[Speaker 2] (0:00 - 2:10)
So we're going to talk about Article 20, which is Amend Zoning Bylaw, Vinden Square Rezoning, which is on your Town Meeting Warrant. And that article reads, to see if the Town will vote to amend the Swampscott Zoning Bylaw and Zoning Map to amend the Swampscott Zoning Bylaw relative to multifamily buildings containing more than eight units in the Business B-4 Zoning District by inserting language shown in red and deleting language shown in red strikethrough as set forth in Appendix H and rezone the following parcels of land that are currently zoned in the B-3 District to be zoned in the Business B-4 District as established by the Zoning Bylaw Section 2.1.0.0. So what does all that mean? This proposed article updates and expands the B-4 zone to allow any redevelopment in the zone to include multifamily mixed-use buildings by right, subject to design guidelines established for that zone. The purpose of the proposed amendment reflects the Town's goal of complying with the Section 3A of the Zoning Act, Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, Section 3A, by May 2024, which is anticipated to overlay sections of Vinden Square.

Proactive zoning of the B-4 District will provide the opportunity for redevelopment and that has the potential to replace portions of a single-story, single-building mall and create a walkable mixed-use neighborhood. This could help meet the Town's housing needs, bolster municipal tax revenues, provide improved conditions and opportunities for existing businesses and local entrepreneurs, improve community character, and enhance sustainability, all without the environmental destruction and expense that goes into developing greenfield sites and natural areas. So I think that that last section that explains it, Angela, is pretty clear about what the goals are here.

You know, you can get a little wonky with the zoning language in the first part there, but let's talk about why this is happening now and also just let's hone in and spot specifically where in Vinden Square we're talking about.

[Speaker 1] (2:11 - 8:40)
Okay, good questions, Mike. So why this is happening now is because we're in a time of transition for many of these single-story retail malls. The owners of malls are having trouble filling spaces.

There, in fact, are a lot of vacant spaces and malls all over the northeast. Many of these old commercial plazas are struggling due to competition from other revitalized town and village centers, more modern lifestyle centers, and plazas designed to be more pedestrian-friendly than traditional strip malls. Businesses that do remain in suburban strip malls are increasingly surrounded by vacant and, at time, dilapidated storefronts.

So these sites, especially those that sit unused or underutilized, they offer the space and the infrastructure to build the mixed-use and multifamily housing that the region needs. So what exact spots are we looking at? Because a lot of people don't identify parcels by their parcel number as we do in the zoning bylaw.

So what we're talking about are the these stores on the Swampscott Mall side of Vidden Square. It includes the Stop and Shop building. It includes, well, actually, Stop and Shop is already zoned as before.

So it includes all of the buildings from, say, the edge of HomeGoods all the way down to Starbucks, but does not include the Starbucks building and does not include the HomeGoods building. So if you envision that stretch of building, those would be rezoned to B4. The reason for that is so that we can look at that entire property as one lot, one development lot.

We already have frontage on Essex Street. And the reason we would be converting those properties to B4 would be so that they would all comply with the same setbacks and height restrictions and frontage restrictions and so forth. The reason that those are being contemplated is because, just for practical purposes, many of the leases at those properties are coming up.

There's an opportunity to improve this site, to redevelop a site whose use is not producing what it used to produce for either the landlord or the retailers or the town, and essentially is underutilized. It's a sea of as many of the 1970s-era strip malls are. So this contemplates redevelopment that would comply with the MBTA community's 3A zoning.

It's a sort of a simple zoning change that achieves a lot of purposes. And so we're taking advantage of an opportunity that exists with a strip of land that's ripe for redevelopment. We're looking at it as not rebuilding the same kind of mall, but to create more of a neighborhood lifestyle center, to create, to rebuild buildings that can be multifamily housing, but by our mixed use.

So we won't be losing any of the retail that currently exists there. As most of you know, we are constantly looking at ways to improve our tax base. And to be able to get Vinnin Square to become a commercial engine again for the town is really important, not only for the town finances, but for people who live here.

So creating multifamily housing in Vinnin Square and creating it in unexpected ways, so ways that may be moving buildings away from the edge of the property and into sort of the parking lot area, and then having connections, sidewalks, grass, trees, benches that connect all of these properties, these mixed use, part residential, retail on the first floor buildings, creates more of a neighborhood feel. People can leave a building and walk around and you won't be parking on one side of the lot and then moving your car when you need to go to the other side to go to stop and drop.

There'll be pedestrian connectivity. The parking will be sort of rearranged, so some of it's behind the building, some of it's within the building. And at the same time, it gives us an opportunity to begin our compliance with the MBTA 3A zoning mandate that we have from the state.

That zoning we don't anticipate to bring a final version of to town meeting until next year, but we are working on it with our consultants now. And this particular rezoning would comply with the zoning requirements of 3A. So again, it's a very interesting piece of zoning because it serves so many purposes.

It puts Swampscot really on the cutting edge of looking to create the best possible use for these old malls that is sustainable in every way, because it's a lot more sustainable to reuse a property that's already developed and to make it better to create buildings that are going to be much more energy efficient in terms of being electrified instead of using old kinds of fuel and so forth. It also allows for, again as I mentioned, pedestrian connectivity, the ability to have electric vehicle charging stations and to bring this mall into the 21st century, 22nd century, wherever we are now, into the future. Make it a much more livable place.

[Speaker 2] (8:40 - 8:49)
I think that was a really good explanation and it sounds like, you know, in the language here, we're talking about design guidelines, right? That's similar to how we were talking about it in the Hadley.

[Speaker 1] (8:50 - 8:50)
Correct.

[Speaker 2] (8:50 - 9:09)
So those design guidelines created by the planning board and consultants and working with various agencies, right, that develop these kinds of things and have worked on the redevelopment of these malls before. So they would enable everything you're talking about, right?

[Speaker 1] (9:09 - 9:09)
That's correct.

[Speaker 2] (9:10 - 9:20)
Review of pedestrian connections, review of the aesthetics of the building, parking, placement of buildings, traffic analysis, right? So there'd be strict guidelines set forth for any redevelopment here.

[Speaker 1] (9:21 - 10:40)
That's correct. That's correct. Interestingly, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which is an agency that we work closely with, has a very interesting study that they've done that's on their website.

If anyone is interested, you could Google rethinking the retail strip. They've done extensive studies into the redevelopment potential for this exact type of thing. They have identified Swampscott as a target area for this kind of use, not just because of the state of the mall and the types of mall we have, but the fact that it's sandwiched in between two main bus lines that connect it with the rail station.

So not only would it be a walkable, livable site, but it's also very easily accessed by public transportation, which is, of course, another requirement for our 3A zoning. We'll also be very closely developing the design guidelines with those that exist already in the model 3A zoning, which, of course, includes connectivity, walkability, all the sustainability features, parking, et cetera.

[Speaker 2] (10:40 - 10:55)
Right. And it's great to hear that sort of synergy with that upcoming 3A zoning discussion, because this is a good area for, A, redevelopment because of the older infrastructure there, and, B, because of that transit connectivity which you spoke about.

[Speaker 1] (10:55 - 10:55)
Right.

[Speaker 2] (10:56 - 11:02)
And so to kind of check off two boxes here with this rezoning sounds like a win to me.

[Speaker 1] (11:03 - 11:03)
That's right.

[Speaker 2] (11:03 - 11:05)
Anything else to add before we...

[Speaker 1] (11:05 - 11:15)
I don't think so. I'm excited about this. I hope the town is excited about it as well, and we look forward to any further discussions.

[Speaker 2] (11:15 - 11:16)
Thanks. Thanks, Angela.