Amend Article 5.23 of the Town's Zoning By-laws to establish special rules pertaining to the Transit Parking Overlay District

Special Town Meeting, November 2018

In 2016 Town Meeting enacted a zoning provision that gave developers an offer they would find hard to refuse: "If you build non-40B residential developments in one of the most densely populated parts of Massachusetts, in a place where you would already want to build because it is so desirable, then Brookline will allow you to build in a way that will lower your costs and increase your profits, just for doing what you would want to do anyway. If you build outside this part of Brookline you will not receive the economic benefit." The petitioner believes that the zoning provision encourages non-40B residential development in a part of Brookline that is already
extraordinarily developed, and that encouraging further development is an unintended consequence of the provision. The article now being offered is a modest effort to require something back from non-40B residential developers in return for the economic benefit afforded them. Perhaps, too, it may push developers to provide more green space and push developers to make additional contributions to the Town's Housing Trust for affordable housing.

Zoning By-Law Section 3.01 Paragraph 4e establishes a "Transit Parking Overlay District" ("TPOD"), within which the off-street parking space requirements are lower than the off-street parking space requirements in the rest of Brookline. The TPOD is essentially North Brookline.

It is well known that North Brookline is the site of many new and planned "chapter 40B" (20% affordable 80% market rate) multifamily residential developments. But, since the advent of the TPOD, North Brookline has also been the site of many new and planned "chapter 40A" (that is, non-40B) multifamily residential developments. These are market rate developments (although developments of 6 units or greater - whether located outside the TPOD or within the TPOD - are subject to the Town's affordable housing requirements under Zoning By-Law Sec. 4.08).

The TPOD's off-street parking requirements benefit 40A residential developers by reducing their costs. In exchange for reducing 40A residential developers' costs for building within the TPOD and building less off-street parking the zoning by-law requires nothing. There is no requirement that those developers pass along their cost savings to their tenants or condo unit purchasers: instead, developers - who are in business to make money - are free to pocket the cost savings and price their products at whatever the market will bear. There is no requirement that 40A residential developers within the TPOD provide better design, occupy less FAR, provide more green space, lower height, increase setbacks, or do anything else. The TPOD is a gift to 40A residential developers who build in the TPOD, wrapped in the hope that they will voluntarily return the favor.

Meanwhile, data from Brookline's GIS Department is that the TPOD has a density of .005626 persons per square foot. Using the GIS' Department's figures, if the TPOD were its own municipality the TPOD would be the fourth most densely populated municipality in Massachusetts. The TPOD would be less densely populated than only Somerville, Cambridge and Chelsea, but it would be more densely populated than all other municipalities, including Boston, Everett, Malden, Worcester, Springfield, Lawrence and Lowell.

Including the TPOD in Brookline makes Brookline the tenth densest municipality in Massachusetts. Without the TPOD, the rest of Brookline would drop to forty third most dense, between Braintree and Reading.

The article would take a modest step towards requiring something back from developers of 40A residential developments in the TPOD - one of the most densely populated parts of the state and by far the most densely populated part of Brookline - in exchange for lowering their costs and increasing their profits when they build in what is already one of the state's most desirable locations.

The TPOD is one of the most densely populated parts of the Commonwealth and also one of the most desirable places to build multifamily developments. The TPOD is an area that is already beset with not only an unprecedented number of 40B residential developments but, also, a large and increasing number of 40A residential developments. The TPOD off-street parking rules benefit 40A residential developers by encouraging them to reduce their costs.

The article does not increase off-street parking requirements above the TPOD requirements. Under the article TPOD off-street parking requirements are unchanged. Developments within the TPOD will still be subject to the TPOD parking requirements.

Under the article, if developers plan and build within the reduced maximum FAR the physically smaller developments would benefit the community, perhaps by increasing setbacks and thereby increasing green space, reducing density, or reducing height. Or, instead, if developers plan and build in excess of the reduced maximum FAR the article would bring more money into the Town's Housing Trust.

Either way, the Town (and North Brookline - which has a target on its back) would turn a giveaway to developers into a public benefit that is tied to the economic benefit that the TPOD bestows on developers.