Proposed condos and retail space at 1021-1025 Mass. Ave. / Harrison Mulhern Architects
The Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals met remotely in special session for about 20 minutes starting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, and voted unanimously to continue the plan review for the proposed development near Brattle Square on Jan. 12.
Before it did, the board voted, 6-0, to approve an additional request for $24,000 from the applicant, the Woburn-based Maggiore Companies, to be moved to a town account so that the board can pay consultants for the development.
The board has already received a $10,000 initial payment from Maggiore; the total contract for the consultants is $34,000. The board supported the request of funds. The consultants plan to oversee civil engineering, site design, building design, urban context, environmental impact and traffic and transportation impact.
Site walk-through Dec. 21
A site walk-through at the site of the proposed condos, at 1021-1027 Mass. Ave., near Brattle Square, is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21.
The board plans to take public comment through the end of the public-hearing period, which must conclude by April 16, per state law. The board has 40 days after that to draft a final decision.The deliberation meetings in those 40 days are open to the public.
Under Gov. Baker’s executive order suspending certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law, made at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, public meetings may remain virtual until March 31, 2023.
Christian Klein, ZBA chair, told YourArlington on Dec. 20 that, because no new testimony was submitted by the board or applicant, “we did not take testimony from the public.”
Public views expressed in emails
While attendees did not speak, emails from various Arlington residents expressing support and disapproval of the proposed development were included in the agenda. See the agenda here >>
Of those numerous emails, many are in support. Among those, Alex Bagnall has reservations about the necessity of the uplighting proposed because of aesthetic and environmental concerns.
“This is exactly the kind of mixed-use, mixed-income project we should be welcoming into town,” Bagnall wrote. “The project will create affordable housing opportunities with affordable equity building possibility, not something that happens very often, especially here.”
‘Cool looking’
Jennifer Susse wrote in support of the “cool-looking” project and agreed with Bagnall that the destruction of a few trees is worth it considering housing needs will still exist and that other developments could be built in places where even more trees could be taken down. Additionally, this project is situated close to public transportation, which Bagnall also noted is important for the environment.
“The project is extremely well positioned to allow residents to live carbon-light lifestyles,” Bagnall wrote. Susse mentioned knowing people who were forced out of Arlington due to high prices — and hopes this development and its affordable units will help reverse that trend.
“When people in this situation are forced to move to other towns, Arlington loses out — we lose the active engagement of our older residents, and (more crudely) we lose economically, as residents without children in the school system add to the tax base.”
Arlington resident Sarah Tuttle also wrote to give support and pointed to the importance of affordable housing to keep Arlington diverse economically and culturally. “In addition, Arlington’s long history of disenfranchising nonwhite property owners means that we must take active steps to ensure that our community is available to all,” Tuttle wrote. “This project is one step towards a more inclusive, viable future for our community.”
The Arlington Affordable Housing Trust Fund said that it supports this “critical opportunity” and suggests placing a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in order to serve all of Arlington.
Many points in opposition
Others criticized the destruction of historic homes and the chopping down of mature trees.
Jason Street resident Patricia Worden, long an opponent of 40B projects in town, expressed her objections in a lengthy statement, which includes the following sentence: “They have listed many of the unfortunate actions planned for the site with rose-colored descriptions that essentially try to put lipstick on this Pig of a Project, but the Project remains a Pig.”
Her opposition made these points:
- “The need for affordable housing is urgent … but it must not be used as an excuse for irresponsible climate-damaging energy-inefficient buildings with a quarter of barely affordable units and the rest for the well-off.”
- “A very negative result of this project would be the destruction of two houses (one of them historic) which could be ideal for Special Needs Housing such as the exemplary residential home (the Donnelly House) on Mass. Ave. . . . If both these houses were to be used for special- needs individuals requiring affordable residence, that would probably exceed the number allegedly to be accommodated in the proposed 40B project. To destroy these houses would be unconscionable.”
- “One of the alarming proposals of this project is to cut down many of the approximately 80 trees in the rear of the site in the Mill Brook area, causing almost certainly creation of a dangerously unhealthy heat island for the location … Of course, the suggestion to cut down a magnificent sycamore is beyond belief.”
- A glaring outrage in this 40B proposal is that, unlike its chosen site, there are many [other] areas in Arlington where apartments can be built complying with our bylaws. But this project simply plans to ignore that and build wherever they want despite the town’s protections.”
- “Further, I have found no planned fund to help the affordable-residence owners with hefty assessments, which are almost certain to occur in such a building. The project as described is paradoxically, perhaps, likely to contribute to gentrification and school costs, contributing to higher taxes and more current residents being forced to leave Arlington, since it is becoming more unaffordable.”
The board is expected to approve previous meeting minutes at its regular meeting, Dec. 20.
Oct. 19, 2022: ZBA continues hearing on housing plan near Brattle Square
June 20, 2022: 50 units, including affordable housing, proposed near Brattle Square
This news summary by YourArlington intern Renée Abbott was published Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022.
