Hi, I’m Stephanie Ford, from Lockeland Ave in Arlington, in the new overlay called the Neighborhood Multifamily Subdistrict. I know that people have been concerned, angry, hopeful. There are so many questions and so many worries.
If you find yourself looking for answers, just know you’re not alone. I am currently setting up an information session with people from the Town Meeting who are directly involved in the passage of this article. You can sign up below to get updates on dates and additional resources as we get them. Write down some of the questions you currently have and I’ll try my best to relay it to the right people. I’ll continue to update this page as we get more info. Feel free to bookmark this page bit.ly/ArlingtonArticle12
This new district will probably bring changes to our Town, but probably very slowly. Except for one thing. We are going to be contacted by developers and others and pressured to sell our homes. I expect them to make us afraid of what will be built, afraid our homes will be worth less, and pressure us to sell our homes to them cheaply so they can develop the lots. There are many myths and fears about the new zoning, but one thing is almost certain, our homes are going to be worth much more now and in the future than they were under the old zoning. I don’t want to see anyone taken advantage of.
Article 12
Special Town Meeting, at its fourth session Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023 approved Article 12. This puts Arlington in compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities Act — a requirement to designate areas to be rezoned to allow more multifamily housing. Arlington is one of some 175 municipalities in Eastern Massachusetts required to undergo this process.
The case for yes
What the MBTA Communities Law is trying to do is to re-legalize modest housing choices like triplexes and small apartment buildings.
The case for yes for Article 12
- combat the negative effect that housing shortages have on both our region and town.
- address our town and region’s affordability challenges
- welcome households that are currently not able to afford or stay in Arlington, and [to] redress a history of exclusionary zoning
- reduce pressure to build single-family homes elsewhere, safeguarding undisturbed ecosystems and reducing dependence on automotive commutes – denser transit-oriented housing is more energy-efficient and is an explicit goal of the town’s Net Zero Action Plan
- correct some of the wrongs brought about by exclusionary zoning practices implemented in Arlington in the 1960s and 1970s
- [new housing will] slow the growth of our structural deficit
What is multi-family housing?
Multi-family housing generally is understood to be apartment buildings. The goal is to provide more housing, which is hoped to be – but not legally required to be – affordable rental housing. The plan therefore is perceived as being a concept that would benefit principally those people not in a position to purchase even an average house in Arlington, whose median price now is in the realm of $1 million.
Benefits of the new district
More housing in a variety of sizes benefits:
- Seniors having trouble finding appropriate housing to downsize into,
- Municipal workers who want to live in the community they serve,
- Young adults who grew up in Arlington but can’t afford to return,
- Young families just starting out, and
- People who need housing with accessibility features
Encourage housing located near public transit
The Town’s Net Zero Action Plan and the Connect Arlington Sustainable Transportation Plan include recommendations to “continue to encourage and incentivize mixed-use, higher density development near transit and jobs” because “people who live or work in or adjacent to mixed-use environments, and especially those served by transit, often drive less because it is more convenient to walk or bike to eat, shop, or hop on a public transit option.”
Encourage housing to provide a customer base in support of local businesses
Allowing more residents to live within walking distance of our businesses creates the potential for more commercial vitality by providing more customers, foot traffic, and patronage to Arlington’s restaurants, shops, and services. Our consultants from Utile provided the following as a rough guideline: it generally takes one household to support 30 square feet of retail space. This equates to needing 100 households to support a 3,000-square-foot store.
https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/66727/638301311427330000