Brookline Zoning/Land Use Turf Wars.
By Arshag A. Mazmanian
The dust has yet to settle on the mass resignations of ZBA members last fall and the recent resignation of Building Commissioner Jim Nickerson that may have been causally connected to the May 24th Town Hall Brawl triggered by a ZBA decision just prior thereto, which the ZBA reversed several weeks later at a rehearing requested by Nickerson. Recent ZBA hearings seem quite tame in comparison since the departures of several of its long in the tooth members.
More recently there surfaced the Brookline Planning Board’s draft report dated January 16, 2008 prepared on its behalf by the Planning Department on the subject of “Coolidge Corner District Plan comments.” The report’s first “bullet” in effect told the Coolidge Corner District Planning Council to “drop-dead” on the basis that the Council would interfere with the statutory Planning Board and its several long in the tooth members having potential or perceived “Conflakes of Int’rest” that the late Walt Kelly’s Pogo had observed in the Okeefenokee Swamp. “The Council is dead: Long live the Planning Board!” [See Jim’s “Planning Board Pulls A Classic” posted 1/25/08 (here) with its link to the draft report..]
Shortly afterward [see Jim’s “Parking Build-up Avoided” posting on 131/08, and comments, here] a public meeting of interest to Council members surfaced. The posted location for the meeting was changed apparently without sufficient public (or private) notice to interested parties, including Council members. The issue was consideration of parking reductions for a proposed multi-residence development in Coolidge Corner, supported by Planning Department Director Jeff Levine.
Over the years parking requirements have been at the forefront of zoning changes here in Brookline. When upzoning powers-to-be prevail, parking requirements are reduced and when downzoning powers-to-be prevail, parking requirements are increased. It is no secret that Coolidge Corner has serious parking issues that impact neighboring residential areas. It is no secret that certain forces in North Brookline have long been seeking relief from Brookline’s overnight parking ban.
So if Jeff Levine and the developer involved get their wish, how might the proposed parking requirement reductions impact upon the existing parking issues in Coolidge Corner? I wonder what studies of the Planning Department support or justify the proposed parking reduction? Might such parking reductions be extended to proposed commercial developments in Coolidge Corner? Might parking in Coolidge Corner become such a problem that shoppers who drive would shop elsewhere, where ample and convenient parking is provided? If so, perhaps Coolidge Corner would be doomed to remain a local business area with a revival of “Ma & Pa” businesses, While this might please some residents, the impact on the Town’s tax base may be negatively impacted.
With the ZBA and Building Department not fully recovered, the Planning Board together with the Planning Department seem to be the victors in the zoning/land use turf war. Now that EDAB is under the auspices of Director Jeff Levine’s Planning Department, he wears the crown on zoning/land use in Brookline. Perhaps Jeff has visions of emulating the power of Boston’s Redevelopment Authority here in Brookline.
Stay tuned for comments, including by me.
