BROCKTON — The city has scheduled a public hearing on changing what’s allowed to be built at the old Brockton Fairgrounds.
On Monday, Sept. 16, city councilors will invite residents to speak at a hearing slated for 5:30 p.m. at city hall. The legal parameters of the hearing are narrow. It’s not about specific proposals for what would be built but rather the underlying zoning rules to govern them.
The public hearing comes after the city’s planning board recommended that city council approve what’s called a “zoning overlay district.” The change would “promote a blended development of mixed-use residential, commercial and light industrial uses,” the proposal reads in part. Specific changes could include:
- Allowing residential buildings up to 7 stories (or 85 feet.)
- Allowing commercial development up to 70 feet tall for just about anything except funeral homes, gas stations, drive-in theaters, car washes or tattoo parlors.
- Allowing technology, research and development and light industrial uses in buildings up to 85 feet tall.
- Anything that could be built there now would be grandfathered in, unless it’s to expand an existing building.