Non-“Desert” Zone OK’d

As city planners gave the green light to new zoning regulations for Downtown Crossing, they took pains to ensure that the area won’t be a desolate ​“desert” punctuated by occasional ​“traffic nightmares.”

That was the way East Rock’s Justin Elicker, aldermanic representative to the City Plan Commission, described the potential dangers of convention centers on a city.

He raised his concerns Wednesday evening at a meeting of the commission, which voted to approve map and text amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance. The move is a step towards creating an entirely new zoning designation: the Central Business/Mixed Use District (BD‑3) zone. Pending aldermanic approval in the coming year, the new designation will apply to the area bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the Air Rights Garage, South Frontage Road, and South Orange Street.

That area is poised for a massive redevelopment project called Downtown Crossing. The $140 million project will fill in the Rt. 34 Connector with new buildings and two new ​“urban boulevards.”

The zoning changes are designed to help shape the future of the area as the development takes root, said City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg. ​“We want to let people know what we want there.”

What the city wants, according to the proposed changes, is high-density, mixed-use development.

Commissioners were particularly interested in discussing two new defined uses included in the zoning amendments: convention and conference centers.

Alderman Elicker raised concerns that convention centers can alternately tangle traffic with a flood of people and otherwise be vacant dead zones in a city. Along with commission chair Ed Mattison, who shared similar concerns, Elicker amended the proposal so that convention and conference centers would be permitted only with special permission.

Gilvarg presented the proposed zoning changes to the commission Wednesday night, along with Tom Talbot, deputy director of zoning.

The BD‑3 zone will not permit certain uses allowed in other BD zones, Talbot said. That includes auto parts stores and inpatient hospitals, the latter because that use is meant to be reserved for BD‑2 (Central/Business/Medical) zones.

In terms of residential uses, the new BD‑3 zone ​“allows for a significantly higher density than even most of the other BD districts in the city,” Talbot said.

“The parking element of this proposal is also significant,” Talbot said. In the BD‑3 zone, most uses will not have any minimum parking requirement, he said. Parking requirements for residential uses can be addressed by car-sharing programs and even by bike-parking, he said.

The new zone also allows for ​“live/work lofts,” which previously have been permissible only in industrial buildings built before 1963, Talbot said.

After Talbot mentioned convention and conference centers, Elicker raised his concern. He said he’s seen them in other cities and is ​“not sure they’re conducive to a vibrant city.”

He asked for some definitions, provided by Gilvarg: conference centers are facilities for gatherings of up to 500 people, convention centers are for more than 300 people.

The city doesn’t have any freestanding conference or convention centers, Gilvarg said. But some hotels can host conferences of hundreds of people, she said.

After some discussion, Elicker proposed changed convention and conference centers from permissible as-of-right in BD‑3 zones to permissible with special permission from the City Plan Commission. Elicker said that in general he’s in favor of permitting as much as possible as-of-right, to make things predictable for developers and avoid ​“drama.” But for certain uses, which could be detrimental to the public — like convention centers — it’s important to make sure a public hearing is part of the process, he said.

With Elicker’s alteration, the commission voted unanimously to approve the proposed zoning changes.

Gilvarg said after the meeting that it’s unlikely that a freestanding convention or conference center would be proposed or built in the city anyway, since the economics of such an endeavor are so difficult.

“I think it was the right call,” said Carter Winstanley, one of the main developers behind Downtown Crossing, after the meeting. ​“I think [convention centers] need to be reviewed carefully.”