Town Of Arlington: Draft Housing Plan Available For Public Review

Press release from Town of Arlington:

11/29/2021 4:00 PM

The Town today announced the availability of the draft Housing Plan for public review and comment. The five-year plan replaces the Town’s 2016 Housing Production Plan which expires this month. Informed by data, research, and community engagement, the plan shares a vision and specific ways that Arlington can lead on providing housing options for a range of people. The plan includes a comprehensive housing needs assessment, affordable housing goals, and outlines strategies for how to achieve those goals through policy and zoning changes, new programs, and funding sources.

The Housing Plan will be presented to the Arlington Redevelopment Board (ARB) on Thursday, December 16 at 7:30 PM. The meeting is dedicated to the ARB’s review and discussion of the plan and will include a period for public comment. After review and adoption of the plan by the ARB, the plan will be presented to the Select Board for their review and adoption in January. It will subsequently be submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) for review and approval. The draft plan will be available for review and public comment at arlingtonma.gov/planning or by clicking the link below.

Read the draft Housing Plan.

Comments about the plan, including suggestions for strategies to be prioritized, are invited. To submit comments, email Kelly Lynema, Assistant Director, at klynema@town.arlington.ma.us or send mail to the Town of Arlington, 730 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476, attn: Kelly Lynema.

The updated Housing Plan will inform the work of the various Town bodies whose work affects housing and will help the Town advance the Arlington Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established by 2020 Town Meeting. Arlington’s Housing Plan Implementation Committee (HPIC) and the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) are working with Barrett Planning Group, LLC, and the Horsley Whitten Group to develop the plan, which is funded through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

The planning process has engaged many Arlington residents, Town departments, boards, commissions, and organizations through a Community Questionnaire, focus groups, stakeholder interviews, outreach at the Arlington Farmer’s Market, Meeting in a Box “kitchen conversation” kits, online mapping exercises, and several public forums. In addition, the Town hosted a Community Conversation on fair housing titled “Who Can Live Here, Who Decides, and Why?” on July 13, and co-sponsored an event about the experiences of non-profit and private developers of affordable housing titled “Creating Affordable Housing: Ask the Experts” on October 5.

More information about the Housing Plan, including the Barrett Planning Group proposal, prior engagement activities, and the 2016 Housing Production Plan, is available on the HPIC website, or by visiting the DPCD “Projects, Plans, & Reports” page at arlingtonma.gov/planning.

This press release was produced by Town of Arlington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.