Zoning and Land Use

A collection of primary source documents regarding Arlington housing, zoning, and land use.

1924

• Arlington's (original) 1924 zoning map

1926

• Arlington's 1926 Town Plan

1928

• Arlington's 1928 Zoning Bylaw

1946

• Arlington's 1946 Zoning Map

1954

• Arlington's 1954 Zoning Bylaw

1970

• 1970 Town Meeting Articles 76-87. Warrant Articles that established Arlington's Planned Unit Development District

1971

• Chap. 738 of the Acts of 1971. This act abolished Arlington's Planning Board, and delegated planning responsibilities to the Arlington Redevelopment Board.
• List of Zoning Changes adopted by 1971 town meeting. This include a 20,000 square foot minimum lot size for apartments, and increased parking requirements.

1972

• Arlington's 1972 zoning bylaw (technically, the 1971 bylaw, with amendments from 1972)

1975

• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Feb 3, 1975 Discussion about small lots, carnivals, density, and zoning changes due to be proposed later in the year.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Apr 7, 1975 Arlington redevelopment board minutes from April 7th, 1975. The board discusses the definition of "family", how the definition will be enforced, and the desire to make Arlington a "family values" town.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, June 30, 1975 Discussion of a new table of uses, prohibition of building on lots that are smaller than 5000 square feet, and retail development on the Mugar site.
• Arlington redevelopment Board minutes, Aug 4, 1975. Discussion of "controversional" issues in the 1975 zoning rewrite.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Aug 25, 1975. Some discussion about the definition of family, and the zoning district of individual lots.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Sep 29, 1975. Paragraph about build-out potential under the old vs new (1975) bylaw.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Sept. 1975.
• Planning Director Reviews Zoning Bylaw Questions. Oct 2, 1975 article from the Arlington advocate.
• ARB report on 1975 STM Article 2 ARB report on the 1975 zoning rewrite.
• ARB Report on 1975 STM Article 6 ARB report on Article 6 of the Oct 1975 special town meeting. This article established a definition of "family", which precluded more than four unrelated individuals from inhabiting the same household.
• Special Town Meeting warrant for 1975 zoning rewrite
• 10 Arlington Advocate Articles on 1975 zoning changes
• Collura v. Arlington Massachusetts supreme judicial court ruling, re: Arlington's 1973 moratorium on the construction of apartment buildings.
• Arlington, MA Zoning Map from 1975

1978

• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, March 6, 1978. Includes a discussion of Article 93, which downzoned the R7 (High Density Apartment) district.
• Article 93 from Arlington's 1978 town meeting. This article downzoned the R7 (high density apartment) district, making many of the buildings non-conforming.

1979

• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Jan 8, 1979. Includes a discussion of building height in several business and residential districts.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Feb 13, 1979. Discussion of warrant articles proposed for the 1979 town meeting. When compared to today's meetings, attendance seems rather small.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Feb 26, 1979. Includes a discussion about building height, and downzoning the R6 (medium density apartment) district.
• Urban Renewal Plan for Arlington Center. Documents pertaining to an Urban Renewal project intended for Arlington Center. The earliest of these documents are from 1979.

1980

• Arlington advocate article on zoning changes from the 1980 Annual town meeting. Includes mention of Article 87.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Mar 30, 1980. Includes mention of Article 87, which amended the ZBL to accomodate a set highly non-conforming duplexes in East Arlington, which were built after world war II.
• Article 87 from the 1980 Arlington Town meeting. The article changed the town's zoning bylaw to accomodate a set of small duplexes built in East Arlington after World War II.

1982

• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Mar. 22, 1982. During this meeting, the ARB entertained a warrant article that proposed the purchase of the Mugar Property in east Arlington.
• 1982 Town meeting Article 43 Public records request for materials pertaining to Article 43 from the 1982 town meeting. I believe this article reduced the maximum height in the PUD distict from 200' to 85'. Unfortunately, our public records officer was unable to locate responsive documents.

1987

• Overview of Affordable Housing Challenges and Opportunities. Report prepared for the town's Fair Housing Committee in June 1987.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Jan 12, 1987. The board discusses downzoning the B5 (Central Business) District in response to a redevelopment proposal.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Feb 23, 1987. Discussion of town meeting warrant articles.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, March 3, 1987. Includes votes on zoning articles for the 1987 town meeting.
• Article 16 from Arlington's 1987 special town meeting. This article downzoned the B5 (central business) district.
• Arlington Redevelopment Board Minutes, Jun 22, 1987. Includes discussion of the Mirak property on Mass Ave. (The Mirak's eventually developed this site as the Legacy apartments, in 2001).

1991

• Article 4 from 1991 Town Meeting. Article 4 changed a use table entry to allow renting of up to three rooms by special permit, for consistency with the definition of "family".
• Article 14 from 1991 Town Meeting. Article 14 proposed to rezone 5-7 Winter St to medium density apartments, so the owner could convert an accessory building to two dwellings.
• Article 15 from 1991 Town Meeting. This warrant article established Arlington's R0 (Single Family Large Lot) district.
• Article 15 Transcript from 1991 Town Meeting. Transcript of town meeting debate on the establishment of Arlington's R0 (Single Family Large Lot) district.
• Misc Material from the 1991 Arlington town meeting. Includes a portion of the town's annual report, and ARB minutes from the first portion of that year.

2003

• Symmes Advisory Committee report to Special town meeting

2005

• Arlington MA Zoning Map from 2005

2015

• Arlington, MA zoning map from 2015

2016

• Arlington's 2016 Zoning Bylaw

2017

• Arlington's 2017 Zoning Bylaw

2018

• Arlington's 2018 Zoning Bylaw

2019

• Arlington's 2019 Zoning Bylaw

2020

• Arlington's 2020 Zoning Bylaw
• Town Counsel Memo, re Scope and Limits of ARB Authority. Town Counsel memo to the Arlington Redevelopment Board, dated 8/13/2020. Town Counsel provides an opinion regarding the ARB's authority under Arlington's Environmental Design Review process, along with a history of the ARB itself. This historical aspects are interesting.

2021

• Arlington's 2021 Zoning Bylaw

2022

• Arlington's 2022 Zoning Bylaw

2023

• Arlington's 2023 Zoning Bylaw

Property Assessments

• 2013 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2014 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2015 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2016 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2017 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2018 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2019 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2020 Arlington, MA property assessments.
• 2023 Arlington, MA property assessments.