[Massplanners] Mandatory Mixed Use - 3A Zoning Question

[janetmcgowan30 at comcast.net]

This is a great question!  We keep hearing about what developers can do and can’t do financially but never any numbers to support these claims  There is a 3 story mixed use building just proposed in Florence (a village of Northampton) and I presume it’s economically viable.

If Belmont goes to 4 floors, consider requiring a step back to keep a human scale street feel and compatibility with surrounding buildings. 

Janet McGowan
Amherst, ex-Planning Board member

> On Jul 16, 2024, at 10:54 AM, Ryan, Christopher via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org> wrote:
> 
> Good morning planners
>  
> I am having a lot of trouble finding resources to verify an assumption that mixed use buildings are generally not viable at 3 stories and require at least 3 stories of residential in addition to the ground floor commercial to be feasible to develop in the current market. We’ve been counseled on this by several consultants but have not been able to find any journal articles, newspaper pieces, memos, white papers, or anything else that definitively provides evidence for this.
>  
> Since we are seeking to establish a mandatory mixed use zoning subdistrict in Belmont, we’d like to be able to provide information to our citizens who are skeptical about this assumption and would rather we limit MMU to 3 stories total. Does anyone have information which could help us with our outreach for this provision?
>  
> Thanks in advance,
>  
> Chris R.
>  
> ====================================================
> Christopher J. Ryan, AICP, Ph.D.
> Director of Planning & Building
> Town of Belmont
> 19 Moore Street
> Belmont, MA 02478-0900
> Tel: 617.993.2658
> Email: cryan at belmont-ma.gov <mailto:cryan at belmont-ma.gov>
> Web: https://www.belmont-ma.gov/office-of-planning-building
> ===================================================
>  
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