Earlier drawing of plan at 117 Broadway.
A 4-0 vote on Monday, Nov. 21, has ushered in a fresh era as the Redevelopment Board supported the town’s first key mixed-use project.
The board granted a special permit for 14 units of affordable housing plus retail space at 117 Broadway in East Arlington under bylaws that Town Meeting adopted last spring.
“This is a big step for us,” said board Chairman Andrew Bunnell. “I’m excited about it.” The vote met with applause from a number of the estimated 30 people gathered.
The hearing for a second affordable-housing proposal, at Downing Square, sought by the Housing Corporation of Arlington (HCA) drew more scrutiny, including questions about traffic, and was continued to Monday, Dec. 5.
Face Dec. 15 application deadline
Both projects must be approved for Pam Hallett, executive director of the HCA, to seek an estimated $19 million in financing by the application deadline of Dec. 15. The financing package links the projects so the nonprofit can get a better deal than if each was separate.
When the Redevelopment Board meets Dec. 5, it is expected to weigh a series of issues raised by the town’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC). Read the full text of a memo from Howard Muise, TAC chairman, below.
Discussion of the plan 117 Broadway was relatively short and sweet.
Representatives of Davis Square Architects, designing both developments, noted several changes to the original design in response to the board’s request. They included adding in a 6-foot, solid wood fence between the parking lot and Lussiano Field, landscaping, racks for 12 bikes and the addition of some windows, including one at the top level of the curved front.
The 19,430-square-foot building aims to have more than 5,000 square-feet of retail space, 17 parking spots and one space for Zip Car’s sharing service for tenant use.
Hallett has had inquiries about the retail space from an after-school program, a coffee shop and a bank. The Food Pantry, now in the former Broadway Diner space at 117 Broadway, plans to stay on. Also there is Food Link, and its board has not decided what move to make.
Downing Square hearing
The hearing for the permit for 19R Park Ave., at Downing Square, took more time.
The two-building project would have a total gross floor area more than 32,000 square feet and 23 parking spaces. The smaller building, at Lowell Street and Park Avenue, would have six two-bedroom units.
From Lowell, a driveway will bend in the odd-shaped lot to the larger building to be near the Minuteman Bikeway. Planned are five three-bedrooms, eight two-bedrooms and 15 one-bedrooms.
Boehmer, principal at Davis Square, said changes to the original design included building materials and windows to fit in better with the neighborhood. Paul Warkentin, Davis Square associate, said the changes would give the building across from Peter Pan a more “continuous residential feel.”
Residents and one board member doubted that. Others had questions about the size of the larger building.
Board Chair Andrew Bunnell called the building at Downing Square “not particularly welcoming to the neighborhood.” And later he said it looked like a “large box dropped on the corner.”
Reduction sought, shadows questioned
Laura Desmond of Lowell Street Place asked that the height of the larger building be reduced, noting that the project could block sunlight on abutting houses.
The architects had shown drawings projecting shadows on June 21, when there are few, and Dec. 21, when they are lengthened. The latter drawing showed some houses affected for a period in winter.
Of 13 members of the public who spoke, five expressed support. Word from HCA board members strongly backed afforadble housing. Janice Bakey, a former School Commitee member, asked: “How do you keep that economic diversity?”
Another resident expressed support, but said the scope was too large. “That’s not suburban,” he said of the plan.
Others expressed concerns about worsening traffic, but the objections were not as strongly expressed as those at an earlier hearing.
Like the Broadway project, Downing Square units would be reserved for those making about 60 percent of the area median income, or an estimated $43,000 annual income for a single person.
This type of housing is in high demand, Hallett has said, with 1,000 households on the HCA’s waiting list. the nonprofit operates 93 units in town.
Board member Andrew West was absent from the Nov. 21 meeting, as was town Planner Jenny Raiit, and Laura Wiener, housing director, sat in for her.
Downing Square traffic study, Transportation Advisory Committee response
A traffic study drawn up at the request of the Housing Corporation of Arlington says current streets could handle new vehicle trips from the affordable-housing project proposed for Downing Square, at 19R Park Ave.
But a memo from Howard Muise, chairman of the town’s Transportation Advisory Committee, offers a series of points for the Redevelopment Board to consider.
The HCA’s traffic study, by BSC Group, a Boston-based engineering firm, weighed the impact of the 34-unit project on Downing Square. The intersection includes Park Avenue, Lowell Street, Bow Street, Park Avenue Extension and Westminster Avenue.
The study compared traffic caused by the former preschool at 127 Lowell St., comparing what the proposed project might cause. It concludes that the proposal would create 22 fewer trips during weekday peak morning hours but 254 more trips during an average weekday.
Nine units of affordable housing project have been approved for the former preschool site.
The traffic impact at the Downing Square intersection in Arlington Heights is one of the primary concerns neighbors have expressed with the 34-unit project.
According to the study, the current existing traffic conditions monitored at Lowell Street west of Downing Square shows there are 552 trips in the morning peak hour and 532 in the afternoon peak hour. On a weekday, nearly 6,480 trips occurred in a 24-hour period, the study says.
In 2013, trying to clarify rights-of-way, the town made some changes to the intersection and added stop signs facing every street that enters the square except for Park Avenue heading toward Peirce School.
In response to the HCA study, Muise wrote in a Nov. 21 memo the analysis might overstate the volume of traffic, noting it fails to account for expected nonvehicular use linked to the project’s nearness to the Minuteman Bikeway and bus service.
At the same time, he acknowledged concern about backups on the eastbound Lowell Street approach to Downing Square. During peak periods, traffic can back up past the proposed project’s driveway, he said.
Redevelopment Board member Dave Watson said that on a morning site visit, Nov. 18, he saw such backups.
Here is the full text of Muise’s Nov. 21 memo:
A working group of the Arlington Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) reviewed the 19R Park Avenue (Downing Square Development) Traffic Impact Study, dated November 2016. The developer of the proposed project is the Housing Corporation of Arlington (HCA). The TAC working group (which included myself, Laura Wiener, Jeff Maxtutis and Victor Rivas) offers the following comments on the likely transportation impacts of the proposed development.
• The Traffic Impact Study deals only with the impact of the project on area roadways. The Town of Arlington should require developers to submit full transportation studies for their projects, which document not only traffic impacts but also accommodations for transit use, bicycles, pedestrians and ridesharing. Provisions for these latter modes of transportation can serve to reduce vehicular impacts on roadways from proposed development.
• The Traffic Study follows generally accepted methodology for analyzing impacts on area roadways. It may actually overstate the volume of traffic generated by the proposed development because it does not take credit for likely nonvehicular use that could be expected because of the project’s location near bus service and adjacent to the Minuteman Bikeway.
Although the expected vehicle trip distribution for the project appears reasonable, the report should document the source.
• The analysis of the operation of the proposed driveway on Lowell Street does not appear to take into account current and projected queuing on the eastbound Lowell Street approach to Downing Square. Currently during peak periods, queues often extend past the project driveway, which is about 65 feet west of the stop bar at the intersection. As a result, vehicles exiting the project driveway and westbound vehicles from Downing Square turning left into the driveway could be blocked. The latter could cause queuing on Lowell Street possibly back into Downing Square. The study should examine the engineering feasibility and traffic impacts of providing a driveway onto Park Avenue as either an alternative or as an addition to the proposed Lowell Street driveway. One-way as well as a two-way operation should be considered.
• The HCA and Arlington Department of Planning and Community Development are in negotiations to develop a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan for the project. The TDM plan will encourage the use of transit, bicycle, pedestrian and ridesharing modes as alternatives to single occupancy vehicle use. The transportation study should document the final TDM plan.
• The study states there will be 27 parking spaces and the site plan has a note stating there are 23 spaces but the site plan only shows 20 marked spaces. The number of parking spaces should be clarified. Since there is limited on street parking near the site, the planned number of spaces should be shown to be sufficient for resident and visitor demand.
• The study should document the location of bus stops near the site and the number of routes and frequency of service for those stops. This should include Lexpress Bus as well as MBTA service.
• The site plan indicates outdoor parking for 22 bicycles and the draft TDM plan indicates there will be indoor bike parking. The site plan also indicates the provision of a connection to the Minuteman Bikeway, including a bridge over the small stream next to the Bikeway. The transportation study should document all planned accommodations to support bicycle use.
• The connection to the Minuteman Bikeway could also be used by pedestrians who could access Park Avenue via the existing stairway from the Bikeway or the path between the Bikeway and the Gold’s Gym parking lot. This would provide a more direct connection to the bus stops and businesses on Massachusetts Avenue than using the proposed driveway to Lowell Street. The study should document these pedestrian accommodations as well as anyone — site sidewalk along the driveway to Lowell Street.
• It is not clear that the driveway and internal roadways provide adequate access and circulation for fire trucks. Site plan approval by the fire department should be documented in writing. Also, the maximum grade of the proposed driveway should be documented.
Nov. 7, 2016: 2nd of 2 affordable-housing plans draw fewer questions
Oct. 26, 2016: Downing Square affordable-housing plans draws range of comment as 45 attend
This news summary was published Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, and updated the same day to provide more detail.
