NEWBURYPORT – The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) voted unanimously last week to approve construction of a three-story building to house 212-apartments on the site of the old Kmart Building.
The largest 40B residential project in the city’s history and the first in more than 20 years, Plaza Landing will be the largest residential building in this seaport city and help remedy its chronic shortage of rental housing.
Because Newburyport has less than 10 percent of its housing stock classified as affordable, state law 40B gave the ZBA little authority to make changes to the developer’s plans for the apartment building. The approval of the 212 apartments, 25 percent of which will be considered affordable, puts the city over the state’s 10 percent mark that returns full zoning control to the city.
Lisa Mead, former Newburyport mayor and attorney who represented the owner/developer Port Plaza Realty Trust, said, “It is a good project for the city,” citing the need for more rental properties.
Last fall when the ZBA hearings opened, Mayor Sean Reardon wrote of the rental shortage, “Longtime residents are unable to downsize due to a lack of options, and younger generations struggle to find homes they can afford. There is no silver bullet to the housing crisis, but it is clear we must act. My administration is committed to responsible steps that address this crisis head-on.”
The ZBA, as expected, ordered the developer, to pay for adding a new left-hand turn lane on Low Street foe vehicles going into the Port Plaza shopping center where the apartment building will be built.
Mead declined to speculate on whether Richard Kaplan, owner of Port Plaza Realty Trust, would want to fight any conditions the ZBA imposed. The left-hand turn lane is expected to cost the developer about half a million dollars. “We’ll have to look at it,” she said.
To handle the projected 33 percent increase in traffic on Low Street, plans call for adding a HAWK traffic control light, which flashes to stop traffic for pedestrians. The cost of the land and the light was estimated at $700,000.
The proposed lane would increase the width of Low Street in front of Hodgie’s Two ice cream shop from 36 to 42 feet. In addition to the proposed standard 10-foot turn lane in the center, there would be two 11-foot wide through lanes on either side of the turn lane and two five-foot bicycle lanes against each curb.
The city would not have to buy land to expand the road, board member Jared Eigerman said at a meeting last year.
The traffic consultant hired by the ZBA strongly supported the additional lane, but Kaplan’s consultant said it was “nice to have, but not necessary.” The additional traffic from the building did not make the intersection significantly less safe, said traffic engineer Jeffrey Dirk.
That intersection has always been difficult because motorists traveling down Low Street from Storey Avenue often swing to the right to pass vehicles turning left, board members said.
Eigerman said the ZBA did not want to exacerbate the “existing problem.”
The ZBA filed the approved plans. The developer has 20 days to appeal.
