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Mugar Wetlands Review Begins on December 3
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…
Register for ZBA Zoom Meeting on November 24
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…
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ZBA Mugar Hearings Resume on November 24
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…
ZBA to Review New Mugar Site Plan October 13
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…
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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…
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 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…
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Mugar Hearing Postponed Again
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…
Mugar Updates
Tuesday, July 14 at 7:00 pm is the new date for the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on the proposed Thorndike Place 40B housing development on the Mugar land in East Arlington. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
Mugar Hearing Postponed
Note: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the previously announced Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on April 14 to consider the Thorndike Place 40B development project was postponed until June 9. We will alert you to any further news about this project.
March 2020 Article about Mugar Site
The Belmont Citizens Forum newsletter of March/April 2020 contained a three page report on Mugar Site. The article, by Meg Muckenhoupt is entitled Arlington Group Opposes Mugar Site Plans. You may view a pdf copy of the article here.
February 2020 Article by Mugar Site Developer
Mugar site developer urges plan that works for all Gwendolen G. Noyes Wednesday, 26 February 2020 Published by Your Arlington The following opinion was written by Gwendolen G. Noyes, founder and senior vice president of marketing for Oaktree Development, the company that seeks to build Thorndike Place…
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January 2020 Update on Mugar Development Hearings
At its December 10, 2019 meeting, the Zoning Board of Appeals heard from representatives of Arlington Land Realty, the developer of the proposed 40B housing project to be located on the Mugar land in East Arlington, and from several abutters and other members of the…
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December 2019: Mugar Development Hearing Begins
Zoning Board of AppealsTuesday December 10th at 7:45pmLyons Hearing Room, Town Hall Second Floor Oaktree Development will appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals to begin the public hearing process on its proposal to build a 291-unit housing project in East Arlington. The meeting is…
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October 2019 Update on the Mugar Parcel
State agency rules against Arlington on 40B “Safe Harbor.”
Mugar hearing resumption postponed at developer’s request.
The state’s Housing Appeals Committee (HAC), in a decision that is disappointing but not surprising given HAC’s longstanding bias against local control, ruled this week that Arlington has not achieved a target that would have strengthened the Town’s hand […]
December 2018 Mugar Update
https://youtu.be/1QyLmZv1hAs December 2018 Update Hearing held and decision awaited on 40B dispute Does affordable housing occupy at least 1.5% of the land area in Arlington? That seemingly arcane question was debated in November at a long-delayed hearing before the state’s Housing Appeals Committee (HAC), whose…
December 2017 Mugar Update
What’s Happening with Mugar? December 3, 2017 Update In 2015, Oaktree Development proposed a 219-unit housing development on the environmentally sensitive Mugar parcel in East Arlington, invoking the state Chapter 40B provisions which allow housing developments with a certain affordable component to skirt local land…
Arlington ZBA appeals adverse ruling by state
December 15, 2016: The proposed development of the Mugar Parcel is headed to the state Housing Appeals Committee for the next round of procedural argument. Arlington’s Zoning Board of appeals (ZBA) has asserted that the Town has met one of the “safe harbor” thresholds available…
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Mugar 40B Application Submitted
August 31, 2016: Oaktree Development has submitted its application to the Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals to build a 219-unit development at the Mugar site. The entire document set is available to download HERE. At 225 pages it is best to right-click and download the…
Zoning Board asserts ‘safe harbor’ protection from hostile 40B proposal
September 30, 2016: The formal hearing process on the Oaktree Development proposal to develop the Mugar site began at the September 27th meeting of the Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals, with the ZBA asserting that the Town of Arlington has met one of the ‘safe…
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