SR - 2023-023 SCROD Zoning Amendment1
Town of Barnstable
Planning and Development Department
Staff Report
Shopping Center Redevelopment Overlay District
Zoning Amendment
Date: September 29, 2022
To: Planning Board Members
From: Elizabeth Jenkins, AICP, Director of Planning and Development
Kate Maldonado, Assistant Director of Planning and Development
Jim Kupfer, AICP, Senior Planner
Background
The Property Owner, Mayflower Cape Cod, LLC, owner of the Cape Cod Mall properties, seeks to amend
the Shopping Center Redevelopment Overlay District (SCROD), Chapter 240, Section 39.
The Shopping Center Redevelopment Overlay District was created in 1996, when shopping malls consisted
primarily of retail and restaurants. In its current form, the SCROD provisions prohibit both hotels/motels
and multi-family dwellings. Given the Cape Cod Mall’s desire to create a more mixed-use environment, one
of the main goals of the proposed amendment is to expand the allowable uses within the SCROD to include
multi-family dwellings, hotel uses and office uses, as defined in the proposed amendments. To
accommodate the new, additional uses, the proposed amendment would increase the allowable building
height for hotel and multi-family dwelling uses to four stories or 55 feet, whichever is lesser.
The proposed amendment also seeks to redefine the parking demand requirements. Currently, many of
the parking spaces at Cape Cod Mall are underutilized and those areas could be redeveloped and put to a
more productive use. Accordingly, the proposed amendment addresses the parking requirement for each
of the proposed allowable uses and creates a special permit mechanism by which the requirement may be
reduced upon meeting defined criteria.
Additionally, the proposed amendment modernizes the current landscape requirements. Modeled after
Section 240-53 of the Ordinance, the proposed landscape provisions would apply to any new development
or redevelopment within the SCROD in which the limit of work exceeds one acre. Thus, as the Mall is
redeveloped, those portions would comply with the proposed parking lot landscape and buffer
requirements.
Finally, the proposed amendment would require that any multifamily dwelling development within the
SCROD would comply with: (i.) the Town of Barnstable Code, Chapter 9, Inclusionary Housing
Requirements in effect at the time multifamily development is proposed or (ii) provide 10% of the units
restricted to individuals or families at 65% of AMI and an additional 3% restricted to individuals or families
at 80% AMI, whichever calculation method results in more restricted units. As the Town begins to evaluate
the inclusionary ordinance and to make recommendations for possible amendments, the proposed
language in the zoning amendment requires compliance with the ordinance as drafted (10% at 65% AMI
and an additional 3% at 80% AMI) or the inclusionary ordinance that is in effect at the time of filing
development permits, whichever option results in the greater number of deed restricted affordable units
for individuals and families with the lowest percentage of Area Median Income (AMI).
2
Procedural Information
Zoning amendments are processed in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 40A
Section 5. Notice of this public hearing was provided in accordance with all requirements of MGL 40A§5.
The Planning Board must forward an advisory report with recommendations on the proposed zoning
amendment to the Town Council within 21 days after close of the Board’s hearing. The recommendation
(as presented or as amended) of the Planning Board requires a simple majority of the Planning Board
members present and voting.
Enclosed attachment
Proposed Shopping Center Redevelopment Overlay District Amendment, §240-39, Redlined