Arlington Redevelopment Board - Sep 11th, 2017
Bicycle Repair Station. Last November, Whole Foods installed a bicycle repair station near the visitor center, along the Minuteman Bikeway. They installed the wrong model -- it has tools, but no air pump. Whole Foods was not willing to replace it with a repair station having a pump, but they were willing to remove the station entirely. Whole Foods in now interested in installing a second repair station near Thorndike Field. The second station will have an air pump.
ARB Annual Goals. The town's business development coordinator has been working to fill vacancies, and working with business owners on expansion plans. The former Disabled American Veterans building on Mass Ave may become a hotel or a multi-family residential project with a restaurant on the first floor.
The mixed use projects we've permitted had 1--2 bedroom units. We'd like to see if we can incentivize developers to build larger residential units in mixed use buildings. The town's housing production plan also calls for more development of larger units.
Property Asset Management. One of the ARB's goals should be to keep track of and report on property that the ARB manages. Are all ARB-managed properties occupied? Yes -- there is no unleased space.
ZBL and Administration. The ARB discusses future policy amendments. We should review the EDR process, and consider making it more like a site plan review. It may be advantageous to adopt some design review standards. We should review and amend business districts, and redo the town's sign bylaws. David Watson would like to review parking and loading requirements, including bicycle parking requirements.
Community Planning Goals. The ARB should have a goal to ensure that there's communication back to the ARB from groups that ARB members serve on. The Board of Selection is forming a marijuana study committee. Someone from the ARB should sit on that committee.
Zoning Recodification. The next public forum will take place on Oct 3rd. DPCD also has five open houses scheduled. Open houses are places where people can come by to ask questions or offer feedback about recodification. Dec 11th is a potential date for the ARB to have a formal hearing on the recodification.
The DPCD will have a table at town day. The table won't be specific to recodification, but there will be information about it. The goal is more to show people what the Department of Planning and Community Development does.
We may have to push out the date of the next public forum on recodification, to allow for adequate preparation. The forum is currently scheduled for Oct 3rd, with Oct 18th as a backup date. For the next public forum, we'll need a document that maps sections of the current ZBL to sections of the recodified ZBL.
Long Range Planning. The master plan includes a goal of having more diverse housing stock. Our inclusionary zoning is stated in number of units, but not in terms of the number of bedrooms (or size) of these units. Is there inclusionary zoning at the state level? No, it's all done on a town by town basis.