Greetings, everyone. It’s another quiet summer week with only a few meetings, but we do have news on several significant items we’ve been following, some good and some not-so-good.
- The Town received two very good responses from nonprofit developers to its formal Request for Information to acquire and preserve the single room occupancy property at 16 Williams Street and has, in a memo from Planning Director Kara Brewton, recommended assigning its Right of First Refusal to Victory Programs, Inc. as the preferred developer. Victory Programs will preserve the 12-bedroom property as supportive housing for individuals and families recovering from substance use disorders, offering 24/7 on-site staffing and wrap-around services. They have already secured significant funding, including a $2.5 million federal grant, and will be able to close on the acquisition by the December 1 deadline without requiring any Town financial support. The recommendation will be reviewed by the Housing Advisory Board at its meeting this Wednesday, July 30 (see more details below), and the Select Board is expected to consider formally assigning the Right of First Refusal to Victory Programs at its upcoming meeting on August 5.
- We have less encouraging news on the Chapter 40B application to build 103 residential units, including 26 affordable homes, in Chestnut Hill on the block bounded by Hammond, Sheafe, and Heath Streets. After extensive community hearings over seven months, and unanimous approval by Zoning Board of Appeals on July 1 (you can read the full decision here), a single neighborhood abutter has filed a lawsuit to overturn the decision. The suit raises a series of procedural and technical objections; these arguments were all aired and addressed during a lengthy public review process that included expert peer reviews, numerous design changes, and detailed conditions to protect health, safety, and the environment. This appears to be a classic NIMBY (not-in-my-back-yard) tactic using the courts to significantly delay, or even stop, a badly needed affordable housing development in one of the few transit-accessible areas of South Brookline.
- Finally on the news front, we have an update on our July 6 editorial where we called on Town leaders to act swiftly and constructively to support mixed-use development on the City Realty parcels in the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area (CHCA) along Boylston Street (Route 9) in South Brookline. We warned that continued delays or shifting expectations could lead to missed opportunities for both housing and commercial growth. Since then, City Realty has filed Chapter 40B Project Eligibility Letter (PEL) applications for 1280 and 1330 Boylston Street, which are part of the site, to provide an option for a significant housing development if the mixed-use plan — which we strongly support — cannot get the approvals it needs to move forward expeditiously. The PEL applications propose a 784-unit project, including 196 affordable homes, which, if built, would be a huge win for housing availability and affordability in Brookline. While we still strongly prefer the original mixed-use plan, which will generate sorely needed tax revenue and also includes a significant housing component, we have separately urged MassHousing to approve the PEL as a viable back-up plan, in the event a mixed-use approach can not get the timely approvals it needs to proceed. You can see our detailed comment letter here.
Brookline Meetings of Interest This Week
- The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee (CPSC) will be meeting on Monday, July 28 at 7:00-9:00 in room 103 at Town Hall and on Zoom. The agenda with the Zoom link is here. This meeting has a full agenda, laid out in this detailed document from the consultants called “Pre-read for July Steering Committee Meeting.” In September, the CPSC will ask the community for feedback on a big-picture question: What kind of future do we want for Brookline? Residents will be shown four options — a description of where we’re headed now, plus three alternative paths, along with possible vision statements. At this July meeting, members of the CPSC will review and discuss the three alternative paths, along with an updated version of our current direction. A decision about which path to follow — or how elements of different paths might be combined — won’t be made until after community feedback is collected in the fall. For those concerned about Brookline’s future, we think this will be an important meeting to understand where the Comp Planning effort is headed in advance of the more public process this Fall.
- The Housing Advisory Board (HAB) will have a special meeting (in lieu of its regular August 6 meeting) on Wednesday, July 30, from 5:30-7:30 pm via Zoom. You can find the full agenda here and can register here. The meeting will consider the staff recommendation to preserve the single room occupancy property at 16 Williams Street by assigning its Right of First Refusal to Victory Programs, Inc. (see memo here) and will also hear an update on the Town’s Subsidized Housing Inventory and Chapter 40B pipeline.
Quick Summer Reading
In this recent Boston Globe article, No Place to Go (July 22, 2025), reporter Andrew
Brinker highlights a new report from the National Zoning Atlas revealing that in Massachusetts, apartment buildings with four or more units are only allowed by-right on about 4% of the state’s land — a stark illustration of how restrictive local zoning laws have contributed to the state’s housing crisis. The multi-year effort, led by researchers and law students, analyzed the zoning codes of all Massachusetts’ 351 cities and towns, uncovering a system so complex and fragmented that it often takes experts years to decode. The atlas highlights how local rules overwhelmingly favor single-family homes while multifamily housing is heavily constrained, despite urgent need. Researchers hope the atlas will prompt reform by making visible how current zoning suppresses housing production. The tool has already influenced policy in places like Montana, and advocates hope it will do the same in Massachusetts, where simplifying zoning and allowing more multifamily housing is critical to addressing affordability, segregation, and the state’s housing shortage.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, for Brookline for Everyone