Mugar Site

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting on Tuesday, October 13, was supposed to focus on critical wetland impacts and stormwater management on the Mugar site. However, at the Conservation Commission meeting on October 1, Oaktree Development presented a significantly revised site plan to replace the original plan for Thorndike Place, its proposed 40B housing development. 

No further plans or reports have been provided since then, so many crucial details are unknown, such as the revised wetlands boundaries, stormwater impacts and mitigation, building heights, and the proposed number of housing units and parking spaces. Until complete hydrological studies and other documentation are shared by the development team, further analysis by Town boards and Beta Group, the Town’s peer reviewer, remains in limbo.

At the October 13 ZBA hearing the developers are expected to provide some new information about their revised site plan, but the scope and context are uncertain. 

To register in advance, go to the ZBA agenda on the Town website.

Wetlands delineation is a critical upcoming decision.
Please let your concerns be heard.

Defining the extent of the site’s wetlands begins with an evaluation by the developer’s soils scientist, who then provides findings and data for review by the Town’s peer review consultants. Ultimately the Zoning Board of Appeals, with the input of the consultants and advice from ConCom, will determine the extent of the wetlands to be protected.

Please consider writing to both the ZBA and the ConCom to ask them to ensure that the review of the wetlands is thorough and accurate, and includes investigation of whether they have been been altered or covered by dumping or filling during the site’s decades of neglect. Comments may be sent to both boards at zba@town.arlington.ma.us and  concomm@town.arlington.ma.us.

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.

ConCom Review on Thursday Oct 1 at 9pm

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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.”

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.

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!

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.

Mugar Hearing Postponed Again to August 11

The Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on the comprehensive permit for Thorndike Place, located on the Mugar property in East Arlington, has been postponed again, from July 14 to August 11.

The delay will allow both town officials and the applicant to receive the initial report of the ZBA’s peer-review engineering firm, Beta Group, before the hearing.

The most recent project documents from the developer (dated in March 2020) are posted on the ZBA Thorndike Place webpage. Comment letters from various town boards, committees, and others, including the Land Trust, are also posted there.

https://www.arlingtonma.gov/town-governance/all-boards-and-committees/zoning-board-of-appeals/thorndike-place-comprehensive-permit

Read the ALT letter to the ZBA