Ordinance Committee — May 27, 2026

Oh, I thought you said that we didn't have a link.

So, all right.

Ready?

Count me in.

5, 4, 3.

Oh.

Good evening.

It is 7:23 PM on May 27th in the year of our Lord and Savior 2026.

And this is the Ordinance Committee meeting.

Note this meeting is being livestreamed, I hope, and recorded.

City Council and committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under Quick Links, then Meetings.

I am joined in the council chamber tonight with my colleagues in government, Councilor at Large James Roy, Councilor at Large and Second Vice President Naomi Renee Andrews Carney, Counselor at Large Ian Abreu, Councilor from Ward 2 Scott Gordon Pemberton, Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette, Ward 5 Councilor Joseph P. Lopes.

I couldn't think of his middle name.

And— oh, Patrick.

Joseph Patrick Lopes.

Okay.

And Councilor at Large Brian Kay Gomes.

He's like, that's all you're going to get from me.

And I am your chairman, Shane Alstenburgo.

Um, I will ask Dennis Lawrence, if the clerk— if there's any letters to be read into the record.

I have 2 letters to read from the record.

From Sean Oliver: I am writing to inform you that I've been unable to attend tonight's committee meeting due to a prior commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware of the reason for my absence.

This one is from Councilor Pereira, the council president.

I am writing to inform you that I expect to be late for tonight's committee meeting due to a prior commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware of the reason for my absence or delayed arrival.

Motion received and placed on file by Councilor Pemberton, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Item number 1 is a public hearing on a communication, Mayor Mitchell to the City Council, submitting an ordinance amending Chapter 9, Zoning, establishing form-based code districts, referred here on April 9th, 2026, duly advertised in the Standard Times on Monday, May 13th, 2026, and Monday, May 20th, 2026.

1A is the order that was referred here on April 9th, 2026, duly advertised in the Standard Times On Monday, May 13th, 2026, and Monday, May 20th, 2026.

1A and 1B of 1 and 1A are before you to open.

Motion to receive and place on file and open the public hearing made by Councilor Lopes, seconded by Councilor Gomes.

Uh, anyone on the question?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Yes.

Wonderful.

As you make your way, I want to acknowledge that, uh, Councilor from Ward 6, and our fearless leader, City Council President Ryan Joseph Pereira, has joined us.

And, and Laurel, take it away.

Good evening, uh, Council Chair and honorable members of the council.

My name is Ann Laurel.

I'm an assistant city planner, and we're here today to present an ordinance for your consideration to establish form-based code in 3 districts within the city.

I want to thank you ahead of time.

You've been very, very thoughtful in your consideration of the forming— the zoning reforms that we've put forth incrementally over the past year or so for you.

And part of the reason we've done the previous zoning reforms was to lead to form-based code.

And you probably will understand during the presentation why we incrementally have put forward some of the zoning previously to allow for this.

We have been working for the past 2 years with Emily Innes— excuse me— who's here today to actually do the presentation for you.

She'll be able to answer any of your questions.

I'm also available to answer any questions when it comes to process or the ordinance itself, but I'm going to hand it over to Emily.

Thank you.

Good evening, councilors.

Again, for the record, my name is Emily Keys Ennis from Ennis Land Strategies Group.

We have been working with your planning staff to bring the form-based code here for your vote.

Thank you very much for your consideration tonight and for inviting me to present.

And if you can go to the next slide.

So this has been a multi-year evaluation, and we were not the first set of consultants to work on the form-based code.

Our remit was to take the work that had been previously done, have a good hard look at it and evaluate it, see what should be brought forward and what is— was no longer necessary based on other changes.

We also looked at the comprehensive plan update to make sure that the form-based code was consistent with that.

And this is really based on the research done from that earlier process and then the work we've been doing for the last few years.

And these are just some of the images.

Before I go through the rest, I do want to check, counselors, if you want me to go through the whole presentation or if you want the ability to stop and answer questions during it.

Go through it?

Okay.

So you can see just some of the public engagement that went into the initial process.

The consultants at the time also did a street-by-street street parcel-by-parcel evaluation as well to understand the existing conditions on the ground.

And that is consistent with what planning consultants would do for the form-based code.

So you see the reconnaissance and discovery all the way up to figuring out what the plan should look like, the district should look like, and then creating the code itself.

And the code is going to be based on both districts and on buildings within those districts.

And this is just some of the analysis that they did to understand the development patterns, the historic development patterns and newer development patterns that had happened in our areas that we're looking at over time.

So the key goals for the form-based code, there's a number up there, but if you think about the idea of the history of the development patterns in New Bedford, one of the goals was to preserve those development patterns, to preserve the historic buildings while allowing sensitive context for new infill development.

It was to focus on maintaining, enhancing transit-oriented walkable districts in the appropriate parts of the city, permitting options for a range of housing types but also for jobs and economic development, enhancing public spaces, capturing the fiscal return on new investments that would be encouraged by the form-based code, and then also conserving and preserving natural resources as well as historic resources.

So the map changes you see on the left-hand side is your traditional zoning.

I have a client who talked about using a broad brush to create these large districts.

Form-Based Code is very much tailored to what's on the ground now as well as the aspirational.

So it is what we would call more fine-grained.

It's a watercolor brush as opposed to a wall paint brush.

So the proposed areas that we have are the Acushnet District, Downtown District, and Goulart.

Thank you, Anne.

And in many cases, cities will adopt a form-based code citywide.

But the choice that the city planning staff and the consultants made beforehand was to adopt them in key strategic areas where this type of zoning would be appropriate to give the city a chance to see how it works.

And then to consider at a future date whether or not you might want to add more phone-based code districts.

But the key here is, other than those 3 districts, the zoning in the rest of the city remains unchanged.

We're just talking about these 3 districts.

And so map by map, we'll take you through each one.

The Acushnet District— MU is mixed use.

So this is Mixed Use 3, 4, and the Innovation District.

And the district types remain the same throughout, but they're applied to each of the geographic areas differently.

The downtown, downtown district has finer-grained buildings and uses, so they have more districts, the MU-4, 6, 14, the urban residential, and then parks, part of the keeping the and enhancing public spaces.

Squeeze in, I think.

There you go.

Well done.

And then Gullert Square is quite interesting because in addition to the standard mixed-use 3-4-6 neighborhood residential, it also has a special district because it has these larger parcels that aren't elsewhere in the 2 districts that have much smaller already developed.

This special district allows for these parcels to be split up if that should happen and to allow different sets of uses and dimensions on them.

So the use table also looks a little bit different than what you're used to because all of the form-based codes, all of these subdistricts within each district has their uses.

So for example, MU-3, which is a multiple, the uses for MU-3 are the same in all 3 subdistricts.

So if you think about you have these geographic areas and then you have these form-based code districts within geographic areas, the use table is by those form-based code districts.

And the key to that use table— it's okay, you can move on.

The key to that use table is adding new uses again to support different types of housing and economic development and jobs.

In addition to the district regulations, you also have building regulations and building components.

And so if you think of somebody coming in wanting to do a development, first they look at the geographic area of the city, then they look at their site, see what the site is zoned, and there's a set of regulations that govern the site.

And then they look at this to understand what type of buildings are on that site and what type of building components are allowed for those buildings.

And building components are those things that contribute to an active streetscape, so awnings, porches, stoops, et cetera, depending on the building type.

Now, this can sometimes look complex because it's had to be set up for e-code.

So although it does have illustrations and guides, it's still very much in black and white.

We also did for the city a how-to guide that brings all of this together in color and has not just the illustrative examples that you see in the form-based code, but also pictures of what this could look like.

And that's valuable in a planning board process where the planning board, the developer, and members of the public can point to these pictures and illustrations and say, I like this, or I don't like this.

It makes that conversation much easier and much more streamlined.

We also have updated the design guidelines.

There was a set that was created for the transit-oriented development districts, and rather than having multiple types of design guidelines, we've integrated the form-based code design guidelines in there.

Again, this is another useful tool in the planning process.

It holds developers responsible for certain aesthetic and other standards around development.

And it also gives the community, the people watching, a chance to point to images and say, we like this, we don't like this.

So we're just going to show you a series of images for potential impacts.

We worked with city staff and AI and a couple of designers on our team.

This is an example on Cushnet Avenue where you have the building in the back away from the street, the parking in front.

If you go to the next one, an AI-generated shows what could happen under the form-based code, bringing the building towards the front, more walkable district, pedestrian amenities with the benches.

This is the original building on Rivet Street.

It was prior to the fire.

And if you go to the next one, Post-fire, that's what was built on that same site.

So you see a loss of height and density and uses.

That was a mixed-use building.

Under the form-based code, you could have a mixed-use building that captured much of the original height of that building and not the loss of units or commercial.

On the left-hand side, you can see historic buildings.

On the right-hand side, you can see an infill that is sensitive to historic nature for the downtown.

And then just showing what a car-centric suburban-style pharmacy could be— any pad site could look like with design guidelines that bring the same use closer to the street and reinforce the walkability of the area.

So I'll just summarize the tools that you have is the form-based code itself, the ordinance, the how-to guide, and the design guidelines, which provides additional information, guidance, and requirements for developers and information for the public and the planning board.

Form-based codes have been shown to improve the value of communities that adopt and use them over time.

We hope— our goal was that this would be a much more streamlined and easier process for everybody involved in the process.

And I thank you for your time tonight.

We're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Uh, the chair recognizes Councilor Lopes on his first.

Thank you so much.

My question would be for Anne, so if anybody has a question for— on the presentation, I'll gladly wait and then ask, um, Commissioner Laurel.

Okay, so for Councilor Abreu, is yours— anyone have any questions?

So you're the star of the show right now, Miss Laura, I guess.

No offense to you, Miss Inez.

Happy to answer.

All right.

So Councilor Lopes.

And 2 super quick questions.

If we wanted to add additional districts, how long would that time frame be and where else could we place additional districts in the city?

So it doesn't— now that we've established a baseline, of how to do it.

It would— it's relatively simple to map out a geographic area and then analyze, you know, the, the parcels and attribute the appropriate zoning, you know, microzoning within a subdistrict.

So I, I would say like we could probably, depending on the size of the district, it could be just a couple of months.

Okay, of— and, and that probably we would probably, um, be able to do that internally.

And then if— is there any try and see how— see how this works, but are there any like 4, 5, and 6 after, you know, what we have already?

So we haven't specifically targeted any areas.

We are looking at, um, um, like an upper river district where some of the our mill buildings are located, which have already been— a lot of them have already been adaptively redeveloped for housing.

But as you know, we are trying to attract, you know, light manufacturing.

And so mill buildings really lend themselves well to those things.

So those are areas we'll be looking at.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chairman.

Thank you.

The chair recognizes Councilor Abril on his first.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Good evening, Anne.

Um, and, you know, in conversations I've had with your office and the presentation that, uh, we just saw, has your department, uh, and/or the planner or the planning board, um, has— have you folks evaluated whether, um, our current existing water sewer drainage or roadway infrastructure, um, uh, support the density contemplated under this ordinance?

I mean, has that been taken into any of account?

So those are very good questions.

We do look at that for, for larger developments.

Um, we've, you know, I'm going to be honest with you, in these districts, other than the, um, Gulat Square area, which we already have a school going on there, so I do want to remind folks that we kept that within the district.

That boundary was established prior to the, the new school being built.

But relatively, the infill potential within a lot of these districts is relatively small.

Um, we're— I think we're all familiar, we've used them as examples in our past zoning presentations to you along Cushing Avenue.

Some of the broken teeth.

We've had fires.

The current zoning just doesn't allow as-of-right building on those lots because they don't, they don't meet, um, they don't comply to the, to the current zoning.

So on Acushnet Avenue, there's maybe 4 lots that maybe could be developed.

I don't see that potentially having a heavy impact on the items that you, you noted.

Okay, thank you for that.

A couple more quick questions.

Um, um, in your thought and the department's thought, um, how will parking demand be managed, especially in like densely populated neighborhoods like the Kempton Street area, the downtown pockets of the Avenue, Goulart Square?

Um, how will the demand sort of, I guess, be managed if this ordinance encourages reduced vehicle dependency over time.

What are your thoughts on that?

So I do want to note that this ordinance adopts and uses the newly adopted parking standards.

Good.

Okay, so there's no change.

The one thing it does is it, it does provide standards of how that parking is situated.

So as Emily had noted, when we have like a 7-Eleven where it's in the back and you've got Sea of Asphalt or CVS, they still will be required to meet the required parking numbers, but the parking will be sited differently.

It will be in the rear, it will be in the side, there will be landscaping standards, things of that nature.

Okay.

Those are my 2 technical questions.

And my last question I have written down here.

Talk about— I know you've had the public processes, but Have there been any type of neighborhood meetings, outreach, things of that nature, especially meetings held specifically in the Kempton Street area corridor?

Or, and if so, if you've had some public meetings or any kind of outreach, what was some of the feedback you've received through some of these hearings and meetings from the community?

I'm just curious what you've heard.

Yeah, so that's a very good question because we— the plan, when we presented to the planning board, the planning board questioned some of the heights that we had in the downtown along the Kempton Street and County Street corridor.

And we did agree with them that, that it was probably too high.

We have it as an MU-14, meaning that as of right you could build a 14-story building.

And the reason why that the 14 came up is because of the, the Regency, New Bedford Hotel.

Those are similar heights.

But recognizing that that might not be appropriate we're going to go back and do some neighborhood meetings, um, because we're— I should not make this assumption that you may not be adopting it tonight.

And if you're not adopting it tonight, it will give us the opportunity to make those changes because those are some of the things that we did here.

But there will be a staunch— assuming this is punted out favorably and we go through that process, you will make an effort, uh, to have these community outreach meetings?

As you just spoke about.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chair recognizes Councilor Pereira on his first.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So in our discussions, Anne, uh, I had said that, uh, you know, because reading the ordinance gave me a headache because it is very complicated, that you have those books that will be made available to the public, engineers, architects, etc.

And, and one of my requests, uh, was that, uh, we convene the architects, engineers that we do business with, that we know of, ask them to give it a read and report their findings back to this body.

Uh, is that something the planning department still plans to undertake?

Yes, absolutely.

We, we, we're, we're starting to identify folks, architects, developers, engineers that we work with quite often to, you know, come in either individually or as a group and review this process with them and receive their feedback.

Great.

Yeah, I think, I think that, you know, this is a big change.

I think this is a— I think the approach is right to do this change in small areas of the city.

I do think after the presentation that this will better protect the neighborhoods.

And speaking of Goulet Square, I think that the more— I think the zoning is so much more detailed and literally parcel to parcel that it protects the neighborhood much better than our current zoning allows.

Yes.

Our current zoning, I guess I could characterize it as one size fits all.

It usually encompasses great swaths of city blocks and areas and segregates certain things.

And this is very nuanced, more granular.

I can tell you honestly, I'm the one that did the table of uses for the zoning for each category of subdistrict.

And it took me weeks to do because I was cross-referencing housing.

Again, as Emily noted, an MU-3 zoning in School Lot Square is the same as it is— would be, um, with very minute differences, um, as it would be on the Cushion Avenue, but 2 different areas.

So I had to make sure that, hey, MU-3 here doesn't work the same up there, right?

So we, we did— I guess that's my way of telling you, we, we were very thoughtful, um, and strenuous in our observations.

I definitely think the added definition— for lack of better terminology— the added definitions or added, uh, styles of mixed-use businesses is, for me, very important.

Because to your point, mixed-use business in downtown compared to various locations on Cushing Avenue, right, closer to Cogswell Street or going up past Nash Road or even Goulart Square, close— Rivet Street close to Route 18 and County compared to Rivet Street up by Orchard or Bolton are 2 very different— it's not even a quarter of a mile and those neighborhoods change so much from 18 all the way to actually Goulart Square.

And it changes rapidly.

And I think being able to break out mixed-use business And I think in Goulet Square it's neighborhood residence.

Neighborhood residence.

Neighborhood residence is important to note those differences because neighborhood residence is different from, uh, RC that used to be, or RB which used to be.

And that, that further detail I think is going to protect neighborhoods better, but also allowing our developers to have a clearer use of what we're looking for in these zones.

Yeah, one of the things that I know you councillors here as well, is from developers, and these are not big developers, these are local developers, there's one in the room today, that the uncertainty of, you know, what a building type would— will be allowed or not allowed or the zoning, if they need a zoning change, you know, that affects, you know, their investment in how they approach a project.

So taking away that barrier of certainty with, you know, either through the guidelines, you know, of the building types, um, the scale, the massing, where it needs to be set on a lot, as well as what zoning, what uses are allowed, um, I think just helps, helps both the planning staff as well as the person who is investing into the city.

Yeah, no, I, I think it's, I think it's definitely a good idea.

I, I like the fact that we're testing it out first.

We can make tweaks before we deploy fully.

But I definitely think that— I definitely would like to hear the feedback from the architects and engineers reading that book.

If we were to continue this to the— I think the next meeting I looked up, Mr. Chairman, is the 24th of June, is the next meeting.

Would that give you enough time to get some feedback?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I know you mentioned about the neighborhood meeting, you'd be able to conduct that as well.

I know that's a different ward, but I just wanted to— Yes.

Okay.

All right.

I'd like to hear from my colleagues further, Mr. Chairman, and then if I have any other questions, I'll seek the floor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The chair recognizes Councilor Baptiste on his first.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Hi, Anne, how you doing today?

Hello, Councilor.

Doing well.

Good.

Um, I'm just like, like, you know, I'm gonna echo what a couple of people said.

Um, kind of worried about MU Yes, the height of that.

I understand just looking in the area, just knowing what buildings are in there, I can sort of understand why you're getting to that New Bedford Hotel, Regency, Bedford Towers, and, you know, all that, all that way down there.

What I was— what I don't know about is, you know, with all the talks about a new courthouse, Did you make that zoning with preparation of thinking that we're going to get a bigger courthouse as well?

That was a consideration, but I can be honest with you, in retrospect, an MU-14, I don't know if even in my lifetime I'll see an MU-14-story building here in New Bedford.

I don't know.

The way they're acting right now, man, it might go up.

We can scale that back, um, a bit.

And we— I, I don't want to commit to a story height until we have that conversation with the neighborhood and, and have meaningful, um, dialogue with them.

All right.

And, um, another one, like, I, I like the, um, what, what is it, urban residential?

Yes.

So when you district that urban residential, like, what do you— what is planned to be there, just the regular residence that's there now, or do you plan on building like little developments, small townhouses or something that can go in the urban?

So the urban residential right now only exists in the downtown.

If we were going to go into other areas of the city, I want to take this opportunity to say, say we picked the West End, Hwathorn Street, where there's a lot of maybe single-family residential that would have its own— I'm sorry, I don't know.

It's west of County Street.

Is it?

All right.

Yeah, I didn't know that.

I don't know.

Everybody has their own.

My West End's only like 6 blocks.

I'm only playing in.

But let's just say west of County Street where there's large swaths of— I'm playing around.

I'm playing around.

Resident A zoning that would have its own subdistrict because it wouldn't fit into neighborhood residential and it wouldn't fit into urban residential because urban residential only exists in the downtown.

All right.

Um, which would allow for, as it does now because of the zoning, MUB allows for 2-family.

All right.

If we were to go into an RA neighborhood based on what we've heard from from, from the city council that would allow only for single-family.

So it would have its own subdistrict.

All right, good.

Because we worry, right, because of the— especially with the MU-4 and MU-6, it trickles into certain neighborhoods.

Did— what did you have plans when you did that?

You know, was that small mixed-use buildings?

Are you trying to just— well, the question I should ask is, There's a lot of empty spaces in a lot of these areas.

Are you planning— is there a lot of plans for development in these empty spaces within these zoning?

So we are— I should just say, has nothing to do with form-based code.

We're actively trying to look at vacant storefronts both in the downtown and all throughout our commercial district.

Right?

And how do we activate them?

And, um, it's, it's not easy.

I just read an article, um, from, from a national, um, publication that this is not unique to the city of New Bedford.

There's a lot of reasons.

Post-COVID, you know, a lot of businesses, you've got people shopping, their shopping styles have changed.

They're ordering off of Amazon.

They're not going to the local retailer.

So we're actively looking at how we can solve that issue.

The form-based code, even though it has an MU-4 or an MU-3, we're not dictating that you— when there is a retail space, it doesn't have to be the entire floor space.

I think we've limited— it's active uses.

So for example, we're seeing a lot of buildings, residential buildings, for example, who are doing coworking space.

That's where they're having their gym or just a gathering community room for their residents.

So it doesn't always necessarily have to be an outward-facing retail use.

Last question, and I always want to ask this question.

People too.

Let's talk about it earlier.

Um, you know how you always put these plans together and then have public meetings?

Do you ever think of having the public meeting first, thinking about a little strategy of what goes on, and then making the plan after that and bringing it to the public, and then trying to like modify it after that?

Like, you want— you understand what I'm saying?

So if you came to a meeting and said, hey, we got this area up over here, you have a public meeting, you get it out there, not in the Standard Times because, you know, not a lot of people read the newspaper nowadays, but I'm just saying you get it out there enough so more people can get out there and you propose what you plan on putting in areas, right?

And you just put— I don't know whether you color it or you have little things that you're putting up, but just so people can be aware in the process.

I think that a lot of the times where the negative feedback comes from people of the city is that um, the how, how it's presented after the process is already done, you know what I'm saying?

And so actually going through the process with the community so that way you, you would get less feedback, uh, less negative feedback, um, be hap— be able to work faster, and then just, you know, and that bridges the gap with communication.

I'm just for further— yeah, so I do want to be clear that for the form-based code, we did have very aggressive community outreach.

I think when it came to the, the feedback that we heard about the MU-14 in the downtown is in direct correlation to some of the development that is currently taking place in that area.

And we want to be sensitive and cognitive of that.

And so at the planning board meeting, we realized like a little bit of mea culpa, like we should have, we should have caught this, you know, prior to bringing it before this body as an MU-14.

So we are retracting that and going to have those community meetings and then come back with a revised, um, at least for, for that, that, that's that area, a revised subdistrict that is reflective of what the community wants.

Thank you.

And I— because, you know, and that's what we get voted in for, right, to represent our constituents and the people that, you know, that want us in these seats to fight for them.

You know, we don't always— well, some of us don't always make decisions based on what's best for the constituents that we have.

And I think that You know, we, we should take more of that in mind, you know, not just with us and how we make decisions, but other offices around the city that do make decisions for the people that actually live in them communities and see how they're going to be affected long term for that.

I thank you for your time and what you guys do, and I yield the floor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes Councilor Gomes on his first.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I like what I see.

I like what has been proposed.

Um, I think it can really make a difference in the city and in these— and I love the spots that you have picked.

But I would love for you to take an area like Wells Square from the exit to Common Park Imagine— I'm just imagining what this zoning could do for that area.

You understand there's a lot of vacancies there.

There is residential, there is business, you know, the whole stretch there.

At one time I wanted to post— I, I don't know if I did or I talked about it— I wanted that to be not, uh, Downtown North.

Had a vision of downtown north, getting rid of that stigma of the Wells Square and what was happening there.

But I, I envisioned this working in an area like that and just was wondering if, um, this goes through and we go through with these 3 zones that you have already picked, if you would consider an area like that as one of your possible next fixes or proposals.

That I really could bring a rebirth to that area.

And if you got the right development in there, the vision is phenomenal, which you could see in that stretch from Common Park south.

And I'm talking about where the old restaurant used to be, um, the, um, Lebanese restaurant.

Yes, going all the way north to Wells Square.

Yeah, so I agree with you.

And let me tell you some of the things.

So that That very likely will be an area we're looking at.

I can tell you that one piece of zoning that does benefit that area right now is the TOD overlay, which captures that area.

Not to the extent that form-based code does.

TOD does have its design guidelines associated with it.

Not to this level.

I think that would be an area that we would likely look at.

But I also want you to be aware that we received a MassDOT infrastructure grant for Purchase Street last— 2 years ago.

And it was for design and construction.

We've just finished the design.

You're going to start seeing construction along along around Hillman Street.

I think that there were some renderings that were put out when we first received that grant a year ago.

So there are street improvements that are taking place on Purchase Street.

We are putting in a grant.

Yeah, but isn't that South Hillman Street?

South— I, I know about— no, no, let me finish.

Okay, so that was phase 1 because we didn't have enough match, so We have a limit.

They gave us $5 million and we had to come up with a $5 million match.

We wanted $10 million, but we didn't have that amount matched.

So we cut it into phases.

So phase 1, we have design and construction.

You're going to start seeing bulldozers out there soon.

Next week we're putting in a grant for phase 2, which is going all the way to Klasky Common Park.

So as you know, as a body, infrastructure improvements always attract development.

It's showing developers that we're putting money into a corridor that is important.

So we're also— Josh's office also have a program that they've been working along that corridor going all the way to Weld Square.

You haven't seen anything physical there.

We're also putting in what is called an SS4A grant for that corridor as well, which is surface street improvements, which are better lighting, better walkways, bump-outs, because that's a difficult corridor.

Not only do we have the vacancies that you mentioned, but it's not a pedestrian-friendly corridor.

We've walked out there with consultants prior to doing these grants.

So I guess my long story that I'm going on here a little off subject is that It is an area that Planning, Housing and Community Development, and DPI are all looking together to do these roadway infrastructure improvements.

We've done the TOD, and I agree with you, if we're going to extend another district for form-based code, that is a perfect location.

I understand what you said about the road work and all that.

Um, that, that's— it's through a grant.

We just physically like to see this area looked at.

It is an immediate area when you come off 195 when the exit's all done.

And as I was saying about Wells Square, at one time I wanted to change that from Wells Square exit to Downtown North.

You would just— right, coming in, in the north side and getting rid of all that.

I just think this is something that, that could work in that area, and it would even give an opportunity to give opportunity to everybody, from them car dealers and some of them lots are just owned and they're just sitting there really doing nothing or whatever, to the developers maybe that are sitting behind me or the developers that you have talked about locally.

You can envision a whole new Purchase Street.

Along with the corridor that you just talked about from Hillman Street going to Klasky-Carmen Park, that's already somewhat filled as far as business.

I don't really see— there might be a couple of lots there, something that can be done.

But going further north, I definitely think that this is something that could work.

And if you would keep that in the back of your head as this moves along and we see how this turns out, I believe this is going to work.

I And I think it, it just— economic development, a lot of different things could come out of this, but that area could be prime to showcase this proposal, what it can really be done.

Well noted.

And just one other thing.

You had a picture up there earlier of a house, and then it showed the store that was there, and and it burnt down.

Oh, on Rivet Street?

Yes, I think we're one block west where the fire was.

No, that— no, that house burnt, but that was a house.

Yeah, that wasn't a storefront.

Are we just using that picture?

Because I even said it to the councilor, um, if you go back— yeah, the restaurant is one block.

Yeah, right there, Anne, right there.

You see that?

No, no, he's still there.

No, he's still there.

And yes, that's what I'm trying to say.

That's Cushionin Avenue.

And if you go up one block down here, go up, go up.

There was a fire there at that house.

No, but that picture, I'm telling you this, I— we worked with— I worked with this lady when that house burnt, and she had that house all rebuilt and everything.

Where am I?

Why, Joe?

Why?

For some reason.

Yeah, when that house— right, okay.

This bird down, because that's that house, which is that house.

That property across the street is that property.

There's the fire hydrant.

Okay, and I apologize, might be in another life, but I'm going down there when I leave here because I have to clarify this.

Because what do you want to wager?

You're welcome.

I thought these were— I thought these were all AI-generated photos just to show examples of form-based coding.

But any other councilors have questions for either of our presenters?

We also have Catherine representing the solicitor's office here tonight if anyone had any legal questions.

For Chair, recognize Councilor Roy on his first.

How are you?

Hello, Councilor.

Um, the planning is going to have these community meetings, or community meeting, or community meetings for the, for the height thing.

So, so we think right now the only, um, the only item that seems to be a concern for folks is the downtown height.

Because the other, the other things are pretty, pretty standard.

There, there, that seems to be— so I think we'll probably— I mean, it— I think I'll work with, um, Councilor Baptiste, um, because it's in his ward, to have a neighborhood meeting, but it would be open to, to all.

Um, and if we have to have more than one meeting, we're more than happy to do that as well.

I'm just struggling with the timing here.

I know that this will be in front of the full City Council next month for the first reading if we, if we approve it here tonight.

And I'm wondering if, if it's smarter to keep it here for now and, and, and to work on the height requirements, you know, in committee and then send it out to the full City Council.

That's my thought.

I don't know.

We're open to whatever, whatever your comfort level is.

That's all.

Thanks.

Appreciate that.

And okay, any other, uh, questions from the body?

Okay, Mr. Chairman.

Uh, uh, Councilor Pereira, point of information.

It is my intention to continue this hearing to another date.

I would yield to you, Mr. Chairman, if you'd like the public to speak now or at the continued date.

It is up to you though.

I would— it's important to have them do it now if they're here.

Um, really quickly, just for procedural matters, uh, the— this amended documentation that you all should have received on your desk with the highlighted, uh, paperwork— does everyone have this on their desk?

From John Connolly.

If we can just get a motion.

Motion received, placed on file by Councilor Abrams.

Seconded by Councilor Gomes.

Anyone on the question of receiving and placing on file?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Anyone here from the general public that would like to speak in favor?

I see some head nods.

Mr. Carson, come on up, pal.

You know the drill.

Name, address, All right, Edward Carson.

No, really?

All right, listen, okay, government name out here.

All right, listen, I just think this is a good idea.

I think it preserves neighborhood character, allows for more development, helps build the tax base, and goes back to a way of building that allowed a lot of building to happen already in the city instead of these more terrible recent developments.

So hope you guys vote for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Carson.

Yes.

Yep.

Will.

Will G. Gardner from South Coast Places for People.

My interest in this and the reason I would support it is part of what our group is about is we envision there being a generation, a group throughout this city of small-scale, incremental, local developers who know their neighborhoods intimately, who love their neighborhoods, who aren't going to build something that's bad because they, they are going to be walking by it every day and their friends and neighbors are too.

Right?

And we imagine those are the people who can build the housing and the mixed-use and all the good stuff that New Bedford needs.

Now, big developers can do good work too.

Not knocking them.

They have lots of cash to burn, lots of time.

They have fancy lawyers.

So no matter what the zoning, as you all know, they can wait things out and get what they need.

And again, I'm not knocking the big guys, but what something like this does by streamlining the process and giving people clarity up front is it gives an equal footing to the people who are already here, to small-scale local developers, so they can build things like infill and build the things that New Bedford needs.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Oddly Bodden.

Um, this is my wish.

Could you— I'm sorry, could you spell it for our clerk?

Oddly Bodden, B-O-D-D-E-N, Green Miles Properties LLC, emerging developer in the beautiful city of New Bedford.

Councilor Gomes, I agree with you.

Currently I have a property on, uh, Cushnet Avenue that I just recently acquired, and I believe that this is perfect for that development.

We want to create more walkable, friendlier communities.

I also feel that in our area, we should be part of that downtown conversation.

This here will give us the opportunity to actually make those developments happen.

This is great for the city.

I'm a local individual who wants to do things in my community.

And I would love to be part of that decision-making.

And this does give me the opportunity.

And South Coast Place for People, that's what we're promoting— more walkability, more beautiful, vibrant communities.

If we look at the changing times now, New Bedford is becoming more of that city that we have to create these environments where it feels more comfortable for our local people that are here.

And we have to look at this parking issue also.

We know our community.

We know what we have for parking and what we don't have.

So we can't be restricted because of that parking.

We have to build these neighborhoods that it's for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone here wish to speak in favor or be recorded in favor?

Speak in favor or record in favor.

Anyone wish to speak in opposition?

Speak in opposition.

Be recorded in opposition.

Be recorded in opposition.

Okay.

Councilor Perera.

I move to continue this hearing to June 24th at 7:00 PM.

PM in the City Council chambers.

Motion made by Councilor Pereira to continue the public hearing to June 24th, 2026 at 7 PM, located at 133 William Street in Room 214.

Seconded by Derek Baptiste, Councilor of Ward 4.

Anyone on the question of continuing the public hearing to June 24th, 2026 at 7 PM?

Here in City Council Chamber Room 214.

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

All those in favor say aye.

Thank you.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Motion to adjourn made by Councilor Abreu, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone on the question of adjourning?

Seeing none, a roll call has been requested.

Clerk will call the roll.

Oh, he withdrew.

All those in favor say aye.

Very enthusiastically.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

We are adjourned at 8:14 PM.

Mr.

Chair, you act real funny when you got your mint shirt on, man.

When you acting real mint.