The Planning Board continued the public hearing on proposed zoning amendments to allow shared parking in commercial areas to Feb. 10, 2025, after members and staff signaled they support the idea but objected to the draft’s requirement that shared-parking arrangements be approved via a separate special permit.

The proposed amendment (drafted by ZBA staff and reviewed by town counsel) would let an applicant for major site plan approval count parking on a different parcel toward required parking totals if the parking is within 500 feet and governed by an agreement that ensures continued availability. Under the draft, the Planning Board would consider a standalone special permit (174-9 k linked to 174-12 g) to authorize shared parking.

Why it matters: supporting shared parking can reduce impervious pavement, lower construction costs, and enable reuse of existing parking that sits idle part of the day. The board’s working-group members said the building commissioner and local business owners had asked for more flexibility around shared parking to support commercial vitality along Route 9 and nearby corridors.

At the Jan. 27 discussion, multiple board members and the town’s economic development coordinator said that requiring a separate special permit would add process and likely deter applicants. Planning Board members favored allowing shared-parking arrangements to be memorialized as a condition in a site-plan approval or handled administratively by the building commissioner where no change to the physical site is proposed. A number of board members suggested drafting language that would allow shared parking as a condition of site plan approval or as a recorded easement/agreement rather than invoking a separate special-permit public-hearing process.

Outcome: The board voted to continue the public hearing on the shared-parking amendment to Feb. 10, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. and asked staff to return with alternative draft language that would allow the board to authorize shared parking through site-plan conditions or the building commissioner’s administrative review when appropriate.

What happens next: staff will draft alternative language for the Feb. 10 hearing and coordinate with the building commissioner and town counsel on administrative pathways and language for recorded agreements or easements.