We start out this week congratulating Brian Ladd, who has the double honor of having been elected as a new Board Member of Brookline for Everyone and as a Town Meeting Member in Precinct 13. Both B4E and Town Meeting are lucky to have Brian, a Yale-educated historian, longtime college teacher, and author of five books on how cities are put together. Brian is also a board member of Boston Climate Action Network. Brian and his wife Louise chose a Beacon Street condo as a retirement home because of Brookline’s walkability, transit access, and amenities.
We also offer hearty congratulations to B4E Board Members Katha Seidman (Precinct 2) and Katherine Haenschen (Precinct 17) who were each elected to Town Meeting for the first time after running excellent campaigns in their precincts!
Town Meeting and B4E’s Warrant Article Endorsements Coming Soon
Brookline’s Spring Town Meeting starts next Tuesday night, May 28, at 7:00 PM in the Brookline High School Auditorium (also broadcast live by the Brookline Interactive Group), and is expected to run for three or four evenings (May 29, 30, and possibly June 4). There are several Warrant Articles that impact housing and land use we’ve been following. Warrant Article 11 approves $7,931,765 in allocations from the Community Preservation Act (including $6,441,535 for critical community housing projects). Warrant Article 13 updates our zoning by-law on Accessory Dwelling Units to make it more useful and to encourage creation of more ADUs townwide. And Warrant Article 14 updates our zoning by-law to make it easier to install heat pumps and EV chargers, lowering barriers to electrifying our town. * While our formal endorsements and write-ups will be coming out in a few days (watch this space!), we are happy to report now that B4E strongly supports WA 11, WA 13, and WA 14, and encourages all TMMs to vote FAVORABLE ACTION on each one.
Two Town Meetings of Note This Week
- The first Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 7:00-9:00 PM, in hybrid mode, in Room 103 on the first floor of Town Hall and via Zoom (link here, no registration required). The full agenda and details are posted here. This is the formal beginning, after lots of pre-planning, of Brookline’s Comprehensive Planning Process will guide our community’s development for the next 15-20 years. We encourage you to attend and learn more, and to advocate for a plan that addresses Brookline’s (and our region’s) two most critical challenges: achieving real climate sustainability and addressing our extreme housing affordability challenges.
- The Planning Board is holding a Joint Public Meeting with both HAB and EDAB on Monday, May 20, from 6:00-8:00 pm (via Zoom only) regarding the Linkage Nexus Study. The study, which was commissioned by the Town, addresses whether Brookline can impose a modest “linkage fee” on new commercial development (as many of our peer communities do) to support our Affordable Housing Trust and development of affordable housing. You can review the report here and can join the meeting using this link (no registration required).
Two Easy Ways To Have Your Voice Heard
Brookline is currently conducting two ongoing online surveys where they want to hear from you!
- The Open Space and Recreation Plan is a document that guides open space planning in the town and is updated every 7 years. We recently kicked off this process, and you can weigh in by completing this survey. For more information and to read the 2018 open space plan, click here.
- We’ve mentioned the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study a couple of times before, but if you haven’t taken the opportunity to complete the online survey, we strongly encourage you to do so by clicking here. This study represents a great opportunity to expand both our commercial tax base and add more homes, and we hope you’ll share your thoughts!
What We’re Reading This Week. We encourage you to check out Part 1 of this 4-part series in The Urbanist by Alex Brennan: Why Climate Advocates Should Be Urbanists. Brennan argues that better land use, especially building more urban housing near transit and jobs (compared to the sprawl of suburban and exurban housing) is a powerful tool to fight climate change, and makes the case that land use policy should be a bigger priority for climate advocates, funders, and decision makers. Give it a read and let us know what you think at brooklineforeveryone@gmail.com.