This February, the Boston Globe published an article How Everett became a housing boomtown in the Boston area that demonstrated how Everett has permitted housing units at the fastest rate in Greater Boston, adding 16% new housing units from 2015 to 2021.
Much of this new housing is in the Commercial Triangle, a post-industrial area where I led the neighborhood planning process in 2019. I also helped the City reconsider how off-street parking is administered through a Transportation Demand Management Ordinance that allows developers to offset parking with contributions such as bicycle facilities.
Looking forward, CommunityScale and the City of Everett are engaged in rewriting the entire zoning ordinance. The recodification is meant to better align the code with the vision of a transit-oriented walkable and vibrant city, stop “zoning by variance”, and bring much of the city into conformity.
As shown below, there are several adopted neighborhood plans that will be considered during the rezoning, and that have already contributed to the housing boom as written about by the Globe.
The City administration has taken a strong position to help address the region’s housing crisis, while also establishing policies that reduce car traffic, promote walkability, reduce carbon emissions, and redevelop polluted post-industrial land. We expect to continue to see great things from the City and are proud to be partners in the vision.
