The City of Medford’s plans to revise and modernize zoning laws across the city recently resulted in rezoning in the Salem Street Corridor District. Medford City Council is planning new zoning with the help of consulting group Innes Associates and feedback from councilors and residents.
Adopted by Medford City Council on March 11, the process followed the standard four-step procedure of proposal, review and recommendation by the Community Development Board and commentary from residents.
“I find it very hopeful [and] very exciting that we are following through on our promise to do a comprehensive zoning review and overhaul,” Kit Collins, Medford City Council vice president, said. “This is something that a lot of people … have contributed to for years, from laying the groundwork in the public planning process of those plans and those visions and those goals for how we want Medford to be in the future, and how we want it to better support its residents.”
The city council also worked closely with Alicia Hunt, director of Planning, Development & Sustainability, to determine what changes needed to be made to existing zoning laws. The plan also focused on changing zoning laws to bring legally non-conforming buildings that were built before the most recent zoning from the 1960s in line with current laws.
“If you were to look at the existing zoning before our project, most of what’s there isn’t allowed,” Hunt said. “What was legally allowed to be there were three-story apartment buildings the whole way, basically, and not commercial uses.”
According to Hunt, existing zoning laws allowed for 15-story hotels and dorms, but under feedback from residents during December 2024 committee meetings, the council agreed to remove hotels and dorms from the new plans.
The city council discussed various plans for creating affordable housing, particularly adjusting dimensional requirements, prioritizing adding Accessory Dwelling Units by right and undergoing historic conversion. This process would preserve historic homes but add units within legal spaces.
Another idea has been to promote small businesses on Salem Street by allowing residential apartments above first-floor businesses. However, residents voiced concerns about the implications of adding housing to already-dense Medford neighborhoods.
“The main issue is that this is already a dense area, and currently on Salem Street, you need 10,000 square feet of land to build an apartment building of three stories, and under the new zoning, you only need a 3,000 square foot lot,” Medford resident Cheryl Rodriguez said. “Which is 70% less, and you can build from four to six floors.”
Collins acknowledged residents’ concerns about space, traffic and adding more housing units.
“They’re thinking about the implications like, how will this affect traffic? How will this affect parking? How will this affect open space? How will this affect green space? How will this affect my experience in my neighborhood, in my community?” Collins said. “And I think that those are really good questions to be asking.”
Rodriguez argued that much of the planning that should have gone into making the rezoning rules was ignored.
“The biggest issue is they say this is based on the Medford comprehensive plan, but that plan actually called for a series of studies to be done before any type of corridor zoning was written, like shadow studies, parking audits,” Rodriguez explained. “And they did none of that.”
Rodriguez is also a member of Medford Community Conversations, an organization that seeks to “influence city policy in order to meet the needs of our neighborhoods and community.”
She led multiple information sessions to explain the rezoning process to residents after feeling that the city council did not adequately explain their plans. The meetings aim to bridge alleged gaps in communication between the city council and residents about the consequences of rezoning in the Salem Street Corridor.
“The city-run Q&A was basically a PowerPoint presentation that was so overview that if you didn’t understand the zoning before, you had no idea what was coming after,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of the community members felt that they were kind of sneaking things in and not really being forthcoming.”
Collins agreed that communication was difficult, but emphasized the council members’ efforts to promote information.
“The city council, we have no staff, we don’t have communications, we don’t have any formal communication support,” Collins said. “But I think that myself and my fellow councilors have been trying really hard to utilize our individual communications channels, newsletters, social media to get the word out.”
City officials, including Hunt, expressed excitement for the potential developments that could arise from the rezoning on Salem Street. In working with developers, Hunt added that some were open to setting buildings back in order to allow for wider sidewalks.
“We had talked to some developers who are interested in doing things like that and that it’ll just over time, become a nicer place to live and work and do business,” Hunt said.
