'Suburban Retrofit' Would Upgrade Marlborough's Donald Lynch Boulevard: Study

MARLBOROUGH, MA — A new study of the Donald Lynch Boulevard corridor in Marlborough is recommending zoning changes that could make the area more dense, and more of a destination.

Marlborough first began exploring future plans for the corridor in 2017, but a formal proposal was only completed and passed on to the city council in 2023. Among the recommendations in the study: make the area friendly for biking and walking, add housing and loosen zoning rules to allow for new types of development.

The study authors called the vision partly a "suburban retrofit" — a type of redevelopment seen nearby in Natick and Woburn, where housing was built around shopping malls, reinvigorating areas that were planned decades ago and may not meet the needs of the current era. The study looked at the section of Donald Lynch roughly between I-495 and Solomon Pond Road (see map above).

Some key points from the report include:

• Making minimum required lot sizes (2 acres) in the district smaller so existing properties could be subdivided to accommodate new developments.
• Allow multifamily development around the Solomon Pond Mall, specifically on the northwest side. That could help open up the Assabet River, and provide a new customer base for the mall and potential new businesses.
• Make the whole corridor more accessible for people walking or using a bike, although new sidewalks and bike lanes have been constructed in recent years. One of the main weaknesses of the corridor, according to the study, is that anyone who visits or works in the area likely has to drive.
• Reduce parking requirements. About 22 percent of the land area (3.1 million square feet) in the corridor is dedicated to surface parking lots, according to the study.

Marlborough councilors reviewed the report at a March Urban Affairs Committee meeting. The plan will likely return to the city council in the future for public hearings on any proposed zoning changes. The report was a collaboration between Marlborough, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. You can read the full study here.