Arlington Redevelopment Board - Oct 21st, 2024
Meeting held via remote participation. Materials were available from https://arlington.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/MeetingView.aspx?MeetingID=2123&MinutesMeetingID=-1&doctype=Agenda.
Board member Shaina Korman-Houston was unable to attend tonight's meeting.
Review Meeting Minutes
The board approved minutes from their September 16 and October 7, 2024 meetings, 4--0.
Docket 3348 - 821--837 Mass Ave
(Rachel Zsembery, ARB Chair) Ms. Zsembery says the purpose of this agenda item is to re-open the CVS special permit, for the sole purpose of making a modification to condition 5. Ms. Zsembery reads a proposed modification to the condition.
(Note: Condition 5 pertains to the Atwood House at 821 Mass Ave, which is the subject of Docket 3798).
(Eugene Benson, ARB) Mr. Benson believes the board should not make any changes to condition 5 until a decision on Docket 3798 has been made.
(Steve Revilak, ARB) Mr. Revilak proposes to re-open Docket 3348, with no changes to be made at this time.
Motion passes, 5--0.
Docket 3798 - 821 Mass Ave
(Claire Ricker, Planning Director) Ms. Ricker says this docket was continued at a hearing in July. The applicants added a solar array, shade studies, a lighting study, a tree evaluation letter, and other materials.
(Mary Winstanley O'Connor, Attorney for the applicant) Ms. Winstanley O'Connor says the CVS lease is proprietary and cannot be provided to the board. She reads a list of items that the lease prohibits from being sold at 821 Mass Ave. Essentially, a retail business at 821 Mass Ave couldn't sell anything that CVS sells.
Ms. Winstanley O'Connor says that CVS does not have exclusive use of the drive-through area. Both buildings would be able to use it.
Ms. Winstanley O'Connor says that her team looked into the market for office space in Arlington, and there really isn't a market for office space any more; the pandemic changed all that. She says that Arlington's office rents of $35--40 square/foot are comparable to Boston rates, which makes our office space very expensive. She says they're planning to shift to a retail use.
(Andres Rojas, Architect) Mr. Rojas notes that the updated application includes a lighting plan with a photometric study. They hired a LEED consultant to prepare their LEED checklist, which shows a silver rating. A civil engineering firm created stormwater and drainage plans, they've provided several new renderings of the buildings, along with precise distances from the building to the abutting church.
Mr. Rojas says they worked with Great Sky Solar on the solar assessment and plan. They intend to have solar panels on 50% of the roof area. They will include EV charging stations in the parking lot.
The applicants asked the Fire Department to review their proposal, and they developed a turning plan for the department's trucks.
The applicants will provide street trees every 25' along the front of the property, including in front of the CVS. They had an arborist evaluate the Austrian Pine in the front yard, and provided the board with a copy of the evaluation letter. The arborist felt that it was not a specimen tree. Mr. Rojas believes it's more important to have the building meet the street frontage.
Mr. Rojas says they haven't done a mechanical plan yet, but intend to put the condensing units on the side of the building; these locations are shown on the site plan. A full mechanical plan can be submitted when it's available.
Venting details have been added to the roof plan.
The trash area is shown on the plan. It will be next to CVS's trash and recycling enclosure.
Mr. Rojas says they want to repair the fence between the property and the church.
Mr. Rojas says the board has been provided with a detail plan for the roof parapets. They plan to have parapets, rather than railings.
The property owner felt it was important to retain the existing parking spaces and they plan to provide nine, in order to ensure that the building's parking doesn't spill over onto the CVS lot. They've included a bicycle storage room with space for six bikes, in addition to short-term outdoor racks. They've also updated the dimensional worksheet to reflect the entire property -- both CVS and the building proposed for 821 Mass Ave.
Mr. Rojas says they looked into relocating the front staircase, and couldn't find a layout that worked well. He says the commercial space can house one or two tenants, and any signage will be reviewed by future permit requests.
Mr. Rojas brings a materials board to the front of the room, for members of the ARB to example.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery has a question about the fiber cement samples. She asks if they'll be panels or clapboard.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says they plan to use a panelized system, rather than clapboard.
(Steve Revilak, ARB) Ms. Revilak asks if the building currently has a gas hookup.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas believes it does.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak would like to confirm that the new building will be all electric.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says it will.
(Eugene Benson, ARB) Mr. Benson says that one of the environmental design review standards involves the use, scale, and appearance of buildings being related to nearby buildings. He has a hard time seeing how this building meets that standard.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas doesn't think it would be appropriate for this mixed use building to look like CVS's aesthetic. He says they're trying to find a balance of massing and size that fits between the CVS and the stone church. He acknowledges that it's different, but doesn't see how it can't be.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson says he only asked for three excerpts from the lease. He'd like a written summary of the provisions, and not just an oral recitation. Mr. Benson asks if there will be adequate lighting at night.
(Mary Winstanley O'Connor) Ms. Winstanley O'Connor answers in the affirmative.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says they'll have additional lamps in the rear of the property.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson asks how the color of the wall between the balconies was chosen.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says they wanted an accent color, rather than something monochromatic. They're planning to use the same material for the building's soffit.
(Kin Lau, ARB) Mr. Lau thinks the building needs to carry something across from the surroundings. He suggests mimicking the big window openings of the church next door. He doesn't mind modern, but thinks the building needs to be more contextual, even if it's just mimicking something from two doors down. Mr. Lau is interested in seeing a cross section of the roof trellis, because they'll have solar panels mounted on top.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says the panels will have electrical feed wires which will need to be protected, but there's no exposed wiring on the underside of the panels.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau wants to make sure the trellis height won't need to be changed later.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says she doesn't mind the wood screening element, and she suggests adding a repeating element to the design. She's concerned about how the east facade will look from Mass Ave, because it's very blank right now. She suggests adding long horizontal elements. She also feels that clapboard would be more appropriate than a panelized system.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says the wood colored material was intended to draw focus to the balconies, and to create an accent.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery thinks the side is more an issue than the front. She suggests adding trim around the windows to make it less flat. She'd also like there to be a sign band, because the retail space will need a place to put a sign.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says he'd been thinking of either glass signs or a blade sign.
(Rachel Zsembery) Mr. Zsembery says she'd prefer to see a wooden fence between the building and the church, rather than chain link.
There's back and fourth about fences.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says the applicants will need to provide screening around the air condensers.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau suggests moving the cooling units to the roof, so they're not near a walkway.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson thinks the pulling the building up is the right thing to do. He's concerned about the lack of a 15' vegetated buffer on the side of the building facing the church.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak says the section of the bylaw with the buffer requirement contains the words "however, provisions of this section shall not supersede the minimum setbacks for parking lots per Section 6.1 nor the minimum yard requirements of Sections 5.5 and 5.6.". The minimum side yard requirement for mixed use in this district is 0'; if required setbacks take precedence, then the buffer requirement should be zero feet too.
There back and fourth about this. Mr. Benson had the opposite interpretation as Mr. Revilak. Mr. Lau and Ms. Zsembery had the opposite interpretation as Mr. Benson.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery opens the hearing to public comment. She says that public comment will be limited to 20 minutes, because we've gone past the start time of the next hearing, and the board still needs time for deliberation.
(Asia Kepka, Silk St) Ms. Kepka says she's alarmed about the tree canopy we're losing. She understands the tree is stressed, but thinks that all trees are stressed. She's afraid that new trees won't be taken care of. She thinks it's unfortunate that this space has been neglected for so long. She's concerned that this will be a big construction project and the owner won't take care of it.
(Michael Ruderman, Alton St) Mr. Ruderman says he's been following this property for 25 years, and the Historic Commission had previously deemed it a preferred structure. At the beginning of the 20th century, Mass Ave was where people built homes to display their wealth. He says the 2009 CVS permit made no mention about the condition of the house, and there wasn't any mention of the condition when the permit was re-opened in 2019. But the 2024 staff memo says that restoration is infeasible. Mr. Ruderman asks if the property was secured, and if there was a perimeter fence or lighting. He thinks that Noyes realty has been engaging in demolition by neglect.
(Don Seltzer, Lincoln, MA) Mr. Seltzer says he lives in an assisted living community and that many of his neighbors use walkers to get around. He says he's benefited from disability standards. Mr. Seltzer believes the proposed building will be dead on arrival because it violates state laws, and no one has noticed this. He says the Fair Housing Act gives disabled people the freedom to choose where to live, and who to visit. He says that one in six Arlington residents are 65 or older, and that the board is passing the buck to inspectional services. Mr. Seltzer asks if the board has any questions for him.
There are no questions from the board.
(Peter Bermudes, Belknap St) Mr. Bermudes says this hearing should make a vote about destroying a hundred year old tree. He suggests salvaging the tree, in order to make a connection with it.
(Marina Popova, Ridge St) Ms. Popova asks the board to please consider saving the tree. She says there have been three assessments, and not a single one said the tree was not healthy. She says the tree was neglected like the house was. She thinks it's a very strong tree, which could live for up to 500 years. She asks the board not to take the vegetated buffer requirement lightly, and she thinks the buffer would leave room for the tree. She believes that environmental design review requires the preservation of natural resources, and she'd like to see the applicants go back to the 2020 plan. She says that 421 people signed a petition to save the tree.
(Wynelle Evans, Orchard Place) Ms. Evans says this isn't just about one tree. She says there have been seven projects which resulted in the loss of 100 trees, and that's not sustainable.
(Peter Bloom, Jason Terrace) Mr. Bloom says he looks at this tree multiple times a day. He's sad that the Atwood house will be taken down, and hope the applicant would reconsider taking down the tree.
(Susan Stamps, Grafton St) Ms. Stamps says the Tree Committee discussed this tree, but did not take a vote because there was disagreement. She'd like to see the tree saved. She understands that all of the assessments noted the tree had fungal issues, and suggests the building be moved. She asks about the number of trees that will be planted, and asks the board to require the developer to water any new trees.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery notes that the Tree Warden was concerned about the feasibility of treating the tree. The board also expressed concern that, even if the building were moved, it wouldn't clear the drip edge and critical root zone.
There's no more comment from the public.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak would like to explain some of his high-level thought process behind project hearings. One of the things he considers is greenhouse gas emissions, and how a new development is likely to affect that.
The state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs produced a document called the Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap in 2020. The document looks at different sources of carbon emissions and makes recommendations on how they can be reduced. Part of this plan involves trees -- specifically natural and working lands, which in Massachusetts is mostly forests.
Massachusetts has 3.3 million acres of forest, which makes up around 63% of the Commonwealth; the majority of our land is forest. However, these 3.3 million acres only absorb around 7% of the CO2 we emit; the other 93% stays in the atmosphere and make us all a little warmer. The trees can only do so much, and we have to reduce carbon emissions.
In Arlington, the majority of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings -- residential homes. This building will be all electric, it will have solar panels, and it will meet the enhanced stretch building code. It will be more efficient, and produce far less greenhouse gases than the building that's there today.
Arlington's second largest source of GHG emissions is transportation, which predominantly come from personal vehicles. Vehicles in Arlington are, on average, driven 1533 fewer miles per year than the Commonwealth as a whole. Moving someone to Arlington stands to reduce their transportation emissions by around 1300 pounds of CO2, per vehicle per year. And there's also the location. There's a grocery store across the street, a pharmacy next door, and the business district in Arlington center is a few blocks away. The location makes it easy to replace driving trips with walking, which also reduces emissions.
Mr. Revilak says that progress is typically some number of steps forward, and a step back. He feels that's the case here.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson asks about the number of street trees the applicants will need to plan.
(Andres Rojas) Mr. Rojas says they'll plant nine new street trees. Construction will require the removal of eight trees. One tree will be moved and transplanted, and 14 new trees will be planted on the property.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson notes that the new street trees will cover the entire length of the property, including the CVS.
Mr. Benson thinks it's not very helpful to look at trees at a single point in time. Things shift, and cause different effects over time. He notes that the Austrian Pine doesn't cast any shadows on the street, and says it's important to take things like that into context.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery would like to summarize what the board needs from the applicant. This list includes:
- A written list of the types of retail which are prohibited by the CVS lease.
- Confirmation that occupants of the building will have access to the rear drive isle of the property.
- Something to indicate the height of the roof trellises.
- Architectural changes to better match the context of the neighborhood.
- A review of renderings and elevation
- Identifying a location for the sign band
- Moving the condensing units onto the roof and screening them
- Changing the chain link fence to some other kind of fencing.
The board votes to continue Dockets 37998 and 3348 to November 18th, 4--0.
Docket 3821 - 1513--1519 Mass Ave
(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says the applicant proposes to demo a single-family and a two-family dwelling on two adjacent properties, and construct a new building in their place. She says they're looking for relief from dimensional and bike parking requirements.
(Matt Eckel, Attorney for the applicant) Mr. Eckel says they're planning to combine two lots in order to construct a mixed-use building. He says there will be one commercial space which will be used by IG investments for their real estate operations. The project abuts the Minuteman Bikeway and is near a variety of residential, business, and mixed-use buildings. There will be eight market rate dwellings and one affordable one, and the average size is 1162 square feet.
Mr. Eckel says they were originally planning a four-story building, but have reduce that to three stories. There will be a four-foot setback in the front yard, and 26% open space based on lot area. The ground floor will have three doors: a door to a transformer room, a lobby door for residents, and a door to the commercial space. He says they're providing a 1:1 parking ratio, eight and seven foot side yard setbacks, and a rear yard setback that ranges from six to thirteen feet. They plan to have a mixture of fencing and plantings for buffers, and permeable pavers for the entrance and walkway.
The commercial space will be approximately 1100 square feet.
(Eric, Architect) The architect says there are four units on the second floor, which will be spacious and comfortable, plus five units on the third floor. All will be two-bedroom, two-bathroom with private decks. The exterior will be covered with cement fiber panels, probably an off-white color.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau has a question about plan sheet L-3. He asks if there will be a roof deck.
(?) One of the applicants answers in the negative.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says that only half of the first floor has connectivity to the street; the rest is the garage door and the door to the transformer room. He says it doesn't interact with the sidewalk, and the applicants need to figure out how to provide more commercial frontage.
Mr. Lau notes that an enclosed garage will need to be vented, and he would like to see the location of the exhaust louvers. He suggests making the garage space open instead.
Mr. Lau asks how residents will get to the rear patio.
(Eric) The architect says residents will walk through the garage, and then a few steps down.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau doesn't see the patio as a very friendly space.
There's back and fourth about the rear patio.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau asks if there will be a fence along the bikeway.
(Eric) The architect says they were planning to have landscaping, but not a fence.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau expresses concern about the space.
(Eric) The architect says they'd prefer to have rear access to the bikeway, but it's been difficult to negotiate that with the MBTA.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau asks if they plan to have rooftop solar.
(?) One of the applicants answers in the affirmative.
(Kin Lau) Mr. Lau says the solar installation should be shown on the plans, along with mechanicals and screening. He thinks the building elevation looks modern, but bland. He'd like to see more thought go into the elevation.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak asks if the apartments will be condominiums or rentals.
(?) The applicants plan to make them condos.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak says he's glad that they've already found a tenant for the commercial space. He says the commercial space feels a little like an afterthought, the way it runs along the side of the building. Like Mr. Lau, he's like to see more of the space in front.
Mr. Revilak notes that the proposed building has an FAR of 1.57 but the district only allows 0.75. He asks the applicants why they're proposing a 1.57 FAR.
(?) One of the applicants says they were hoping to get relief. He says they've done work in other communities that were okay with a larger building.
(Steve Revilak) Mr. Revilak thinks they're asking for a lot of relief.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson asks how many residential units are currently on the properties.
(?) The applicants say there are two units in the two-family home. The single-family home has been unoccupied for a while, and isn't in good condition. It looks more like a barn.
(Eugene Benson) Mr. Benson says the board is planning to propose a rezoning of Arlington heights in the spring, which would have to go before town meeting for approval. He says the applicants might want to wait and see how that process turns out.
Mr. Benson notes that the applicants did not provide a worksheet showing their FAR and open space calculations. He notes that Zoning Bylaw section 6.4 requires solar on 50% of the roof, and that detail needs to be included with the application. He says there's also a 60% transparency requirement for first floors in business districts.
Regarding FAR, there was only one other time when the board encountered a request for relief, and the board determined they didn't have the authority to grant it. The staff memo points out a section of the bylaw that provides for an FAR bonus, but Mr. Benson doesn't believe this project meets the standards for those provisions.
Mr. Benson says that Arlington has a design guidelines document with a whole section devoted to properties that abut the Minuteman Bikeway. He suggests the applicants take a look at that.
Mr. Benson says the applicants LEED checklists contains mostly question marks. He says the checklist should be filled out, and accompanied by a written narrative. Finally, Mr. Benson says he had a difficult time figuring out what the facade would look like, based on the submitted plans.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery asks if all of the windows will be operable.
(?) One of the applicants answers in the affirmative.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery asks which unit will be the affordable one.
(?) The applicants say they haven't chosen one.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says the state has square footage requirements for affordable units, and the unit they choose will have to meet them. Ms. Zsembery asks if they'll have the ability to create an accessible parking space.
(?) The applicants say they'll look at that when they re-do the first floor plans.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says the applicants will need to provide a sign band for the commercial space. She says the dimensions of the commercial space should be shown on the plans. Ms. Zsembery asks about venting for the building.
(?) The applicants are planning to put venting on the roof.
There's discussion about the limitations of the B1 district. Most of the business district FARs were increased a few years ago, but not B1.
There's discussion about what FAR the board would be willing to accept. The board prefers to stick with the height and FAR limits in the zoning bylaw.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery opens the hearing to public comment.
(Don Seltzer, Lincoln, MA) Mr. Seltzer has comments about the garage layout. He says he's speaking on behalf of people with mobility issues. He says there's no accessible space, but state law requires an accessible space be provided to anyone who needs one. He thinks that an accessible space will require giving up one of the other parking spaces, and deeded condominium spaces would make that a challenge. He thinks the driveway needs better visibility.
(Asia Kepka, Silk Street) Ms. Kepka says there was an earlier hearing where there were difficulties with rock and trouble with parking spaces. She thinks it's dangerous to push developers to build more, because they might get stuck with long-term problems.
There's no more comment from the public.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery says she's willing to check with Town Counsel regarding the board's ability to grant relief for FAR. She'd like to review the list of changes the board is asking the applicant to make. This list includes:
- More commercial frontage
- Meeting the 60% ground floor transparency requirement
- Detailing the garage exhaust openings
- Adding a fence in the rear of the property
- Reviewing the parking garage egress
- Showing solar and mechanical systems on the plans
- Showing elevations in the context of surrounding buildings
- Providing open space calculations
- Adding public shade trees
- Providing a complete LEED checklist
- Adding an accessible parking space
- Showing the location of venting
- Showing the location of the affordable unit
- Adding dimensions of the commercial space
- Adding a sign band
- Reviewing the town's commercial design guidelines.
The board votes to continue the hearing to December 2nd, 4--0.
Debrief of Joint Meeting with Select Board
The board decides to table the Select Board debrief, as Ms. Korman-Houston is not here tonight.
Arlington Master Plan Update Advisory Committee
(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker informs the board that a member of the AMPUp! committee -- Jonathan Gowin -- moved out of town and had to resign. The department went back to the list of applications, and Rebecca Gruber was the next choice. Ms. Gruber served on the MBTA Communities working group and was very helpful with public outreach. Ms. Ricker recommends Ms. Gruber as the new member of the AMPUp committee.
The board approves Ms. Gruber's appointment, 4--0.
Open Forum
There are no speakers for tonight's public forum.
New Business
(Claire Ricker) Ms. Ricker says there were six responses to the master plan update RFP. On the advice of Town Counsel she's convening a selection committee to evaluate the proposals. The selection committee will consist of two ARB-members, four other AMPUp committee members, and Ms. Ricker. She hopes to select three firms to interview.
Ms. Ricker says there will be a public meeting about the Arlington Heights Business District rezoning proposal on October 29. It will be held at the Pierce School, at 6pm. She's planning to go over the MAPC proposal and see what's still relevant.
(Rachel Zsembery) Ms. Zsembery would like to schedule a date for the board's annual retreat.
The board settles on December 14, with December 7th as a backup.
Meeting adjourned.