Proposed Development On Main Street In Falmouth Will Take Advantage Of Mixed-Use
The owner of the Paul’s Precision Automotive at 464 Main Street is looking to redevelop the property as part of the newly instituted Mixed-Use Residential and Commercial Overlay District, colloquially known as MRCOD, after its adoption at the November 2021 Town Meeting.
Excel 464 Main Street, LLC, went before the Falmouth Select Board on Monday, April 11, for a wastewater variance from the town’s flow-neutral bylaw. The board’s packet for the meeting contained a document from Robert Ament, attorney representing the owner, and it outlined the plans for the parcel.
Owners are proposing a mixed-use building on the site consisting of a sit-down restaurant on the first floor with 10 residential apartments on the second and third floors. Seven of the apartments would be one-bedroom, and three would be two bedrooms. In accordance with MRCOD, three of those apartments would be designated as affordable, and all 10 would be added to the town’s subsidized housing inventory.
Per Mr. Ament’s letter, there would be an opportunity for front patio dining, making for a total of 125 restaurant seats, and a tentative tenant-accessible roof garden above the two-story front ell of the building, which takes advantage of the limitation that the third floor would be three-quarters of a story.
As amended at the November Town Meeting, the overlay district will only be applied in areas with existing sewer connections. While the proposed mixed residential/commercial use is considered a by-right use under the MRCOD bylaw, the increase in wastewater flow into the municipal sewer system required a variance from the select board under the flow-neutral bylaw, which the select board granted on Monday.
The existing auto repair shop is connected to municipal sewer lines.
At the hearing, board member Onjalé Scott Price asked how long the planning process had taken. Attorney Kevin Klauer said that planning for the site has been ongoing for about four months, mostly to determine what the owner wanted to do with the parcel. Under MRCOD, owner Pierre Kairouz could have more units but chose to cap the development at 10, so as to not overdevelop the site, Mr. Klauer said.
“I’m very glad to see that somebody is starting to use [this overlay district],” Ms. Scott Price said. “I just wanted to know, so we can tell other people about how long it took to put this together… I’m just pleased that it hasn’t taken too long to get to us.”
Board members agreed and were pleased to not only see someone taking advantage of MRCOD, but also with the design of the proposed development.
“Part of what we look at is what is the function going to be for that space, and I think this is precisely what we should be doing with Main Street,” said board member Megan English Braga. “We should have mixed-use where we have an economic peak and a residential peak, and that is part of what we consider when we think about making a waiver for hookups to the sewer, so I think it fits what we look for in the criteria.”
Board chairman Douglas C. Brown agreed, and board member Samuel Patterson pointed out that one of the priorities put forth in the policy is to provide more sewer hookups.
The board voted unanimously to approve the flow-neutral bylaw variance. The project is still in the permitting phase and remains to be heard by the planning board for approval.