Arlington Redevelopment Board - Aug 10th, 2026

Meeting held at 27 Maple Street. Materials were available from https://arlingtonma.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=7500.

Review of Minutes

The board approved minutes from their July 20, 2026 meeting.

Affordable Housing Overlay District

(Kin Lau, ARB Chair) Mr. Lau explains that tonight's meeting will be a working session. As such, the board will not be taking public comment this evening. He encourages members of the public to submit comments to the board via email.

(Claire Ricker, Planning Director) Ms. Ricker says the Affordable Housing Overlay District Committee (AHODC) continues to meet. Their meetings are open to the public, and comments are welcome. Comments should be emailed to Assistant Planning Director Sarah Suarez.

(Laura Wiener, AHODC Co-chair) Ms. Wiener says the committee's goal is to leave the meeting with a general consensus between the committee and the board. They'd like to get feedback on sites first. Site selection has focused mainly on the corridors, near amenities and public transit. The committee has several outreach events planned.

(Carol Kowalski, AHODC Co-chair) The committee considered locations that past planning studies have identified as candidates for redevelopment. They've also added churches. Their criteria was finding parcels large enough to be feasible for low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) development, that don't have significant housing or apartments, and are near transit and businesses.

(Michelle Shortsleeve, ARB) Ms. Shortsleeve is concerned about spot-zoning. She thinks the site choices are well though-out but wonders if strips would be better.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says that, per past affordable housing overlay district efforts, the board didn't want to create large districts. That goes against the strip approach.

(Carol Kowalski) Regarding spot zoning, Ms. Kowalski says it can be done if there's a planning process, and it's in the public interest. It's not unusual for overlay districts to be discontiguous.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve suggests including some parcels on Mass Ave, adjacent to the Fox Library, because the Fox Library parcel is small.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski says the committee included the Walgreens parcel because it's large and would have public views of Spy Pond.

There's discussion about the Lahey Clinic parking lot. It's another large parcel and could support a number of different kinds of development.

(Shaina Korman-Houston, ARB) Ms. Korman-Houston asks about options for mixed-use. She wouldn't require commercial uses, but would like to see the option available.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau suggests expanding the parcels around 127--133 Broadway, which is a cluster of garden apartments on several acres of land.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve notes that developers have to relocate former tenants if they're using federal dollars for development. This applies to both residential and commercial tenants.

(Vince Baudoin, ARB) Mr. Baudoin notes that this district would create opportunities, but he'd only expect a few parcels to be redeveloped as affordable housing.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski agrees -- this is a zoning change and not a redevelopment plan. She says the committee included the Russell Common Lot, thinking that affordable housing could be incorporated as part of a larger development.

(Sarah Suarez, Assistant Planning Director) Ms. Suarez says that all of the Housing Authority nd Housing Corporation of Arlington properties were included at the request of their respective executive directors.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau suggests adding 5 Chestnut St.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin wonders about including some of the Mass Ave/Broadway multi-family district properties, as connecting parcels.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski says the committee was trying to avoid parcels with existing residential uses. The committee spoke with the assessor about the tax impacts of having business parcels redeveloped as affordable housing. They assessor said that affordable housing would provide more new tax growth than new commercial developments.

(Steve Revilak, ARB) Mr. Revilak thinks this is a good selection of sites. He understands the practical constraint of having ones that are large enough to support a LIHTC development. He has comments about the draft bylaw, and he'll hold them for later.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve says that anywhere we can add to tax base is a win.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston thinks this is a good list. She's been thinking about the spot zoning question. She wonders if the district could be defined by a set of criteria rather an specific sites.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak would prefer having a specific list of sites. He thinks a site list would be clearer for affordable housing developers to work with.

There's discussion about how the district might change over time.

(Laura Wiener) Ms. Wiener notes that mixed use would be allowed in the corridor sub-district, but it would not be required.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau notes that 7--11 story buildings are usually economically unfeasible. The building code allows five stories of wood frame on top of a steel podium first floor. Seven stories requires the high rise code and steel framing. With the high-rise code, buildings don't become economic until around 12 stories.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak suggests changing the word "bonus" to "incentive". In the MBTA Communities zoning, some members of the public have interpreted the word "bonus" to mean "something that should be difficult to achieve", but the bonuses were really things that we were trying to incentivize.

He asks the committee to look at the wording for 5.9.2.C. As written, it seems to prohibit parcel consolidation.

Mr. Revilak suggests the overlay district not try to list performance standards for site plan review. Both the house and senate versions of the economic development bill have language that would codify site plan review in state law. He thinks some version of this will pass, meaning we could just defer to state law.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau thinks that a 0' front yard setback should depend on how the function of the first floor. He thinks that would be okay for mixed-use or commercial, but maybe less so for residential.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston suggests the committee try to streamline the language, and not make it too complex.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin recalls that HCA asked for a reduction in bike parking last spring. He asks the committee to consider a provision that would allow the board to reduce bike parking requirements in the overlay district.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston agrees that there's little flexibility to change bike parking requirements.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau asks about options for smaller-scale affordable housing development.

(Carol Kowalski) Ms. Kowalski says there's a design called the Spokane Six that's been getting some attention. She offers to send an example to the board.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve suggests focusing on affordable housing, and providing the board with some flexibility to pare back on other requirements.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau offers to schedule another meeting with the committee, if they'd like more time to talk.

Comprehensive Plan Short-Term Goals

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says she's tried to identify a few Comprehensive Plan goals that the ARB can work on in the short term.

LU-3 involves leveraging town-owned parcels, which could be the Russell Common lot. She's been looking for an opportunity to do feasibility work and the board has previously discussed the possibility of doing an urban renewal plan. Urban Renewal Plans allow towns to take property by eminent domain. This might be appropriate for the boarded up building at 366 Mass Ave.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin thinks it would be helpful to have a list of town-owned properties. He suggests exploring a design competition for the Russell Common Lot.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau would like to have guidelines for commercial/residential mix, and a justification for doing the redevelopment. He notes that new growth would reduce the town's need for overrides.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says she's starting the project of working on design standards. The goal would be to help applicants understand what the board is looking for.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston thinks the board should have an clearer idea about what we want to see amongst ourselves. She wants the board to have an honest conversation about what we're reviewing.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau thinks the design guidelines would be useful.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak notes that LU-6 recommends an audit of the zoning bylaw. He would like to start with off-street parking requirements. Arlington's are very suburban and limiting. The board knows that his favorite parking non-conformity is the Capitol Square Building. If built today, the minimum parking requirement would be around 300 spaces.

Mr. Revilak now has a second-favorite parking non-conformity: the hardware store in the heights. By today's zoning, that store would need 13 off-street spaces, and there's not enough square feet on the parcel for that.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin asks if we'd hire a consultant for the audit.

(Claire Ricker) Mr. Ricker says she'd hire a consultant if we were going to audit the entire bylaw. Staff could handle a focused review of one particular aspect, like off-street parking requirements.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau agrees with looking at parking requirements. He thinks we should look into why we don't have any nice high-end restaurants in town. He thinks there might be too many special permit requirements.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says that LU-7 recommends monitoring the type of projects being built. She notes that the MBTA Communities zoning has produced far more commercial space than the bylaws mixed-use zoning.

H-12 involves providing resources for people interested in adding ADUs. That might involve creating a pattern book, which the board could review.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak suggests looking at Boston's ADU book. He thinks they did a good job with it.

Arlington Heights Business District

(Katie Luczai, Economic Development Coordinator) Ms. Luczai says the goal of the Heights Business District rezoning is to promote the long-term vibrancy of Arlington heights. The scattered zoning creates challenges and there are old buildings which are costly to maintain. Property owners should be encouraged to invest in their properties. The committee last met in July to discuss a draft zoning proposal and their goal is to have an article ready for the 2027 town meeting. The current proposal consists of an inner core with zone B5 and an outer area with zone B2A. There would be 160 parcels in the B5 core. The Arlington Heights Neighborhood Action Plan Implementation Committee continues to conduct outreach efforts and engagements with property owners.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau notes that Arlington has three business districts: the Heights, Arlington Center, and Capitol Square. The board is working on the Heights district first, and will look at the other ones afterwards.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak likes the combination of B5 as the core with B2A as a transitional zone near the residential areas. He thinks it will help put the heights on par with the central business district. Mr. Revilak appreciates the approach of simplifying and going with existing districts. He understands we may need to make some adjustments to the B5 and B2A regulations, and those will benefit other areas where those districts are on the map.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin suggests thinking about how this will work with the zoning bylaw's height buffer requirements.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says that's a good point. He's the board's designee on the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Action Plan Implementation Committee, and says they haven't looked at that yest.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin suggests reconsidering floor area ratio (FAR) limits. FAR can be a limiting factor for development, and doing that in a business district seems counter-intuitive. He suggests eliminating the FAR limits.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve asks about the True Fitness site, in the adjacent industrial parcel.

(Katie Luczai) Ms. Luczai says the heights rezoning doesn't include any industrial district parcels. Arlington has very little land zoned for industrial uses and she'd like to be thoughtful about the highest and best use for those properties.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau notes that this is still a draft proposal. The committee has surveyed businesses in the area, and there are a good number of people who live within walking distance of the heights business district. To grow the business district, we'll need more housing and more foot traffic. Mr. Lau says the considerations have gone beyond zoning. For example, we're also considering parking meters and a parking benefits district. The committee is trying to help owners realize their goals. He'd like to get input from leasing agents and brokers as well.

Project Updates

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker put together a list of projects the board has approved and their current status. 1207 Mass Ave has a deed restriction that requires the property to be redeveloped as mixed use, but that would not preclude the owner from doing a 40B. She's also provided a short memo with the status of 190--200 Mass Ave.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak asks if staff have any insight on why the owners of 1511 Mass Ave are considering selling.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says they're considering, but it's not a final decision.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says that there's now an agreement with the owners regarding fenestration for the transformer room.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says that utility companies are very clear and prescriptive about their requirements for transformers.

Staff provides a brief walk-through of items on the list.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak notes that the owners of 126--128 Broadway have cleared the site. 225 Broadway is in a similar state. The owners of 9-11 Grafton have framed out the first floor, and you can see the outline of the building taking shape.

MAPC Rightsizing Zoning Study

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says the MAPC Rightsize Zoning Study is a draft of a document that MAPC is preparing for communities in the Metro Mayors Coalition. It's a longer document, and MAPC would like the board to review the pages specific to Arlington.

(Sarah Suarez, Assistant Planning Director) Ms. Suarez notes that Arlington is part of the Metro Mayors Coalition. MAPC has been tasked with analyzing the zoning laws for all 16 of the Metro Mayors Coalition communities.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak believes the history of Arlington is generally accurate.. Arlington formed the department of planning and community development in 1969 for the purpose of implementing town plans and growing the tax base, and the first planning director had some reasonable ideas in this regard. The redevelopment board was created in 1971 for essentially the same reason. He's reading old issues of the Arlington advocate to learn why there was such an about-face in the mid 1970s.

Mr. Revilak thinks the term "multi-family" should be defined. He realizes this is part of a larger document, and expects it's defined elsewhere.

Regarding slide 7 (numbered 33) various forms of multi-family housing are allowed by special permit in the R3--R7 and B1--B5 districts, so the statement "All multifamily parcels in all zoning districts are nonconforming because multifamily use is not allowed" seems wrong. This assumption may affect the chart on page 6 (numbered 32).

Mr. Revilak agrees with the general statement about nonconformities. There is a very significant disconnect between zoning and the built environment of Arlington that developed as a street car suburb. He agrees with the recommendation of allowing multi-family housing in the R2 district, or at least changing the district regulations to match the built environment.

Finally, he notes that the documents remarks about emphasis on process and scrutiny are not unique to Arlington. Back in the 1970's this became the cool thing to do and everyone did it, including us. That's one of the reasons why Massachusetts has a housing shortage and some of the highest housing costs in the nation.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin says there are some pointed remarks about the ARB, and the unpredictability is a thing to be addressed. He liked the recommendations of allowing multifamily in the R2 district applying MBTA Communities principles to the base zoning.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston says she'll email a list of typos to staff. She'd like to see more suggested solutions to the challenges noted in the document.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau thinks the planning department and board work together well now. But there were periods of tension in the past.

Schedule Retreat

Staff will send a doodle poll to schedule the board retreat.

Board Training Opportunities

Staff encourages board members to take advantage of training opportunities.

Mr. Revilak says he's taken several courses with the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative, and found them very helpful.

Vacant Storefronts

(Katie Luczai) Ms. Luczai provided the board with a memo that outlines how the vacant storefront is enforced. In the economic analysis provided, the Arlington submarket also includes Lexington, Belmont, and part of Lincoln. There is an 11.4% vacancy rate overall.

(Sarah Suarez) Ms. Suarez says we can discuss the effectiveness of the vacant storefront bylaw at a future time.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 22:30.