Adopted Zoning Proposals

• The Salem Street Corridor District creates updated zoning for the main drag along Salem Street from the rotary up to the Haines Square business area. This zoning creates the potential to moderately increase residential housing while ensuring neighborhood compatibility and maintaining first floor commercial uses. 
• The previous zoning on Salem Street allowed 3 story dwellings by right along the entire corridor, and allowed six-story dwellings and fifteen-story hotels by right in Haines Square. The new SSCD zoning maintains 3-story by-right heights for most of the corridor (Multi-Unit Residential and Mixed-Use 1 subdistricts); and raises by-right heights to four stories just in Mixed-Use 2 subdistricts, which are concentrated on blocks that are already busier, more developed, and not exclusively residential (namely, Haines Square and the Park Street x Salem Street intersection). 
• The zoning is designed to be supportive of the neighborhood character of Salem Street. It includes development context standards to ensure cohesion where shorter and taller buildings abut each other. In residential subdistricts where additional stories may be unlocked if developers satisfy Incentive Zoning conditions and/or go through the Site Plan Review process, additional floors (a 4th story in MU1 subdistricts, and 5th and 6th floors in MU2 subdistricts) must be stepped back to maintain cohesion and the flow of natural light.
• Salem Street is characterized by beloved small businesses – all of which are nonconforming under the previous zoning. The SSCD creates new Mixed Use blocks that allow ground-level commercial by-right to encourage small business development.
• This new zoning updates the Commercial zoning in Haines Square, setting the stage for better development of large commercial lots, and fixing the previous zoning that allowed 15-story hotels by-right. It also introduces a new, clarified definition of “neighborhood medical office” to ensure that any in-district doctor’s offices will be small-scale and low-volume. 

• This zoning allows for developers to go above maximum by-right heights in Mixed Use and Commercial subdistricts but only if certain community benefits are maximized and fully satisfy Incentive Zoning conditions, i.e., public green space, or street and sidewalk improvements. While there are several incentive options, developers can only go up 1 additional floor in MX1 and 2 additional floors in MX2. No additional heights beyond by-right are allowed in Multi-Unit Residential subdistrict uses. 
• Adoption of new or amended zoning is not the end of the line for community process, and Incentive Zoning conditions are not a “blank check” for developers. Non-by-right uses are subject to Site Plan Review and public permitting procedures which involve traffic, parking and environmental impact studies, and negotiation and impact mitigation agreements on a case-by-case basis.   

• Adopted Zoning Map
• Adopted Salem Street Zoning Amendment

I couldn’t make it to the Public Q&A on February 10th. Was it recorded? 

This meeting was not recorded, however, a memo summarizing community feedback is available here.

Does this proposal make it easier for cannabis dispensaries to open on Salem Street? 

The new zoning does not make it easier to open cannabis retail on Salem Street. Under Medford’s current zoning, cannabis retail is not allowed in Commercial or Apartment districts, just in Commercial 2 and Industrial districts. The new zoning does not allow cannabis retail uses in any of the zones on Salem Street.

Does the new zoning make it easier for addiction treatment service providers to open on Salem Street? 

This zoning introduces a new, clearer definition of “neighborhood medical office” – different from the definition of “medical office” – to ensure that any in-district doctor’s offices are small-scale and low-volume: not more than 1,500 square feet, with no more than 5 employees, and only allowed to operate between 8 AM and 7:30 PM. 

Per the new zoning, “neighborhood medical office” uses are allowed by special permit in MX-2 and Commercial subdistricts. All medical uses, including neighborhood medical but also including medical offices and clinics, are prohibited in MX-1 and Multi-Unit Residential subdistricts. 

This new definition allows neighborhood medical uses like private practice podiatrists and dentists, that are already woven into the fabric of Salem Street, to remain conforming with zoning. By law, cities must regulate and allow/disallow all uses – including medical – by scale and scope (square footage, hours of operation, number of employees), and not by speciality. This zoning gives neighborhoods the option of having medical providers nearby, while better controlling for the size and volume of those services. 

Can developers “stack” incentives to build very tall buildings? 

No. The maximum height cap, district-wide, is six stories – and that’s if Incentive Zoning (IZ) conditions are met to add 2 stories in Mixed-Use 2 and add 3 stories in Commercial. IZ height incentives are not extended for Multi-Unit Residential subdistricts: the height cap in those subdistricts remains at 3 stories, and only one extra floor is available in the Mixed-Use 1 area, to bring buildings to 4 stories. These incentives are ONLY available for parcels facing Salem St. If a parcel is on a side street, even if it is in the Mixed-Use 2 subdistrict, it cannot use incentive zoning to go taller.

Does this proposal add or remove any bike lanes, bus lines, or traffic lanes? 

No. Zoning is not a mechanism for adding or removing bike lanes, vehicle travel lanes, or other ways of directly impacting traffic – zoning can only dictate what may and may not be built, under what conditions and for what uses, on parcels – not on roads. All bus lines are operated by the MBTA, over which the City of Medford has no jurisdiction; zoning cannot add or subtract bus service. 

However, through Incentive Zoning, the City may leverage additional stories of height (up to a hard maximum) in exchange for community amenities which include road and sidewalk improvements from developers. In Incentive Zoning cases, where incentives are as-of-right, they are approved through the Building Commissioner. Where incentives are not as-of-right, the community amenities provided in exchange for increased height or other building attributes are negotiated and determined through a public Site Plan Review process. 

Why aren’t we doing a traffic study first? 

Changing our zoning will result in changes to the fabric of the district over a period of decades, while doing point-in-time traffic studies is more like a snapshot. The City can be more responsive to potential traffic and parking changes via the Site Plan Review process – which would kick in anytime a developer wants to build beyond by-right uses. 

The SSCD zoning allows 3 stories by-right for most parcels up and down Salem Street. This is very similar to the previous by-right heights up and down Salem Street. The exception are the Mixed-Use 2 districts, where 4 stories are allowed by-right: these parcels center around the Park St x Salem St intersection, and in Haines Square. The new zoning further reduces by-right heights to 3 stories in Commercial districts, a reduction from what the previous zoning allowed in Commercial districts.  

For Site Permit Review projects, developers are required to produce traffic studies and documentation of how their projects would impact traffic, parking, and other effects. The City can then consider these impacts and negotiate to conditions and mitigations accordingly, before extending building permissions and permits.

What about parking? 

This new zoning makes no change to existing per-unit parking standards, maintaining current standards: 2 spots per dwelling unit for single family homes; 1.5 parking spots per dwelling unit for two-unit and multiple-unit dwellings; 0.5 spots per unit for deed-restricted affordable units; and 0.8 spots per unit for areas determined to be within a half-mile of high frequency transit. 

The City Council plans to comprehensively review parking standards as part of the citywide zoning project, later in the spring, rather than singling out individual neighborhoods for changes to parking strategy.

• 3/11/2025 City Council Public Hearing on SSCD Proposed Zoning packet and video – final vote on Salem Street Corridor District zoning (approved)
• 3/10/2025 Memo Summarizing CDB Recommendations on SSCD Proposal for City Council
• 3/6/2025 Draft of SSCD Zoning Memo showing recommendations from City staff, Community Development Board, and zoning consultant. .
• Revised Proposed SSCD Zoning Memo, 3/3/2025 Version – Red-lined to show further proposed changes since City Council referral to the Community Development Board. 
• Proposed SSCD Zoning Memo, 1/27/2025 Version – Red-lined to show the proposed amendments since the City Council referral to the Community Development Board. 
• 2/10/2025 Public Q&A at the Roberts Elementary School – memorandum summarizing community feedback and questions
• 1/22/2025 Community Development Board Public Hearing #1 on SSCD and Green Score – video recording
  • Public Hearing Notice summarizing proposed changes
  • Draft Zoning Memorandum
  • Public hearing continued to 3/5/2025
• 12/11/2024 Planning and Permitting Committee packet and presentation and video – review of updates to draft Salem Street Corridor zoning
  • Proposed SSCD Zoning Memo, 12/11/2024 Version
  • Proposed SSCD Zoning Map, 12/8/2024 Version
• 12/3/2024 Planning and Permitting Committee packet and memo and video – introduction of Salem Street Corridor zoning to be further discussed at 12/11/24 committee meeting

• “Green Score” is a rubric that cities use to provide developers with requirements and incentives to meet environmental standards in building projects. 
• Green Score carries forward existing environmental standards for developers; creates additional and flexible ways for developers to meet environmental standards; and updates the rubric for what development waivers or bonuses developers may earn by meeting specific environmental and climate-protection criteria. 
• Green Score strengthens the City’s existing Open Space and Pervious Surface requirements for developments, and will help the City achieve the following goals from Medford’s Comprehensive Plan and Climate Action and Adaptation Plan: 
  • Adopt flood resilience building guidelines
  • Adopt design and materials standards for cooler surfaces
  • Adopt new landscape performance standards for heat mitigation, stormwater infiltration, and soil health
  • Reach a tree canopy ratio necessary to reduce urban heat island temperatures and reduce stormwater runoff citywide
  • Expand green infrastructure while extending flexibility in how developers meet environmental standards
  • Promote a functional ecological landscape, increasing biodiversity and habitat areas within the City
  • Beautify the City
• Green Score creates a menu of different landscape and infrastructural elements that provide options that can be tailored to different building and site conditions. These include:
  • Planted areas
  • Different types of plantings (mulch, groundcovers, shrubs, trees, preservation of mature trees)
  • Green roofs
  • Vegetated walls
  • Permeable paving

• Not every landscape element is equally beneficial to the community and the environment, and the proposed Green Score rubric and calculation reflects that. Each landscape element is given a different “multiplier” representing its impact on a proposed development’s overall Green Score. 

• Prior to this update, the City’s environmental standards for developers were limited. The Table of Dimensional Requirements created Open Space minimums, but not Pervious Surface minimums (which is important for stormwater runoff, etc.), and provided few options for how developers may meet environmental standards or be credited for other environmental benefits. 
• Green Score is different from the City’s pre-existing stormwater regulations and building energy efficiency standards, of which Medford has already adopted the State Specialized Energy Code. 
• Green Score introduces a new minimum percentage Pervious Surface as a requirement in our zoning code for certain developments. Pervious Surface can mean: 
  • Grass, mulched groundcover, all areas of a vegetated roof planted with a growing medium, and other planted areas.
  • Permeable pavers or paving that facilitate the infiltration of water into the soil.
  • Decks or porches constructed above the surface of the lot that are erected on pier foundations, and that maintain a permeable surface underneath that can facilitate the infiltration of water into the soil. 
• Green Score provides additional flexibility and tailoring beyond Open Space and Pervious Surface by introducing a menu of different beneficial landscape elements that may all contribute to a proposed development’s Green Score. 
  • For example, on lots where the principal structure takes up less than 50% of the lot area, there is plenty of flexibility for maintaining pervious surfaces – but on lots where buildings have more coverage, it is necessary to extend, and to count, other types of environmental benefits. Therefore, it is proposed that Minimum Open Space and Pervious Surface requirements can be combined with the many potential other Green Score criteria. 
• Green Score allows the City to incentivize a range of beneficial environmental treatments from developers, which is more reflective of the holistic treatments that our community and our local environment need. 

Does Green Score allow developers to exceed height/story maximums? 

No, incentives or waivers earned through Incentive Zoning or Green Score are still constrained by total height maximums. 

Does Green Score regulate building energy efficiency standards? 

No, Green Score is a separate process from building energy efficiency standards. Medford has already adopted the State Specialized Energy Code. 

• 3/11/2025 City Council Public Hearing on Green Score Proposal packet and video – final vote on Green Score (approved) 

• 3/10/2025 Memo Summarizing CDB Recommendations on Green Score Proposal for City Council

• 3/6/2025 Green Score Zoning Memo showing recommendations from City staff, Community Development Board, and zoning consultant

• 3/5/2025 Community Development Board Public Hearing #2 on SSCD and Green Score – video recording

• 2/5/2025 Community Development Board Public Hearing #2 on Green Score video recording
• 1/22/2025 Community Development Board Public Hearing #1 on Green Score and SSCD video recording
  • CDB Public Hearing Notice summarizing proposed changes
  • Text of Green Score Proposal referred to CDB from City Council
• 11/13/2024 Planning and Permitting committee packet and memo and video recording – discussion of proposed Green Score zoning ordinance; review of draft ordinance and Green Score test worksheets. 

• 10/9/2024 Planning and Permitting committee packet and memo and video recording – preliminary discussion of Green Score proposal.