North Main Street Corridor Study - Winchester, MA

Urban Design

Town of Winchester

The Winchester 2030 Master Plan identified the North Main Street corridor as an Evolving Opportunity Area ripe for strategic redevelopment, including contextual mixed-use infill and more walkable streetscapes. Form + Place began working with the Planning Board and town staff in early 2022, helping to provide a more in-depth analysis of redevelopment opportunities, refining goals that were identified in a 2021 MAPC Corridor Study.

Form + Place’s 2 ½-year study focused on producing mixed-use feasibility studies as a means to explore the inherent development potential on key parcels [existing and consolidated] - particularly at the southern end of the corridor adjacent to the Center Business District – while reinforcing the need to implement Complete Streets enhancements to the public realm. As part of the implementation process, Form + Place worked with the Town to craft an amendment to the underlying zoning that consisted of seven new subdistricts, each responding to its unique adjacent context. New zoning for the corridor was approved at Town Meeting in the Fall of 2024 and complementary guidelines, designed to ensure that future development is contextual, were completed in early 2025. MBTA Communities Act requirements to accommodate as-of-right multi-family residential districts near transit nodes added another layer of complexity to the study and, ultimately, helped provide clarity to density goals for the corridor, underlining the desire to incentivize appropriate development opportunities through updated dimensional criteria and development standards.