Our Challenges
Why does housing cost so much in Brookline? Why does our Town have to pass regular tax overrides? Why are there so many unfilled potholes?
- Housing costs are too high because Brookline has chosen not to built enough new homes over the last 50 years.
- To minimize overrides to fund our schools and town services Brookline needs more commercial development.
Opportunities for Change
To fulfill Brookline’s vision of a fiscally sound, climate resilient, and inclusive community, Brookline needs compact housing near rebuilt business and commercial districts. By allowing mixed-use and commercial development near public transit on our larger sites, Brookline would create opportunities for adding more homes at all price points; increase new tax revenue to fund our schools and municipal services; and support our climate goals.
The Chestnut Hill Study Area is the largest and most promising commercial site in Brookline. Prioritized for rezoning in Brookline's 2005 Comprehensive Plan, and more recently in the 2023 HPP, this site holds enormous potential for tax-generating development that includes a mix of commercial uses as well as housing at all price points. If Brookline is to fund essential services without repeated overrides, it must embrace the kind of smart, tax-positive growth this project represents. The Town cannot afford further delays.
New development takes years to plan, finance, design, build and permit. Every delay in permitting new mixed use development sets back our responses to the housing crisis and to climate change, inflates the cost of development, and adds years to when the Town realizes new tax revenue. As the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee continues it’s work, Brookline must also continue to develop concrete responses to our pressing challenges.
To accomplish these goals, Brookline's zoning and land use policies need to allow more housing and mixed use development. Rather than reinforcing our elite status as a wealthy suburb by maintaining our current restrictive zoning codes, we need to make it easier for our underutilized commercial areas to become complete neighborhoods, where a balance of housing, green space and businesses accessible via walking, biking and public transit create a human-scale economy where people of all ages and income levels can flourish.
According to Brookline's Planning and Community Development Department, encouraging a mix of appropriate housing and commercial development across Brookline, especially on underutilized commercial lots near transit we can: increase housing affordability; tackle the climate crisis; support a welcoming and diverse community; ensure Brookline's schools continue to support our students' path towards educational excellence; and forge a creative and robust approach to economic development to increase funding for the services and community needs vital to all Town residents.
Brookline continues to explore different zoning options to expedite mixed-use and commercial development on the large parcels identified in the 2005 Comprehensive Plan and the 2023 Housing Production Plan (HPP). The HPP, developed with robust community engagement, identifies a number of opportunities for zoning upgrades that would allow Brookline to welcome more neighbors while also growing Town tax revenue.
Brookline for Everyone believes abundant and affordable homes are essential to a vibrant, sustainable, thriving and welcoming community. Brookline’s diversity of activities and interests helps keep our Town vibrant, and supports our businesses and cultural institutions. And perhaps most important, we thrive best when our children are able to raise their families near us, our seniors can age in place, and we welcome new neighbors.
Brookline must continue to address our housing and financial challenges as we develop our Vision for our future land use in the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Planning process cannot be an excuse to defer already identified zoning reforms. When completed in a year or more, Brookline for Everyone trusts that the Comprehensive Plan will become a useful guide to Brookline’s future land use. But even when completed, Brookline’s history of having shelved much of its 2005 Comprehensive Plan means we cannot predict how long it will take to identify and implement the zoning changes that emerge.
Brookline for Everyone advocates for policies that prioritize developing livable neighborhoods with safe and affordable homes. Permitting compact mixed use development near transit actually increases the Town’s ability to preserve the public and private amenities we all share in Brookline, while also allowing all our neighbors, both renters and homeowners, access to healthy, affordable, and climate sustaining homes.
Share via: