Planning & Development dept. address outdated zoning

By Neil Zolot

EVERETT – The City’s Planning Department is undertaking an extensive recodification of zoning regulations, according to Director of Planning and Development Matt Lattanzi. “We’re making the language into something that makes sense,” stated Lattanzi to City Councillors on Tuesday, May 28. “It’s derived from major inconsistencies in the zoning map. We are heavily outdated.”

An example he gave about inconsistencies was the need for a special license for businesses in business districts.

Current uses will be “grandfathered in” to maintain current uses, but new zoning would become applicable with a change of use. Change to a type of business related to the original use would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Ward 6 Councillor Peter Pietrantonio asked if there should be a building moratorium during the recodification.

Lattanzi answered imposing a moratorium, which requires studies for justification, would take as long as the recodification and should have started a year ago to have any impact.

He also said most new development is in the Commercial Triangle off Route 16/Revere Beach Parkway and the Lower Broadway Economic District, two areas with up-to-date zoning. “They’d receive the fewest amount of amendments,” he said.

Lattanzi hopes to make a fuller presentation to the City Council this summer with final approval possibly in the fall. “This is a massive zoning change, but it’s still a zoning change and will be referred to the Planning Board for hearings,” he said.

In another zoning related item, the Council gave its second and final approval to a proposal to amend the parking requirements, use regulations and dimensional standards in the Zoning Ordinance related to the Lower Broadway Economic Development District, introduced by Lattanzi at the May 13 meeting. “For this type of change the City Council is required to take two votes,” he said of the procedure.

Lattanzi stated that a typographical error required one parking space for every foot of space in industrial buildings and the change would require one space per 1,000 feet of building space. “It will still provide enough parking,” he said.

In another item on the agenda, Lattanzi was reappointed to his position through January, 5, 2026. The city funded portion of his salary in Fiscal 2024 is $61,002. The Planning Department request and the Mayor’s recommendation for his Fiscal 2025 salary is a lower $50,266. He earned $122,004 in Fiscal 2024 through additional funds from Community Block Grants. Despite the lower local appropriation, in Fiscal 2025 he will earn $125,664 because the grant to supplement his salary is rising from $61,002 to $75,398.

Councillor At-Large Guerline Alcy Jabouin asked Lattanzi for some information about his experience in the Planning Department and City Solicitor’s office. “I went to law school,” Lattanzi answered in reference to his graduating Boston College law school in 2018. “You don’t major in law school, but you can have a focus. My focus was land use and law.”

He also recounted his days as an Assistant City Solicitor office starting in 2018, during which then Director of Planning Anthony Sousa noticed his interest in property use and law, which led to him being asked to attend Planning Board meetings and, eventually, moving to the Planning Department in 2020.

Alcy Jabouin also asked Lattanzi if he would lose his job if the grants disappeared.

He answered that was a theoretical possibility but “very unlikely.”

In another item the Council approved the transfer of $100,000 from the General Fund Budgetary Fund Balance or Free Cash to the Human Resources Employee Buyback Account to pay employee benefits due to employees leaving city employment. Prior to the regular Council meeting, the Ways and Means Subcommittee recommended approval, which the full membership approved.

Jabouin asked why the expense wasn’t anticipated and money was needed from Free Cash.

Councillor At-Large Stephanie Smith told her money had been cut from the Buyback Account and was needed due to unexpected requirements for employee benefits.

At the outset of the meeting, Council president Robert Van Campen outlined a new procedure for Public Comment in which remarks on agenda items would be heard first and remarks on other matters second even if one person wanted to address multiple issues.

Before making her remarks, Public Comment regular Paula Sterite asked, “Is it necessary to have a police officer present?”

This might be considered disingenuous given she has been barred from School Committee meetings due to alleged improper behavior that violated the privacy of students and police officers have been at School Committee meetings as well.

“I’m concerned about the presence of a police officer here,” Pietrantonio interjected. “Was there a threat to us?”

“I’m not aware of any threat,” Van Campen answered.

Ward 2 Councillor Stephanie Martins added, “I’m appreciative of this. Things have been written about me and the other women where we feel unsafe.”

The Mayor’s Chief of Staff Erin Deveney later commented, “It should be noted the member of the Police Department present this evening in a public setting did nothing objectionable or intrusive and in no way impeded the Council’s ability to conduct its meeting or the ability of residents to participate.”