As a former longtime resident of Arlington and having recently moved to Lincoln, I have followed how both communities have approached the MBTA-C act (I cannot bring myself to call it a housing choice act). I was active in my former community in seeking a reasonable plan and I would like to share my perspective.
Some Background - Arlington is the second densest town in Massachusetts. It is denser than 2/3 of the cities in the Commonwealth. Yet it has maintained a suburban character distinct from its Cambridge and Somerville neighbors. Residents have long valued its tree canopy and modest front yards. The key to this balance between housing density and suburban feel are the small lot sizes and a remarkable housing diversity. Nearly half of Arlington’s housing is in what is often called the ‘Missing Middle’, multiple units in two or three story buildings. Single family homes are just 39% of the housing stock, and apartment buildings of four or more stories comprise about 12%. The MBTA-C act assigned Arlington a quota of 2046 housing units. Within a half mile distance from Alewife T station, Arlington has 58 developable acres. This neighborhood is already near the goal of 15 per acre density, but it is primarily two family homes on undersized lots. However the State has defined multifamily as three or more units per building and does not count two families as qualifying. This east Arlington two family neighborhood could have been rezoned for three family by right. By extending the radius out to 3/4 mile along the Minuteman Bike path, which leads directly to Alewife station, a primary subdistrict could have been created which satisfied the guidelines requirement of at least 50% of the land and unit quota. But Arlington’s Working Group rejected from day one any consideration of this neighborhood. Instead they directed their efforts to a map which stretched along Mass Ave and Broadway, and did not include a single parcel within the half mile radius of Alewife, as specified in the actual law. Arlington’s Working Group was composed of two members of the Redevelopment (Planning) Board, the director of the Planning Dept, and a selection of residents who were largely advocates of density and increased housing. Unlike Lincoln, there were few other stakeholders included. No one from the schools, Conservation Comm, Tree Comm, Historical Comm, DPW, Transportation Comm, etc. to provide their perspective. The Working Group was adamant from the beginning that they considered their mandate to be a radical rezoning of Arlington to introduce as much housing development as possible. Compliance with the Act was not enough, they were seeking super compliance of many times the quota assigned by the State. One particularly vocal member stood up at an early meeting, raising their fist as if brandishing a weapon and declared that the State had given them a hammer and they would take the Town to the mat in forcing zoning change. The first map that was drawn up had a potential for approximately 20,000 housing units, ten times what the State was asking for. Some cutbacks in a few neighborhoods reduced it to about 15,000, which was just fine with most of the Working Group. But it was eventually observed that the DHCD Compliance Tool was producing nonsense numbers. It was lousy at estimating numbers for Arlington’s typical small parcels. Utile (same consultants as hired by Lincoln) implemented a work around fix that they thought might help, cutting the estimated numbers to about 10,000. The zoning map continued to go through numerous revisions. At one point, a Working Group member decided that the zoning overlay would make their particular neighborhood too dense and insisted upon having a large chunk of the east Arlington map removed from consideration. The final report of the Working Group included a plan for about 7000 units, 3.5 times what the State required. Public reaction was passionate and mixed, but many spoke out against the four story, 46 foot high buildings that would be allowed in the side street neighborhoods off Mass Ave and Broadway. The Redevelopment Board responded to public opinion and cut back the Working Group’s recommendations to three stories and 35 feet, much more in keeping with the character of these neighborhoods. Along Mass Ave, four stories by right remained, with certain bonuses that could jack buildings up to six stories. The final unit count was 3200 housing units, over 115 acres. Since moving to Lincoln, I have been impressed with how the town is approaching the unpleasant task of compliance with the MBTA-C act. From last spring on I have been following the meetings, both in person and on Zoom. I have been afforded opportunities to speak, and several requests for more information have been promptly answered. I am impressed with the breadth of experience and the careful deliberations of the Working Group. I do not necessarily agree with all of their decisions but I understand how they arrived at those decisions. Don Seltzer On Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 4:44 PM Karla Gravis <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for sharing the article. Please bear in mind that Arlington is > considered an "adjacent" community - the requirements for them are > much lower than for Lincoln (we are deemed a "commuter rail" community). > > Arlington is required to zone only 10% of their current housing stock, and > 32 acres. They are already a more densely-populated town. See below for > link. > > Lincoln is being asked to rezone 23% of our current housing stock > (including Hanscom), which translates to 31% if we exclude Hanscom, so 2-3 > times what is being asked of Arlington. We are being asked to rezone 43 > acres vs Arlington's 32. > > Multi-Family Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities | Mass.gov > <https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities#complying-with-section-3a-guidelines-> > > >> >> ---------- Forwarded message --------- >> From: Louis Zipes <[email protected]> >> Date: Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 15:43 >> Subject: [LincolnTalk] Arlington passes their HCA re-zoning plan >> To: Lincoln Talk <[email protected]> >> >> >> *RIP my inbox* >> >> For those with a Boston Globe subscription or other means to view the >> article, they reported that Arlington passed their HCA Zoning changes >> earlier this week. I'm sure that people here will look at what they did and >> take away their own different conclusions and will give counter-points >> and examples of towns slow-walking the process (Holden!) but just wanted to >> give some news in the spirit of looking outside of our little slice of >> heaven. >> >> Although, I will note that I certainly hope that the police will not need >> to be called to any of the remaining forums like they did at one planning >> board meeting in Arlington! >> >> For those that wanted to know if the vote was close, it wasn't. Several >> amendments were offered up and rejected as documented in the article. >> >> Residents opposed to it were also quoted as saying >> >> "*This will be the biggest change for Arlington in our lifetime"* >> *"increase property taxes while doing little to help create more >> affordable housing. It will make living here harder for people on fixed, >> lower, and middle incomes. It will promote only an affluent class.”* >> >> On a side note, this might be my* 'favorite' *on line comment to the >> article: >> >> *Build middle class houses. These ideas are exactly what Beijing and >> Moscow do.** Arlington is becoming very similar to Beijing and >> Moscow. 😀 * >> >> Have a good weekend! >> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to [email protected]. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to [email protected]. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
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