If you think the Zoning Rewrite promotes high growth downtown but protects the character, scale and intensity of growth in and around our neighborhoods, think again! Mayor Clavelle had said that existing residential neighborhood standards would be left alone, but that has changed.
But the high ideals promoted on the Rewrite website, and promised repeatedly by the City, have steadily eroded. The City website still claims that the Rewrite protects existing neighborhoods and natural resources, and follows recommendations in the Open Space Protection Plan. But in Ward 4, the Rewrite promotes over-development and threatens the very open spaces that are featured in that Plan.
Developers buy up unbuildable land (at bargain prices) and then cluster buildings in a small area. In the case of wetlands, for example, buildings and lot coverage that would normally cover a large area are concentrated along wetland buffers where they do maximum harm to sensitive areas with run-off and sedimentation. Aside from the environmental harm, this can lead to development which is out-of-scale with existing neighborhoods. By purchasing several acres of swampland or steep embankments, a developer can build on whatever buildable land exists on a parcel, at bonus densities and coverage which far exceed what would be available on a buildable lot in the same zone.
Example -- the Keystone Development near Starr Farm. Total land density calculation allows 20 bonus units X total land area (40 acres) -- multiplexes many stories high surrounded by wet land. The same would be true for the Infill/Murphy development at Appletree Point Farms which is 12-16 acres of predominantly wet land. According to a March memo from Planning and Zoning to the Mayor, the timeframe for these two projects is "future, near-term". There could be as many as 1120 bonus housing units in the New North End in these two projects alone if the Zoning Rewrite passes without strong wetland protection and Amendment 38 that restores the buildable area density calculation to the Rewrite.
As always, open process and wide public participation is the City’s best protection against mistakes and unintended consequences. The tree ordinance was left out. A citizen picked it up and called Council’s attention to the mistake. Without a tracking control document which makes it easy to compare the old and the new, the public -- as well as our Councilors -- are seriously disadvantaged. We need that tool to understand the document. Then NPA’s could host a series of forums in every ward so residents could learn about how the Zoning Rewrite will impact them. I’m on an NPA Steering Committee, and I pledge personally to make sure this happens in Wards 4 and 7.
Note: On Aug. 2, 82 people gathered at the Heineberg Center on a sweltering hot night to ask our Wards 4 and 7 City Counselors to support Amendments 34 Large Lot Overlay, and Amendment 38 Buildable Area Calculation. All four of our Councilors pledged their support – Russ Ellis, W4; Kurt Wright, W4; Paul Decelles, W7; Craig Gutchell, W7. See notes from the meeting on the Ward 4/7 BLOGspot: http://www.wards4and7npa.uncensored.blogspot.com/
