit-related “smart development,” but not the way it was being “forced on communities” by the MBTA, backed by the state legislature. At that mid-November meeting and again at this week’s joint Planning Board/Ordinance Committee joint meeting, city Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) Executive Director Deborah Burke, speaking on behalf of Mayor Gary Christenson, presented a letter from the Mayor in support of the new overlay ordinance plan and stressed that the state had attached serious penalties if communities did not make the deadline with their new plan. As many as 13 state grant programs would ban communities from awards, Burke explained, citing at least four of them which had provided over $4 million for some major projects in Malden in the past 18 months, including the Malden River Works project, which is transforming the area on and around the DPW Most communities, including Malden, are creating an MBTA Communities Law Map to show where designated properties are listed. (Courtesy Photo) headquarters into a long-awaited, eco-friendly work and recreation site. The MBTA Communities law was adopted in 2021 and requires some 177 cities and towns served by the transit agency – including Malden – to have at least one zoning district “of reasonable size” where multifamily housing is allowed within a half mile of a commuter rail, subway or bus station or ferry terminal, if applicable. Malden has two dual rapid transit stations, with Orange Line and Commuter Rail service: Malden Center, located on Commercial Street in the heart of the downtown, and Oak Grove Station, located at Washington and Winter Streets near the Malden-Melrose city line. On Tuesday night, at a joint meeting of the Planning Board and the City Council’s Ordinance Need a hall for your special event? The Schiavo Club, located at 71 Tileston Street, Everett is available for your Birthdays, Anniversaries, Sweet 16 parties and more? For more info, call (857) 249-7882 Committee, Malden City Planner Michelle Romero gave a detailed presentation as part of a public hearing. She laid out an ordinance plan and summary report that would put Malden in compliance with the new law. The report was the culmination of close to two years of planning, meetings and discussions between Planning Board members, Romero, the city’s Offi ce of Strategic Development director Deborah Burke and her staff , as well as City Councillors Craig Spadafora (at-large) and Stephen Winslow (Ward 6). Details were explained by Romero, outlining how two specifi c districts were to be created, with fi ve subdistricts as well, in the entire zoning overlay. Some 96 properties were identified and included in subdistricts – some city-owned, some privately-owned and some commercial real estate. (See List, Separate Story.) Romero also reiterated the short time window cited by Burke and indicated the Planning Board and City Council must act quickly to ensure Malden’s continued and future access to state grant money. Burke and Romero both confi rmed that most of the properties included in the proposed, new residential multifamily and multi-use overlays would be situated around the downtown Malden/Malden Center area. There were fewer identifi ed and listed around the Oak Grove Orange Line subway/commuter rail station. A few more were identifi ed and listed along the Eastern Avenue/Rt. 60 corridor as well as at the Overlook Ridge apartments complex. “This proposal is intended to meet state law as it best represents the wishes and needs of the residents of the Malden community,” Mayor Christenson stated in his letter. OSPCD Executive Director Burke read the Mayor’s letter to the Councillors in its entirety on November 14 and referred to it directly again, with excerpts, Tuesday night. The new zoning overlay plan, which the Mayor said he supported in the letter read by Burke: —Keeps the most potential residential growth in the downtown Malden area —It steers direct impact out of the nearby neighborhoods to prevent overcrowding, limiting the size of overall districts to alleviate potential traffi c problems — Provides a mandatory mixed-use district in downtown to preserve and eventually grow the commercial tax base in Malden and also preserve existing high-rise residential buildings, such as the Heritage senior living apartments in Malden Square and 510 Main St., also in Malden Square Romero explained the two main districts created in the zoning overlay plan: MBTA Community overlay District (MCMOD) and the Multi-Use District (MMUD). She added that the zoning overlay was carefully crafted to ensure that original, underlying zoning would be retained in all districts. The longtime City Planner said there are 6,930 more units allowed in Malden under the state guidelines, though that comes above the number of existing units (5,202). That would reduce the number of allowable “max build-out” units to around 2,265, Romero said. Of that number, the most realistic new buildout unit additions citywide (and primarily in the Malden Center area) (“the likelihood number” – Romero) would be 1,123 units. “We want to make it very clear we do not intend on removing any existing zoning,” Romero said. Chairperson Ioven praised the team of city elected offi cials, outside consultants and board members who all joined to come up with a viable and comprehensive zoning overlay proposal. “I applaud the team’s eff orts to generate the best option for the benefi t of the city,” Ioven said. “We have a short runway to this deadline, and there’s a lot of state contributions to the city from which we want to benefi t.” Voting unanimously in sending a recommendation endorsing a Planning Board report to the City Council were Charles Ioven, Chair, Kenneth Antonucci, Vice Chair, Diane Chuha, Clerk, and members Resa Gray, Patrick Hayes, Eric MacCuish, Eric Henry, Tewedaj Gebreselassie and Henri Soucy. MBTA COMMUNITIES MULTI-FAMILY OVERLAY DISTRICT Malden Center Subdistrict 11 CANAL ST 35 CANAL ST CENTRE ST #053255508 63-85 CENTRE ST 124 CENTRE ST 11 CHARLES ST 17 CHARLES ST COMMERCIAL ST #053235501B 102 COMMERCIAL ST 40-66 EXCHANGE ST 70-76 EXCHANGE ST 100-150 EXCHANGE ST 10 FLORENCE ST 39 FLORENCE ST 99 FLORENCE ST 7 JACKSON ST MAIN ST #050256905 32 PEARL ST 89 PEARL ST 100 PEARL ST 83 PLEASANT ST 95-105 PLEASANT ST RAMSDELL ROAD #049279931 10-20 SUMMER ST 7 WASHINGTON ST 17-19 WASHINGTON ST ***** Malden Center High-Rise Subdistrict 36 DARTMOUTH ST 504-514 MAIN ST 180 PLEASANT ST 195 PLEASANT **** Oak Grove Subdistrict 5 ISLAND HILL AVE MAIN ST #062308810 MAIN ST #062308811 244-248 MAIN ST 260 MAIN ST 550 MAIN ST 556 MAIN ST 1038 MAIN ST 1100 MAIN ST 1128 MAIN ST 30-32 MAPLE ST 33 MAPLE ST 36 MAPLE ST RAMSDELL RD #049279932 SUMMER ST #020120012 74-80B SUMMER ST 82 SUMMER ST 89 SUMMER ST 101-109 SUMMER ST 117 SUMMER ST 120 SUMMER ST 134 SUMMER ST **** Medium Subdistrict 474-488 BROADWAY 10 OVERLOOK RIDGE DR 51 OVERLOOK RIDGE DR 181 KENNEDY DR 244 KENNEDY DR 8 QUARRY LANE 185 575 570 MCMOD MD 12 QUARRY LANE 186 575 507 MCMOD MD 15 QUARRY LANE 186 575 510 MCMOD MD 4 STONE LANE ******* MANDATORY MULTI-USE DISTRICT 12 BICKFORD RD 167-169 CENTRE ST 185 CENTRE ST 0 CHARLES ST 22 CHARLES ST 28-30 CHARLES ST 31 COMMERCIAL ST 51 COMMERCIAL ST 65 COMMERCIAL ST 77 COMMERCIAL ST 89 COMMERCIAL ST 99-109 COMMERCIAL ST 43 DARTMOUTH ST 4-6 EVELYN PLACE 2 FLORENCE ST 480 MAIN ST 492- 500 MAIN ST 521- 539 MAIN ST 69 MIDDLESEX ST PLEASANT ST #031133309 41- 49 PLEASANT ST 51- 61 PLEASANT ST 126-150 PLEASANT ST 137-147 PLEASANT ST 157 PLEASANT ST 169-185 PLEASANT ST 215 PLEASANT ST 321 PLEASANT ST 332 PLEASANT ST 50- 52 SUMMER ST 54- 72 SUMMER ST
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