By Lorna Garey
The Malden Planning Board tackled a packed agenda on June 10, addressing proactive zoning regulations for data centers and unanimously moving a long-delayed retail cannabis project one step closer to opening its doors.
In a joint hearing with the City Council Rules and Ordinance Committee, the board unanimously supported a one-year moratorium and a citywide ban on standalone data centers. The measure is designed to give the city time to study the environmental and infrastructure impacts of data centers and draft appropriate zoning ordinances.
Councilor Ari Taylor, a co-sponsor of the City Council’s proposal, stressed the need for legislation to protect the city’s power grid and residents from the negative impacts seen in other communities, like Everett and Lowell.
“We want to make sure we’re researching everything to get out in front of it,” Taylor said, clarifying that the ban would not apply to businesses that have server closets or rooms as an accessory to their primary operations.
During the joint hearing, Councilor Peg Crowe shared insights gathered from collaborating with officials in neighboring Everett, specifically noting concerns about potential data center development along the Malden River.
“We keep looking at the river as a potential [source] of growth, and I think this will hinder it,” said Crowe.
While the board ultimately supported the measure, some members raised concerns.
“I know when we’re considering other zoning amendments as a body, we’ve always been very cautious to ban things outright,” said Patrick Hayes, who asked City Planner Michelle Romero if an outright ban was legal.
Board member Eric Henry also questioned the scope of the legislation and asked if the city had been approached about building a standalone data center. The answer from sponsors was no.
Romero addressed concerns by explaining that specific state-level protections do not apply to data centers and called proposing both a one-year moratorium and a complete ban a “belt and suspenders approach.” This strategy ensures that if the moratorium were to face legal challenges, the city would still have regulations on the books prohibiting data centers while studies are ongoing.
The planning board voted 9-0 to recommend approval of the data center regulations to the city council, which has the final say.
Long-awaited cannabis dispensary gets a lift
The board dug into the ongoing efforts of Trinity Naturals to open a marijuana retail site at 36 Charles St., a proposal that has faced years of delays. The board voted 9-0 to issue a favorable advisory recommendation to the City Council to allow the petitioners, DMS Trinity LLC, to transfer the rights of their 2022 special permit to a new joint venture that would provide additional resources.
“Maybe four times they’ve come before with different changes, so I’m just expressing concern about yet another one,” Councilor Karen Colón Hayes told the board. “The new owner should be a social equity partner as well. We need to have a certain amount of licenses that are by social equity.”
Attorney Roberto Di Marco, who represents the petitioners, detailed the bureaucratic roadblocks that have stalled the project since its initial special permit approval in April 2022. Di Marco said delays were largely tied to state-level overhauls regarding host community agreements that positioned the business in a shifting regulatory landscape, with the courts having to reconcile city and state mandates.
Caught in the crossfire, Trinity was unable to launch and has faced severe financial strain, said Di Marco. The new petition seeks to bring in financial partners and cannabis operational specialists to help finally get the doors open.
The board unanimously agreed to recommend the transfer with a stipulation that the special permit remains nontransferable going forward, so that any future changes would be reviewed by the city to prevent a large corporate entity from displacing a small business. Like the data center proposal, this now goes back to the City Council.
Find more information on the project on the City of Malden Permit Portal. DMS Trinity joins DRIS and Benevolent Botanicals as pending cannabis locations in Malden. They hope to join Misty Mountain Shop and Eastern Cannabis. Malden has set a minimum of five licenses.
Put a pin in 1 Salem
The board is scheduled to take up the 1 Salem St. project at its next meeting, on July 22, a switch from July 8. The application is currently incomplete because the city is conducting a peer review of a newly submitted traffic impact study.
The proposed seven-story mixed-use condominium complex is slated to have 73 units, including about 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Other board actions
The board also reviewed several other items on the agenda:
- Doggie daycare expansion: The board voted 9-0 to approve a special permit for Big Daddy Doggy Daycare at 10 Maplewood St. to officially add overnight boarding. Owners Jennifer and Tina LeGarde recently discovered the previous owner had been boarding dogs without the required permits and proactively brought the facility into compliance, planning to install galvanized steel kennels consistent with state code.
- New acupuncture clinic: A special permit was unanimously granted for Purple Clover Acupuncture to operate at 75 Pleasant St. Petitioner Cory Shamblin plans to run a small, single-room practice on the third floor of the building, treating one patient per hour.
- Community outreach planned: There will be an informational table at upcoming Fourth of July events to collect residents’ email addresses for future outreach and to provide basic information about the Malden Comprehensive Plan, a community-driven effort to envision land use, housing, economic development, transportation and more through 2050 and define actionable steps to take to achieve that vision.
The Planning Board will meet next on July 22 for another joint public hearing with the City Council Ordinance Committee.
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