Arlington Redevelopment Board - Sep 14th, 2026

Meeting held at 27 Maple Street. Materials were available from https://arlingtonma.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=17169.

Review Meeting Minutes

The board approved minutes from their August 10, 2026 meeting.

Docket 3907 - 635 Mass Ave

The is the second hearing for Chase Bank's special permit application to establish a branch at 635 Mass Ave.

(Claire Ricker, Planning Director) Ms. Ricker says the applicants are looking to renovate the unit at 635 Mass Ave for a Chase Bank branch. The board identified several issues during the first hearing, including long-term bike parking, signage, details of the front entrance, and details of the rear door infill. The applicants have removed the external sconces, as the building facade would make it difficult to install the needed wiring.

(John Leone, Attorney) Mr. Leone says they've reduced the number of signs from three to two, and the sign area now complies with the bylaw. The ADA ramp for the front entrance has been detailed, and there will be a concrete transition to the sidewalk. The exterior lighting has been removed.

There is no room on the site to add green space, but they'll improve the existing landscaped strip along the rear of the building.

The applicants are proposing an exterior locker for long-term bike parking. The landlord expressed trepidation about having bike parking indoors. They've identified two or three bike locker models that will fit. The details haven't been finalized, and the applicants are requesting administrative approval of the final location. Mr. Leone notes that the locker can't be installed under the fire escape, as the stairs need room to swing down.

(Michelle Shortsleeve, ARB) Ms. Shortsleeve asks if they'll provide one or two long term spaces.

(John Leone) Mr. Leone says they're required to provide one, but are planning to provide two.

(Vince Baudoin, ARB) Mr. Baudoin wasn't able to attend the previous hearing, but he has watched the recording. He asks why Chase thinks Arlington needs a new bank.

(Giovanni Caesar, ?) Mr. Caesar says that Chase has been looking at Arlington for a while, and even applied to open a branch several years ago. They think Arlington has an attractive demographic. Mr. Caesar says he's worked with Chase for several years and has seen them take good care of their spaces.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin has questions about the rear door infill. It looks like a glass door with a partition. He asks if it will be accessible for cleaning.

(John Leone) Mr. Leone says there are currently stairs behind the door. Chase plans to make it into usable office space.

(Kevin Kelly, Architect, by phone) Mr. Kelly says the glazing will be opaque, and the wall will have an access panel.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin says he could be satisfied with a bike locker. He asks about an alternate location for long-term bike parking -- a room near the rear door.

(Kevin Kelly) Mr. Kelly says that was discussed earlier, but voted down due to concerns about damage to the glass door, and because of the stairs.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin asks if there's a change in elevation inside the building.

(Kevin Kelly) Mr. Kelly says there's a 14" elevation change.

(Steve Revilak, ARB) Mr. Revilak says he's okay with an outdoor locker. He's also okay with leaving the final details for administrative approval.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston asks if there will be any lighting on the front of the building.

(John Leone) Mr. Leone says there are lights in the existing facade.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston says there were planters in front of the building at one point in time. She thinks that would be an option for greenery.

(John Leone) Mr. Leone says the owners would need permission from the town first, since the town owns the sidewalk.

(Kin Lau, ARB Chair) Mr. Lau is okay with having a bike locker outdoors, and having it approved administratively. Mr. Lau says the town plans to redo the sidewalk, and replace the brick with stamped concrete. He'd like the applicants to coordinate with the town on that, so their front door transition will work.

(John Leone) Mr. Leone says they can coordinate with the planning end engineering departments.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau suggests not putting the bike locker above the grates in back of the building.

The chair opens the hearing to public comment.

(Susan Stamps, Grafton St) Ms. Stamps says there are several gas leaks in the area. One tree has died because of them, and other tree is practically dead. She suggests installing planters, similar to the ones on Broadway plaza.

There are no more comments from the public.

(Michelle Shortsleeve) Ms. Shortsleeve would support planters.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston suggests adding planters as a condition for the permit.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak asks who paid for the planters on Broadway plaza.

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says the town purchased them, using parking benefits district funds.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak thinks parking benefits district funds would be the most appropriate way to get planters in this location, but he thinks it should wait until after the sidewalk work is done.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau believes the town will ask the gas company to remediate the leaks as part of the sidewalk work.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston moves approval with the following conditions:

• That the applicant coordinate with town departments regarding where the front door threshold meets the sidewalk
• That the type and location of long-term bike parking be subject to administrative approval.

Permit approved, 5--0.

Development Design Guidelines

(Claire Ricker, Planning Director) Ms. Ricker says the design guidelines were funded by an appropriation from the 2022 town meeting. The department has been working with Overunder. They've done site walks with town staff and are here to present an existing conditions analysis.

(Rami el Samahy, Overunder) Mr. el Samahy says that Overunder is a architecture and urban design firm that works at a variety of scales. They recently did a similar project in Cambridge, to produce the city's first set of urban design guidelines. The existing conditions analysis they'll present tonight consists of three sections: town context, land use, and zoning.

Arlington's corridors are already mixed use, as the spine of the town developed along Mass Ave. They looked at the multi-family overlay districts to see how they worked. Buildings on the corridors are broadly two or three stories, with some that are quite taller. Arlington's topography varies widely, and that can effect how buildings are perceived. For example, the Artemis doesn't register as a tall building from Mass Ave.

Very few of Arlington's buildings were built during the 21st century.

Over under looked at the three commercial neighborhoods, and the amount of frontage on main streets. Sometimes there's a lot, but many parcels have 50--100 feet of frontage. There is a rhythm from one building to the next. The Center has the grandest buildings and the East has a pattern of low-lying retail.

Overunder produced a series of section cuts around main streets. Overall it's an eclectic town with a lot of different heights.

Arlington Center is very wide, and the Heights and East Arlington are tighter.

It's important how buildings relate to the street and sidewalk. Some of the buildings we were drawn to had a distinct rhythm. A viewer could understand how the buildings were broken down.

In terms of buildings materials, historically there's a lot of brick. The Artemis is an interesting use of more contemporary materials. We all have penchants for different parts of architectural history and they are all valid. How a building relates to the street and the surroundings is very important. The first two floors are the most important.

Mr. el Samahy shows some examples of recent buildings in other communities, that are on a similar size and scale to Arlington. Some were from Beacon St. in Brighton. One of these is very long, but the length was broken down in different ways. They have exaggerations of depth of surface.

We don't and can't build like we used too -- the older techniques are too expensive. Older buildings might have had walls that were 1--2 feet thick, with deep openings and shadows that changed as the light moved.

(Steve Revilak, ARB) Mr. Revilak asks about the metric used for the density gradient on page 10. He suggests putting the metric in the key rather than the word "density". Density can be a charged term in certain contexts, and it can be interpreted in different ways. In the narrative, he suggests using words like "compact", "walkable", or "urban". He thinks those words better describe how areas along Mass Ave and East Arlington read to him.

Mr. Revilak suggests adding a map to show walkability. The board has been making a deliberate effort to create walkable areas, particularly around the business districts.

On page 20, Mr. Revilak suggests adding labels to show which areas of town the frontage maps represent.

In addition to looking at lot frontage, Mr. Revilak suggests looking at lot depth. For example, the deck shows several restaurants and stores in Capitol Square. Those lots are only 45--50 feet deep, and the shallowness will have a big impact on what could be built there in the future.

Mr. Revilak suggests an existing conditions map that shows which parcels are conforming and non-conforming to off-street parking requirements. For example, if built today, the Capitol Theater would need roughly 300 parking spaces. Another example is the hardware store in the heights. It would need 13 parking spaces, and there aren't enough square feet of property to fit 13 spaces. The board sometimes gets beaten up because there's a loss of commercial space when properties are redeveloped, but the loss is almost always due to off-street parking requirements.

Mr. Revilak suggests adding a key to the diagrams on pages 25--27, to indicate what the different colors mean.

He suggests Overunder look at Bates Road and River Street as a minor arterial, as that's a direct path to West Medford.

Finally, he'd like to see something to indicate where the precedents on page 39--41 were taken from.

(Vince Baudoin, ARB) Mr. Baudoin says that Arlington has a strong diversity of building styles and it would be hard to propose one aesthetic. He hopes the guidelines will be drafted with a mindset of making them easy to legislate.

He hopes the design guidelines will keep public benefits in mind. For example, having places that are nice to walk through and provide opportunities for social interaction.

Maybe there could be different recommendations for different scales. Mr. Baudoin thinks there's a need to be more rigorous with larger buildings, but we can be more flexible with smaller ones.

He'd like the guidelines to be specific about things we do or don't want. For example, no vents in building facades, no blank walls along public ways, and limiting the amount of frontage devoted to cars. We want to see things like canopies and greenery.

(Michelle Shortsleeve, ARB) Ms. Shortsleeve she questions if the precedent building could be built under Arlington's zoning. She wonders if the existing conditions analysis could quantify business frontage.

(Shaina Korman-Houston, ARB) Ms. Korman-Houston echos her colleagues requests for more labels. She suggests adding the contemporary street names to the historic maps, as some of the names have changed. She'd like to see something that explains what the cross sections are trying to convey.

(Rami el Samahy) Mr. el Samahy says his team were trying to consider the space between buildings, and the public realm. He'd like to emphasize the public realm.

(Shaina Korman-Houston) Ms. Korman-Houston says that one of the values will be to help with aesthetics. But we also have goals about how we'd like spaces to be used. The street section diagrams resonated with her, because they show how the spaces are used.

(Kin Lau, ARB Chair) Mr. Lau notes that the planning department has a sketch-up model of Mass Ave and Broadway. That can be give to Overunder if it would help.

(Rami el Samahy) Mr. el Samahy says they already have it.

(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says the presentation looks at three areas. He'd like to suggest a fourth: the infill between the business centers.

Mr. Lau would like to see more about Arlington's history. Auto dealerships used to be very common in Arlington and that influenced what replaced the auto lots. The board is looking for walkable, liveable spaces.

He likes the comments about rhythm, facades, and the public realm. He'd like to see recommendations for good ways to separate the ground and upper floors. He suggests having examples of how rhythms were done in the past, and what could be done today. How to create shadow lines, for example.

He suggests using more representative areas for street cross sections.

He suggests showing some more economical examples; buildings that have good designs but with less expensive materials. He encourages the consultants to say what good design elements are and to show examples of them.

Mr. Lau asks how many more drafts there will be.

(Rami el Samahy) Mr. el Samahy says they'll incorporate the board's comments and work on pieces that can be shown to developers, to help them make better proposals.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin says there's always a negotiation between the public and private realms, and different people will see different things in the guidelines. He asks if Overunder has observed communities where design guidelines were used successfully. And, what helps them get used?

(Rami el Samahy) Mr. el Samahy says there are different ways to measure success. Are the guidelines providing the built environment you're hoping to have? Are they giving staff something to work with? Are they giving developers certainty and clarity, and reducing unknowns.

(Vince Baudoin) Mr. Baudoin hopes something to that effect could be stated in the preface.

The chair opens the discussion to public comment.

(Wynelle Evans, Orchard Place) Ms. Evans suggests looking at the residential design guidelines, and considering Battle Road as a town resource. She liked hearing about building details. She thinks trees have to be figured into everything, because of climate change. She suggests looking at the apartment building at 990 Mass Ave.

(Susan Stamps, Grafton St) Ms. Stamps appreciated the comments about looking for liveable, walkable communities. She like the idea that public benefit should be given more importance than something subjective like color. She thinks this is going in the right direction.

(Liz Reisberg, Shawnee Road) Ms. Reisberg there will be a lot of feedback on the design guidelines and public engagement will be necessary. She thinks we're about to build Arlington's future. Arlington has a diversity of architecture. New buildings need to be respectful of the character of our neighborhoods, and we haven't been particularly good at that. We need to proceed cautiously and thoughtfully. She's concerned about what will happen when this is all done. She'd like to see builders that want to work with the community.

There are no more comments.

Open Forum

There are no speakers for the Open Forum section of tonight's meeting.

New Business

(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says the ARB's retreat will be held from 9:00 to noon on October 24.

(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak recently read an article that ran in the Advocate in 1972. It was about parking in Arlington's center, and a perception that there wasn't enough of it. The Article mentioned a 1932 plan for a multi-modal transit facility in the center. He'd appreciate getting a PDF of this plan, if staff ever comes across it.

Meeting adjourned.