UPDATED, Feb. 2: A chilly drizzle seemed to bring fear to Town Hall — fear about the future, a fear that planners are trying to manage.
At the end of a two-hour hearing on a draft of the master plan for the town Monday, Jan. 12, the Redevelopment Board decided to postpone a final vote on the draft for two weeks.
Planners received further public comments through Jan. 20 before the board meets for a final vote on the draft plan. That was expected Jan. 26, but a impending blizzard postoned it to Feb. 2, and a storm that day postponed the meeting to Wednesday, Feb. 4.
New comments have been posted to the master-plan section here >>
Town Meeting faces a vote on the plan in the spring.
Twenty speakers expressed their views about the plan, in the works since October 2012, at a Town Hall hearing attended by about 75 people.
In a 3-0 vote to postpone, the board heard a variety concerns, including a number about the lack of time to read the latest version, 212 pages, made public Jan. 5.
In summary, six said they supported the draft, seven said they opposed it and seven offered questions and comments without expressing directly a view of the plan. Here is a snapshot of those who spoke:
For, against and in between
Supporters included Adam Auster, a Precinct 3 Town Meeting member, who called the master-planning process “fascinating,” said the draft is “uneven” and asked for specific benchmarks about issues that he later said he would detail to the board.
Opponents who asked for delaying the process included Chris Loreti, a former Redevelopment Board member, who said the lack of maps in the current drafts and in November does not comply with state law. He and A. Michael Ruderman, a Precinct 9 Town Meeting member, said the drafts needed cost estimates.
Among those who asked questions, made comments but took no clear position about the draft included Elsie Fiore. The Precinct 2 member now the longest-serving member of Town Meeting expressed hope that the Mugar property along Route 2 could become a park and that the plan would protect it from development.
Another was Karen Grossman, president of the Friends of Spy Pond Park, who spoke twice. The first time she said she read the November draft but did not have time to read the latest and was unsure there should be a vote that night. Her second comments asked planners to include emergency planning in the draft.
Summary of latest draft
Comments followed a presentation of a summary of the draft by Judi Barrett, director of municipal services of RKG Associates, who has been overseeing the development of the town’s master plan. She formerly worked for Community Opportunities Group, which signed a contract with the town on Jan. 30, 2013, for master-planning work to cost $125,000.
Listening were members of the Master Planning Advisory Committee. Barrett called them one of the best such groups with whom she has ever worked.
Before Barrett spoke, Carol Kowalski, director of planning, said the town’s first comprehensive master plan under state law aims to “keep Arlington’s great qualities intact in the face of change” for about the next decade. The plan, she said, would promote “high-value, mixed-use development.”
She made clear that the plan “does not change zoning” and that the current version remains a draft.
Range of comment
Comments from the public included questions, suggestions and sharp criticism.
Ted Peluso, a Precinct 6 Town Meeting member, complimented the draft and suggested it include an emphasis on tourist promotion and a gentle nudge to apply the 2010 Koff Reports to areas other than the Center that “feel left out.”
Longtime Precinct 8 Town Meeting member Patricia Worden introduced her husband, John. The former Town Meeting moderator, for 18 years, said the second draft was better than the first, but still contained errors. He cited a reference to the town losing “a small section” to Belmont in 1859; he said one-third of the town was affected.
“Limit the number of special permits — why?” he asked, adding no statistics illustrate the problem.
“We don’t need additional buildings on open space,” he said, to applause. “We’re built out. This plan is not ready for prime time.”
‘What is Arlington going to like’
Barbara Thornton, a member of the town Capitol Planning Committee, who wrote articles about the process, said the draft focuses on “what Arlington is going to be like, not what it was in the ’50s.”
Referring to Worden’s comments, she said the draft tries to “reimagine ourselves as a more dense community.
Ruderman asked whether Town Meeting would face an article for an up-or-down vote or would there be specific articles.
Kowalski said the meeting would be asked to endorse the plan, and not any implementation of it.
Ruderman asked about costs. Is there a “ballpark” amount on transfer of development rights, for example?
“Nothing concrete,” he was told. Ruderman said he thought that could an issue for Town Meeting members.
Lacking maps, cost claimed
The strongest words about the draft plan came from Loreti.
Asking to speak without interruption, he urged the board to delay endorsing the plan. He also claimed the plan needs to include costs estimates, maps and said those involved have to work harder to make sure there is community buy-in to the master plan.
[On Jan. 13, links to maps were added at the master-planning news site of the town’s website, but these were updates of maps included in the Jan. 5 version, Kowalksi said.]
Shelly Dean, an East Arlington resident, called the draft “wonderful,” but asked that it address housing that is increasingly expensive.
Howard Muise, a retired chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee, said he was glad to see that many efforts that TAC had pursued had been incorporated into the draft.
John Finochetti, a Dudley Street resident, asked how a consultant was brought in “to straighten things out.” Kowalski gave an overview of the planning process: Changes creates anxiety, and a plan helps manage it.
A Webster Street resident saw darker motives. She urged those present to read Behind the Green Mask by Rosa Koire. She said master planning was “setting the town up for control.”
A final speaker was blunt: “Do the right thing, not stupid stuff.”
The former includes finding money to rebuild the high school, he said; the latter, one assumes, refers to planning.
KEY LINKS
Full draft of town’s master plan >>
Explanatory information and links about draft plan >>
Read about the plan as it is developing in various areas >>
This story was published Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, and the latest update was Feb. 4.
