Arlington Redevelopment Board - Jan 16th, 2019

Tonight's meeting was held at the Senior Center, to allowing the board to discuss and vote on warrant article language. The ARB had taken public comment during a previous hearing, so tonight was just board discussion and voting.

No changes to Article A, Sign Regulations.

Articles B and C deal with the floodplain district and inland wetland district. The conservation commission has shown support for these articles. David Watson has some reservations about going forward. Eugene Benson would like to vote in favor of the warrant language, even if there's future back and forth with the conservation commission.

Article D is a set of changes for Dover amendment compliance. I believe there were small wording changes.

There were no changes to Article E (bicycle parking).

Article F (density and dimensional requirements for multifamily use) received small wording changes. Articles G (dimensional and density requirements for mixed use) and H (special permit requirement for multifamily and mixed use) are unchanged.

Eugene Benson and David Watson object to article H -- they'd like to keep the EDR process for six unit projects. Andrew Bunnell says this article is made in the spirit of moving development projects forward. Kin Lau wants to make sure the requirements for six unit projects are very clear.

Mr. Benson feels better about article I (Open-space requirements for multi-family uses and mixed use). Mr. Watson has no comments about the wording changes.

Article J (Townhouses) was amended to specify the number of townhouses.

Article K (Upper story building step backs) received changes for internal consistency. Mr. Watson would like to look more at articles K and M (Reduced height buffer area).

There are no changes to article N (corner lot requirements)

There are no changes to article O (apartment building parking requirements). Mr. Benson did an informal count of cars in driveways, and he's not convinced that one space per unit is enough. But he'd like to move the article forward for discussion.

No change to article Q (Correcting Citation Errors).

Article R (Accessory Dwelling Units) receives a fair amount of discussion. Mr. Lau isn't convinced we're ready to move forward. Mr. Watson asks if the residential study group had any role in drafting this article. He thinks they'd be an appropriate group to provide feedback.

Elizabeth Pyle speaks as a member of the residential study group. She'd like the group to study ADUs before going forward with this article. The RSG briefly discussed them in 2016, and would like to study them more.

Mr. Benson would like to understand what other communities have done. Andrew West wants to focus on multi-family uses along the major corridors. He'd like mixed use, and wants to make sure it's done well. Mr. Benson notes that larger buildings require more affordable units, and that's a trade off with density.

The board votes on each article individual. The board takes no action on article H (allowing six-unit projects by right), and refers article R (accessory dwelling units) to the residential study group.

There's a 4-0-1 vote on article O (parking requirements for apartment buildings), with Mr. Benson abstaining. The rest of the articles receive 5-0 votes of support.