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NEW BEDFORD — Hotels, event centers, commercial and residential buildings: that’s the mayor’s new vision for development near the downtown train station.

Just weeks before MBTA commuter rail service arrives in downtown New Bedford at the Whale’s Tooth parking lot, Mayor Jon Mitchell released his administration’s proposal to create a more walkable, business-friendly, and commuter-friendly neighborhood in that area.

The proposal, known as the Clasky Common Transit-Oriented Development district, will overlay new zoning on top of existing allowances. The hope is to spur additional business and housing development near the train station and within walking distance to downtown. 

The district would stretch along Purchase Street from the Octopus intersection to the Car Barn apartment complex and (on the other side of Rt. 18) would cover the area between the Wamsutta apartments and the southern tip of the Whale’s Tooth lot. 

Within the proposal are three “subareas,” with each allowing different types of development. Among these, the closest to the waterfront would allow for taller buildings, while the more inland areas would be for “neighbor-scale” residential and commercial buildings.

The purpose of these overlaid zoning changes would be to “encourage multifamily construction and economic development on vacant and underutilized parcels,” according to a release from the Mitchell administration. 

For example, the current land-use around the Whale’s Tooth lot — just steps from the commuter rail station — now includes a tire recycling plant, an automotive repair shop, a truck rental, and some pockets of vacant space. Under the new proposal, this area could have housing, hotels, or other buildings of up to 8-10 stories — whatever the market allows for. 

Along Purchase Street, there’s currently a mix of some housing and shops, including used car sales. The new zoning overlay would allow for buildings up to 4-6 stories tall on the east side (closer to the water) and buildings up to 3-4 stories on the west side (the Clasky Common side). 

This is a before and after of the Veterans Transition House on Purchase Street. Credit: Image provided by the city of New Bedford

The proposal said that design standards would be included in the zoning to “ensure that new development considers neighborhood context” and “incorporates sustainability.” 

Though the proposal is in line with the state’s MBTA Communities Act, New Bedford is already in compliance with this law because of the King’s Highway Transit-Oriented Development district, approved in November, which similarly encourages development around the North End’s soon-to-open commuter rail station. 

Overall, the city’s progress on housing development has taken important steps in the last few years, but remains far too slow for its needs. A 2024 report said that New Bedford currently needs 4,100 more housing units, and 8,700 units before 2030.

Right now, New Bedford has about 500 units in the pipeline. Meanwhile, a tight housing market, rapidly increasing rents, and homelessness remain persistent issues. 

One feature of the new zoning proposal that will likely receive attention is the parking minimums. The Mitchell administration is proposing that subarea A (with the tallest buildings nearest to the waterfront) should have 0.75 off-street parking spaces per residential unit minimum. Other subareas along Purchase Street would have a one space per residential unit minimum.

Previously, city councilors fought the 0.75 parking per unit minimum during the King’s Highway proposal. At the time, Jen Carloni, the city’s planning director, said the proposal was in line with national standards. “In some ways, we’re just putting in place what exists in the community today,” Carloni told The Light at the time. The King’s Highway district ended up with a 1 parking space per unit minimum. (The current standard for the rest of the city, 2 off-street parking spaces per unit, is hard to reach, and many developments go through a zoning appeals process to get a reduction.)

These transit-oriented districts are part of a slate of zoning reforms aimed at making development easier. Mayor Jon Mitchell plans to propose more ordinances to reduce minimum lot size and parking requirements this spring.

The Clasky Common Transit-Oriented Development district will go to the City Council for review. The first train service to New Bedford in more than 50 years will take place later this month, on March 24. 

Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org

Grace Ferguson contributed to this report. 

17 replies on “New Bedford mayor proposes commuter-friendly zoning around South Coast Rail”

    1. I can’t imagine waking up everyday and being this negative. The train hasn’t even started running yet…

      1. I can’t imagine waking up everyday without sarcasm.
        I look at the positive trend line in wind power production.
        The train trend line is harder to predict.
        It was shut down for a reason.
        Does anyone remember why?
        Something about cost?

    2. People you think negatively live a negative life. It’s sad. I like the plans for housing in the city. Besides being much needed, it will rehabilitate a decrepit area. The future is looking bright for New Bedford.

    3. It all sounds a little ridiculous. The Warmsutta Apartments are low income. How will the people with money feel about living or staying in this area. Not that anybody is better than the next. There is alot of crime and drugs in this area also. They plan to bring all of this to that area and what do the propose they will do with the crime? It’s funny they have the emergency call boxes they put near the railway and u can’t get the police to show up for 2 days for a shoot-out in the area. Hmm, let’s see how the people love that. Care about the safety of the people coming in but the people that live there are of no consequence. Be smart people do ur research about this city. It’s not what they are presenting. They only care about the very small downtown area. We are crime ridden. Unsolved murders, drugs, women getting attacked now in cemeteries, robberies and so on. What do u expect from politicians? Truth telling is not in their DNA.

      1. The Wamsutta Apartments are market rate.
        $2650 a month is not low income.
        There are currently no vacancies.
        The prices will be going up.
        When was the last time it took 2 days to respond to a shoot out?
        2 Hours?
        20 minutes?
        5 minutes?
        We are not crime ridden.
        We have one of the lowest city crime rates in the state.
        Our violent crimes are primarily felon on felon crimes.
        I expect from politicians what I expect from the people who vote for them.
        Truth telling is not in their DNA. (The Wamsutta Apartments are low income..)

  2. Albert little premature to make predictions of failure.Lets celebrate the return of a rail link after so many years of isolation both economic and cultural from Boston.Wallowing in Negativity gets us nowhere..a rising tide.lifts all ships ..lets help lift it !

  3. Rail is good, even though its 20 years too late. Remote work is here to stay, but rents in New Bedford are still far below the surrounding area of Boston. With a convenient rail into Boston, New Bedford should continue to grow with young professionals looking to save some money.

    1. More and more jobs will require less than three days a week in office
      Covid was a wakeup call.

  4. I love the sounds of the revitalization plan, but it would be wonderful if a grocery store for downtown residents were included.

  5. Good luck to South Coast Rail. How about moving the bus station and locating near the train.

    1. There is very little housing near the downtown train station,
      The new pedestrian bridge for the train cost $21 million.
      How much will moving the bus station cost?

  6. I think it would be tragic to put high rise buildings on or near the waterfront. Block the view of the whole city.

  8. Agree with the supporters of the new station. Many local people who once lived in and still have many connections with Boston, are sick of the drive when they want to go back to visit. I never want to set tire on the SE Expressway again! And, yes, the rail link will attract new residents and improve our economy here.

  9. We have an ugly city with old dense housing and no place to park a car. So we are going give developers more land to build more dense housing for $3,000 / month with even less parking spaces. Where are these people going to go shopping without a car, do they have any parks or open space areas in that beautiful industrial area full of seafood packing plants and tire junk yards. But we have plenty of self storage units so they can pay other developers for space to store their stuff.

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