232 Stafford Street (ZB-2026-068)

At a glance

What: Zoning Board of Appeals petition ZB-2026-068 for 232 Stafford Street, a housing development of about 150 attached units plus a 57-unit high-rise on athletic fields.
Where it stands: the ZBA approved both variances and the special permit on 2026-08-10 (per the transcript), with amended staff conditions. Unit count is now 209 (59 in the high-rise).
Next: Planning Board site plan and "more than one building on a lot" reviews, a Conservation Commission Notice of Intent, private street approvals for a Hyatt Street emergency connection, and a full traffic study.

Petitioner: 232 Stafford, LLC.
Present use: athletic fields. Zone: RG-5 (Residence, General); partially in the Floodplain Overlay District.
Purpose: about 26 single-family attached structures with about 150 dwelling units and about 300 parking spaces.
Also an about 71,088 SF 4-story multi-family high-rise with about 57 units and about 152 parking spaces, and associated site improvements.

Site: 36.7 acres, Worcester Academy's New Balance athletic fields, rezoned to RG-5 by the City Council in February 2026; Kettle Brook runs through it and part is in the 1 percent flood zone.
209 units (59 in the four-story building, 150 rental townhouses in 26 buildings), 452 parking spaces (2.2 per unit), pool and clubhouse; one- and two-bedroom apartments, two- and three-bedroom townhouses; about 5 percent accessible units.
No on-site affordable units; the applicant offered a fee-in-lieu of about 3 percent of construction costs to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Relief detail: 2,411.2 ft of frontage relief (from 3,000 ft), 10 ft of height relief (45 ft versus 35 ft) and 20 to 22 ft drive aisles instead of 24 ft. Staff said the site could hold about 2,100 units by right as large multifamily.
Fire and emergency management required a second access above the flood plain: an emergency connection to Hyatt Street replaces a redundant Stafford Street drive. Only a draft traffic study had been filed; DTM comments were issued the day of the hearing.
Residents raised Stafford Street congestion and crash history and the suitability of Hyatt Street for emergency vehicles; see Stafford Street Traffic and Hyatt Street Emergency Access.
Board members said traffic is a city issue beyond the ZBA's purview; Erik Bartenhagen was uneasy approving before seeing Hyatt Street details but supported moving it on.

Variance: minimum frontage for a single-family attached dwelling in RG-5 (Art. IV, Sec. 4, Table 4.2).
Variance: maximum height for a single-family attached dwelling in RG-5.
Special Permit: to modify the parking dimensional, layout, and/or landscaping requirements, loading requirements, and/or the number of required parking spaces (Art. IV, Sec. 7.A.2).

Approved 2026-08-10 (apparently 5-0). Conditions amended at the meeting: brick requirement reworded to south and west elevations, "shall" changed to "may" in condition 4, condition 5 (flood depth markers) struck, condition 7 amended.
Conditions include perpetual preservation (Article 97 conservation restriction) of the western and northern land before first occupancy and keeping some public parking at the trailhead amenity area.

About 69 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-08-10 - Zoning Board of Appeals	69

2026-08-10 - Zoning Board of Appeals - Hearing: attorney Mark Borenstein and a VHB engineer presented the 209-unit rental community; public comment on traffic and Hyatt Street; board praised the lower-than-allowed density. Both variances and the special permit approved with amended conditions and waivers, apparently 5-0.