PEABODY — Mayor Michael Bonfanti wants discussion of zoning changes proposed for the city to resume sooner rather than later.
"It's time to get started," Bonfanti said yesterday.
It's a sentiment the mayor recently expressed in a letter to Councilor Rico Mello, chairman of the City Council's Industrial & Community Development Committee. Bonfanti asked that Mello schedule meetings in the near future to address revisions drafted by the Community Development Department and a city-hired consultant.
The proposed changes, the first in 30 years to Peabody's zoning regulations, address an array of issues, including design guidelines, building height limits and parking.
Councilors started to consider the changes last summer and fall but stopped short when realizing they wouldn't be able to bring the matter to a vote before the new council, with three new faces, took the oath of office in January.
Before zoning talks begin again, Mello said yesterday that he wants to hear an update from the Community Development or Public Services department about a flooding solution for downtown. The zoning changes, which call for residential housing downtown, hinge on a successful solution to that problem, he said.
"To me, it doesn't make any sense to put residents where there is a flood zone," Mello said. A discussion of flooding has to precede a zoning discussion.
"To make an informed decision about zoning, there is certain information you need," he said. "We have to keep people safe."
Holding zoning meetings soon would benefit the council and the community, according to Bonfanti. "The zoning revision is vital to the City's economic future, protecting our natural environments and enhancing our quality of life," he wrote in his letter to Mello.
The next move on zoning is the council's, Bonfanti said.
"It's in their hands," he said.
