| 
Image courtesy of The Architectural Team
Everett officials will review the latest proposal for a 591-unit housing development on a site that’s also under consideration for construction of a new high school.
Mayor Carlo DiMaria has stated his opposition to V10 Development’s proposal, known as The Residences at Rivergreen, on a 26-acre site that formerly included a General Electric factory.
A planning board public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight to review a special permit for inclusionary zoning. The proposal calls for a trio of 5-story apartment buildings totaling 830,000 square feet.
In December, developers offered to include the lowest income thresholds to date at a market-rate project in Everett. Everett’s inclusionary development policy requires 15 percent income-restricted units in multifamily projects, or 5 percent for those built on formerly contaminated industrial properties.
V10 Development said it’s willing to include 10 percent deed-restricted affordable units at the former GE factory site, with 5 percent of the units reserved for households earning 60 percent of area median income and 5 percent at 80 percent of AMI.
DeMaria’s administration has encouraged multifamily development on former industrial sites, including the Commercial Triangle district off Revere Beach Parkway which has attracted large-scale projects including 1,900 units by developer Greystar.
But DeMaria opposes the Rivergreen development, citing the property’s inclusion on a list of potential sites submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a new high school. In the opposition letter submitted in September, DeMaria also cited a desire to avoid privatization of potential open space along the Malden River.
DeMaria’s position has not changed, Everett Director of Planning and Development Matthew Lattanzi said today.
According to a presentation submitted by developers to the planning board last fall, the Rivergreen project would include a donation of 17 acres to the city for open space, and a potential commitment to donate 10 percent of revenues to a waterfront fund.
