The Heights Hotel Part III - The Waiting Game UPDATED with new meeting date

The Heights Hotel Part III - The Waiting Game

UPDATE - Once again the next hearing has been cancelled.  Attorney Mary Winstanley O'Conner has written to the Redevelopment Board asking that it be continued to January 27th, without explanation of reason of the delay or why the developer waited so long to make this last minute request.

So, what’s up with the "Hotel Lexington" project?  The last real news goes way back to July 22 when residents gathered in the Lyons Room to hear the proposal and provide their concerns.   The developer left with a long list of potential problems and zoning issues to resolve.  The Redevelopment Board was left with the thorny legal issue of an estimated $100,000 in building permit fees that were being waived.  These are fees that are set down in our bylaws by Town Meeting but were somehow negotiated away by the Town Manager and the Planning Department.

Since then, hardly a peep.  There was a continuance to September, and then another to October.  At that time the developer postponed it again, this time for another two months until the  JANUARY 27th December 16 meeting of the Redevelopment Board.  Nothing more has been released for the public.

There has been some activity behind the scenes, though.  Back on August 12th, the developer did meet with some members of the Redevelopment Board to discuss the project.  Not at the public meeting that same evening, but just beforehand behind closed doors.  It was another of those unannounced, closed to the public, very private get togethers that leave the public in the dark about what is going on.  No minutes kept and not even a brief announcement of what went on or who attended.

Meanwhile, there has been a new development next door at 1215 Mass Ave.  The building that formerly housed Nicola’s is being converted into a liquor store.  The owner has already been before the Select Board and next will seek approval of the Redevelopment Board.  Whatever traffic studies the hotel developer has conducted need to be amended to account for the new use next door.

To refresh your memory of the history of this drawn out process, it was four and a half years ago that Town Meeting voted to approve the sale of 1207 Mass Ave. The Town budget actually included an expected $1,000,000 from the sale to help pay for the Stratton School project. The RFP bid that was accepted in late 2016 was for only $750,000.  The actual Purchase and Sale Agreement was signed just about a year ago, but the transaction has yet to be completed and it seems that the developer can back out of the deal if he does not get what he wants from the Redevelopment Board.

There is every reason for the developer to stall.  His purchase price for the town property remains fixed at the 2016 level even as real estate prices in Arlington have rocketed in the last three years.  More ominously, the Planning Dept is again pushing zoning changes for the Heights business district which conveniently has been defined as extending all the way to Forest St, thus including the hotel.  The proposed changes were authored by our old friends, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and go even further than the zoning changes that failed at Town Meeting last spring.  The new version would have that entire block of B2 (small businesses serving the neighborhood) rezoned to a super B3 district.  What does that mean for the abutting homes on Clark, Peirce, Forest, and Locke?  Think about higher and denser buildings, four or five stories in your backyard.

And for the developer, it means that many of those pesky zoning limitations that restrict him will go away.

Stay tuned.  Or better still, come to the hearing on JANUARY 27th December 16 in the Town Hall auditorium location TBA.

What is the Good Neighbor Agreement?

The Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) is a Town Bylaw requiring builders to give detailed notice of their plans to abutters when demolition of a house or the construction of a large addition to an existing house is planned.  (A large addition is defined as an addition that is 50% or 750 square feet greater than the existing house.)  

Formally, it is the Notice of Demolition, and can be found in Title VI, Article 7 of the Town Bylaw: 

https://www.arlingtonma.gov/town-governance/laws-and-regulations/town-bylaws/title-vi-building-regulations 

The GNA was developed by the Residential Study Group (RSG), itself formed by Town Meeting to address the impacts of new development on established neighborhoods, after much comment from residents about the negative effects of demolitions and new construction.  The RSG created a survey about how development affects neighborhoods and sent it to abutters of new construction and large additions completed within the past three years (of 2017).  From the responses, the RSG identified the most-often mentioned complaints, one of which was complete lack of notice before a project begins.  Too many homeowners were unpleasantly surprised to find major projects going on in their neighborhoods, sometimes right next door, with no warning.  

The RSG then drafted a construction agreement, based on those in use in other municipalities and with significant modifications based on group input, to specify what developers had to provide to abutters prior to beginning demolition and/or construction.  The resulting GNA was adopted by Town Meeting in 2017.  It requires builders to send the following items to all abutters within 200’ of the site, at least seven calendar days before work begins, or within seven days of applying for a Building Permit, whichever date is earlier:  

• complete contact information 

• site plan for any applicable residential demolition, open foundation excavation,  alteration, or construction project  

• information detailing the hours of operation for the project 

• anticipated completion date 

• work schedule 

• health, safety, and abutting property protections 

• noise abatement measures applied by the developer or contractor of the project 

In addition, the developer must provide the Building Inspector with a list of the recipients, a copy of materials sent, and an affidavit stating the date of the mailing.  Failure to comply will result in a fine of $200.00 per day, upon notification of the Building Inspector. 

Title VI, Articles 12 and 13 go on to provide definitions, detail the requirements for site maintenance during construction, and specify fines for non-compliance.  Those site maintenance requirements are: 

1. All waste shall be managed and secured daily so as not to impact site abutters or the surrounding area; and at a minimum, dumpsters shall be cleaned or removed every thirty (30) calendar days; 
2. Portable restrooms shall be secured, maintained, free from the public way, and placed at least ten (10) feet from adjacent residential properties unless otherwise permitted by the Town through the Building Inspector or his or her designee; 
3. Construction equipment and materials shall be stored in safe, secure and non-obstructive locations on the site, or as otherwise permitted by the Town through the Building Inspector or his or her designee; 
4. Construction equipment and materials no longer to be used on the site shall be removed from the site within 14 calendar days, unless otherwise permitted by the Town through the Building Inspector or his or her designee; 
5. A drive entrance pad, or its equivalent, shall be placed, utilized, and maintained on site to provide an area where construction vehicles entering and exiting the building site can remove mud and sediment from tires prior to driving on public or private ways, unless determined technically infeasible by the Building Inspector or his or her designee; 
6. In interests of public safety and protecting abutting property owners, lateral supports shall not be removed from any footing or foundation without first protecting such footings or foundations against settlement or lateral translation. 

Fines of $50.00 per category upon first report of violations to the Building Inspector, and $100.00 per category per day thereafter will be imposed.  

It was hoped that the GNA would go some way toward making the experience of residential construction more predictable and less stressful for abutters.  To gauge its impact, the RSG sent a follow-up survey one year later, to abutters of 24 selected projects completed after the GNA went into effect, a total of 1,280 households.  Of those who replied, itself a disappointingly low number, only 48 remembered receiving notice.  A public records request showed that only 3 developers had submitted all the required materials.  So far there has been no action on the part of Inspectional Services to remedy this situation. 

Enforcement is a key issue in many Bylaws, especially those related to zoning, and it often falls upon residents to bring attention about instances of non-compliance to the appropriate official.  Without enforcement, the work of the RSG is rendered moot.  More importantly, the faith of residents in our Town’s governing and enforcement bodies is undercut. 

What does all this mean for your neighborhood? 

If there is a project going on in your neighborhood and you live within 200 feet but do not receive a complete packet from the builder, or if the site is not properly maintained, please contact Inspectional Services to let them know.  If you don’t feel you get a satisfactory response, contact the Town Manager.  

Their contact information: 

Inspectional Services 

781.316.3390 

inspectionalservices@town.arlington.ma.us 

Adam Chapdelaine, Town Manager 

781.316.3010 

achapdelaine@town.arlington.ma.us 

And while ARFRR does not address individual issues of enforcement, we do keep track of enforcement issues overall.  Please let us know about instances of GNA non-compliance, at askarfrr@outlook.com