Arlington Redevelopment Board - May 19th, 2025

Meeting held in the first floor of the town hall annex. Materials were available from https://arlington.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/MeetingView.aspx?MeetingID=2270&MinutesMeetingID=1609&doctype=Agenda.

Review Meeting Minutes

The board approved minutes from their May 4, 2025 meeting.

Docket 3798 - 821 Mass Ave

(Claire Ricker, Planning Director) Ms. Ricker says the applicants have provided an updated set of materials, including drawings.

(Mary Winstanley O'Connor, Attorney for the applicant) Ms. Winstanley O'Connor informs the board that grading and seeding of the site should begin later this week.

(Andres Rojas, Architect) Mr. Rojas says the areas where exterior materials change are sticking out more. This adds a few square feet to the interior, but not much. There's more accentuation of the brick surface, and they've switched to cement board fasteners that won't show.

(Kin Lau, ARB) Mr. Lau has no further suggestions. The rendering shows dark-colored windows, and he'd like that included in the order of conditions. He suggests a different color for the trellis - perhaps white PVC or vinyl clad. He wants to make sure the framing members are not oversized. He appreciates the changes to the returns by the roof.

(Steve Revilak, ARB) Mr. Revilak asks about a group of windows on the east side, and why one is shorter than the others.

(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says there's a kitchen counter on the other side, so the sill has to be a little higher.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak prefers a darker color for the trellis. He thinks that's a better fit with the brick. Introducing a third color on the roof might be too much.

(Shaina Korman-Houston, ARB) Ms. Korman-Houston thinks the fiber cement panels, cornice, and water table are very close in color and may fade similarly. She suggests using slightly different shades to add contrast. She prefers the darker trellis.

(Rachel Zsembery, ARB Chair) Ms. Zsembery would like to leave things open for the architect to make changes to the color of the water table and cornice, and make them subject to later review of the board. She asks about the material of the trellis.

(Andres Rojas) Mr Rojas says the trellis will be metal, in a brownish color.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau is okay with the darker trellis. He's also okay with changing the color of the cornice and water table.

The chair opens the hearing for public comment. There is none.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau would like to add conditions for the darker window colors, and the parapet returns.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery would like to request something that was suggested during the first hearing: that wood from the pine tree be used to create a bench, or something similar on the site.

(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says he'll have the tree inspected, and will use the wood for something if it's in suitable shape. He's done similar things on past projects.

(Eugene Benson, ARB) Mr. Benson notes that the project has been through several iterations. He asks that the conditions refer to the set of plans that we're reviewing tonight. He'd also like a condition about planting street trees every 25' along the full length of the site.

(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says the location of the street trees are shown on sheet L-01.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery would like a condition that there be no exterior venting on the walls. She thinks the current design is a better contextual fit for the neighborhood. The design is not where she wanted it to be, but she thinks we've gotten as far as we can.

Special permit approved, 5--0.

Docket 3348 - 821--837 Mass Ave

(Rachel Zsembery, ARB Chair) Ms. Zsembery says we'll need to amend condition 5 of the original CVS permit, which mentions the Atwood House. She suggests having it say "the Atwood house shall be replaced consistent with docket 3798".

The board amends docket 3348, 5--0.

Town Meeting Discussion

The board discusses new amendments for zoning articles at town meeting.

Article 38 - Fleming Amendment

The Fleming amendment is a substitute motion that would allow more businesses in residential districts by amending the zoning bylaw's section on home occupations.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says the Fleming amendment addresses some of the concerns she had with the Greenspon amendment, but it creates other challenges.

(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson says he posted a statement about the Fleming Amendment to the annotated warrant. He thinks the board needs to do something with the home occupations, but the Fleming amendment doesn't go far enough and has a number of policy flaws. First, it uses the town's noise abatement bylaw which limits sound to 85 dB; that's too loud. He says the state noise bylaw is completely different, and he would have used the term "quiet enjoyment". Mr. Benson wouldn't attach the term "commercial" to home occupations, because he thinks that would prevent someone from starting a non-profit as a home occupation. The amendment would allow home occupations without a resident employee. He thinks there's too much ambiguity around what kinds of goods can be sold. While the amendment cites state laws on hazardous substances, it doesn't site the supporting regulations. Finally, the amendment only allows the home occupation to take place inside the house, and there are things that should be allowed outside.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says he has concerns about not tying sign regulations to the sign bylaw.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston says the appreciates Mr. Fleming's efforts.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak says that Mr. Fleming shared an early draft of the amendment with him. He asked why it didn't use the regulations from the Residential Sign District. Mr. Fleming said he wanted something stricter.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau agrees with Mr. Benson. He'd like to have a public process around this sort of change.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says zoning is hard to write; it takes time.

At town meeting, she'll summarize this discussion as "a majority of the board does not support this amendment, but does support the general idea".

Article 40 - Goldsmith and Cullinane Amendments

The Goldsmith amendment would create a study committee to look into two-family zoning in single-family districts.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak thinks that Article 40 is so incremental that there's really very little to study. He thinks the Goldsmith amendment is a reflection on the ARB's report to town meeting; we should have done a better job at explaining how small the changes are likely to be.

(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson thinks the Goldsmith Amendment is unnecessary.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau agrees.

(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says the board has a full workload for this year, and a limited set of resources. She agrees that this doesn't need a study committee.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston agrees that a study committee is unnecessary.

The Cullinane amendment would (generally) change the composition of the study committee proposed by the Goldsmith amendment.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak thinks the Cullinane amendment works against its stated purposes. The amendment says it wants to study effects on infrastructure and the environment, but it removes public works and the environmental planner from the study committee.

(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson asks how much a study committee would cost the town in resources.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker estimates that it would be around $10,000.

(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson says the ARB might not approve of whatever zoning changes the committee proposes.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak motions that the board not support the amendments to article 40.

Motion passes, 5--0.

The board adjourns to town meeting.