The Zoning & Planning Committee met on Tuesday, April 28. See the report and meeting video.
Approved
- FY27 Annual Action Plan (#126-26) — 7-0-1 (Councilor Baker abstained). The City annually receives approximately $3 million in federal block grant funding from HUD, including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships, and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funds. The FY27 plan directs CDBG funds primarily (60%) toward affordable housing production (including the West Newton Armory redevelopment into 43 units) and preservation, human services grants to 12 agencies (15%), and architectural accessibility improvements (5%). Program administration is 20% of the CDBG budget. The Housing Program Manager noted that approximately 25% of paired discrimination testing conducted in the MetroWEST HOME Consortium showed evidence of racial or source-of-income discrimination.
Held
- Raised beds in setbacks (#42-26) — 8-0. Planning presented additional examples showing how the draft dimensional controls would apply to specific properties. Councilors continued to raise concerns about proximity to abutters in denser neighborhoods. The public hearing previously scheduled for May 11 has been rescheduled to June 8 due to a clerical error.
- Multi-Residence Transit section of Village Center Overlay District (#45-26) — 8-0. Councilor Albright presented possible amendments to the Multi-Residence Transit zone, including allowing more flexibility in unit distribution across buildings, modifying parking setbacks, adjusting minimum distances between buildings, reducing parking requirements, and increasing the maximum footprint.
- Periodic Village Center Overlay District updates (#46-26) — 8-0. Planning presented nine possible targeted revisions to the VCOD based on implementation experience, covering architectural preservation, parking dimensions, allowed uses, and ordinance readability. The chair asked that a two-part docket item be filed to address the simpler and more substantive changes separately.
- Chestnut Hill Commercial Overlay District rezoning (#99-26) — 8-0. The chair reported that Mayor Laredo sent a letter to Brookline expressing concerns about the proposed Route 9/Boylston Street rezoning, including a Restricted U-Turn (RCUT) proposal. The owners of The Street shopping center also submitted opposition, fearing that the plan has too few parking spaces and will “drive significant spillover parking demand onto adjacent properties, especially The Street.” The proposed Overlay district was developed to accommodate a mixed-use project with an anticipated 204 hotel rooms, 126 condominium units, 57,000 square feet of retail space, 156,000 square feet of medical office space, and 140 residential apartments on 5.3 acres. Brookline is expected to vote on the proposed zoning in May.
Present: Councilors Baker (Chair), Wright (Vice Chair), Oliver, Gordon, Albright, Dahmubed, Getz, and Kalis.
Also present: Councilors Block and Roche.
City staff: Katie Whewell, Acting Director of Planning; Nora Colello, Chief of Long-Range Planning; Shaylyn Davis-Iannaco, Housing Program Manager; Andrew Lee, Senior Assistant City Solicitor; Miles Starkey, Committee Clerk.
