In a rare bit of city government not witnessed here before, a question about a mixed use residential and commercial project on Broadway travelled from the Zoning Board of Appeals to the city council Monday night for a vote.
The city council approved the measure. Only Councilor Steven Simonelli voted against it.
It allows a local developer to build 18 residential units and to have a café or coffee shop on the first floor.
This came after 20 months of contentious debate regarding parking. The developer is building the project without parking.
Many councilors find the project without parking incomprehensible – just as they find the modern Everett growing up all around us as something they never imagined happening.
One councilor was concerned that the developer’s tenants would all buy automobiles after renting their spaces.
The developer pointed out quite rightly they would have no place to park an automobile and that they would be told in exact language that the apartments are to be rented to tenants without parking spaces.
Many of the councilors found this incomprehensible – but then – they are not younger for the most part and don’t live in the Uber and Lyft world, or in the world of carry-out delivered food, no children, no school children and on and on.
Residents coming to Everett to live in these new developments without parking don’t buy cars.
They use public transportation or they ride bicycles of they use Uber and Lyft.
Councilors worrying about new tenants buying cars with no place to park them would prefer parking for developments when there is virtually no room for parking in this city at the present time.
The city is growing upward. Density is increasing. New people are flowing in. The old Everett is dying out. The city needs new development and new business or it will die – casino or no casino.
The city council should worry about new developments looking appealing and modern and architectural. Whether or not there is parking just doesn’t matter anymore.
As Councilor Rosa DeFlorio noted so correctly: “There has been no parking for Broadway businesses for a century and nobody seemed to mind. Why change now?”