A recommendation from the Planning Board to adopt the Alexandria Zoning Petition regarding Innovation Space in the …

How it started

Submitted by Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager.

What happened

↪ Folded into the related zoning petition (Referred to the petition · Nov 13, 2017)

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Alexandria Zoning Petition Regarding Innovation Space in the PUD-

3A and PUD-4C Districts. Recommendation: The Planning Board recommends ADOPTION. To the Honorable, the City Council, The Planning Board held a public hearing on this petition on October 17, 2017. The Board heard a presentation from the Petitioner and testimony from one member of the public, and received a report with background information from the Community Development Department. The zoning for these districts was adopted in 2009 and Alexandria’s development plan was approved in 2010.

The development plan is now in its later phases, when it is typical and reasonable for the developer to consider improvements to the original scheme. The current proposal makes a small change that the Board believes will result in a better project overall. The 2010 development plan included repurposing an existing commercial building into housing.

However, the Petitioner explained that the older building is not well suited for rehabilitation to residential use and now intends to provide the required housing entirely in a new structure, and to retain the existing use of the commercial building. To remain within the commercial Gross Floor Area (GFA) limits of the district, the petition would allow a limited amount of Innovation Space within the existing building to be exempt from GFA limitations.

The Board finds the proposed changes beneficial because the housing will be in a new building specifically designed for it and because the proposed additional GFA allowance would be for Innovation Space, a type of commercial space that is promoted in the City’s Kendall Square (“K2”) Plan and subject to GFA incentives in other nearby zoning districts. While the proposed change is small in scope – less than one percent of the total GFA in the project – it would benefit both the development and the City.

Respectfully submitted for the Planning Board, H Theodore Cohen, Chair.