To the Honorable City Council:
Subject: Recommendation on the Concord Alewife Rezoning Petition

Recommendation: The Planning Board recommends adoption of the Petition as filed with a minor modification, described in its recommendation of July 27, 2005 (attached), adjusting dwelling unit density when Gross Floor Area is transferred between lots.

The Board reaffirms its positive recommendation regarding the Concord Alewife Rezoning Petition because this amendment to the Zoning Ordinance will enable the implementation of a well-considered plan that will create a more transit oriented district; provide incentives to build housing; provide a greater degree of project review; facilitate building a needed network of new interior roadways; and require a higher level of stormwater management. Unlike eastern Cambridge where there were only a few large property owners, there are multiple owners and many small parcels of land, making planning a challenge in the Concord Alewife area. The proposed zoning allows both large and small property owners to benefit from proposed infrastructure improvements and potential growth. The Board considered the impacts of potential new development envisioned in the Plan on transportation and the environment, and feels that the proposed well-crafted and innovative zoning mechanisms will enable the management of these sensitive issues.

Respectfully submitted for the Planning Board,
Barbara Shaw, Chair

July 27, 2005
To the Honorable, the City Council:
Subject: Recommendation on the Concord-Alewife Rezoning Petition
Recommendation. The Planning Board recommends adoption of the Petition as filed with a minor modification, described below, adjusting dwelling unit density when Gross Floor Area is transferred between lots.

Discussion.
The Concord-Alewife Rezoning Petition represents a substantial, well considered revision to the regulatory environment now in force in Alewife. It would replace outdated plans and twenty year old zoning regulations with a new vision for transforming the area into a more vibrant mixed use area of the city in an improved environmental setting. This vision will be achieved over many years based upon a set of well-crafted and innovative zoning mechanisms.

The proposal acknowledges and respects the following unique constraints of the area:

• Multiple property ownership in a wide range of parcel sizes.
• Large volumes of non-Cambridge bound regional traffic on the arterial streets serving the district.
• Extensive areas in the 100-year flood plain (likely to expand in extent after completion of ongoing hydrological studies).
• An inadequate internal street network.
• Outdated buildings and site development patterns including large swathes of paving that hamper the ability of the City to manage stormwater runoff and produce a visual environment of no particular distinction.

Challenged by those constraints, the Zoning Petition introduces a number of regulatory strategies to ensure that in the future, as the area is privately redeveloped, the entire district will be transformed in ways that reflect the positive vision established in the Concord-Alewife Plan. The zoning does the following:

• Introduces a two-tiered zoning framework that reduces significantly the amount of commercial development that is currently permitted as-of-right and without significant public review.
• Establishes special permit procedures that provide additional development potential above that permitted as-of-right. This will ensure that most significant development in the district will be reviewed in a public forum before the Planning Board and will be judged for consistency with the traffic, design and environmental objectives of the Plan.
• Mandates effective stormwater management and the provision of open space, and encourages use of low impact development techniques for new development.
• Provides incentives (through FAR bonuses) to create critical new infrastructure improvements that will enhance vehicular circulation over new roadway links, provide better pedestrian and bicycle access throughout the district and to public transportation, and enhance stormwater management.
• Provides incentives for property owners to shift future development closer to transit services and away from the abutting residential Cambridge Highlands neighborhood (the Transfer of Development Rights provisions).
• Provides sufficient development potential to property owners (but generally not more than the current zoning allows) to facilitate the transformation of the current substandard and antiquated pattern of development into the mixed use housing, office and retail community envisioned in the Plan.

The zoning proposal is well crafted to ensure both the protection of the public interest as change occurs in this district and sufficient encouragement to private property owners to invest in the future of Alewife through a commitment to new quality development on their property in the years ahead.

The minor modification to the text that the Board is recommending would allow the Planning Board to increase the density of dwelling units permitted on a lot when development on that lot makes use of additional Gross Floor Area provided through the Transfer of Development Rights procedures or through bonuses granted for the provision of critical infrastructure. Without allowing additional dwelling units, the bonus or transferred Gross Floor Area could not be efficiently used. The amendment would modify the existing Section 20.95.4 and would read as follows:

20.95.4 Dwelling Unit Density. In any instance where the required Minimum Lot Area Per Dwelling Unit in any base district is greater than 600 square feet, the Planning Board may issue a special permit to reduce the required Minimum Lot Area Per Dwelling unit to 600 square feet. Where additional Gross Floor Area is permitted on a lot through the use of the Transfer of Development Rights mechanism set forth in Section 20.98 or as a result of bonus FAR granted for the provision of open space or infrastructure improvements, the Planning Board may increase the number of units permitted on the lot at the rate of one unit for each 900 square feet of additional Gross Floor Area utilized.

Respectfully submitted for the Planning Board
Barbara Shaw, Chair