The MBTA Communities Act Working Group and their consultant, Utile Architecture & Design, have so far created an excessive proposal of MBTA Communities Act overlay districts.  If this concerns you, and you'd like to see a plan much closer to the basic requirement, please sign this petition, and forward to your Arlington friends. You can also share this link: petition.arfrr.org 

ARFRR MBTA Communities Act Resources:  "What can I do?"

Learn about the MBTA density overlay from this page mbta.arfrr.org and tell others about it.  The ARB has issued their final report on the Articles. See it here. We have had some impact - some changes were made but...

Read an open letter to TMMs about what changes should still be made to protect and enhance our town.  These make good talking points.  

Access our helpful Guide to the Warrant Articles for Town Meeting Members.

Attend the remaining precinct meetings for the public to voice your concern and ask questions.

Call or email the your Town Meeting Members before October 17th.  Now, only 255 voting Town Meeting Members can amend, approve, or reject these ruinous changes.  Click here for emails and telephone contacts.   It's best to start with your own precinct.   If you're not sure of it, find your precinct here.

Share our flyer with others in Arlington so they will contact Town Meeting Members.

Sign the petition at petition.arfrr.org for a responsible application of the Act.  We are over 700 signers, but we need your name, to show Town Meeting that many in Arlington do not want than excessive MBTA density overlay. 

What can we do?   There are many concerning elements of the current plan that have been left to us Town Meeting Members to correct, or to outright reject so that the proposals would come back in the spring Town Meeting, as other towns in our state are doing.  You can read more about the Warrant Articles at https://tm.arfrr.org.   

On Article 12 - the MBTA Density Overlay:

Below are the major areas that we hope Town Meeting will amend in the Act so that it fits our town, our affordability, our livability:

1. Save our affordability Bylaw.  Require the better, stronger affordability Bylaw that Town Meeting passed. Action: Insist on proof that the State will approve our application and make the process transparent.

2. Make the scope more Arlington-sized:  Reduce units by 10%, which is still 40% more than required for compliance.  Action: Amend.

3. Reduce the 78 foot / 65 foot main street height, and increase setbacks: Action: Amend the heights to be lower, the side and front setbacks to be larger.   

4. Protect NMF (side streets): Make front and side yard setbacks conform to existing requirements. Action: Amend.

5. Prevent front street masses in the side streets: The Act has a clause that allows owners of multiple properties or those on corners to apply the Mass Ave/Broadway rules.  Action: Amend.

6. Save historic structures and places of worship. Many dozens are threatened. Action: Amend.

7. Save our businesses:  Action: Amend to remove all our business parcels from the overlay.

8. Save abutters’ solar panels and sun access: Protect abutting solar panels and ensure that setbacks prevent shading and towering over abutters  Action: Amend.

9. Require open space, minimum lot size:  The proposal has no open space or lot size requirement.   Action:  Amend.

10. Require data on the ‘bonus’ floors and footprint: The unit calculations and unit/acre calculations do not include the bonuses.  Action: Require data on bonuses. Action: Amend.   

11. Require some of the density by Alewife:  On a technicality, the proposal avoids placing density where the Act intends it: by Alewife.  The Act seeks density where people can walk to commuter rail or subway hubs.  Action: Amend.

There are several new density Articles before Special Town Meeting:
We urge you to reject:

Article 5: eliminates open space requirements in new construction in business districts.

Article 6: reduces requirements for rear setbacks in business districts.

Article 7: eliminates some step-backs for upper stories in new construction.

Article 9: eliminates requirements that new corner lots must have step backs consistent with neighboring homes.

We urge you to support: 

Article 8: Requires that any new construction within our business districts to have more than just one story, the ground story.

Article 10: Requires developers of new buildings or major additions to provide and maintain one public shade tree along the front of the lot every 25 feet unless one exists already.  

And to amend Article 11, which would eliminate conversions between 1 and 2 family existing homes in B-districts, unless altered.

~  The Executive Office of Housing and Liveable Communities, EOHLC, (formerly the Department of Housing and Community Development), has just released a significant revision to the MBTA Communities Act guidelines, in response to much pushback from many MBTA communities. It now allows the creation of mixed-use districts that will require commercial use. The residential units in such districts may be used to reduce a community's total unit capacity requirement, by the number of units in the mixed-use district, or by 25% of total unit capacity, whichever is less.

It seems likely that there will be more revisions, with another major area of concern being the requirement for overlay districts to have contiguous acreage minimums. 

~  On Tuesday, August 8, the MBTA Communities Act Working Group met to vote on certain dimensional and other requirements for proposed overlay districts. These standards will serve as the basis for the compliance forms that our director of Planning intends to send to the state for pre-approval consideration. An ARFRR member has provided detailed notes of the meeting, with images of the latest map versions and the outcome of the votes taken that evening. 

The MBTA Communities Act is NOT ABOUT AFFORDABILITY.  In fact, the Act’s Guidelines override our own affordability requirements.  They allow for fewer affordable units per project, and at higher income levels than Arlington’s existing Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw. 

The MBTA Communities Act is NOT ABOUT IMPROVEMENTS to the MBTA, or increasing access to public transportation.  It’s a state mandate designed to require towns near MBTA transit hubs to create overlay districts, where re-zoning will provide the capacity for increased housing density.  The Act’s goal is to add housing at market rates.  The transit adjacency requirement has been discarded for Arlington. 

See the Act and its mandatory Guidelines here

The July 25 public forum was the first, and possibly only, opportunity for open Q & A between residents, members of the Working Group, and our consultant, Utile Architecture & Design.  You can watch the entire forum here:

July 25 Public Forum 

and just the Q & A here

~  The Act's Guidelines require Arlington to re-zone for an increase in capacity of 10% of our existing housing units, or 2,046 units.  That potential capacity must be multi-family, which the Guidelines define as three or more units, at a minimum of 15 dwelling units per acre, and all by right.  For reference, East Arlington is currently about 15 dwelling units per acre.  The latest proposal calls for four time that density in the overlay districts. 

~  That housing must be within overlay districts totaling a minimum of 32 acres, of which half must be contiguous, and the remainder in districts of no less than five contiguous acres each.  Current proposals would create overlay districts of more than 5X that mini.  

~  The Guidelines prohibit any requirements for energy efficiency not allowed elsewhere.

~  They make no provision for green space or climate change mitigation. 

We must meet the basic 10% increased capacity requirement of 2,046 housing units.  The various proposals from the MBTA Communities Act Working Group have all called for re-zoning to allow potential capacities which greatly exceed the requirement. 

But our consultant, Utile Architecture & Design, has advised us to make the first iteration of the changes simple: for consensus, acceptance, and ease of administration. 

We can always expand overlay districts, or add new ones.  It will be much more difficult, if not impossible, to remove overlay districts once redevelopment takes place.

Let Town officials and Town Meeting Members hear your comments and concerns.  Contact members of the Select Board, the Redevelopment Board, the Department of Planning & Community Development, and your Town Meeting Members.  All may be found here:

contacts.arfrr.org

The MBTA Communities Act Working Group will be accepting email comments through July 31.  You may email them at this address:

mbtacommunities@town.arlington.ma.us 

~  Urge Town officials to submit a less drastic plan to the state, and meet the basic requirement first.  This will allow us to make sure these changes work best for Arlington. 

~  Urge our Department of Planning & Community Development to preserve our own Inclusionary Zoning by submitting the Economic Feasibility Application required by the state.

~  Encourage Town officials to protect our existing businesses by excluding overlay districts from our businesses and business zones.

~  Request that provision of setbacks adequate for canopy trees, preservation of green spaces, and planning for climate change are part of any final plans.

Join ARFRR's email updates list for the latest news about the MBTA Communities Act, and email us with your questions.