The big zoning redo

Boston had its Big Dig, the massive civil engineering project that rerouted an elevated highway and built a new tunnel — a project that took 15 years to complete, not including planning. The Town of North East has its Big Zoning Redo, a multi-year project that is nearing the end of an initial phase to update the zoning code to match the vision of the Comprehensive Plan adopted in 2019.

The current zoning code is half a century old, and like all such codes it governs how residents and businesses can use their homes and buildings, and their land. The world has changed since the Seventies — and so will the zoning regulations of the Town of North East if amendments proposed by a working committee of volunteers are accepted by the town board in the near future.

Supervisor Chris Kennan put it succinctly at a special meeting of the board last week, remarking that the adoption of the amendments to zoning could stand as the most significant of all accomplishments of the current board.

The Zoning Review Committee is made up of six volunteers: Edie Greenwood, chair, and Dale Culver, Julie Schroeder, Ed Downey, Bill Kish and Dave Sherman. The work of the group was assisted not only by the board itself but by guidance from professional consultants including Nan Stolzenberg and Will Agresta, two community planners well known in their field. Town Attorney Warren Replansky also pored over the committee’s recommendations, sharing insights as well his extensive experience with other towns that have navigated zoning waters past and present.

Kennan applauded the committee, and thanked them for their service. He wanted the record to show that this group, which was formed four-plus years ago, has met “in something like 100 meetings with the same six members all the way through. That’s pretty amazing,” he said.

The importance of the review this group has undertaken cannot be underestimated. At the outset, a complete overhaul of the code was considered too ambitious, so the committee was advised to keep its focus largely on the Commercial District, which runs along Route 44 to the Connecticut border. Residential and land conservation districts have been included to a varying degrees, but are to be considered later.

The Town Board has met several times this year specifically to discuss and debate the committee’s proposed amendments. At the most recent meeting on Aug. 26, Town Attorney Replansky began to walk through the proposed changes from A to Z, engaging the board with questions and comment as he turned page after page of PDF printouts. It took nearly two hours and he didn’t even finish. That’s how much is involved. The board plans to continue to hear the town attorney’s observations at its next board meeting on Sept. 11.

What eventually will follow is a public hearing for the community to comment and ask questions. No date has yet been set for such a hearing, but it is likely around the corner. It’s prudent to pay attention to the proposed amendments because the resulting code will shape how our community will grow in the years ahead. They will have something to say about housing, commercial activity, parking and many other life activities that shape what a community, including what it looks like. In the minutiae of these amendments there is a vision for the community’s future as envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan — created with the input of many residents, business and community leaders, and elected and appointed officials.