Board of Survey and Planning reluctantly approves Pizzi rezoning

The Board of Survey and Planning this week voted 3-2 to recommend the City Council approve a petition from Pizzi Farm owner Richard Pizzi to rezone the lot for higher-density residential use.

Board members Mila Tarallo and Wayne Keefner voted against the motion. Although member Brian E. Moroney eventually voted to approve the proposed zoning, he expressed some reluctance: “We keep getting put on the spot setting precedents for spot zoning. So that’s what troubles me – otherwise, I like the use of the land.”

The lot, which is currently zoned as a Residence A2 district allowing only single-family homes, sits across the street from the Douglas MacArthur Elementary School and at the intersection of multiple different zoning districts. Pizzi is proposing to split the land into six two-family homes and one single-family house. 

Tarallo expressed concern that the proposal would “overdevelop” the lot, and especially given the houses’ proximity to the school, worried they wouldn’t contain enough space for young children to play. She also proposed that, if each family in each duplex created an ADU on their property, it would mean four families per lot, effectively quadrupling the per-lot density.

Pizzi’s lawyer, Joseph M. Connors Jr., argued that it was unlikely for all homeowners to create ADUs on their lots. He pointed out that neighboring single-family zones contained many nonconforming multifamily houses, and the proposed lots were larger and more spacious than the requested Residence B zoning designation required.

Board chair William Creonte, Jr. and board member M. Justin Barrett, Jr. agreed that the development was consistent with the character of other nearby neighborhoods. “I don’t think [they’re] asking for the world, as most people do,” Creonte said.

Keefner, like Moroney, expressed reluctance specifically with the mechanism by which Pizzi was proposing to redevelop the land. “I think zoning changes should be very rare, and they should be based on something other than development potential,” he said.

Multiple board members said they regretted Pizzi was closing the ice cream store, and Connors assured board members the Pizzi family was not done with ice cream: “He’s looking for an alternative site in the city of Waltham,” Connors said.

Additionally, the Board of Survey and Planning:

• Voted unanimously to recommend the City Council approve an amendment to the city’s zoning code allowing businesses to open pet-related businesses by-right in commercial areas without a kennel permit.
• Voted unanimously to recommend the City Council approve an amendment to the city’s zoning code decreasing affordable housing requirements for new residential construction. Taralo expressed worry that much of the affordable housing created in Waltham wasn’t truly affordable to residents, but said if the amendment created more housing, it would be better than the status quo: “If nobody’s building anything, I think plan B would be good.” Barrett added that he’d prefer the city get rid of developers’ option to pay into the Municipal AffordableTrust Fund instead of building affordable housing.
• Agreed again to delay a hearing on repaving a private section of Fir Avenue until June. Philip McCourt, the project’s lawyer, said the petitioner was waiting for a response from the city’s Law Department on previously-submitted documents and investigating better drainage plans to address neighbors’ concerns.