The Town of Arlington, through the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD), issued the Public Land Management Plan (PLMP) in January 2023. The project goal was to create a management plan for Town-owned open space, recreational land, and other natural resources in line with other Town plans. The plan was funded through a Community Preservation Act grant. The landscape architecture firm KZLA produced the plan in collaboration with the Public Land Management Working Group made up of representatives of Town departments and committees.
The PLMP details a structure for maintaining and managing relevant lands, provides analysis of the policies that govern the lands in question, and advises on the treatment of such lands, including recommendations of best practices. This first edition of the plan includes large public lands, small conservation parcels, parks and fields, and monuments, open spaces, and gardens. Future editions will add concerns like playgrounds, courts, and specific sports fields concerns. The PLMP will be revisited in 2025 and other updates and additions will be scheduled every three years.
The Arlington Open Space Committee and the Department of Planning and Community Development are pleased to announce that the recently updated Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) is now available on the Town website. The OSRP is a foundational document for all Town-wide planning and programs relating to parks, playgrounds, playing fields, natural resources, conservation land, sustainable development, climate resiliency, and other open space issues.
The planning process for developing for this most recent OSRP began in 2020, when the Open Space Committee received a grant from the Community Preservation Act Committee to hire a consultant, Horsley Witten Group, to help update the prior 2015 plan. The committee and consultants partnered with many Town departments, commissions, and organizations to obtain community input on open space and recreation goals and objectives. Two public forums were held, in June and December 2021, and an online public survey solicited responses from more than 1,000 residents. Information from all these sources, combined other research on the Town’s open space and recreation resources, contributed to the final plan. The OSRP received final approval from the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services in November 2022 and is in effect until July 2029.
The Board of Directors of the Arlington Land Trust invites you to join the 2022 Annual Meeting via Zoom on Monday, January 23, at 7 pm. We will elect Board members, hear a brief Treasurer’s report, and provide updates on the Mugar property and other local conservation projects.
Our guest speaker this year is David Morgan, Arlington’s Environmental Planner and Conservation Agent. David joined the Department of Planning and Community Development in Fall 2021 and has worked closely with the Conservation Commission, Open Space Committee, and other town groups on land use issues. He is also the liaison with the Land Trust for oversight of the conservation restriction on the parks and woods at Arlington 360, the former Symmes property.
David Morgan previously worked as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Research Fellow for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he investigated ecosystem-based climate change adaptation and policy, focusing on New England’s wetlands and coastal ecosystems. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College in Amherst and his Master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.
At the Land Trust meeting, David will describe the Urban Ecology Framework he is coordinating with Tufts graduate students. This project will chart the Town’s progress on identified goals for ecological land management and set a timeline for accomplishing them. Researchers will identify gaps in current plans and suggest best practices. New information will be added to planning efforts in the form of a landscape ecological analysis using GIS to map the ecological integrity of existing lands and likely habitat patches and corridors. The Framework will guide further planning efforts, such as a biodiversity action plan.
Please save the date and join the meeting using the link below.
All are welcome to attend the meeting. Anyone who has made a general membership payment and/or contributed to an ALT special fund during the past year is considered a member and is eligible to vote. If you have not done so already, please renew your membership or make a contribution here.
Thank you. We look forward to seeing you via Zoom on January 23.You can contact the Land Trust at info@arlingtonlandtrust.org.
Meeting ID: 818 4292 1460 Passcode: 311278 One tap mobile +13017158592,,81842921460#,,,,*311278# US (Washington DC) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kzOwRpKAU
David Morgan, Arlington’s Environmental Planner and Conservation Agent, was the guest speaker at the 2022 Annual Meeting, held via Zoom on January 23, 2023. He described the Urban Ecology Framework he is coordinating with Tufts graduate students to chart the Town’s progress on identified goals for ecological land management and set a timeline for accomplishing them. He has provided a summary of the project, including maps and contact information.
Since the previous Mugar Update in January 2022, several legal actions have occurred regarding the proposed 40B development known as Thorndike Place, although no final decisions have been made. Following is a summary of recent actions and an update of the Land Trust’s involvement in the ongoing process.
The Zoning Board of Appeals filed its decision and conditions on the project in November 2021, and in December two lawsuits were filed against the ZBA decision: 1) the developers of Thorndike Place, Arlington Land Realty LLC, filed a lawsuit with the Housing Appeals Committee; and 2) three abutters of the Mugar property filed a lawsuit in Middlesex County Superior Court. In April 2022, the developers terminated their appeal, which means the abutters’ case can move forward.
Land Trust to Support Environmental Studies
Attorney Daniel Hill, who has been hired by the Coalition to Save the Mugar Wetlands on behalf of the abutters, recently gave the ALT Board an update on their lawsuit. He explained that a primary goal of the case is to present evidence concerning environmental damage, flooding, and related hydrological and stormwater problems that could be caused by the development. Although the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the project with extensive conditions, the lawsuit argues that insufficient data and analyses of groundwater conditions were available at the time.
Hill and several engineering and hydrological consultants are in the process of preparing the case and gathering such data. The ALT Board has agreed to underwrite some of the costs directly associated with these environmental studies. The analyses and reports will be available for the lawsuit and for the Conservation Commission and other Arlington officials to use in future planning for the Mugar property. Hill does not expect the court trial to begin until 2023 or 2024.
Coalition Seeks to Protect Wetlands
The Coalition to Save the Mugar Wetlands was established in response to the proposed development of the wetlands. The group is engaged in raising awareness about the proposed 40B Thorndike Place project and supporting the efforts of the abutters who have filed suit to prevent any development on the property.
The Coalition has launched a Go Fund Me page to help raise funds to support their legal efforts. On Saturday, October 15, 1-5 pm, the Coalition will sponsor a Yard Sale and Fair on Parker Street as a neighborhood celebration and fundraiser.
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.
