Blast site may get a boost

An attempt to revitalize industrially zoned areas on the waterfront and in other parts of Danvers is stirring debate.

The Planning Board and the town's planning staff want Danvers to create overlay districts that would allow a mix of residential and retail or office uses in some existing industrial zones. The target areas include three in Danversport, one of which is the site of last November's chemical plant explosion.

The intent is to bring redevelopment, private investment, and more vitality to the areas, said senior planner Evan Belansky. He said the town wants to see "pedestrian-friendly, higher-quality development that includes thorough architectural review and more appropriate dimensional requirements."

At the Planning Board's direction, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council is drafting two model bylaws that the board could use to prepare specific proposals that would create the overlay districts. (An overlay district allows for additional uses on top of those in the original zoning, in this case established more than half a century ago to accommodate heavy and light industrial use.) One is for "Neighborhood Business" districts and the other for "Waterfront Village" districts. The board may place four such proposals before Special Town Meeting in January.

But a citizens group led by Town Meeting member Ann Marie Ruotolo is unhappy with the board's approach because it would not preclude future industrial uses in the districts.

As an alternative, the group, the majority of whom are Town Meeting members, wants the existing Industrial 1 zones changed to accommodate commercial uses.

An overlay zone "is not what the residents want, at least at this point in time," said Ruotolo, who like most of the group's members lives in Danversport. "They want the Industrial 1 zone gone. And that hasn't been addressed. It's the biggest danger to our quality of life down here."

Appearing before the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Ruotolo voiced the group's concerns and its desire to work with the Planning Board to steer it in the direction of the group's alternative.

"Town Hall needs to be on the same wavelength as the residents, who have to live 24/7 abutting Industrial 1 zones," Ruotolo said later. "It's not that we don't understand what they are trying to do, but we feel they need to go in a slightly different direction."

Chairwoman Margaret Zilinsky said the Planning Board welcomes input from residents. But she said she favors the board pursuing its current path to seek the overlay zones, which she believes are the best option for bringing positive changes to the areas.

"We are not doing anything at the expense of residents. We think very carefully about the needs of residential property owners, not just in Danversport, but in all of Danvers," she said.

Zilinsky called the overlay option a "balanced way to provide all property owners incentives while also mitigating any impacts to other property owners." She said the board is also looking to propose some revisions to the zoning rules governing the underlying industrial zone that would also be presented to Town Meeting members this winter.

Michael W. Powers, the Board of Selectmen's chairman, said he told Ruotolo at Tuesday's meeting that "any time a group of citizens that has a common vision and wants to get involved in the process of developing, in this case zoning, I would wholeheartedly encourage that."

But he said he does not favor altering the process in which potential overlay proposals are being developed.

Powers said the concept of overlay zones "seems to make more sense" because it would provide for specific zoning rules that would fit the needs of particular areas.

The four districts targeted for overlays include the three in Danversport; along the Porter River in the area of Pope's Landing; along the Crane River; and along the Waters River, including the blast site and the opposite side of Water Street. The fourth area is at the convergence of Maple, Locust, and Hobart streets at the western end of downtown.

Belansky said the proposal grew out of a 2004 housing and economic development plan, and last year's comprehensive zoning bylaw review, both of which identified the need for changes within Industrial 1 districts.

Ruotolo noted that the 2006 study recommended the town rezone the targeted Industrial 1 areas to commercial, just as her group proposes.

But Belansky said Stantec Consulting Services, which prepared the report, proposed the rezoning from a "purely planning perspective." He said in several places in the report, the firm said that creating overlay zones would be an alternative if rezoning was not practical.

Belansky said the Planning Board decided that the overlay option was worth pursuing both because of its flexibility and because it was more likely to achieve the broad support among stakeholders needed to achieve the town's goals.

"It's just not serving its intended purpose," Belansky said of Industrial 1 zones.

As industries have moved out, many of those districts have gradually seen a shift toward retail uses. But Belansky said current rules do not allow for the kind of development the town would like to encourage in some of those districts -- namely, village-oriented projects with retail on the first floor and housing upstairs.

In particular, the waterfront districts "lend themselves nicely" to housing, and to mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development, Belansky said.