Gloucester Planning Board Approves 81-Space Parking Lot at Gloucester Crossing

GLOUCESTER — March 20, 2025 — Gloucester Planning Board unanimously approved an 81-space parking lot at 1 Gloucester Crossing Road while continuing two significant zoning debates to future meetings. The board approved the site plan review application by GX-PH1 LLC — the master landlord for Gloucester Crossing — for a two-field parking lot estimated at $300,000 that will serve both Gloucester Crossing employee overflow and the Beauport Hotel's existing off-site parking requirement, with conditions requiring EV charging stations, added pedestrian access, loaming and seeding of disturbed areas, and updated plans. City Councilor At-Large Jeff Worthley, 4 Hawthorne Road, presented two separate proposed zoning amendments: one that would bar dimensional relief from being triggered when a property owner changes a building's use without altering its exterior, and a demolition delay ordinance backed by the Gloucester Historical Commission, which presented data showing the city averages 3.5 demolitions of structures 100 years old or older annually. Planning Director Greg Catamatori advised the board that demolition delay ordinances in Massachusetts belong in a municipality's general code rather than the zoning ordinance, a procedural finding that prompted Worthley to signal he would withdraw the zoning referral and refile through the Ordinance and Administration Committee. The change-of-use amendment was continued to May 1, 2025 pending legal review by City Solicitor Suzanne Egan; the demolition delay hearing was continued to April 17, 2025. Community Development Director Alex Copeland also reported 840 responses to the draft comprehensive plan survey, with a target vote to adopt the plan by late May or early June.