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Arlington Land Trust

Protecting Open Spaces in Arlington

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Annual Meeting Goes Virtual

January 3, 2021

The Land Trust will present its 20th anniversary annual meeting via Zoom this year on Tuesday, January 19, at 7:00 pm. The agenda will include the usual reports of recent activities and board member elections. Please save the date and sign up here to receive the Zoom link to the meeting. 

Bob Wilber, Director of Land Conservation at Mass Audubon


Our special guest speaker this year is Bob Wilber, Director of Land Conservation at Mass Audubon. Long-time ALT members may recall that Bob was instrumental in helping the Land Trust negotiate the purchase of Elizabeth Island in 2010.
 
He will address the topic Land Conservation in the Time of Climate Change. Land conservation has always been an important activity to protect diverse habitats for animals and plants and to provide opportunities for people to experience the wonders of the natural world firsthand. During the last decade, the immense human health benefits of spending time in natural settings have been well documented. More recently, the convergence of two other critically important issues – the need for impactful responses to climate change and the need for environmental equity and justice for all people – has elevated the priority of strategic land conservation to an altogether new level.
 
Bob Wilber has been the Director of Land Conservation for Mass Audubon since 2000. Previously, he worked in similar capacities for the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Massachusetts State Forests and Parks. Bob is a past president of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition (MLTC), and currently serves on MLTC’s Board of Trustees. He lives in Stow, where he is president of the all-volunteer Stow Conservation Trust, and a member of the Town of Stow’s Open Space Committee. During his 35+ year career, Bob has been directly involved in the protection of more than 40,000 acres in Massachusetts.

More Mugar Hearings

December 18, 2020

ZBA Hearings on Mugar/Thorndike Place Continue

On Tuesday, December 22, the ZBA will continue its environmental review of wetlands, stormwater and related issues on the Mugar property, with input from the Conservation Commission and the Town’s third-party reviewer (Beta Group) as well as from Oaktree Development’s representative (BSC Group) and others.

To register for this Zoom meeting and find links to the various plans and technical materials that have been submitted for review and discussion, visit the ZBA agenda page on the Town website. You are encouraged to send comments to both Town boards at concomm@town.arlington.ma.us and zba@town.arlington.ma.us. 

See the ZBA memorandum of the schedule for future hearings on Thorndike Place. The next meeting on January 12 will focus on traffic studies.

Mugar Wetlands Review Begins on December 3

December 1, 2020

The environmental review of wetlands, stormwater and related issues on the Mugar property will now commence with a Conservation Commission working session on Thursday, December 3, followed by a ZBA hearing on Tuesday, December 8. An updated schedule for all ZBA hearings on Thorndike Place was announced at the ZBA meeting on November 24.

The Conservation Commission will meet on December 3 with Oaktree Development’s representative (BSC Group) and the Town’s third-party reviewer (Beta Group) to review the updated permit application materials submitted over the past several weeks. This discussion is scheduled to begin at 8:30 pm following other commission business.

To register for these Zoom meetings and find links to the various plans and technical materials, visit the respective Con Comm and ZBA agenda pages on the Town website. You are encouraged to send comments to both boards at concomm@town.arlington.ma.us and zba@town.arlington.ma.us. 

Register for ZBA Zoom Meeting on November 24

November 22, 2020

You can now register in advance for the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on the Mugar property to be held on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm, via Zoom. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the meeting.

However, the agenda has been changed because the anticipated report by Beta Group, the Town’s peer review consultants, is not yet available. Instead, the ZBA will accept the large number of new documents submitted by the Oaktree Development team and discuss the schedule for future hearings. The new materials include architectural plans and numerous technical reports on wetland delineations, stormwater, transportation and other issues, as required for the 40B Comprehensive Permit process for Thorndike Place. They are posted on the ZBA agenda website.

Another new item of interest is the comment letter from the Conservation Commission with its preliminary review of Oaktree’s new documents and its recommendations pending further information from Beta Group. All of this will be discussed at a future meeting, so stay tuned!


ZBA Mugar Hearings Resume on November 24

November 20, 2020

The Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:30 pm, will focus on critical wetland impacts and stormwater management on the Mugar site. Since announcing their revised site planin September, the Oaktree Development team has submitted new architectural plans and numerous technical reports as required for the 40B Comprehensive Permit process for Thorndike Place. These documents can be viewed on the ZBA agenda website.
 
Of particular note is a comment letter from Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) that outlines our shared concerns for a thorough analysis of the wetland delineation, recent hydrologic modelling in the Alewife watershed, and Arlington’s wetland regulations.
 
One crucial item not yet posted there is a report by Beta Group, the consultants hired by the Town to provide peer review of the Oaktree Development team’s permitting materials. That report is expected before the November 24 meeting, along with Zoom instructions to register for the meeting. We will send out another update with that information before next Tuesday.
 
In the meantime, please consider writing to both the ZBA and the Conservation Commission to ask them to ensure that the review of the wetlands is thorough and accurate, and includes investigation of whether and when they have been altered or covered by illegal dumping. Comments may be sent to both boards at zba@town.arlington.ma.usand concomm@town.arlington.ma.us.

Revised Site Plan
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