Precinct 1, 3, 7 Meeting - Apr 21st, 2025

Meeting held via remote participation. Vince Baudoin facilitated.

Comprehensive Plan Update

Angelique Bradford is a member of the Comprehensive Plan Update Committee. Arlington has started a public process to update the Town's master plan, which was last updated in 2015. The goal is to develop a plan that will guide Arlington's direction for the next 10 years. Ms. Bradford provides a link to the project website, and encourages attendees to take the survey there. There's also a map for providing specific points of feedback. She hopes we can develop a beautiful and well-informed plan.

Redevelopment Board Articles

Steve Revilak summarizes the more substantive warrant articles from the Arlington Redevelopment Board.

Article 25 - Accessory Dwelling Units

Arlington Adopted an ADU bylaw in 2021. It allowed ADU's by right in conjunctions with single- and two-family dwellings, in any business or R district. Last year, the legislature passed the Affordable Homes Act, which requires cities and towns to allow ADUs in any district where single family homes are allowed. There are places where Arlington's ADU bylaw conflicts to the new state law and regulations; Article 25 will bring our ADU bylaw into compliance. One of the main change is the elimination of the owner occupancy requirement when the ADU is built -- state law no longer permits that.

Article 26 - Transportation Demand Management

The Zoning bylaw has a set of minimum parking requirements for various uses. Applicants can request reductions to these minimums (i.e., provide less parking) by providing a Transportation Demand Management plan. It's essentially a set of measures to reduce dependency on private cars.

The ARB has recognized that the set of TDM strategies listed in the bylaw weren't a good fit for purely residential uses or smaller developments. Article 26 tries to address that. This article adds two TDM measures: e-bike charging, and proximity to a frequent bus line. For practical purposes, "frequent bus line" is the 77. Smaller projects (less than 10 dwellings and less than 3000 square feet) would be required to provide two TDM measures, rather than three.

Article 27 - Delete Inland Wetland Overlay

This change to the zoning bylaw was recommended by town staff and the Conservation Commission. The ZBL has a wetlands protection provision that pre-dates the State's wetland protection act. It's outdated and difficult to enforce. For example, the Inland Wetland overlay relies on a high water table map, and there is no such map. We're proposing to remove this section to clarify that wetlands are protected by state and local wetland protection laws, which are administered by the conservation commission.

Article 29 - Parking in Residential Districts

Article 29 is a rewrite to section 6.1.10 of the bylaw, with language provided by the zoning board of appeals. It specifies where parking in residential districts is allowed, and also covers second driveways. The ZBA uses this section when permitting second driveways, and changes to non-conforming parcels. The rewrite is largely focused on clarification and improving readability. It does two additional things: provides more detail on when a second driveway is allowed, and (2) provides more detail about the vegetated buffer that has to exist alongside a driveway.

Article 32 - Rezone B1 parcels

Article 32 proposes to change B1 parcels to B2A. Each of these is a business district, so why change? B1 is much more restrictive, both in terms of the size of buildings that can be built, and what kind of businesses that can occupy those parcels. Since Arlington has a limited amount of land that's zoned for business, this is really an effort to put what we have to better use. This rezoning should facilitate more investment, allow more types of businesses in more places, and probably add some residential units.

Chris Loreti thinks that Article 32 is the most significant zoning changes coming before town meeting, as B2A allows much larger buildings than B1. He thinks that Mass Ave in Arlington could look like Mass Ave in North Cambridge.

Jennifer Susse says that many B1 parcels have single- and two-family homes, but no business. Many of the parcels are on the smaller side. She thinks people want more density along Mass Ave where these parcels are located. She welcomes the change.

Len Diggins asks about Article 29 and paved driveways. Mr. Revilak says that aspect isn't changing.

Article 40 - Allowing Two-Family homes in R0, R1

Dave Levy says he opposed this article when it came before town meeting in 2022, but has since flipped his position. Housing affordability has become a big concern, and he's written several pieces in YourArlington about it.

Mr. Levy says he's heard concern about trees. In some parts of the country, they add homes by clearing farm and forest land. That's not an option in Arlington. Under this proposed changes, new two-family homes couldn't be any larger than new single-family homes, so this would be no different for the trees. This won't solve our affordability problems, but it will move us in the right direction.

Vince Baudoin asks if this is similar to the 2022 article for allowing two-family homes in R0 and R1. Mr. Levy says it is.

Susan Stamps is a member of the tree committee. She voted against this proposal in 2022, but is 100% behind it now.

Chris Loreti asks if Mr. Levy has plans to amend the recommended vote in the ARB's report. Mr. Levy says no.

Jennifer Susse supports the article. Arlington is redeveloping today, and the question is what do we want to see built in place of what was there before. New single-family homes are close to 4000 square feet on average, so the choice is between one 4000 square foot home, or two 2000 square foot homes. Ms. Susse used to be a member of the school committee. She says that enrollment peaked in 2019 and we have the capacity for a modest increase in the student population.

Vince Baudoin was on the MBTA Communities working group, which chose to focus on the corridors rather than districts like R0 and R1. Mr. Baudoin thought that seemed unfair. This article would bring about a gentle increase townwide.

Ms. Stamps thinks town meeting will need to hear something about school enrollment and the effects on town services.

Len Diggins says that Arlington has enough water and sewer capacity to accommodate this growth.

Steve Revilak says there are typically 20--30 single-family homes rebuilt each year, out of 20,000 homes in town. From that perspective, it's a very small change.

Ratnekar Venkati says the Arlington's population peaked in the 1970's, at 54,000 people. Today's it's closer to 45,000. There's precedent for supporting a larger population.

Article 38 - Use Regulations for Residential Districts

Andy Greenspon says his article would allow some business uses in residential districts. Some residential districts do allow a limited number of business uses, and this would allow a few more uses in a few more zones. The article would allow things like barber shops, tailors, and small retail in the R3-R7 districts. The article would not change any dimension regulations, and properties might have master deeds that further restrict how they can be used. Existing parking regulations would apply.

Mr. Greenspon says he sees a lack of business space in Arlington. There are only eight vacancies listed in the Town's vacant storefront registry. The R3--R7 districts are close to main articles. Arlington has a lot of home businesses, some of which may be operating in a gray area.

Len Diggins notes that the ARB recommended no action on Article 38. He asks if Mr. Greenspon is planning to file a substitute motion. Mr. Greenspon says yes. He feels that much of the ARB's concern was around restaurants and catering, and those uses won't be in the substitute motion.

Jennifer Susse was surprised to see that physicians and clergy needed special permits in the R0 and R1 districts. She thinks that parking might be a limiting factor.

Mr. Greenspon says his goal is to create a little more flexibility, and the thinks it will result in a marginal change.

Chris Loreti asks when Town Meeting Members will be able to see Mr. Greenspon's substitute motion. Mr. Greenspon says he will submit it soon.

Article 36 - No Net Loss of Commercial Space

Kristin Anderson runs a business in the heights and she thinks there's not enough spaces for businesses in Arlington. It took Arlington Brewing Company four years to find a space in town. Existing businesses can't expand and remain in Arlington.

Ms. Anderson says she plans to bring a substitute motion which will affect mixed use development. It will require 60% of the building footprint to be commercial space on the ground floor. She says that Arlington doesn't protect space for business and the Toroya block lost commercial space when it was redeveloped. The mixed use regulations don't have minimum amounts for commercial space and the storefronts are too small. Some buildings stay in limbo until they're redeveloped. She thinks there's a misunderstanding about the business districts, which do allow residential uses.

Jennifer Litowski asks which business districts would be affected. Ms. Anderson says the article would apply to mixed use, rather than specific districts.

Ms. Litowski asks if Cambridge has a similar law. Ms. Anderson says it does.

Calen Pennington asks if Ms. Anderson is planning any substantial changes, to address the ARB's 5--0 vote of no action. Ms. Anderson says she's planning to strip the article back, but hasn't yet decided what to do. She says that people don't realize that residential uses are allowed in business districts, and there isn't enough commercial space in mixed use.

Andi Wang asks if the new commercial spaces in Cambridge are due to pharmaceutical companies. She thinks the commercial growth in Cambridge came from large biotechs and large buildings.

Article 76 - Development of the Fox Branch Library

Tim Haines says this is an article to reaffirm Arlington's commitment to rebuilt the Fox library. The Fox is aging and inaccessible and doesn't meet the needs of the community. The library applied for grant money but did not receive an award. Mr. Haines says that article 76 is a non-binding resolution.

Greg Dennis asks how the grant proposal might change in the future, and if the proposed housing made a difference. Mr. Haines says the proposed housing makes the effort more challenging. He says the library plans to start a capital campaign.

Len Diggins asks if we can build a new Fox Library on Broadway, and then sell the old property. Mr. Haines says he's not adverse to that idea, but he'd have to defer to the library board of trustees and Library Director.

Betty Stone is 100% in favor of the renovations. She is under the impression that Arlington didn't get a grant because there were too many applicants.

Jennifer Susse asks when the capital campaign will start. Mr. Haines says the library is hiring a development director to support the campaign.

Article 37 - Multi-Family Parking Reduction

Len Diggins encourages Vince Baudoin to bring a substitute motion. He'd like to get this conversation started sooner rather than later.

Mr. Baudoin says this article proposed parking reductions for multi-family housing. He's planning to take a piece of that and propose it as an amendment to the ARB's TDM article.

Article 43 - Public Shade Trees

Susan Stamps says that Article 43 would amend Section 6.3 of the Zoning Bylaw, which has requirements for planting public shade trees. The Article would make a small change to the purpose of Section 6.3, require that the Tree Warden approve the species for each project, and require that shade trees have a 2" caliper when planted. It also change the maintenance standard to the USDA Forest Service manual. New shade trees would have to be maintained for three years.

Betty Stone asks who enforces this provision of the bylaw. Ms. Stamps says that the ARB and Tree Warden were expecting the Tree Committee to monitor newly-planted shade trees, and the Tree Committee is willing to do so.

Chris Loreti suggests that Ms. Stamps find out whether full renovations to two-family homes are considered "redevelopment" in the context of this section, and require a shade tree.