Arlington Redevelopment Board - Jan 28th, 2019

Andy West chairs the meeting, as Andrew Bunnell is not present.

Most of the meeting is devoted to discussing the community engagement and outreach plan for 2019 town meeting warrant articles. The ARB will hold public hearings on warrant articles throughout the month of March. DPCD is planning neighborhood meetings, tentatively scheduled for March 27th, March 28th, April 3rd, and April 4th. These will be held at schools, much like the outreach meetings for zoning recodification.

DPCD will discuss the warrant articles during regularly-scheduled meetings with merchant associations. There are also ongoing meetings with property owners. The articles will also brought before the housing plan implementation committee, residential study group, master plan implementation committee, and zoning bylaw working group for additional feedback.

Jenny Raitt reports that DPCD cannot email town meeting members until the moderator approves use of the TMM list. We expect some new TMMs to be elected in April.

Media outreach will include print, editorials, ACMi, social media, and town notices. The department is working on an FAQ, and a guide to the amendments.

Andrew West asks how the March hearings will be organized. Likely around groups of warrant articles.

Mr. West asks about other supporting materials for the outreach effort, for example, a build-out analysis. These should be ready by the beginning of March. MAPC will assist with this material.

The articles have to be legally advertised by Feb 14th, and the main motions must be available by then.

Kin Lau suggests having a meeting with department heads, or an all-boards meeting. The goal is to allow town departments to weigh in on the zoning changes.

David Watson likes the extent of the outreach plan. He's heard from some residents who are concerned about their inability to attend evening hearings. He asks if we can do direct outreach to those groups, meeting them where they are.

Eugene Benson feels this is a comprehensive plan, but would like to add a meeting with the Conservation Commission. It turns out that Conservation Commission Chair Nathaniel Stephens is scheduled to meet with the ARB on Feb 25th.

Mr. Benson asks if MAPC will be able to quickly turn around changes to supplemental materials, if there are changes to the text of the main motions. This is already being planned for.

Mr. Watson believes it would be good to publish the FAQs along with the article text.

Board moves to accept the outreach plan, 4--0.

The next two items on the agenda are ARB rules and regulations, and the meeting schedule for March. The board postpones these items, as one of the members is not present.

The ARB discusses, amends and approves two sets of prior meeting minutes.

The final item is Correspondence received: an inclusionary zoning article submitted by Steve Revilak, along with a proposed main motion and remarks. David Watson is looking forward to discussing this article. As we increase density, it would be good to look at various ways of improving affordability. The board decides to refer Mr. Revilak's article to the zoning bylaw working group.