Quest for Model Communities

I can't emphasize enough the value of good design (or alternatively the damage that bad design can inflict). In city and town planning circles, the number of bad or ordinary designs for buildings, sites, or communities that we've seen far outnumbers the good designs that come across the counter. The investment in a good architect or urban designer is often not valued by many in the development community, hoping to save the cost and increase ROI.

However, each new building added to a community's inventory can either add character or detract from it and the town is stuck with it for generations if the latter is the case. That is why my office is leading tours of several well respected residential communities that have been built in the metro area over the past decade or so. Since Harvard is looking for options to add a wider range of housing types to the inventory, looking for model communities as examples of what Harvard should strive for is a good activity that builds support for facilitating the policy actions needed to effectuate these new ideas.

The first community visited was Concord Riverwalk on Main Street in West Concord. Developed by Dan Gainsboro's Now Communities and designed by Union Studio, this small, compact residential community of 13 homes is located near the Assabet River and has an old neighborhood feel to it with front porches facing a central green. Garages and car parking is not emphasized so as to not impose on the facade and keep the residential area pedestrian only. Amenities include a multi-use community building, community gardens, walking trails and a nature preserve. A great example of smart growth and sustainable development with a pedestrian and neighborhood-scale design. Homes are also net zero energy use buildings.

Future project field trips may include Now Community's Emerson Green project in Devens and The Consigli Company's Abbey Road in Sherborn. I will be updating this effort after these trips. Please feel free to share developments, both residential and commercial, that you feel are very well designed and sited.

Metro Boston to Get More Creative With City Planning

Article in Next City about MAPC's initiatives with artists-in-residence. Arts and culture can be very important contributors to economic development in a local community.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/metro-boston-to-get-more-creative-with-city-planning

Massachusetts Zoning Reform 2019 Version

For those interested in Massachusetts Zoning Reform, here is an update from Planetizen with a link to Boston Globe article:

Zoning Reform Gets Another Try As Massachusetts Wrestles Housing Crunch

Final Warrant Versions of Erosion Control and Groundwater Bylaws Imminent

The Planning Board is working diligently to finalize draft versions of the amendment to the Groundwater Protection Overlay District (§ 125-56) and the proposed new Erosion Control Regulations (§ 125-57). The public hearing for these amendments has been over over the last several Planning Board meetings and while it will remain open for several more, the language for the warrant will be finalized late next week. Recent edits to these amendments include the following:

Groundwater

1. Added a range of exemptions
2. Placed Definitions Section at the end of the amendment

Note that the Groundwater Section largely follows the State Model Bylaw but has been modified in this iteration for flexibility.

Erosion Control

1. Simplified the Purpose Section
2. Placed Definitions Section at the end of the amendment
3. Clarified Applicability Section with the intent to make it easier to understand and follow
4. Town Counsel has made some edits and deletions
5. Some waivers have been converted to exemptions and others have been clarified
6. Roles of specific players have been clarified

If you are interested in these latest versions, please request by email to cryan@harvard.ma.us and I will send you a pdf copy. We welcome your comments up to April 1st for warrant article version and beyond.

Community Housing Fair in April

A regional community housing fair has been scheduled where you can learn about affordable housing opportunities in Bolton, Boxborough, Devens, Hudson, Littleton, and Stow. Harvard is a provisional member of the Regional Housing Group sponsoring the event so Harvard residents are welcome as well. Date: Thursday, April 4, 2019 Time: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm Location: Pompositticut Community Center, Function Room, 509 Great Road, Stow MA RSVP: Go to event website for more information Cost: Free

A Card Game Designed to Help Urban Communities Plan for the Future

This article from CityLab is an interesting take on visioning using gameplaying to develop a shared vocabulary. Link to the article is below:

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/02/urban-planner-card-game-turkey-imaginable-guidelines/583465/

Zoning Articles Coming Soon

The always anxiety inducing zoning warrant article promises spirited Town Meeting debate and often confusion if the background work of public outreach isn't done exquisitely well and broadly. Having worked in Massachusetts towns for nearly 20 years, I completely understand how difficult achieving the 2/3 or "super-majority" can be. Mix one part controversial topic, with two parts confusing technospeak, and add ingredients representing various special interests, anti-regulatory philosophy, and a healthy fear of change, and you get a recipe for a collapsed souffle.

So how can the community be proactive and help shape the quality of the life of the town instead of being reactionary and responding, often too late, to threats such as an unanticipated use that is technically allowed as-of-right or from a state law like MGL 40B, recreational marijuana, or casinos? How can we protect our water resources, create business opportunities, or provide farms the flexibility to flourish with agritourism? It is typically zoning that facilities the opportunity and provides the protection, as long as they are well thought out, crafted, and executed.

This spring, the Planning Board anticipates two Protective Bylaw zoning articles that are intended to protect two very important natural resources: soil and water, while also seeking to limit the added expense that not acting to protect could create.
 
Erosion Control

This initiative was originally introduced in Spring Town Meeting 2016 where it was not successful. Yet due to ongoing belief in its need, the 2016 Master Plan Action Plan included the recommendation for the “adoption of an erosion control bylaw.” Failure in 2016 is generally believed to be due to a lack of strong public outreach and information on the article. The Planning Board will submit a much stronger version of this bylaw at the Annual Town Meeting this spring. The purpose of the bylaw is to:

• Respond to property owners whose property, adjacent to properties where soil erosion and stormwater runoff has damaged or impacted their properties;

 

• Address concerns from Town staff whose only recourse related to erosion impacting roads, culverts, and other public facilities and adjacent private property is to wait until a violation occurs in order to correct damage that could have been prevented if such a provision existed; and

 

• Responded to those concerned about local wetlands and other water resources, to concerns over resource area contamination impacting water quality and wildlife habitat.

The new language is not meant to prevent development in any way but just make sure that land clearing for development or other non-agricultural purposes uses the previously mentioned Best Management Practices. What happens if you want to do clearing that does fall under the bylaw? Well, you’ll need an Erosion Control Permit which lays out what you want to do, and how you will prevent any effects of land clearing from causing negative impacts on the neighbors, wetlands, and roads. We’ve tried to consider this bylaw from all the perspectives we can think of, but we need your input. We want to hear from the people of Harvard to make sure that this bylaw is rock solid. Please visit this link to view the latest draft of the proposed Bylaw. Also see these documents providing additional information:

• Erosion Control Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• Erosion Control Scenarios

Groundwater Protection

Harvard currently possesses groundwater protection zones mapped by the Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that protect water supplies in three separate communities. Water supply wells for the Town of Harvard as well as water supply wells in both Littleton and Ayer, each have zones of protection that are within the Town of Harvard's boundaries. As requested by our neighboring communities and recommended by DEP, the Town of Harvard passed an initial Groundwater Protection Overlay District at Town Meeting in 2018. Since that time, residents whose properties are split by the boundary of the district requested that the Town modify the regulations to only have the protection district apply to that portion of their property within the district itself.  These are the primary changes to the current Bylaw. To view the new draft warrant article language proposed, please visit this link.

The Planning Board has an open public hearing that will span regular meetings of the Board from now until just up to Town Meeting, providing citizens and businesses the opportunity to ask questions and express comments on the draft bylaw. Planning staff also plan one or more listening sessions for the public solely dedicated to the two bylaws expected to be on the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting. We also have a dedicated web page located here with more information on the new bylaws. Finally, if you have any specific questions or just want to discuss any bylaw drafts, please feel free to contact Christopher Ryan, Director of Community and Economic Development at: cryan@harvard.ma.us or call at 978-456-4100 x.323. 

Other Future Zoning Proposals

There will be more information to follow but the Planning Board will be providing additional information on two Special 2019 Town Meeting zoning bylaw amendment warrant articles including:

• Open Space and Conservation – Planned Residential Development (OSC-PRD): Due to the limited value and utility of the current bylaw Section 125-35, the Planning Board will be proposing extensive changes to try to make the option more attractive.
• Rural Life Special Permit: to follow in the tradition of Ipswich’s “Great Estate” zoning, the Planning Board will be proposing a special permit option to allow limited business uses on large estate lots.

Civics Circa 1948

Posted by Christopher Ryan

The image below is from an introduction to a civics textbook in the U.S. in 1948. Interesting to see that there are a number of issues that we still haven't adequately addressed.

Town Design and Loneliness

Posted by Christopher Ryan

The following article from the website "The Conversation" tackles the subject of loneliness and how our cities and towns are designed. Are there features of our townscapes that facilitate and foster loneliness or is loneliness just a matter of whether we are social and interactive or insular and anti-social? What do you think?

https://theconversation.com/designing-cities-to-counter-loneliness-lets-explore-the-possibilities-104853