Security issues at Symmes.

This 2010 report of Symmes Neighborhood Advisory Committee (SNAC) was presented to Town Meeting on May 24, 2010, by Michele Barry, committee chair.

The five-member SNAC was formed by Town Meeting in 2004 to "facilitate two-way communication regarding the development of the [former Symmes Hospital] site." The Symmes project was being developed by the Symmes Redevelopment Associates (SRA), which in 2007 went from being led by E. A. Fish to being led by JPI, a Texas-based firm.

Membership on the SNAC is drawn from precincts 11 and 15, which are in direct proximity to the site. The 2010 SNAC members are Michele Barry, BethAnn Friedman, Greg Jackmauh, Lisa Lazarczyk, and Janice Brodman. The SNAC recently welcomed Janice Brodman as our fifth member.

The neighbors, SNAC, the ARB, and JPI were all in frequent communication during the fall of 2007 through the spring of 2008, as JPI completed the demolition of the existing buildings and worked to clear the site and prepare it for construction. This was a period that included months of blasting that shook the neighborhood almost daily. The site has been fallow since the summer of 2008, due to the inability of JPI to secure financing for the construction phase of the project and the subsequent financial collapse of the company.

Aug. 15: Main story: Symmes site: Pile of dirt, bills, hopes

The impact of JPI’s financial collapse on the neighborhood has been extensive. The neighborhood has been left with an unsecured site consisting of 40-foot-high piles of dirt and an even higher "temporary" cell tower in our back yard. We’ve had to deal with dirt bikers, fire cracker explosions, water streaming off the site into our yards and basements during rains, and dust blowing all over us and our homes during dry spells. In April of 2009, the SNAC submitted a formal letter to the ARB requesting their involvement with site security and maintenance. However, in ARB meeting after ARB meeting, it became clear that JPI no longer had the ability to secure or maintain the site, and the Town had no financing with which to do so. Therefore, the neighbors’ and the SNAC’s concerns about the site and the problems associated with lack of security and maintenance continue. Neighbors try not to think about the impact of the site, in its current condition, on property values.

'Temporary' cell tower at Symmes.

In light of the reality that no developer has worked on the site in nearly two years and that no such work is likely in the near future, the SNAC would like to urge the ARB to work with the town to find some way to control the stock piles (dirt/rock piles) so that our neighborhood does not become a dust bowl again this spring and summer.

JPI’s sole remaining involvement in the project is their effort to engage another viable developer to buy the mortgage, at a deep discount, from PNC Bank and then develop the site. For the past few months, JPI was under contract with Timber Ridge Homes (TRH) to buy the property. As promising as the TRH proposal appeared to be, it collapsed recently due to the developer’s unwillingness to either provide 15% affordable housing or make a payment to the town in lieu of providing affordable housing on site.

Should a developer choose to make a payment in lieu of providing affordable housing on-site, the Town’s Affordable Housing by-law requires a developer to pay the difference between the selling and affordable price. Under the current by-law, TRH would have had to contribute $350-$400K per affordable unit (totaling approximately $6-6.80 million).

The ARB was considering asking the Selectmen to hold a Special Town Meeting to request that TM approve a reduction of the amount of that payment. SNAC was in support of reducing the amount of payment, because the consensus of SNAC was that the intent of the Town’s Affordable Housing by-law is to provide affordable housing, not luxury homes. We at SNAC were disappointed when TRH pulled out of the deal.

The TRH experience was instructive, however. SNAC and the neighbors were excited about the potential we saw in the proposal that TRH made for the site. TRH was the first developer to create a vision for the site that did not include very large, tall buildings with hundreds of units.

Instead, TRH wanted to build 113-115 townhouses in lieu of the large apartment/condo complexes that JPI had planned for the site. While still more dense than SNAC and the neighbors would prefer, the TRH proposal represented a nearly 50% decrease in the number of units as compared to the JPI plan previously approved by the ARB.

Also, TRH’s townhouses would have been much more appropriate to the scale of the neighborhood than tall apartment buildings. In addition, as the townhouses would have been owned instead of rented, the TRH plan appeared able to generate a better revenue stream to the town from buyers who would form more stable ties to our community. Importantly, TRH was financed by equity backers and therefore not at the mercy of a still shaky credit market.

As a result of our experience with TRH, the SNAC would like to encourage the ARB to be as open to other less dense, more appropriate plans for Symmes as they were to this one. In light of the Town’s budget struggles, the national economic recovery, an increase in available credit, and the Arlington housing market remaining one of the strongest markets in the state and country, the SNAC would particularly urge the ARB to insist that any residential property built on the Symmes site be owned, not rented, and that the number of units be along the lines envisioned by TRH.

Once a potential developer is again engaged with JPI and the Town, the SNAC and neighbors would like to work with the ARB and developer around quality of life and property value issues, particularly those that directly affect neighbors. These issues include where to replant trees that were destroyed on the boundary during site demolition, how to confine lighting from street lights and car headlights to the site, and the placement and type of fencing that will protect neighbors from the above and at the same time create an environment that would enable all in the community to take advantage of open space and park areas.

In addition, given the past two years of site security and maintenance problems the neighbors have experienced after JPI ran out of money, we suggest the NPP be improved regarding site security and maintenance. Specifically, we recommend that the ARB/Town require money be held in escrow to ensure site security and maintenance in the event of project slowdown or abandonment by the developer.

Although our focus has been on the development of the larger portion of the Symmes property, the SNAC and neighbors also want to continue to have input into the development of the site initially designated for a medical office building. With the expanded definition for the use of the site approved earlier in Town Meeting, our priority is to help select uses that would be consistent with a residential community and have a minimal impact on the population density and traffic.

The neighbors, including the SNAC members, are eager to see both portions of the property at Symmes developed into something we can all be proud of, something that will enhance our neighborhood and contribute to our town. We hope that these developments will be resolved in 2010 and that we as neighbors and SNAC members will have our preferences given weight in the decision making process.