Arlington Land Trust

Protecting Open Spaces in Arlington

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Mugar Developer Revises Site Plan

ConCom Review on Thursday Oct 1 at 9pm

Oaktree Development has presented the Town with a significantly revised site plan to replace the original plan for its proposed 40B housing development of East Arlington’s Mugar parcel. According to an accompanying memo from the proponent’s engineer, “the Applicant is proposing to revise the site plan to avoid or minimize wetland resource area impacts.”

Revised Site Plan
Original Site Plan

The new plan replaces the townhouses along Dorothy Road with a single multi-family structure and moves most parking underground, with a significant reduction in impervious surface. No specifics were furnished with the plan, so many details, such as the building height and proposed number of housing units or parking spaces, remain unknown.

The plan is being presented to the Conservation Commission as a “working session to foster an open discussion of the proposal.” That meeting will be conducted this Thursday by remote participation, with the Mugar agenda item scheduled for 9pm. To register in advance go to the ConCom agenda on the Town website.

Arlington Land Trust continues to advocate for the permanent protection of the Mugar parcel as conservation land. The site is subject to regular and significant flooding, and is a critical stormwater buffer for the surrounding and downstream neighborhoods of East Arlington.

Spy Pond Scavenger Hunts

Since the annual Spy Pond Park Fun Day had to be cancelled this year, the Friends of Spy Pond Park created two activities that families, teenagers and adults can do while wearing masks and staying socially distanced in and near Spy Pond Park.

A Public Art Hunt is fun for all ages including preschoolers. Click here for the images of 7 pieces of public art in Spy Pond Park and the bike path above it.

The History Mysteries Hunt uses QR codes to take you around the park to find out what was happening around Spy Pond in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, late 1900s and today. All you have to do is point your smartphone camera at the codes. Click here for the first clue to get you started.

Fall Volunteer Projects

After a hot, dry summer, many of our parks and conservation lands are in need of TLC before fall and winter weather sets in. Following are some scheduled clean-ups and stewardship projects that would appreciate volunteer assistance.

Arlington Reservoir Clean-up

Saturday, September 26,
9 am – 12 noon

The Arlington Reservoir Committee has scheduled a clean-up of the Wildlife Habitat Garden and surrounding areas of the Reservoir off Lowell Street. Bring your own tools (such as wheelbarrow, rakes, spades, loppers, clippers, gloves, etc.) and help tame the overgrown grasses and invasive plants in and around the garden. Members of the committee will be on hand to direct newcomers and welcome veteran volunteers to help prepare the garden for the winter.

Arlington’s Great Meadows
Boardwalk Repair

Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows is organizing boardwalk repair activities during September. Due to Covid-19 restrictions and construction requirements, the Friends have assembled all the needed materials and have prepared an instructional video. You will be guided on what tools to bring with you and asked to form small teams of family or friends to work together. To learn more about how to participate in these boardwalk repair projects, email David White. 

Note that demolition work at the former nursing home next to Arlington’s Great Meadows in East Lexington is about half done, and currently there is no AGM access from that property. Instead, follow a nearby access path about halfway behind the Emerson Gardens complex off Maple Street in Lexington. It’s marked with an AGM post and a no dumping sign. Please park on the main Emerson Gardens Road, not in the resident parking areas. Alternatively, you can park behind the Waldorf School on Mass Ave. in East Lexington or follow the Minuteman Bikeway to AGM.

Spy Pond Park Work Day

Saturday, October 17, 8-10 am
(rain date Sunday, October 18,
8-10 am)

The Friends of Spy Pond Park will hold their final work day of 2020 to undertake such tasks as removing grass between the cobblestones lining the path through the park and weeding the planting beds, pulling invasive plants, picking up litter, and grooming the tot lot. Meet near the boat ramp at 40 Pond Lane.
Volunteers must register in advance and liability waivers are required for all participants. Please download the waiver form from the FSPP website, fill it out completely, sign it (parental signature for under 18 yrs.), and send a scan or photo of it to fspp@friendsofspypondpark.org by 6 p.m. the Friday before the scheduled Work Day.

ZBA Begins Hearings on Thorndike Place

The Town of Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals met on Tuesday, August 25, following several summer postponements, and reconvened the public hearing on the Comprehensive Permit for Thorndike Place, the name of the proposed 40B housing project on the Mugar property in East Arlington. 

This was the first of many hearings that have been scheduled through the fall to address specific aspects of the complicated permitting process. The next meeting is now scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, at 7:30 pm, to discuss critical wetland impacts and stormwater management. 

Subsequent meeting dates and topics are tentatively scheduled as follows:

  • Oct 27 – General civil engineering matters
  • Nov 10 – Traffic flow and safety
  • Nov 24 – Architecture, landscape architecture and open space, plus density and overall design
  • Dec 8 – Pro forma review
  • Dec 22 – Conditions review and discussion

Previous project documents dating to 2016 and recent updates and correspondence are posted on the ZBA website.

The Land Trust will continue to monitor and report on the ZBA hearings and input from other Town groups including the Conservation Commission. Stay tuned!

The Mugar Wetlands and Alewife Flooding Video

Arlington filmmaker Glenn Koenig prepared this 5-minute video in 2015 as part of a presentation to Town Meeting. He used footage he had shot during previous storms, along with maps and still photos collected by the Land Trust. Town Meeting had been asked to vote its support of the newly-adopted Master Plan. ALT and other advocates proposed that the vote include specific mention of the Town’s long-standing goal of protecting the Mugar site. It passed overwhelmingly. 

At 2:35 minutes into the video, Route 2 is shown flooded and closed in both directions during a 2001 storm event. Arlington Public Works crews are pumping water from the highway onto the only area capable of storing the floodwater – the Mugar wetlands.