Planning Board Recommends Zoning Amendment to Permit Car Rental Businesses in HB District

The Revere Planning board held a public hearing as part of its regular meeting last Tuesday, March 1.

On hand for the hearing and meeting were chairman Louis Ciarlone and members Anthony DelVecchio, John DeSimone, Sal Amico, and new member Megan Simmons-Herrling, as well as City Planner Frank Stringi.

The public hearing aspect of the hearing was a revisiting by the board of a matter that had been presented by Enterprise Rent a Car last September in which Enterprise is seeking to amend the zoning ordinances to allow for an “automobile/truck rental office and storage” business to be operated within a Highway Business (HB) district by special permit.

The types of businesses presently permitted to operate as of right within an HB district include retail, restaurants, and offices.

Car rental businesses presently are allowed to operate in Revere (by special permit) only within a Technology Enterprise District (TED).

Enterprise  specifically wants to open a car leasing office at 85 Squire Rd., which is the site of a Verizon Wireless store.

Ultimately, whether to amend the zoning ordinance and then to grant special permits pursuant to the new ordinance would be up to the City Council. The Planning Board’s role strictly is advisory to the City Council.

Attorney Nicholas J. Zozula of the Boston law firm of McDemott, Quilty, and Miller presented the proposal to the board. Zozula had appeared before the board previously in the fall and had obtained a favorable recommendation from the board, though with suggestions from board members that it might be wise to limit the scope of the amendment.

The matter went to the City Council, which rejected the amendment unanimously, which meant that Enterprise had to come back to the Planning Board with its newly-revised amendment to the ordinance.

Zozula reported to the board that the new amendment had taken into account all of the concerns expressed by the Planning Board members in the fall: the minimum lot size for any such business was increased to 25,000 sq. ft.; there must be a limit of 50-vehicles on the site; and the maximum weight of a vehicle for rent cannot exceed 8000 pounds, which Zozula noted is about the size of a Ford F-150 pick up.

“There will be no heavy trucks of any kind on the site,” said Zozula, who also noted that there will be only cosmetic changes to the exterior of the present Verizon building.

In addition, Zozula said that vehicles will not be repaired on the site, there will be no stacking of vehicles, and Enterprise will install buffering and screening around the facility.

Former City Councillor Anthony Zambuto, who had voted against the zoning amendment when he was on the council in the fall, was the lone opponent of the proposal.

“We’ve had a different vision for Squire Rd. other than what ends up as a place where cars are parked there,” said Zambuto. “Once you offer this to Enterprise, you open up other parcels to be turned into parking lots. This is not the vision that either I or the rest of the council have had for Squire Rd.”

Zozula responded by listing some of the various businesses that presently operate on Squire Rd. and asked, “How does a car rental company that will have no more than 50 cars on the lot at any time change the impact of the vision for Squire Rd.?”

Zozula also pointed out that since most of the cars typically are rented, there normally will be only a handful of vehicles parked on the premises at any given time.

Doug Baleri, who would be the owner of the Enterprise operation, informed the board “there will be approximately 300 cars registered in Revere that will generate about $400,000 in excise taxes for the city.”

Zambuto briefly addressed that issue, stating he was “skeptical” of the excise tax figure because when he’s rented vehicles in the past from rental companies, he usually gets cars with out-of-state plates.

After the public hearing was closed, the board then discussed the matter briefly.

“I have respect for former councillor Zambuto,” said Ciarlone, “but we entertained this in September and we recommended it favorably. We only recommend to the City Council. If they want to vote our recommendation down, that’s their responsibility. I favored this in September and I do so now. It will be up to the City Council whether to do it.”

The board then voted unanimously (Amico abstained because he does business with Enterprise at Logan Airport) in favor of the revised amendment to the HB district zoning ordinance, which now will go before the City Council.

In its other business of the evening, the board voted for its officers for the coming year: Ciarlone was re-elected as chairman, Amico was elected vice-chairman, and Juan Pablo Jaramillo (who was not present) was elected secretary.