Planning Board Recommends Westchester Street Rezoning

Planning Board · Meeting of August 26, 2026

Worcester's Planning Board voted 5-0 to recommend rezoning a 16-acre former Catholic Charities site on Westchester Street from RS-7 to RL-7, over objections from more than ten neighbors. Attorney Joshua Lee Smith said client CMS now envisions roughly 40 multifamily units plus seven to ten townhouses, down from an initial 70 to 80 units, after neighborhood meetings. Resident William Hughes cited pothole- and plowing-related 311 complaints among 267 total complaints on nearby streets since January 2025.

Chair Albert LaValley, who supported the measure, called the layered zoning-approval process "incredibly frustrating," saying "I feel we've all just wasted each other's time." The board also recommended zoning changes for 95 Vernon Street and the city-owned 128 Providence Street senior center, where Rogerson Communities plans 98 units of affordable senior housing, and approved permits for a 32-unit Jackson Street conversion and a contested 23-unit Perkins Street building.

In the full story:

• Postponements and fee waiver
• 1 Jackson Street: special permit for parking relief
• 25-27 Perkins Street: contested site plan and special permit
• 454 Granite Street: single-family site plan
• 23-37 Boylston Street: definitive frontage subdivision
• 11 Cliff Street: site plan amendment
• 25 Westchester Street: zoning map amendment (RS-7 to RL-7)
• 95 Vernon Street: adaptive reuse overlay
• 128 Providence Street: Worcester Senior Center redevelopment
• ANRs and adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,638 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of August 26, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.