Malden mayor seeks resident for Board of Appeal seat

Mayor Gary Christenson is asking Malden residents to apply to fill an associate member vacancy on the city's Board of Appeal, the panel that handles zoning variance requests and appeals of the Building Inspector's decisions.

The Board of Appeal has seven members, five full members and two associate members, and operates under state law (M.G.L. c. 40A) and the city's zoning ordinance. The board considers appeals to vary dimensional controls such as lot size, frontage, height and setback when applying the ordinance strictly would create a hardship, and it also hears appeals of Building Inspector decisions.

Board members are appointed by the mayor with City Council confirmation and serve three-year terms. The board meets the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m.

Associate members differ from full members in that full members vote on all matters they attend without a conflict of interest, while an associate member participates only when fewer than five full members are available, typically because a full member is absent or has a conflict of interest. If all five full members attend a meeting, the associate members do not participate; if one full member is absent, the two associate members alternate participation. Associate members are expected to attend and prepare for all scheduled meetings in case they are called on.

Residents interested in applying can complete the [online Boards and Commissions Application](www.cityofmalden.org/BCApplication). Questions can be directed to kmanninghall@cityofmalden.org.

The deadline for accepting applications is Monday, Nov. 16, 2026.

Source: Town of Malden announcement, November 2, 2026.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the original announcement.