Greetings, everyone. This one can’t wait.
Last Tuesday, the Select Board put the brakes on allowing May Town Meeting to consider two warrant articles that would upgrade the zoning of the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area. This zoning would allow for the kind of dense development near transit that can address two of Brookline’s most pressing concerns: it would add more homes, and more income restricted homes, while also increasing Brookline’s net new tax revenue by over $5 million.
Please consider sending a quick email to the Select Board. And don’t wait – the Select Board’s last chance to act is their meeting on Tuesday morning, March 17. To send your message, all you have to do is paste this letter into an email to the Select Board, and give your name and address at the bottom. It should take you about 5 minutes. If you can put words to your own thoughts on the matter, though, so much the better. But please do it now.
Here’s the background:
Because the Town has so little land suitable for large-scale commercial development, this is a rare chance to increase our housing inventory as well as our net tax revenue. City Realty is proposing a mixed-use project of hotel, medical office, retail and residential at the western end of the proposed rezoning area, on 5.3 acres of underutilized land along Route 9.
This developer has spent two years working in good faith through the Town’s planning process and accommodating neighbors’ concerns. That patience should not be taken for granted–for a developer leveraging borrowed money, it is risky and costly. On Wednesday, City Realty sent a letter to the Town stating that all negotiations would be nullified if the Town does not vote on the rezoning in May, leaving a stagnant property while Brookline loses both housing and an estimated $5 to $6 million in net new annual tax revenue.
The stakes are high. Brookline is facing a significant once-every-three-year override request on May’s ballot. In the upcoming 2027 fiscal year alone, the town and schools face a $11 million deficit. Unless the community agrees to increase property taxes beyond that allowed by Proposition 2 ½, we are expected to eliminate aides for first graders, increase high school class sizes to 30 and more, cut staffing for special education and ESL programs, cancel many Conservatory performing arts programs, and more.
The Town’s revenue relies 73% on residential property taxes. Overrides permit the Town to increase the real estate tax levy over 2.5% to help balance budgets. But inevitably, that increase falls heavily on Brookline’s residential property owners. We must try to increase commercial tax revenue whenever we have the chance. Failure to act on these opportunities leads to the degradation of our services and our schools – affecting all residents, from our children and grandchildren to every future resident of Brookline.
It is the Select Board’s job simply to authorize this rezoning action to be placed on the Spring Town Warrant where it can be voted on by Town Meeting. Sadly, the Select Board is hesitating to take this simple step. Your email can help make the critical difference.
For more background, see this Brookline.News article. The Select Board agenda is here, but note that there will be no opportunity for public comment.
And with that jolt, you can “beware the ides of March.” Shakespeare meant that line only for Caesar, and we trust that Caesar must beware, even as we all do.
B4E Book Club: next week!
Remember that our next B4E Book Club meets on Thursday, March 26, from 7:00-8:00 at Brookline High School (MLK Room) to discuss Henry Grabar’s Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World. Does it live up to its ambitious subtitle? Does parking explain Brookline? The book can frame discussions about current Brookline projects like the proposed apartment building at 26 Pleasant Street, the Centre Street Lots project, and the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area. Sign up here!
Other meetings of interest this week
The Planning Board meets on Wednesday, March 18, at 8:30 AM, on Zoom, to discuss a possible project in the Emerald Island Overlay Zoning District with ground floor commercial space and approximately 150 housing units (50% micro-units) in a 12-story building. This is the land on Brookline Avenue behind the Hilton Garden Inn. We are eager to learn more about this new, potentially significant proposal. Register here.
That same Wednesday evening, at 6:30, on Zoom, the Transportation Board agenda includes a discussion of the Brookline Village and Washington Square parking studies. These came out of last year’s approved Complete Streets reconstruction of Washington Street. Agenda and registration here.
Finally, since last week we offered Wellesley as an example of how not to plan for the future, let us offer a positive example from another neighbor. On Thursday, March 19, at 7 PM, renowned housing policy researcher and Newton native Amy Dain will explain Newton’s Village Center Overlay District, created in response to the MBTA Communities Act, which legalizes fourplexes around the city’s transit nodes, offering a waey to provide more transit-accessible housing without disrupting neighborhoods. The talk will be in hybrid format, online and at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, 60 Highland Street, West Newton. More info here, where you can RSVP for a link.
You can read an article by Amy about the potential of this innovation here.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Brian Ladd, for Brookline for Everyone