Report from Arlington Commerical Re-development Presentation
On Tuesday, April 13, the Town held a public meeting to present a draft report by Larry Koff and Associates on proposed strategies to attract business and commercial area development. The draft reports are available on the town’s website for public viewing. http://www.arlingtonma.gov/Public_Documents/ArlingtonMA_PLanning/commercialdev/index
Attending this presentation were about 25-30 Arlington residents and a few business members, including Steve Kurland from Za who has been a positive member of the East Arlington business community.
The bulk of the presentation and discussion afterward focused around the Arlington Center area as it is the business district most in need of improvment. East Arlington faired better, in their opinion, because the neighborhood has been more successful in re-tenanting, regulatory reform, and organization. They touted the Capitol Square website as a great organizational tool: http://thecapitolsquare.com/. The report identifies East Arlington as the “center for arts and crafts, cinema, boutiques and eateries, and local convenience shopping.” The noted deficiencies have to do mostly with the physical condition of the area, such as signs, facades, roadway, and the parking shortage, which the Mass. Ave. Corridor project would do a great deal to improve the physical condition. Also mentioned was that a phased program of parking reforms is being considered by the Board of Selectmen, the Traffic Adviisory Committee, and East Arlington residents and businesses.
In the Arlington Center area, the report proposes the idea of moving the fire station onto Mystic St. in the Russell Common parking lot and creating an adjacent parking garage. The rationale for this was not explained well and therefore received a lot of criticism in the discussion portion of the meeting. Other major ideas in the Center included renovating Broadway Plaza, rerouting people off the bike path to be in front of the businesses, and hiring an Economic Development Coordinator in order to implement some of the ideas and ongoing strategies. There was mostly praise for the idea of renovating Broadway Plaza. Many were concerned that routing bike traffic through the center would bring too much traffic and distractions through a congested area, although one resident asked if there was a plan to incorporate bike lanes in the center. Carol Kowalski, Director of Planning, indicated there is a separate study looking into bikes through the center and the bike path.
With the exception of the fire station issue, most ideas were well received, however, there was not much discussion on the Capitol Square business district.