Gloucester starts on Railroad Avenue housing zoning, with a $124,300 state grant and a target of next August

Gloucester's plan to rezone the Railroad Avenue area for housing and a smaller grocery store now has money and a schedule. The Planning Board's housing subcommittee heard the plan Thursday from the city's community development director.

What happened

• The city won a $124,300 Housing Choice grant from the state to write a Chapter 40R smart growth zone for the Railroad Avenue corridor. The City Council still has to accept it. That vote is expected later this month.
• If the schedule holds, a consultant is hired by the end of the year, the study of the area starts early in 2027, public engagement follows, the zoning is drafted in the spring and the work is done by next August.
• A second, smaller smart growth district at 272 Washington St. is waiting on an eligibility answer from the state and could move first.
• The subcommittee will research Chapter 40Y starter home zoning and a cottage cluster rule for the city's smaller residential lots.
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1 to 2:30 p.m., on Zoom.

Railroad Avenue: what the grant pays for

Community Development Director Alex Koppelman said the grant pays for a consultant to draft the zoning, run community engagement and study the site conditions, including traffic, water and sewer, so any problems are found before building starts.

The council adopted the Housing Compass, the city's five year housing plan, last month. Its top downtown idea is a smart growth overlay in the Railroad Avenue area, with the former Shaw's site as the linchpin. The goal is housing above a smaller grocery store, which gives the store a built in customer base, and a more walkable street.

The city's process for accepting a grant takes time. The council referred the grant to its Budget and Finance Committee on Oct. 13; Koppelman said that committee takes it up next Thursday and the full council votes after that. Then the city hires the consultant.

The study area will start from the city's 2014 downtown plan, which looked at Railroad Avenue and Maplewood Avenue, bounded by Washington Street, City Planner Gregg Cademartori said. The final zoning boundaries will come out of the study. Koppelman said the corridor could be split into sub zones with different densities or housing types.

Engagement will reach out to lower income residents, renters, businesses, property owners and seniors, with translation and interpretation. The area is a state designated environmental justice neighborhood. The draft zoning then goes to the state to confirm it meets the rules for a 40R district.

Under a 40R district, a project that meets the overlay rules is allowed by right, and the state pays the city for adopting the zone.

272 Washington St.

A separate 40R district at 272 Washington St. is also recommended in the plan. Koppelman said the city has been in touch with the state and is sorting out technical details. Cademartori said the city expects to hear about eligibility soon and, if the answer is yes, that district would probably advance first. He does not expect to need a grant for it.

Starter homes and cottage clusters

The plan also calls for smaller, more attainable homes in the neighborhoods outside downtown: accessory dwelling units, three family houses and cottage clusters. Koppelman suggested the subcommittee look at Chapter 40Y, the state's starter home zoning program, which comes with financial incentives. Cademartori said the law passed in 2022, but the state only issued its rules this March, so there are few examples. Orleans is one.

Members said they could not pick locations until they know the program's rules, especially on sewer, since much of the city's outer land has none. Staff will gather examples and the state's rules and come back before the end of the year.

Members also talked about writing a rule for small cottage clusters on the city's R-10 and R-20 lots, which now allow only a two or three family house unless the owner gets a multifamily special permit. Cademartori showed the Living Little report, which the Housing Compass cites. Its cottage examples run about 900 to 1,500 square feet each on a lot of a quarter acre or more, clustered around shared open space and parking, with examples in Concord, Dennis, Wayland, Weymouth and Hamilton.

Cademartori said the city's existing cluster rule has not produced the results the board wants, and the open space residential development rule has never been used. Members said they want one clear path that works, and that a cottage rule for small lots would not need an open space set aside, while a rule for large lots would.

A member asked whether the city should start counting lots that a proposed statewide ballot question on smaller lot sizes could affect. Members decided to wait and see whether it passes.

What was decided

No votes were taken, other than to adjourn. The subcommittee set its next meeting and asked staff for reading on 40Y and cottage zoning.

What happens next

• Thursday, Oct. 22: the council's Budget and Finance Committee takes up the $124,300 grant.
• Later this month: the full City Council votes on accepting it. Its next regular meeting is Oct. 27.
• Tuesday, Oct. 27, 1 to 2:30 p.m.: the subcommittee meets on Zoom to go over the cottage examples. Check the city's agenda center for the link.
• By Nov. 10: board members and officials can apply to a state housing leadership academy that staff mentioned, run by CHAPA.

Where to find the records

• October 2026 past meetings on the city website, with the recording.
• Planning Board agendas and minutes.
• Housing Compass tracker, our page that follows each recommendation.

Earlier coverage: Gloucester adopts Housing Compass, a five year road map for housing (Oct. 2). Before Tuesday's Gloucester City Council (Oct. 11), where the grant was first listed.

How we did this: Cape Ann Current watched the meeting online and checked names against the agenda and the board's roster on the city website. These are our meeting notes, not the city's minutes.