Here’s how the city plans to build and grow in 2026 and beyond

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What will 2026 bring for New Bedford? Jen Carloni has some plans.

As the city’s planning director, Carloni oversees the local rules that promote certain kinds of development and prevent others. Her department is in the middle of a multi-year zoning overhaul that has already cut down on permitting requirements and set up two “transit-oriented” districts near the new MBTA stations.

The rollout will continue throughout 2026. The City Council is on track to approve lower parking minimums for new construction as soon as next month. A proposal to allow new buildings on smaller lots is up next. Later, planners will propose new “form-based” zoning districts to compel development that looks less suburban and more like existing dense neighborhoods.

Planners have tried to strike a delicate balance between cutting red tape for developers to address a severe housing shortage and protecting the “character” of the city, Carloni said.

“Heading into this next year, one of our things that we’re going to be monitoring is, how is it rolling out? Is there something that we missed? Is there something that’s not working so well that we should adjust?” she said.

The Planning Department’s work goes beyond writing and pitching zoning changes. The department encompasses the various boards responsible for making sure new projects comply with city laws, including the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. Planning staff help to process the applications that go to those boards, which gives them insight into how the zoning laws work in practice.

Planners are keenly aware of certain areas in the city where they want to promote certain types of development. The waterfront will be a focus this year.

The department also intends to continue collaborating with state transportation officials on major infrastructure projects, including replacements of the Route 18/I-195 interchange and New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge.

Joined by Assistant Planning Director Anne Louro and Assistant City Planner Michael McCarthy, Carloni sat down with The Light to discuss the city’s planning priorities for 2026.

Parking reforms could soon take effect

The zoning changes on the agenda this year may be the most impactful ones in the rollout so far.

Despite late pushback from some North End residents, the City Council appears likely to approve a zoning proposal that would reduce parking minimums for new apartment buildings and many types of commercial development.

“This is the direction that other communities are going in, and we need to remain competitive with it,” Carloni said.

The current zoning requires builders to set aside at least two off-street parking spaces for every new unit they build, whether it’s a studio apartment or single-family house — an “outdated” requirement, Carloni said. Advocates for the change say it’s more parking than most projects need, and the extra cost of building those spaces is passed onto tenants through higher rents. 

The new ordinance would reduce the parking minimum to one space per unit for apartments with fewer than three bedrooms. The two-space standard would still apply to all other types of housing, including single family homes and duplexes. And developers could always build more parking if they choose.

Planners say the change is “moderate” and based on a data-driven analysis of parking and car ownership. Census numbers show that half of renter households in the city own one car, while a quarter of them don’t own a car.

The City Council will likely vote on the change in February. The council’s ordinance committee voted 5-2 to advance the proposal in December, after more than a dozen people from New Bedford and surrounding towns urged the councilors to approve it. Ward 1 Councilor Leo Choquette opposed the change out of concern that lower parking minimums could cause cars from apartment buildings to overflow into surrounding single-family neighborhoods. 

Up next: Lot size requirements, and a new type of zoning

The next proposal in the city’s zoning rollout is an “infill” ordinance that would unlock some empty lots for redevelopment. The City Council’s ordinance committee was set to take it up on Jan. 26 but the meeting was cancelled.

Current city zoning prohibits new buildings on lots below a certain size, depending on the neighborhood. The problem, planners say, is that most parcels in the city are well below the minimum lot size, so the current buildings on those small lots would be illegal to build today. That’s why many lots stay empty after a building burns down, planners say.

“Most people don’t think about this every day, but until you actually try to do something — that’s when you realize how difficult it is,” Carloni said.

Homeowners and small business owners have wanted to put up buildings that look like other properties on the same block, but weren’t allowed to because of the restrictive zoning, she said.

Much of New Bedford’s zoning code seems to have been written when the city wanted more suburban-style development in the mid-20th century, said McCarthy, the assistant city planner.

“Times have changed since then,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of land left to develop, and we need to enact zoning that unlocks that land for development.”

After that, planners have announced one more zoning change, but haven’t yet brought it forward.

It’s known as “form-based code,” and it focuses on making sure new development matches the look of existing buildings. It defines the general structure and design elements of buildings in a specific neighborhood, requiring new buildings to follow those parameters.

“It reassures the neighborhood that you’re not going to get something that is out of character and crazy and doesn’t really fit,” Carloni said.

For example, Acushnet Avenue is known for buildings that go up to the sidewalk, with ground-floor retail and triple-deckers above. Suburban-style drugstores with huge setbacks look out of place, planners say. Form-based code tries to make sure that new buildings will look more like the triple-deckers.

The code even defines some design features, like windows and parapets, with illustrations. These elements are presented as a sort of “menu” of options that developers are expected to incorporate. Planners say this makes the approval process more predictable for developers because the guidelines show exactly what the Planning Board is willing to approve.

“It provides openness and transparency to a developer,” said Louro, the assistant planning director. “They’re always looking for certainty.”

Form-based code in New Bedford has been in the works for about a decade. Planners said they want to bring a formal proposal to the City Council in the next six months. It would pilot this model in three neighborhood districts: downtown, Acushnet Avenue in the North End, and Goulart Square in the South End.

Recent changes spur progress

These newer proposals build on zoning changes made over the past two years that aim to make it more affordable and easier to build in the city.

“Permitting’s hard in New Bedford,” Louro said. “We’ve been hearing that for years.”

The recent changes are already starting to make a difference, planners said.

Smaller projects, such as a four-unit apartment building, can now skip a grueling Planning Board review and get permission more quickly from Planning Department staff. Those projects had been bogging down Planning Board agendas, though members generally didn’t oppose them and residents generally didn’t comment on them, McCarthy said. The new process cuts about three months from the approval timeline, he said.

So far, eight projects have been approved by staff, mainly conversions or expansions on existing buildings. The city’s housing director, Josh Amaral, told The Light last month that the changes are prompting more developers to consider small projects.

The new “transit-oriented development” districts around the city’s MBTA stations will attract more development, planners say. They pointed to a hotel planned near the downtown New Bedford station and said they expect a “substantial residential project” in the same district to be formally proposed next month.

Long-term waterfront redevelopments in the works

Planners are eyeing various areas of the city that they think could benefit from new zoning or redevelopment plans.

In particular, they expect the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will soon give the city some parcels along the Acushnet River after completing environmental cleanups there. Planners are now working on a “vision” of how that area, north of Coggeshall Street and east of Belleville Avenue, can be redeveloped over the next decade, including whether zoning changes will be necessary.

Some historic mills along the river have attracted developers in the past, Carloni said, but the zoning wasn’t right for the developments proposed at the time. With a less polluted river and a waterfront walkway in the works, planners say they want to “maximize” the area’s investment potential.

One challenge in zoning for that area, planners said, is allowing for housing and businesses to take advantage of the beautiful waterfront views without pushing out industrial uses currently in that area.

Farther south along the waterfront, the city is redesigning MacArthur Drive and Herman Melville Boulevard from Walnut Street to Coggeshall Street. The project will improve deteriorated roads there, and create separated paths for the many people who walk and bike to work in waterfront businesses.

The city will also improve the pedestrian experience for people trying to get downtown from the new MBTA station on Acushnet Avenue.

Planners said their consultants have a hard time orienting themselves when they get off the train at New Bedford Station — some even try heading north, thinking it’s the way to downtown, because it’s the only direction where they can see buildings.

Pedestrians who do find the right direction to downtown may discover a pretty unglamorous route. Travelers dragging roller bags and businessmen in suits must find their way on narrow sidewalks against a backdrop of industrial ice storage facilities, as cars speed down MacArthur Drive just feet away.

The city’s tourism department is working on plans for a downtown shuttle. In the meantime, planners say they will install signage with directions for pedestrians and some landscaping to improve the walking experience. 

The knot of intersections near Pleasant, Purchase, and Hillman streets are also going to be reconfigured this spring with expanded curbs and bike lanes, they said. 

Infrastructure that improves lives

City planners said they’ll keep working with state transportation officials on major infrastructure projects this year, including replacements of the Route 18/I-195 interchange and New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge. 

“You don’t always see what we’re doing, but we are actively engaged on all of those projects,” Carloni said. Planners join weekly meetings with their state counterparts to weigh in.

One goal is to make sure these projects aren’t just functional, but actually improve quality of life, Carloni said. The city’s input on the interchange replacement prevented the state from constructing a wall that would have separated the North End from downtown, she said, and instead made sure the project will include new landscaping and safe pedestrian pathways under the ramps.

Planners recently raised concerns about the state’s plans for an upcoming replacement of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge. When state officials selected a lift bridge design in 2024, planners said that could prevent future offshore wind staging north of the bridge. It also lacked the aesthetic qualities city officials wanted to see.

The city and state held about five meetings weighing the lift bridge design with other alternatives, McCarthy said. Ultimately, the state stuck with its design decision.

Planning for the longer term

The city recently completed a 10-year comprehensive plan that consolidates the city’s various economic development and land use planning efforts into a single document required by the state.

Carloni said the COVID-19 pandemic and Great Recession show how difficult it is to predict the future, but she hopes that over the next decade the city steps up the pace of building, with “aggressive” development in the transit-oriented districts. 

“I think it’ll still be New Bedford,” she said, “but a refined, and enhanced, special place that we call home.”

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org.

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