Gloucester Zoning Board Approves 29-Unit Downtown Affordable Housing Project Under 40B

GLOUCESTER — April 29, 2026 — Gloucester's Zoning Board of Appeals approved a comprehensive Chapter 40B permit for a 29-unit downtown rental development and cleared seven other property applications at its April 29 meeting. The board voted 5-0 to grant the comprehensive permit to Harbor Light Community Partners for 252-256 Main Street, a project requiring waivers covering building height — proposed at 47 feet against a 40-foot limit — stormwater infiltration, parking, and eight other dimensional standards; final engineering plans will be stamped at the May 14 meeting. In the night's most contested vote, the board approved 4-1 a pair of special permits allowing the Saluti wine bar at 272 Main Street to convert its adjacent parking lot to outdoor seating on warm days and reduce required off-street parking from 35 spaces to zero on those days, conditioned on a written year-round employee parking agreement with neighboring Gorton's for 14 spaces; Chair Joe Parisi cast the lone dissent, arguing that removing all on-site parking compounded an already-reduced parking situation in the Central Business District. The board also approved height and demolish-and-rebuild permits for a new single-family home at 95 Eastern Point Boulevard, retaining wall variances at 11 Dory Road, a height permit for a new home at 11 St. Louis Avenue, and kitchen and side-addition special permits at 236 East Main Street and 441 Essex Avenue.