Greetings everyone,
Next on the calendar is Spring Town Meeting, which will be in-person only in the High School Auditorium (other than for those who need reasonable accommodation). Town Meeting begins in a little more than one week on Tuesday, May 27 at 7:00 PM, and will continue for up to five additional nights (May 28, and June 4, 5 and if needed, June 10 and 11). Members of the public are welcome to attend at the High School, and can also view it live at this link. You can find videos of prior meetings here.
Watch this space in the coming week for Brookline for Everyone’s endorsements on Warrant Articles to advance our goal of making Brookline more affordable, environmentally sustainable, racially inclusive, and fiscally stable by helping create more housing of all kinds and encouraging economic development. We’ll also include information on reaching out to your Town Meeting Members (TMMs) on our priorities (or anything else!).
One Minute Climate Action Item This Week from Mothers Out Front
Did you know that much of North Brookline sits within 1.5 miles of the MATEP power plant in the Longwood Medical Area? MATEP burns fossil fuels 24/7, emitting pollutants that contribute to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues—especially for children and vulnerable populations. Our friends at Mothers Out Front, along with Slingshot and the Massachusetts Clean Peak Coalition, are urging state officials to reduce emissions from this facility and shift to cleaner energy sources, and need our signatures to show strong community support for these changes. If you agree, we encourage you to join us in signing this easy petition, which takes less than a minute. And thanks!
Brookline Meetings of Note this Week
- The Planning Board’s Design Advisory Team for the proposed new development at 40 Kent Street/40 Webster Place will meet on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 7:00 pm, via Zoom PM. The agenda includes continued examination of the revised “massing studies” for the proposed development of a 6-story building with 50 homes. The full agenda is here, project materials are here, and the Zoom registration link is here.
- The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee is scheduled to meet, in person with a hybrid option, on Wednesday, May 21, at 7:00 pm, where the consultant, RKG Associates, will present their baseline models on population and employment. The agenda and additional details are available here. We understand that the following Comprehensive Plan meeting, which may consider different “Vision Statements” for Brookline, will be on June 9 at the same time.
- This week’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday, May 22 at 7 pm (via Zoom only) ZBA hearings include 2 properties each looking to add additional homes: conversion of a multifamily building at 1026 Commonwealth Avenue from 19 to 22 units, and adding an additional home (for a total of 8) to the building at 16 Hamilton Road. If you think these additional homes should be allowed, we encourage you to email the board via laracurtishayes@brooklinema.gov, or you can review the agenda and back up files here, and register to attend and provide public comment here.
What We’re Reading: A Smarter Tax Policy to Support Housing, Affordability, and Infill Development
One promising idea for creating more housing affordability is described as “Tax Shift”: lowering property taxes on buildings while increasing them on land value. This approach encourages the construction and maintenance of homes and other infrastructure by making it less costly to build and improve structures—while also making land itself more affordable. How? Because the tax shift discourages speculation and rewards productive land use, it helps unlock underused parcels for infill development, increasing supply without sprawling outward. Even better, it requires no new public spending and doesn’t reduce overall tax revenue. The concept is similar in spirit to community land trusts: remove (or reduce) the speculative cost of land from the equation, and housing becomes more accessible. In Massachusetts, an approach like this would require statewide action, but we are intrigued and think it is worth learning more about, which you can do here: Land Value Return and a More Equitable Economy and Baltimore Thrive’s Local Campaign. You can also find related articles and resources on the website for Just Economics, an organization which “helps harmonize economic incentives with public policy objectives.”
Thanks and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone