Greetings – we hope everyone has been able to enjoy this sunny autumn weekend. There was lots going on in Brookline, including Pumpkinfest at the Lincoln School and a “grand re-opening” of Putterham Woods, a natural park adjacent to the Brookline golf course. The newly renovated park includes 14 acres of lovely wooded trails with two entrances, one from Hammond Street to the left of the Fire Station and a second from the golf course parking lot. It’s open dawn to dusk, and is a great place to learn about nature with family and friends or just a nice quiet place to walk.
This Week’s Board Meetings and Hearings (note: Wednesday is a busy day!)
- The Advisory Committee’s Land Use Subcommittee will continue its discussion of Warrant Article 7, which would permit the conversion of the former Maimonides (and BEEP) school building at 2 Clark Road into 35 much needed rental apartments plus 4 new townhomes (fronting on Philbrick Road on Wednesday, October 29 at 9:00 am. ). Zoom link and agenda is here. The full Advisory Committee will discuss it, along with Warrant Article 8 on lighting, at their meeting the following Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7:00 pm.
- Then at 12:30-2:00 pm on Wednesday, the HAB’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Subcommittee will continue its review of how best to adapt Brookline’s ADU ordinance to the new state ADU requirements that prohibit imposing some of the restrictions we currently have in place. The agenda will include discussion of whether (and if so, how) to increase the state-required 900 square foot maximum size for an ADU to a higher figure (to allow more flexibility for handicap accessibility, among other things), which we encourage you to support. Agenda and Zoom link here, and written comments may be submitted to the committee c/o Emily DeHoog in the Planning Department.
- For the early evening on Wednesday, October 29, consider the last of three walks and presentations on the Beacon Street Bridle Path (focusing on Washington Square) from 5:00-7:30 pm,starting at the Driscoll School Multipurpose Room, 725 Washington Street. More info here. As many of you know, the Town is engaged in the design process to restore the historic Bridle Path (the space in the middle of Beacon Street) as a multimodal path for walking, biking, and rolling. We encourage you to attend and contribute your dreams and ideas.
- Finally on Wednesday night, the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee (CPSC) will be meeting from 7:00-9:00 pm in room 111 at Town Hall and on Zoom. The agenda and Zoom link are here. The primary agenda item is “Engagement Materials Testing & Feedback Discussion,” which appears to be about the next phase of community engagement. No materials have been posted yet, so we don’t know much more. However, we understand that CPSC plans to ask the community for feedback on the current options they are considering, and 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. Watch this space for more details on how to participate once the opportunities for public participation are laid out by the committee.
Brookline for Everyone’s Fall Happy Hour!
We’re excited to announce that our next happy hour will be on Tuesday, November 11 at 5pm at Esmai’s in Coolidge Corner. Join us to share a drink, talk about housing and the upcoming Town Meeting, and connect with the Brookline for Everyone community. These are always a great time, and we can’t wait to see you there! Register here, and bring a friend, or just stop by to say hi!
Charter Campaign Update
The Brookline Charter Campaign signature collection effort is looking for volunteers in their final push. They plan to submit signatures on November 14 and need a final surge to make sure there are enough signatures to put a Charter Commission question on the May 2026 ballot. While Brookline for Everyone hasn’t taken a formal position on the initiative, we know many of our supporters have strong views on the campaign. For those interested in helping, click here to sign up for an upcoming canvass or other signature-gathering opportunity.
Reading and Watching
Luc Schuster of Boston Indicators (the Boston Foundation’s research center) reports here that Massachusetts has added nearly 100,000 homes since 2020, with “metro core” (which includes Brookline) communities leading, but warns that new permits have fallen sharply, threatening future supply. The constraints are many — interest rates, construction costs, tariffs, labor — yet one lever remains squarely local: policy and zoning reform. The state’s target is roughly 7% growth over the 2020 housing stock (closer to 7.5-10% in Greater Boston). Using Brookline’s base of ~27,500 homes and the report’s estimate that we’ve added ~745 units since 2020, we are at about 2.7% here. A back-of-the-envelope analysis suggests Brookline needs about 1,200 more homes to reach 7% and 1,900 to reach 10% (which we would argue is the appropriate target for an accessible, transit-rich community like Brookline). In short: progress is real but slow, our recent pace in Brookline significantly trails the state average, and without stronger state and local action the outlook for new housing and an affordable and strong economic future is not encouraging.
Finally, we reported last month on “Priced Out: Teacher Retention and Housing Costs” hosted by our friends at Newton for Everyone. Dramatic changes in the housing market have left many teachers and paraprofessionals in an unwinnable race for an affordable place to live near their work, leaving brutally long commutes and a real challenge recruiting high quality teachers (and other municipal employees) in both Brookline and Newton. For those who missed it, here is a link to the description, slides, and recording of the event.
Have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, for Brookline for Everyone