BEVERLY — Only one person objected to a change in the waterfront parking rules that city officials say will finally clear the way for a Black Cow restaurant.
At a public hearing at City Hall on Monday night, Pleasant Street resident Rosemary Maglio said it's not right to change zoning rules to accommodate a specific business.
But the six other people who spoke — three members of the city's Harbor Management Authority, two lawyers representing businesses and the director of Beverly Main Streets — all endorsed the proposed changes.
"They really are essential to moving the redevelopment of the former McDonald's property forward," said Miranda Gooding, chairwoman of the Harbor Management Authority.
Joseph Leone, who owns Black Cow restaurants in Hamilton and Newburyport, has proposed building one on the site of the former McDonald's restaurant next to the Beverly-Salem bridge and taking over management of the two city-owned marinas.
Leone announced his plans more than two years ago, but one of the holdups has been the rules that dictate the number of parking spaces for restaurants and marinas.
The current rules require one parking space for "every 50 square feet devoted (to) patron use" in a restaurant. City Planner Tina Cassidy said that is a hard rule to define and should be changed to one parking space for every four seats.
Marinas are now required to have one parking space for every boat slip on land or water. The new rule would reduce that to one space for every two boats.
Gooding said many waterfront communities do not have specific rules dictating the number of marina parking spaces, and Beverly is on the high end of those that do. Boston, she said, requires only one parking space for every eight boat slips.
Maglio said there won't be enough parking under the new rules. The Black Cow is scheduled to have 362 seats on three levels.
"That's more than that space can handle," she said.
The proposal was supported by Robert Schlein, an attorney for the Black Cow, and by David Smith, a lawyer representing marina owner Alfred Thibodeau, as well as Beverly Main Streets executive director Gin Wallace.
The City Council referred the matter to its Legal Affairs Committee.
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