Beverly Land Use Law to be Revisited

The Beverly Citizen recently reported that a relatively new, untraditional land use law, known as the Open Space and Residential Design Ordinance, may be undergoing some changes.

This law, unanimously approved by the City Council in December 2005 was meant to change the look of neighborhoods by requiring new neighborhoods to set aside half the land as open space, as well as requiring development to be worked around slopes, wildlife habitat, scenic vistas and other natural features.

Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Scott Houseman and Planning Board Vice Chairman John Thomson spent eighteen months writing the ordinance. The City Council debated it for a year before it was passed.
However, by January 2007, City Council President Paul Guanci said changes to the ordinance were one of his priorities; this coming after a review by Ken Buckland of The Cecil Group in Boston which found on many new lots the ordinance left little or no no developable land.

One of the changes would reduce the 100-foot buffer required around each property to 25-feet around the edge, including wetlands and riverfront areas. This would be on top of the wetlands buffer that are already in place according to Assistant Planning Director Leah Zambernardi.

These proposed changes are being reviewed by the Planning Board, which will discuss them when it meets next on Sept. 19, 2007. After that, a public hearing likely may be scheduled in late October or early November, according to Zambernardi.