ARLINGTON'S
MILL
BROOK:
Design & Process
by
PAUL LOWNIE BATTAGLIA
B.S.A.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1973
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE
at the
MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
June, 1975
Signature of Author. . . . .
Paul I~fwnie Battaglia
Department f Architecture
May 9, 1975
Certified by.
Tunney Lee
Thesis Supervisor
Accepted by.................
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Chairman,
Rotch
JUN
3 1975
1EIRARIES
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000
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4aa
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000
Alan Balfour
Departmental Committee
on Graduate Students
Abstract
ARLINGTON'S MILL BROOK:
Design & Process
by Paul Lownie Battaglia
submitted to the Department of Architecture
on May 9, 1975, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree Master of Architecture.
Arlington, Massachusetts, developed quickly between the
open land for expansion
1920's and 1950's leaving little
The Mill Brook
of housing, services, and recreation.
Valley, which contains the main transportation and commercial centers of town, and is the proposed corridor for
the extension of rail rapid transit, presents opportunities
for linear park and high density development.
The underlying goal of this thesis is to design a piece of
the Mill Brook Valley as a physical test of different programs drawn from planning criteria and town-scale priorities.
The final proposal is to take full advantage of the opportunity to construct a linear park along the Mill Brook
through the town of Arlington. The Theodore Schwamb site,
an underutilized industrial site, is used to present an
example of the possibilities of the linear park concept.
The thesis concludes with a proposed site organization,
a set of alternative prototypes for commercial development,
a program of activity for the site, and a design for a
cluster of retail shops at a place along the Mill Brook.
Tunney Lee
Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban DesignThesis Supervisor
Lawrence Susskind
Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning
Thesis Advisor
Purpose
"But my purpose is not really to leap the gap (which can
be abysmally deep, however narrow), only to shorten it.
So, the task is endless; I've never fooled myself about
that. But the fact that it's endless doesn't mean that
I can't work on other things, other aspects of the grand
project, even though the COMPLETION of those aspects
depends ultimately on the leaping of the gap in my Inquiry.
It doesn't follow that because a goal is unattainable, one
shouldn't work towards its attainment.
Besides, as I have
observed elsewhere, processes continued for long enough
tend to become ends in themselves, and if for no other
reason, I should continue my researches simply in order
to occupy pleasantly the two hours after dinner."
-
John Barth
"The Floating Opera"
"This they tell, and whether it happened so or not I do
not know; but if you think about it, you can see that
it is true."
-
John Neihardt
"Black Elk Speaks"
It is probably true of every thesis that the original
purposes change as problems are addressed.
The perceived
purpose at any time in the research process can be very
different from another time.
The original purpose of this thesis was to design a
piece of Arlington's Mill Brook Valley as a physical test
of different programs drawn from planning criteria and
town-scale priorities.
written, verbalized,
It was hoped that a study of the
and subliminal sets of attitudes and
priorities in the town would offer a logical approach to
a design for a piece of the Valley.
To a certain extent,
the thesis has succeeded in this purpose, but the process
involved is
truly endless, and inconclusive.
Too many
of the assumptions made along the way must be accepted
on faith for this thesis to be presented as the final
word on the design of the Mill Brook Valley.
A second purpose emerged as it became evident to
me that the
way a Town, or any organizational body,
decides to act on any given recommendation is not by
rationally approaching the merits of the proposed action.
This "rationality" had been the major assumption of my
original purpose.
The process of decision-making,
origin-
ally excluded from the scope of this thesis, became one of
the major inputs to my understanding of problems in
Arlington as I continued to explore the development of
the Citizen's Involvement Committee.
I knew I could not
deal exclusively with a discussion of planning as the
method of making decisions since the Committee's work is
as yet in an embryonic state.
Furthermore, because my
understanding of physical "interventions" had changed,
I knew that my contribution, my purpose for this thesis,
could only be an exercise.
I have proposed a route to take through the jungle
of issues, but it
has been my route alone.
It is by now
perhaps completely overgrown as the issues change rapidly.
However, in addition to this proposal, the thesis has worked
to help me elucidate my values to myself.
This in itself has
been a major accomplishment, and I see it now as the major
purpose of the thesis process.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Professor
Tunney Lee for keeping me aware of what I was doing at
those times I had become uncertain;
Susskind for exceptional support,
Professor Lawrence
guidance,
and insightful
proofreading of the text; Bob Slattery for jolting design
criticisms when I needed them; and also Alan McClennan,
Director of Planning in Arlington, Ed Tsoi of the Arlington
Redevelopment Board, and Bill Grannan of the Citizen's
Involvement Committee for their continued interest in what
has turned out to be a more selfish product than first
envisoned.
I would also like to thank the Arlington Citizen's
Involvement Committee, Stanford Anderson, Gaston Bachelard-,
Jonathan Barnett, John Barth, Carl Battaglia, Ann Beha,
Tom Bender, Judith Ceremsak, Serge Chermayeff, James Czajka,
John Dos Passos, Bob Dylan, Charles Eames, Harry Ellenzweig,
Black Elk, Paul Goodman, Gary Hack, Michael Harris, Herman
Hertzberger, Charles Ives, John Lanterman, John Lederer,
Henri Lefebvre, John Lennon, Kevin Lynch, Norman Mailer,
Karl Marx, Daniel McGill, John Myer, John Neihardt, Amos
Rappoport, Bernard Rudofsky, R M Schindler, Vincent Scully,
Jose Luis Sert, Nathan Sivins, Maurice Smith, John Sumberg,
Alex Tzonis, Jan Wampler, Bill Warner, and Frank Lloyd Wright
for sharing their attitudes and insights along the way.
Contents
Abstract
2
Purpose
3
Acknowledgements
5
Contents
6
INTRODUCTION
LOCAL CRITERIA
7
16
Linear Park
Commercial
Housing
Industry
Community Development
Auto City
Open Space & Recreation
Historic Preservation
Mill Brook Valley Study
Priorities
Summary
SITE CRITERIA
40
Development Options
Financial Considerations
Town Priorities
Physical Context
PROGRAM & DESIGN
43
48
50
52
57
Place
Alternative Commercial
Diagrams
Design
Conclusions
APPENDIX
18
21
23
25
26
28
30
31
32
34
38
58
62
71
80
84
Site Value Method
Land Bank Article
Clippings
84
90
93
INTRODUCTION
Arlington, Massachusetts, located five miles northwest
of downtown Boston between Cambridge and Lexington, is part
of the inner group of suburbs of the Boston metropolitan area.
It is situated on the ring of hills at the fault line that
defines the urban center.
These hills maintained nineteenth-
century Arlington's character as a small rural town until
the advent of the streetcar prompted suburbanization.
A brief look at the population figures indicates how
rapid migration into Arlington was in the early part of this
century.
The total population of the town doubled in only
fifteen years from 1910 to 1925 (11,187 to 24,943 people),
and increased by the same amount in the next five years (to
36,089 in 1930).
It took thirty years however to equal that
increase once again (49,953 in 1960).
During the last fifteen
years there has been little net change as the population
stabilized between 50,000 and 55,000 citizens.
best be described as a "mature suburb."
1)
Arlington Redevelopment
Board,
The town can
The town is no longer
Comprehensive Plan: Population, February 1973; p. 2.
M~
~
9
40
Arlington
Environs
To
expanding and there is no space left for substantial new
development.
The term "mature suburb" also implies that
however "urban" the problems of the town may be,
a suburb in
it
is
still
terms of density and character.
The expansion of population in the 1920s involved the
construction primarily of two-family homes in the flat area
adjacent to Cambridge known as East Arlington.
New develop-
ment also followed the streetcar route past Arlington Center
along the south side of the Mill Brook Valley to Arlington
Heights where the valley narrowed at the Foot of the Rocks
before openning onto the Great Meadows in Lexington.
In
1926, in the face of this tremendous onrush of building
activity, Arlington initiated one of the first
comprehensive
planning efforts in the country, prepared by Charles W.
Eliot 2nd.2
By that time,
the automobile had arrived and
much of the plan was concerned with highway improvements
based in part on projections derived from data on accidents.
Time proved too late to implement many of the elements
of the 1926 Town Plan since the town was already more than
half of its present population and most of the land had
been built upon.
Its shape had already been determined by
topography and early development patterns along earlier
transportation routes.
The 1930s Depression and the World
War which followed caused postponement of most of the actions.
Water works and parkways were completed at the edge of town,
but little change actually occured within the town.
Post-war
building, aided by FHA financing and an extensive dependence
upon automobiles for all transportation needs, filled up the
remaining sites in town, mainly in the hilly Morningside area
near Winchester, with single-family homes but few neighborhood
services.
In subsequent years, as builders moved further into
the suburbs, the population level in Arlington stabilized and
building activity entered an apartment-construction phase.
The Town revised its Master Plan in 1962, but the effort
was ineffective,
as were most such plans of the time, because
planners "were content to look at the city as something to be
measured,
classified or categorized.
simple statistics
The goal was to provide
and to extrapolate these findings for future
plans in hopelessly over-simplified sets of separate components. ,3
2)
Arlington Planning Board,
3)
Serge Chermayeff
Report on a Town Plan for Arlington,
and Alex Tzonis,
Massachusetts,
Shape of Community, 1971; p. 14.
1926.
11
The plan failed because it
did not provide realistic
methods for making the necessary decisions.
The building
decisions remained in private control, which followed no
"master plan."
The failure of the 1962 plan was instrumental
in the decision of the Town to hire a professional staff of
planners.
This action caused a change in attitude and policy
as can be seen in
the following excerpt from a 1974 Redevel-
opment Board report:
For many decades communities, like Arlington, devoted
a great deal of time and attention to the formation
of a Comprehensive Plan. The so-called Master Plan,
after completion, would then be given a final resting
place somewhere in the community's archives. Dutifully,
copies would be distributed to libraries and certain
municipal offices where they would occasionally be
perused by a graduate planning student from a local
university.
In order to overcome this useless exercise, the
Arlington Redevelopment Board views the Comprehensive
Plan as a process resulting in the preparation of
timely andr
red planning studies.
Since the
overall purpose of a Comprehensive Plan is to formulate
land use policy for the entire Town based upon a firm
understanding of realistic alternatives, the Board
has devoted time and staff to the preparation
of 4
necessary updates of comprehensive plan elements.
One of the recent elements of the Town's process, the
one the planners have termed "possibly the single most important activity of the Board, ,5 is
Mill Brook Valley.
the development of the
They recognize early in their study that
this area, being the core of transportation, commercial and
civic activity,
"possesses different characteristics and
potential from the rest of town."
4)
Arlington Redevelopment Board,
5) Ibid.,
p. A-6.
Report to Annual Town Reeting, march 1974; p. A-1.
12
The Valley has always been a unique area of Arlington.
As early as 1637, Captain Cooke established a corn mill on
the Mill Brook just north of what became the village center.
The Conservation Commission has recently acquired the site,
named Cooke's Hollow, and developed a prototypical stretch
of park along the banks.
In 1775, the valley provided the
easiest route up the rim of hills to Concord.
Although
arriving by three different roads, Paul Revere, William
Dawes, and Colonel Smith all eventually made their way
through the valley to Lexington.
The retreating British
and the rebels saw the bloodiest fighting of the first
of revolution in this valley.
day
During the nineteenth century,
the valley continued to serve as the prominent route west
from Boston.
Other mills were built in the valley to take
advantage of the water power derived from the brook, and in
1848 the Lexington Railroad was constructed through the valley
fixing its
industrial character.
The 1962 Comprehensive Plan continued to stress the
development of industry in the Valley, citing a need for
expansion of industry to bolster the Town's tax base.
However,
by the sixties, industry no longer depended upon the railroad,
and recent highway building, especially Rte. 2 and Rte. 128,
allowed industries to move to larger sites outside of the
inner suburbs which had become convenient to truck travel.
Industrial since its earliest colonial times, the Mill Brook
Valley could no longer serve industry's needs.
The Boston and Maine railway through Arlington's Mill
Brook Valley is now being considered by the Massachusetts
Bay Transportation Authority as a future alignment for the
mass transit Red Line Extension from Harvard Square.
development of transit in
The
the Valley will accelerate the
conversion of underutilized industrial tracts to residential
use, a change in land use that began in the late 1960s as
developers responded to an increased demand for housing in
the inner suburban area.
Reacting to the inappropriate
design of many of these newer undistinguished structures,
the Townspeople voted a Moratorium on all non-public construction in
the Valley from September 1973 to August 1975.
It was hoped that the pause would give the town a chance to
effectively zone for an orderly and quality rebuilding of the
Valley during the coming onslaught of development.
14
The process of planning since the Moratorium has been
to set the stage for a decision about a new Zoning By-law
for the Town and especially for the Valley.
Every report
on any topic in the Comprehensive Plan seemed concerned
with the construction of apartments and the potential of
certain elements of the Valley.
These reports were written
by officials and citizen volunteer committees, and involved
many different points of view.
many people in
This intensive study by
town has served in developing the issues,
but many conflicts exist in these reports,
same section.
sometimes in the
For example, a Statement of Goals and Objec-
tives written in 1972 included the following goal:
Encourage the construction of apartments in
suitable areas as determined by town-wide and
neighborhood needs. (6)
of course, this is a "goal" and little is done to explain
what is a "suitable area" or how one would "determine needs."
Such things are for the planning process to decide.
Two
pages later, in the same report, the following statement is
included recognizing the problems ahead:
APARTMENT BUILDINGS. Much rethinking is being done
in this area. While apartments are potentially a
great asset to the town, their location in many
instances in the past has been unfortunate. The
Board feels it wisest at this time to encourage
only developments of the highest quality and to
slow down much of the building by small developers
for a period of time, until development policies
for specified areas can be better delineated. (7)
6)
Arlington Redevelopnent
7) Ibid.,
pp. 5-6.
Board,
Comprehensive Plan: Goals and Objectives,
July 1972; p.
4.
15
** IN THIS THESIS,
I have tried to relate all the
proposals and different points of view expressed in the
various Comprehensive Plan reports, and have applied my
own interpretation to an approach of a design for a particular site.
This exercise has been coincident with
several other studies in the town, none of which has been
concluded in
time to compare with the conclusions of this
thesis. 8
The body of this thesis begins with a presentation
of the key issues in Arlington affecting land use and
redevelopment policy decisions.
These "local criteria"
are followed by a study of one site in the Mill Brook
Valley, after which more carefully delineated "site criteria" are drawn.
The purpose is to use these criteria
to program activity for the site and to design a part of
this activity.
8) These reports are: The Mifl Brook Valley
and the Arlington Department of Planning
Citizen Attitudes and Priorities (or the
Citizen's Involvement Committee; and the
of Planning and Community Development.
Study Report, by Charles G. Hilgenhurst and Associates
and Community Developnentl Results of the Survey of
Arlington Fact Book), conducted by the Arlington
Arlington Zoning By-law, from the Arlington Department
LOCAL
CRITERIA
The opportunity for redevelopment of the town which
would accompany the extension of the Red Line through
Arlington has provided the main thrust of current planning
activity.
The town has officially taken the position that
Arlington can not serve as the terminus of the transit
extension, but that the route should either stop at Alewife
on the Cambridge border or continue on to Lexington and
Rte. 128, with stops in Arlington Center and Arlington Heights.
Since the most extreme changes and opportunities concerning
land use, property tax, and redevelopment would result from
extension of the line through the town, planning studies have
been based on projections anticipating that event.
The Mill Brook Valley --
the location of the proposed
transit route and even at present vulnerable to change -would be the part of town most affected by the MBTA extension.
The Redevelopment Board has been studying several available
sites in the valley hoping to derive from the study the
zoning criteria necessary to assure appropriate redevelopment.
Two sites near Arlington Center were studied at open meetings
with the owners, developers and.architects of the proposed
developments present to test several of these criteria. 9
The results of the existing zoning law on the type of
apartment development generated in the Valley is also
being studied to find out how developers reacted to the
law.
The results of these studies are being used to draft
the new Zoning By-law, which will come to Town Meeting for
approval in
September 1975.
Linear Park
The redevelopment of the Mill Brook Valley will be
primarily the result of private actions regulated by the
Town agencies.
To assure the provision of adequate open
#%*)TWLA'":E>
cqNeAT
AVF
44fE fk CX4
Mill Brook Linear Park
9) These meetings were held in January, 1975.
Also, a design class at Harvard Graduate School of
Design and students from the Harvard Business School completed a study of one of these sites
in the Fall of 1974.
19
space opportunity will require direct public action.
In
recognition of this fact, the Town has committed itself to
the concept of a linear park through the Valley.
The
authors of the Open Space report comment:
The course of the Mill Brook is intimately
related to the history, the topography, the
organization, and, hopefully, the future of
Arlington... Along this spine are located
the Town's central urban features. This all
adds up to a powerful case for developing
Mill Brook into the amenity it is capable
of becoming...
Few towns in New England have an opportunity
for more dramatic or useful urban design. (10).
The Town currently owns considerable amounts of property along the brook in parks, the cemetery, and schools.
Much of the other land adjacent to Mill Brook is industrial
and will probably be redeveloped in the future, providing
an opportunity to build the park through the extension of
public easements on redeveloped sites.
However, acquiring
the necessary rights-of-way or easements through the Valley
has not proved to be very easy because of the many small
parcels that need to be assembled, and the practice of
covering the culvert for roads and building sites in previous decades.
Several methods for developing the linear park have
been suggested, and most will probably be used depending
upon special problems with each parcel.
The first method
is acquisition of the properties along the Mill Brook.
Second, public easements can be purchased especially where
10) Dober and Associates,
Arlington Open Space Study, November
1972; pp.
25-27.
20
a small part of a property is involved, or where such a park
would not interfere with the current use of the property.
Third, zoning can be written to encourage the development
and linkage of open space along the brook when redevelopment
occurs.
Fourth, the mass transit extension along the
existing rail line can be constructed as a subway in a
cut-and-cover process through the town; the concrete top
of the right-of-way can be used as a bikeway and the edqes
landscaped.
.
This fourth method of constructing the linear park
over the subway line has proved the most politically expedient in guaranteeing the provision of a linear park in
the near future.
However, the linear park concept is now
tied to the mass transit decision.
This method is highly
recommended by the Town as a short-range solution, and along
with it the Town promises a continued long-range effort to
develo.p the brook edge through combinations of acquisition,
easements, and control of current rights-of-way.
**
BESIDES THE THREE MAIN THEMES --
the Red Line
Extension, the new Zoning By-law, and the Mill Brook Linear
Park --
the Comprehensive Plan reports deal with many other
issues which affect future land use decisions, and therefore
comprise criteria and context for the design of the Mill
Brook Valley.
These reports are concerned not only with
policies, but with measures of current and future needs.
21
Commercial
The first of these issues is the current condition
of commercial activity in the town.
Commercial property
currently accounts for just under 5% of the total assessed
real property valuation in Arlington.
A market survey
conducted by the Town found that the capture rate of
stores in Arlington Center is currently less than 40%.
This means that the potential for retail sales in Arlington
is not being met, or in other words, Arlington's shoppers
are shopping elsewhere, such as Belmont Center.
The Economy
Summary Report stressed that commercial activity on Massachusetts Avenue lacks a strong focus; they added that "the
business zones should be better delineated,"
and "strip
zoning for business should be done away with"12 since
business actvity had become strung-out on the Avenue.
Retail and wholesale trade in Arlington has been declining in recent years, but Services as a group has increased.
The Economy Report suggests: "One, or perhaps more, professional office buildings should undoubtedly be a welcome
addition to the town from the point of view both of the
professionals who would use the space and the people they
serve. ',13
Two major suggestions have been made over the years
as to how Arlington can capture its retail potential, and
both remain to be issues in the town.
The first
is
the
11) Arlington Redevelopment Board, Comprehensive Plan: Economy Summary Report, November 1972; p. 5.
12) Ibid.
13)
Ibid.,
p. 2.
redevelopment of Arlington Center, which the Economy Summary
Report recommends "should be studied in detail as an overall
plan which will take into account not only the Center, but
the entire Mill Brook Valley,
with a view to studying the
potential created by increased parking, greater integration
of shopping facilities, office space, and public transportation." 14
The second suggested remedy is the development of
a shopping center in Arlington.
The Economy Report suggests:
The fact that much Arlington shopping must be
automobile-oriented would indicate the possibility
of some automobile-served commercial development
away from Massachusetts Avenue as being desirable.
Such areas as the Reed's Brook property on Summer
Street and the Mugar land on Rte. 2 appear to be
possible locations for such development. (15)
The Conservation Commission offered its views on
commercial activity and the redevelopment of the Center:
We suggest the removal of most of the undistinguished
commercial structures on the northern side of the
Avenue between Franklin Street and Willow Court (this
is more than -mile), and rebuilding this area in a
combination of pedestrian walks, landscaped parking
areas, and tasteful shops, some in an arcade of the
type now being constructed in Lexington and others in
converted old houses, which could be moved to new
sites in the cleared area. Provisions would have to
be made for business and professional offices. (16)
This is a strange request for a group supposedly interested
in conservation, but it points out that at issue is not only
the amount of commercial activity, but the type of place
it generates.
The Economic and Market Analysis Study suggested that
the town can capture a higher percentage of the spendable
14)
ibid., p. 5.
15) Ibid.
16)
Arlington Conservation Association, "Reccmmendations,"
Committee to the Town Manager, February, 1973; p. F-5.
in the Appendix to Report of the Facilities
income of Arlington's families by providing "quality facilities."
The report further listed the following categories
of retail which are currently below their potential markets: 1 7
- Delicatessans and Super markets
- Drug Stores
- Discount Stores
-
Small General Merchandize Stores
- Clothing Shops
- Quality Restaurants
They also listed those commercial activities currently
operating above their highest expected potential:
- Variety Stores
-
Shoe Repair
-
Paint Stores
- Hobbies and Toys
- Gas Stations
- Auto Sales
Housing
In order to assess policy alternatives on housing, the
Redevelopment Board conducted a Housing Survey and compiled
a report that included discussions of local needs, town
responsibility for subsidized housing, and the apartment
market.
The survey utilized census data to help assess the
housing needs of the poor in Arlington.
They found that
17) Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., Economic and Market Analysis of the Potential for a Consolidated
Business District, prepared for the Town of Arlington, June 1973; exhibits L through P, Appendix.
there were no concentrations of "substandard" or "structurally
deficient" buildings and that on the whole the housing stock
of the town is "sound."
Furthermore, poor families are not
concentrated in any quarter of town, but are dispersed and
quite anonymous.
The report concluded:
The facts that poor families are dispersed, rather
than concentrated, and are families in the productive
age groups, rather than elderly, lend strong support
to a contention made in a study by the Massachusetts
Department of Community Affairs... that the greatest
need for public housing in Arlington and in the
Commonwealth is for programmatic assistance, such
as rent or mortgage susidization, rather than for
new construction. (18)
Because of the extensive census data calculations
necessary,
Arlington relies upon the Metropolitan Area
Planning Council (MAPC) and the Department of Community
Affairs
(DCA)
for assessments of housing needs in Arlington.
These studies were reported:
Over the last several months, both the MAPC and DCA
have made a concerted effort to identify housing
need for regions and individual municipalities. Both
organizations have published reports in which an
estimate of need is made. They agree that the need
for moderate-income housing has very nearly been
satisfied and that nearly all of the quantifiable
housing need oustanding is for low-income housing.
According to DCA the total need for housing to be
provided by or through public action in Arlington
is 4,193 units. These represent 2,068 units for
But it
elderly households and 2,125 for families.
should not be construed that these figures represent
new construction.
Quite the contrary.' Both studies
agree with a conclusion reached earlier in this
report that most poverty level persons are residing
in adequate housing, but are paying an inordinately
large proportion of their incomes for that housing.
The estimate provided by the DCA is that an additional
371 units should be constructed or rehabilitated from
existing stock. The remaining 3,822 units should be
provided by rent or mortgage supplements.(9)
18) Arlington Redevelopnent Board,
19) Ibid.,
pp. 16-17.
Comprehensive Plan: Initial Housing Survey,
August 19731 p. 3.
The only other issue which may affect the construction
or provision of subsidized units in town is
the responsibility
that the Commonwealth feels Arlington has in providing
subsidized housing.
The formula. for this criteria is
different from the DCA and MAPC formulae:
Chapter 774 of the Acts of 1969 allows a State
appeals board to override local zoning in certain
specific cases in order to provide low- or moderateincome housing... Using these criteria for gu'idance,
the town could be required to build up to 1,792
(ten percent of 17,921) units or up to fifty acres
(one and one-half percent of 3339.5) in low- and
moderate-income housing. Based on (this), the town
can be seen to be deficient by at least 1203 units.
While this is less than half of the need as presented
by the DCA, it can be said to represent the "minimum
target" the town should establish for itself for
housing to be provided or subsidized by the public
sector. (20)
As for the apartment market for private development,
the report concludes: "It is highly probable that Arlington
can plan for any number of apartments it chooses without fear
of exhausting the market and establishing a high vacancy rate.
And that, in turn, means that future development densities
can be determined by a plan based on choice, rather than on
chance. ,21
Industry
The 1962 plan recommended that industry should be
provided with more adequate sites and utilities as well as
room for expansion.
Today, industry comprises less than 1%
of the total assessed valuation of Arlington.
Economy Summary Report concluded:
20)
Ibid.,
p.
19.
21)
Ibid.,
p.
14.
Thus,
the
The lack of industrial land adequately served by
modern transportation, especially if the town
pursues its stated goal of rapid transit along
the B & M tracks, does not bode well for manufacturing in the town.
It is probable that this
portion of the tax base (and employment base) in
the town will have to be off set with new development in a very few years. (22)
Community Development
Arlington, as an aging suburb, has many old and outdated
community facilities.
Since it is fully developed, the town
has consistently been confronted with the problem of finding
adequate space for new facilities.
Studies by the Department
of Planning and Community Development and other municipal
agencies have shown that there are only two undeveloped
parcels of land in the entire town that are larger than
22) Arlington Redevelopment Board, Coprehensive Plan: Economy Bumiary Report, November 19721 p. 3.
one acre in size.
There are also other smaller sites within
Arlington that are vacant or underutilized.
Many of them are
adjacent to existing municipal facilities and are privately
owned.
Thus, the Department of Planning and Community
Development concluded:
It seems that in order to alleviate a future problem
of land needed for community facilities, including
land for housing, the Town of Arlington... should
engage in a carefully planned land assembly program.
Land should be acquired and held by the community
for future needs. (23)
The need for community development furthermore led to
the establishment of the following goal for Mill Brook
Valley: "The Mill Brook Valley should provide a focal point
for the community --
an area in which the people of the
community can utilize personally and in which they can find
a sense of community pride. " 2 4
Land can be acquired by a town for municipal purposes
such as schools, libraries, roads and community facilities;
or for transfer to another governmental body, such as the
Housing Authority,
the Conservation Commission,
the MHFA,
MDC, etc; or for open space, for which there is 50% federal
and 25% state financial support.
Formerly, the town could
not assemble land for development purposes unless that land
was considered "blighted," whereupon it is purchased for
urban renewal.
Currently, new opportunities are being
developed.
23)
Arlington Department of Planning and Community Development,
October 29, 1974; p. 6.
Draft comunity Developuent Plan,
24) Arlington Redevelopment Board, Report to Annual Town Meeting, March 1974,
p. A-6.
In a study by Citizens For Rockport, conducted with the
consultant support of Lawrence Susskind and students of the
MIT School of Architecture and Planning, the idea of a land
banking effort was suggested.25 It would establish a public
development corporation in the town to actively encourage
the type of development the Town feels is needed.
Presently,
the town depends only upon restrictive zoning which prohibits inappropriate uses, but does not offer a direct development approach.
A land bank in Arlington would certainly
contribute to a solution of land assembly problems in the
future, thus affecting community development, redevelopment,
conservation, housing, historic preservation, and open space
issues.
For this reason, the proposed Rockport warrant to
petition the General Court for the establishment of a land
bank is
included in full in the Appendix to this thesis.
Auto City
One source of relatively "underutilized" land in
Arlington is the land used for auto sales.
It is also
significant that most of the car lots are located on
valuable sites.
One is
in the middle of Arlington Center.
This condition led to the suggestion that,
site could be found,
if
a suitable
all the car sales activity could be
enticed to move into an "Auto City." Their current locations
could then be purchased for municipal or community facilities,
or land-banked for future development.
25) citizens For Rockport, Planning for the Future of Rockport, 1974; pp. 29-32.
No site has yet been decided for an Auto City.
Also,
the Economic and Market Analysis study reported:
The automobile sales and the gasoline station
categories in Arlington greatly exceed the
ultimate sales potential for the town's trading
area.
Significant sales must consequently be
made to residents from the surrounding communities
of Lexington, Winchester, Medford, Somerville,
Cambridge, and Belmont. (26)
This would suggest that most of the auto dealers could move
out of Arlington,
with the same effect of freeing their sites
plus the site they would have moved onto for redevelopment.
Another market survey,
specifically related to the auto sales
market area and the relative benefits of concentrating or
dispersing auto sales activity should be done before an Auto
City is
seriously considered.
27
Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co., Econmic And Market Analysis of the Potential for a Consolidated
Business District, prepared for the Town of Arlingtoi, June 19731 p. 11.
27) This issue is complicated by the fact that the owner of the car dealership in Arlington Center
also owns the Theodore Schwamb site, the eventual subject of this thesis.
26)
30
Open Space & Recreation
The Town of Arlington consulted Dober and Associates on
the issue of open space.
Their report concluded that the
Town should have at least 135 acres of additional space, and
made concise and sensible recommendations for accomplishing
that goal. 28 Most of their suggestions dealt with improving
access and existing facilities.
They cautioned:
Since Arlington can not solve some of its open space
problems by simply acquiring additional land -finite
limits being what they are --
the Town must
find a detente through the management of its
In terms of American culture and experience,
likely to be a pioneering experience. (29)
resources.
this is
The report also pointed out that "the Town has yet to build
a contemporary children's playground, ,30 and that "the open
space needs of the elderly are not being met in the sense
of their being within close walking distances of attractive
and comfortable places to see other people at play, and to
participate in
some form of outdoor activity themselves.,
31
The Town was also provided with a 110-page report and
inventory of recreational facilities in Arlington.
The
report cited problems of poor information on facilities, poor
access and parking,
little
space designed for the elderly,
and a lack of quality tennis facilities in town, and recognized that the options for more recreational space have been
slimmed because of the lack of developable land.
28)
The linear park concept was highly recommended.
additional open space acreage desired.
29) Dober and Associates,
30) Ibid.,
p. 5.
31) Ibid.,
p. 4.
It
would provide the major portion of the
Arlington Open Space Study, November 19721 p. 6.
32) Arlington Recreation Facilities Coimmittee,
Report to the Town Manager,
February, 1973.
31
Historic Preservation
During the course of this thesis study, the First
Parish Unitarian Universalist Church,
the old church whose
steeple was the prominent landmark of Arlington Center,
burned to the ground in a tragic accident.
That same
weekend, the Arlington Five Cents Savings Bank, seeking
parking space, razed a house of historic value amid protest
and promises of its removal to a safer site.
It was buildings
such as these that signalled to the traveller on Massachusetts
Avenue that he had finally left the city and was entering a
New England town.
The historic importance of Arlington, especially the
Mill Brook Valley, has to a large extent been ignored in
past decades by the Town.
Private citizens have recently
sought to save older structures.
Some have succeeded, notably
the Old Schwamb Mill at the Foot of the Rocks, and several
houses on the National Register.
The success of these private
endeavors has led to the establishment of a Historic Commission in the town, and to the incorporation of goals such as
the following:
The Valley should encourage a sense of Arlington's
historical past as well as projecting its future.
Where possible, the old should be integrated with
the new in order to complement the development of
a Valley with the character of its own unless the
buildings to be preserved have definite historic
value. (33)
33) Arlington Redevelopment Board, Report to Annual Town Meeting,
March 1974; p. A-7.
32
Mill Brook Valley Study
During the moratorium on building in the Mill Brook
Valley, the Redevelopment Board conducted studies and
digested all the current local criteria presented in the
Comprehensive Plan reports, and published its report to
the Town Meeting of Mlarch 1974.
This report included a
long list of goals and objectives.
Besides those already
quoted on housing, commercial development, historical
preservation and community development were the following:34
The Valley should strengthen Arlington's already
firm position as a desirable residential community
by encouraging its renewal with an urban character,
with a compatible mix of quality shopping, recreation,
parks, work locations, and a proper balance or mix
of residences for all ages and economic groups.
The Valley should provide for an orderly development
program that will be interspersed with open space
and a reduction in ground coverage that will give
the occupants of the area and the Town a sense of
pride in the Valley. This would include accessibility
and use by both the pedestrian and the motorist,
with a separation of the two as they serve the people
of the community and the business sphere.
Maximize the linear park concept by enhancing
pedestrian activities generated by Town, residents,
and leisure time uses. In this connection, the
brook should be openned and public access to the
brook provided wherever possible.
Encourage major vehicle traffic circulation on
peripheral streets while maximizing pedestrian
activities within the Valley and paralleling
Mill Brook. Provide bonusses for malls and pedestrian pathways
through the Valley and along the brook.
Encourage off-street parking and off-street loading
wherever possible to further encourage pedestrian
movement.
34)
Ibid.,
pp. A-6,8.
There should be a significant broadening of the
range and quality of retail, offices, service,
and housing to be provided in the Valley.
New development should contribute to the broadening
of the tax base of the community, but this goal
must be balanced against overriding need to provide
quality development at a human scale.
**These goals provide a certain end-in-sight which can
be referred to during the planning and design processes
for evaluating activity to date.
Some of these goals
have been mentioned so far in this thesis to support or
condemn certain proposed actions by comparing the evident
end result of these actions with the stated goals.
However, the goals as such do not specify the priority
actions which need to be taken.
Specific recommendations
and means of implementing these specific actions are
currently being planned by the Arlington Department of
Planning and Community Development with the assistance
of Charles G. Hilgenhurst and Associates.
The goal of
this study is the following:
The Board must be ready to prepare and release
detailed developers' kits which include land
use plans, permitted uses, foundation studies,
circulation studies, market studies, statement
of objectives, space use allocations, regional
location and related development. The Board
must continue to finalize other prerequisite
actions necessary for development of the Valley
including zoning, renewal applications, open
space grants and historic preservation.
Work
will have to be done with present property owners,
developers will have to be "introduced" to the
Town, and standard rehabilitation design will
have to be established, as appropriate. (35)
35)
Ibid.,
p.
A-9.
Priorities
Although there has been an expansion and professionalization of Arlington's planning and development
activities over the past few years, "serious problems still
arise when it comes to setting priorities for community
development and actually fashioning development policies
that can achieve widespread popular support. ,36
Most of
the key policy decisions must be approved by a body of
Town Meeting members, 252 citizens representing 21 districts.
Any planning for the redevelopment of the Mill Brook Valley
must not only be concerned with statements of goals and
recommendations for specific actions, but perhaps first of
all with a means of surfacing priorities.
Such a view of
the planning process is described by Melvin Webber:
I understand planning to be a METHOD FOR REACHING
DECISIONS, not a body of substantive goals. Applied
within a fairly stable and widely shared general
value framework, planning is a rather special way
of deciding which specific goals are to be pursued
and which specific actions are to be taken. Seen
in this way, it is directly antithetical to the
more popular view among some practitioners, who
are also called planners, in which planning is a
social movement aimed at accomplishing certain
predetermined specific goals shared by members
of the professional group or by other groups.
Having said this, it should also be apparent
that the method is largely independent of the
phenomena to be planned. (37)
36)
Arlington Department of Planning and Community Development in conjunction with the Citizen's
Involvement Committee and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Enhancing Public Srvice
Productivity: New Approaches to Citizen Involvement in the Formation of Community Development
Policy and the Evaluation of Public Services, March 1975; p. 3.
37)
Melvin M. Webber, "Planning as a Problem-Solving Method,"
J. Duhl, 1963; ch. 25.
in The Urban Condition,
ed.
Leonard
35
The "method for reaching decisions" in Arlington has
become quite visibly strained in recent years as special
interest groups bicker among themselves.
A good example
of the degeneration of the decision-making process has
been the recent struggle over the construction of an
addition to the Town's High School.
Proponents for the high school addition point out
that the existing facilities have long been outmoded,
crowded, and had not been maintained properly because of
"promises" to carry out major repairs,
construction in recent years.
renovation,
or new
Most significantly, the point
has now been reached where making the necessary repairs to
the existing facility is just as costly as construction of
a new high school.
In addition, the initial financing of
the high school by a bond issue would only cost the average
property taxpayer an additional $35 per year for an exceptionally good school building.
Furthermore,
debt servicing
could be planned such that the new facility would be amortized in greater amounts as current debts were paid off, thus
keeping a constant debt servicing cost comparable to current
levels carried by the property tax.
Opponents to the school addition complained that taxes
are already much too high.
To continue to pay such taxes for
longer than necessary is absurd.
Lowering taxes is the
highest priority, especially for the elderly residents of
town.
Opponents also point out that the high-school age
population is decreasing in Arlington, and they complained
that the package plan offered for consideration, which included a skating rink, was an unnecessarily extravagant
expenditure.
In addition to these arguments, current state support
for new school construction will soon drop from 65% to 50%
of cost, an announcement that came at the openning of the
Town Meeting on the school issue.38 Bolsterred by this and
the beliefs that the new school would not drastically
increase the amount of the annual tax burden, and that
necessary repairs would most likely cost as much as a new
school, the issue overwhelmingly passed in Town Meeting.
However, opponents quickly organized for a referendum whereupon the voters reversed the decision of the Town Meeting.
The town was virtually torn apart by this struggle.
New warrant articles are now being debated (April 28)
which deal with separate components of the proposal.
In
applying to the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development for a discretionary grant to fund a
citizen-based planning effort, the Town described its
situation as follows:
With property taxes rising rapidly just to keep
pace with the operating costs of town government
and the state government trying to cut back the
level of local support (especially for school
First and
construction) Arlington is in a bind.
foremost on the taxpayer's mind is the desire to
Yet unless the
hold down or reduce the tax rate.
38)
Several articles on the school and other issues
in Arlington can be found in the Appendices.
37
town takes steps in the near future to expand
the tax base, to encourage further development
and additional private investment and to bolster
sagging public confidence in the overall performance of key public services, the tax burden on
private home owners is likely to worsen. Arlington,
like many other communities, is caught in a trap.
There is likely to be strong opposition to any
effort to raise additional local revenue to pay
for redevelopment efforts. Yet, this same unwillingness to spend is itself part of the problem of
an eroding tax base. The problem seems obvious,
but the solution is not. Moreover, elected officials
If they fail to respond to
are in a double bind.
down public spending,
hold
to
pressures
current
Yet, if they opt for
re-elected.
be
not
they will
strategy in the
acceptable
the most politically
suffer in the
surely
will
town
the
short run,
is to find areas
bind
this
of
out
way
One
future.
of public spending in which most citizens would go
along with cuts, reallocations or efforts to enhance
These trade-offs require a fairly
efficiency.
sophisticated understanding of the local budgetary
39
process and some means of surfacing citizen priorities.
** Citizen-based planning proposes that the "method
for reaching decisions" be as democratic as possible by
calling on direct citizen involvement in establishing town
priorities.
The Arlington Citizen's Involvement Committee,
with the consultant service of the MIT School of Architecture
and Planning, has designed a Survey of Citizen Attitudes
and Priorities.
An entire section of the survey is devoted
to Land Use and Redevelopment issues.
It is hoped that
the results of this survey can be used to give Town Meeting
representatives the information and understanding they need
to decide upon priority criteria for the redevelopment of
the Mill Brook Valley and other issues in town. 4 0
39)
Arlington Department of Planning and Comnunity Development,
Productivity, March 1975; p. 3.
et al, Enhancing Public Service
40) If the Citizen's Involvement Committee activities had been developed to the point of receiving
feedback from the Survey of Citizen Attitudes and Priorities in time for consideration, this
It would be a good idea to compare the assumptions
thesis may have taken a different direction.
made about local criteria for design of the Mill'Brook Valley derived in this thesis with the
results of the survey when they become available.
Summary
Neither the Hilgenhurst study nor the results of the
Survey of Citizen Attitudes and Priorities are available
for the consideration of this thesis.
If they were, the
collection of local criteria to be used in designing the
Mill Brook Valley may or may not be quite different from
the goals stated in the Comprehensive Plan Reports.
any case,
In
I've assumed that these goals would suffice for
designing.
To briefly summarize these criteria:
1) Commercial activity must be increased and "focussed"
along Massachusetts Avenue.
This can be done by encouraging
those retail activities currently operating below their
market potential to locate at determined nodal points along
the Avenue.
2) The Town has the responsibility to provide at least
1200, and perhaps as much as 4200, additional units of
subsidized housing.
This does not mean that these units
represent new construction since most of the need is for
subsidy in the form of rent or mortgage supplements, or
property tax abatements, and some units can be rehabilitated
from existing stock.
The housing market for private con-
struction is seemingly inexhaustible, and there is a constant
waiting list for elderly housing indicating a high demand.
The Town feels these conditions allow for a determination
of densities based on choice rather than on chance.
3) Industry in the town is declining in volume and
value, and will probably be extinguished by the removal of
rail
service.
This loss must be offset by new devel-
opment in the near future.
4) The Town should endeavor to assemble land in
town
for land banking at every opportunity, and hold for the
community's future needs.
5) Auto dealerships and gasoline stations are redundant, operating at more than two times their current
Arlington market potential.
Therefore, they must depend
upon significant sales from outside their primary market
area.
6) By conservative standards the Town needs at least
135 additional acres of open space.
The Mill Brook Linear
Park concept provides an exceptional opportunity not only
in terms of acreage but in terms of a variety of recreational experience and increased access to parks by a
greater number of Arlington's citizens.
7) Goals for the development of the Mill Brook Valley
have been written and endorsed which encourage historic
preservation, a strengthening of the residential quality
of the town,
and development of an urban character with
a mix of different uses.
**
The next section of th'is thesis will look at one
underutilized site, the Theodore Schwamb site, and draw
more delineated Site Criteria for the design of this section
of the Valley.
It is hoped that this exercise will give
further insight into the potential and possibilities for
the development of the Mill Brook Valley.
SITE
CRITERIA
The Theodore Schwamb site, located near Massachusetts
Avenue and Forest Street by the Foot of the Rocks, is
currently considered an "underutilized" site by the Town
planners.
The 16-acre unassembled site which I studied
consists of several old mill buildings along the brook,
old houses and a gas station on Mass Ave, and storage
yards for a car dealer, New England Telephone cable reels,
and Park Department paraphenalia.
The site is bounded by
the Boston and Maine rail line and Summer Street playground
to the northeast; Massachusetts Avenue to the southwest.;
and it extends between Ryder St. and Hobbs Ct. (neither of
them major cross streets) along the valley floor.
The
Mill Brook runs to the southeast in an open culvert.
course is
parallel to Mass Ave about 250'
It's
behind the Avenue
and about 15' below the elevation of the front lots along
the Avenue.
Except for the two groups of houses at each Mass Ave
corner,
which will be zoned for Old House/Office use under
the new Zoning By-law, the site has remained industrially
zoned to allow for all options in
its
future development.
No decision has yet been made regarding the future of the site.
eu'~~'M4A
..
.......
RXIL. L.IkyCoON
The total sixteen acres of the site is unassembled, but
this fact has not entered into the design process in any
determining fashion.
The largest parcels on the site are
owned or controlled by the same person who has worked with
the Town on the development studies of two of his other
properties in Arlington, both in the Center.
The owner has
stated his desire to do "what is best for Arlington," thus
leaving almost all options open.
The Town owns the northern
corner, and the Mass Ave frontage is fairly finely divided
among several owners.
Development Options
1) Mass Transit Station.
The Arlington Heights station,
or an additional stop, could be located along the transit
extension at the Theodore Schwamb site.
is
Since the railroad
proximate but not adjacent to either Massachusetts
Avenue nor Summer Street here, large parking areas are
possible more than anywhere else in Arlington.
even if
However,
such a switch were politically possible with the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority,
such a plan
would separate pedestrian access to the station, isolate
other development at the Mass Ave edge, jeopardize the
sensibility of a linear park at the brook edge, dictate a
high density development,
drain development from the Center,
and isolate the current center of Arlington Heights.
2)
Condominiums.
The part of the site which is
cur-
rently in single ownership (between the brook and the
railroad) could be privately developed as condominiums,
utilizing the brook edge and park edge as open space
amenities.
The mill buildings could be reused as housing,
indoor tennis, or as a community center.
The market seems
to exist for such development, and density and minimum
open space controls in the new Zoning By-law will help to
increase the quality,
if
not the cost,
of such a "highly
probable" development.
3) MHFA Housing.
The Massachusetts Housing Finance
Agency has expressed interest in financing a housing
development in Arlington.41 Since mortgage money at any
rate is
difficult to find, MHFA low-interest money and its
committment to quality construction is very enticing.
Furthermore, the same amenities and possibilities for the
site exist for MHFA development as with private condominiums.
Developing this option would put Arlington beyond its
sub-
sidized housing goals, would provide the opportunity to
develop a community with social purpose,
and would allow
development at a lower density than privately financed
construction. One caution: market rents in Arlington --
one
of the measures used to determine rent levels in MHFA
housing --
are quite low due to the fact that most apartments
are located in
41)
two-family homes,
which traditionally command
No MHFA housing has as yet been constructed in Arlington.
Interest in such a development has
been expressed to me in discussions with an architect at MHPA.
45
lower rents than apartment buildings.
The rent determination
should therefore be based on a comparison with rents at
similar apartment developments in Arlington.
4) Auto City.
The Theodore Schwamb site can be devel-
oped as an auto city, which is currently a major use of the
site.
Not only is this option questionnable from a market
point of view (as has previously been pointed out) , but such
a development jeopardized the linear park sensibility, the
view of the Valley from the Summer Street area, and poses
problems as to the adaptive use of the mill buildings.
It
42
violates explicitly the goal of providing a "focal point
for the community --
an area in
which the people of the
community can utilize personally and in which they can find
a sense of community pride."43
5) Park.
The Recreation Facilities Committee and the
Dober Report both suggested a connection between Summer St.
playground and the Mill Brook Linear Park.
side of this site is
Since the back
currently assembled and the Town has
a good working relationship with the owner, the land assembly program suggested by the Department of Planning and
Community Development could take the step by acquiring
this land as a park,44 or the land could be "banked" for
cummunity needs of the future, or the land could be traded
42)
Harry Ellenzweig of the Cambridge architects firm Wallace-Floyd-Ellenzweig has suggested that
the large mill building be transformed into an auto museum such as the one at Larz Anderson
Park in Brookline.
43)
Arlington Redevelopment Board,
Report to Annual Town 'eeting, March 1974; p.
A-6.
44) The Arlington Conservation Association has suggested: "(The site's)
proximity to Town-owned
property suggests the assembly of a really substantial parcel for public-oriented purposes."
Appendix to Report of the Recreation Facilities Committee to the Town Manager, February 1973: p.
F-l.
46
for development incentives at one of the owners other properties, if appropriate.
Acquisition is a good short-term
solution, but the ultimate development of the site as an
active area must still be studied, and these is always the
issue of the tax base and local politics in acquisition
decions.
6) Shopping Center.
The Theodore Schwamb site is flat,
easily accessible, and near the center of the Arlington
trading area.
An automobile-oriented shopping center on
this site seems to be the ideal response to requests and
suggestions for a shopping center in Town.
However,
the
Economy Summary Report recommended that if such a center
were to be built, it
should be located away from Massachu-
setts Avenue because of the volume of traffic generated.
Furthermore, the Market Analysis Report recommended development of Arlington Center as the primary core of shops, and
neighborhood centers in East Arlington and Arlington Heights.
7)
"Magnet" School.
During the continuing school
controversy, a magnet school was somewhat facetiously
suggested by a member of the Town's school committee as
one option the Town should consider.
This was made in
response to a growing regional perspective on metropolitan
busing of school children to achieve racial balance. 4 5
Since Arlington's school-age population is declining and
45)
This study has been coincidental with rising controversy over "forced bussing" in South Boston.
Arlington is more than 99% white with high proportions of people of Irish and Italian descent.
neighboring Cambridge is planning to design a new school
near its
border with Arlington,
a magnet school could be
built in Arlington thus negating the need for Cambridge
to construct a new building.
It would change the stagnant
though volatile school issue for Arlington, and offer
1200 places to students from Boston.
If such a concept
were developed, the Theodore Schwamb site should certainly
The idea is at
be considered for such a magnet school.
present half-baked and serious discussion of the issue
would be very difficult to resolve at this time.
**
These options are only ideas for the site.
In
proceeding from these concepts to a proposed design for
the Theodore Schwamb site, the designer must ask several
questions.
The first
such question I felt
I had was
whether there was anything in particular about this site
that would determine how I should proceed in stating the
design problem.
Such things have to do with site develop-
ment costs, the Town's priority criteria, and analyzing
the physical context and constraints.
To all of these
criteria is added my own intention of presenting a design
for the site as an example or prototype for the development
of the Mill Brook Valley, both in
of design.
its
design and this process
As a result, many of the aspects of the work
presented here can be translated to other sites in the
Valley.
Financial Considerations
"Design can only emerge from a gestalt-seeing and
form-making mind.
Man has not as yet invented a machine
capable of this function.
today still
Consequently our best machines
await the mind 's instruction.
stress the limitations of all tools.
We must again
A sorting, struc-
turing device can tell a designer, once a committment has
been made, what to do; it cannot and is not intended to
tell
him how to do it.
It
can describe a program in
considerable detail and can suggest steps in the design
process in the order of their importance and indicate the
nature and character of the components to be included in
the model.
Designers can give formi physical tools can
only theoretically formulate. " 4 6
In this sense, market analysis and cash flow can be
seen as tools to help in programming real estate developments.
I think that these techniques are sufficiently
sophisticated to provide information useful to the designer.
Difficulty arises when they are elevated from a tool for
designing to a determinant of the design.
We know the net
result of this patterm of decision-making as what Henri
Lefebvre calls "Capitalist space, "47 minimal equivalent
containers built with minimal community concern at minimal
cost and maximum profit for the investor.
A designer purportedly concerned about social purpose
46)
Serge Chermayeff and Alex Tzonis,
47)
Henri Lefebvre in a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and Problems of Modern Architecture," February 13, 1975.
Shape of Community,
1971; p. 88.
"Capitalist Space
49
and the realization of human potential will establish
different priorities from those issues normally addressed
by market and cash flow analyses.
However, it is always
important to know whether the financing of real estate,
with which architecture is hopelessly intertwined, will
establish undeniable constraints.
For the designer, it
is useful to know the relationships between the density
of the programmed development and the consequent costs.
This is primarily useful in deciding upon a building system.
Little else is necessary from a financial analysis for
determining how to proceed in stating the design problem.
Priorities of the Town and the physical constraints of the
site (ie: the physical possibilities for the site) are
higher priority criteria for design.
A financial tool which is helpful in that it is an
uncomplicated way of relating the costs of different development options to the architect is
In
the Appendix to this thesis is
the Site Value method.
48
a series of calculations
which try to relate the varying density of both private
market and MHFA housing developments to changes in required
rent levels.
The site value calculations present many different
dimensions for deciding the design problem.
First, it shows
that condominiums are "feasible" at a density that makes
48)
The site
value method, as applied by Gary Hack of the MIT nepartment of Urban Studies and Planning,
assigns a value to a dwelling unit which represents its contribution to paying off the cost of
the site. The method used in the Appendix is a formulation of this process to show the relationship
of rents to variations in density of the development.
sense.
Second, privately financed apartments, due to high
interest rates and construction costs, are ridiculously
expensive and could not address the Arlington market.
Third, even apartments built with MHFA financing will have
difficulty competing for residents.
For these reasons, I decided that a necessary component of the proposal for the Theodore Schwamb site would
be a commercial development (which commands higher rents
than housing) on the more valuable Massachusetts Avenue
frontage.
This would allow for a medium-density MHFA
or private condominium development on the less costly
interior parcels.
Whether the housing is to be subsidized
or privately developed depends upon the Town's priorities
and actions.
The option of acquiring the interior of the
site as parkland is
also open.
These decisions should not
be determined by financial considerations.
Town Priorities
The second part of the question I posed earlier (about
what would help determine the planning of this site) had to
do with Town priorities.
I had hoped by this point in
writing this thesis that the Citizen's Involvement Committee
would have analyzed results from their survey of Citizen
Attitudes and Priorities.
In the absense of such a document
I've had to make my own assumptions as to how the Local
Criteria presented earlier would affect the Theodore Schwamb
site, and thus become Site Criteria for the design.
LINEAR PARK.
The Mill Brook Linear Park is
a central
part of the Mill Brook Valley concept presented by the
Arlington Redevelopment Board, and it has the committment
of the Town Meeting.
I assumed that the linear park would
be developed along the brook and/or the rail right-of-way,
and that this park would be a central part of the design
problem for the site.
ADAPTIVE USE.
Historic preservation and reuse of
prominent landmarks were encouraged as goals for the Mill
Brook Valley.
As a result, I assumed that most of the
existing buildings on the site would be rehabilitated and
become an important element of the design.
HOUSING.
Considering the fact that the Town desires
to strengthen its residential quality, I assumed that
housing would probably constitute a major priority use
of the site.
The proximity to Summer Street park and
the Mill Brook offer tremendous amenities for such a
development.
COMMERCIAL.
The financial reality is
that residential
development alone cannot carry the site cost.
Furthermore,
the Town can use an expansion of certain types of retail
establishments and a place to develop a cluster of commercial
activity as a prototype for future development along Mass
Ave.
Thus, I assumed that retail and professional offices,
although not the primary use of the site, could find a place
on this site.
I also assumed that off-street parking and
servicing would be necessary elements of the design.
** Other optional uses for the site, notably ideas for
an Auto City, a mass transit station, and an auto-oriented
shopping center were assumed to be unreasonable for reasons
stated earlier and they were rejected as possible priority
uses for the Theodore Schwamb site.
Physical Context
The third part of the question about site criteria
asked whether there is anything about the physical context
and constraints that would indicate the design problem for
The only way to answer such a question is
this site.
look at the context of the site and describe it.
to
The des-
cription will carry attitudes with it that will in turn
indicate certain assumptions about the constraints and the
possibilities for the site.
40-
,a.
3
S .
~~~1b
A look at the town map and a brief visit to the site
However, it
will indicate that the site is easily reached.
is currently difficult to get into.
There are few streets,
no through routes or paths across the site, many fences,
and additions to the mill buildings which block passage
along the brook.
Access to the site --
access which can
not be improved by redevelopment of this site alone -is provided by Forest St, Appleton St, and Mass Ave, all
of which converge near the western corner of the site.
Ryder St has been blocked at the railroad crossing, and
Hobbs Court is a parking lot for the apartment building
adjacent to the site.
the site,
Improved access within and through
as well as a possible connection to Summer Street
at Washington,
must be considered if
the site is
to "provide
for an orderly development" which includes "accessibility
and use by both the pedestrian and the motorist. " 4 9
When approaching the site from the west along Massachusetts Avenue, there is a turn to the right after the
Forest Street intersection.
The 1926 Town Plan recommended
a road connecting Mass Ave with Brattle St at just this
point. 50
It was never built, of course.
As a result, the
approach now consists of a view across the Valley to Symmes
Hospital with the mill buildings hiding below the houses
on Mass Ave.
The Avenue then turns to the right, traversing
its way down the southern side of the Valley.
Board, Report to Annual Town Meeting,
March
This turn is
1974; p.
49)
Arlington Redevelopment
50)
Arlington Planning Board, Report on a Town Plan for Arlington, Massachusetts,
A-7.
1926; p.
14.
analogous to closing the door on any chance of experiencing
the valley floor, but it means that being down at the brook
is special, different from the way the valley can otherwise
be experienced.
hill
Similarly, looking at the site from the
at Summer Street playground gives the sense of insur-
mountable distance from Mass Ave.
from its context.
The site is quite isolated
It is not a part of Arlington Heights,
and certainly is not part of the Center.
It can only be
described by reference to the Mill Brook Valley.
The neighborhood around the site consists primarily
of small houses in single-family and two-family zoning
districts.
The proposed zoning by-law places the houses
along Mass Ave into Old House/Office zones, a new category
designed to retain the sense of historical continuity and
scale along the Avenue.
The "large" buildings near the
site are stores and apartments along Mass Ave, public or
institutional buildings such as churches,
schools,
or the
skating rink, and two sets of new apartment buildings to
either side of the site on Hobbs Court and Ryder Street.
These apartment buildings stand alone,
inappropriate to
their context, and unable to affect the neighborhood in a
positive way.
Up the brook from the site and only 1500 feet from the
mill buildings is the Old Schwamb Mill.
This cluster of
old barn-size buildings was saved by the efforts of citizens
who have in a way revived cottage industry in Arlington.
55
The Old Schwamb Mill's potters and woodworkers run a crafts
center and hardwood lumber yard, and plan to expand into
trading antiques.
They currently are the only source of
custom-made oval picture frames in New England.
The noble
endeavor is shaky at best, and deserves to have no competition from a similar development in the newer mill
buildings on the Theodore Schwamb site.
They would probably
benefit from any development that increased the recreational
activity along the Mill Brook.
I feel that by improving access into the Theodore
Schwamb site, the development that finds itself there can
relate directly to Mass Ave while providing a place by the
Mill Brook as a focus for activity in the neighborhood and
all along the brook.
This activity can be the result of
the new uses of the site, the recreational aspects of the
linear park and Summer Street playground, and can provide
a center for the neighborhood around the site, an area
that currently suffers from low definition.
The site can
function as a center yet, since it will be unable to compete with the kind of activity that occurs at the Heights
and the Center,51 this area will have to exist on different
terms from the function of the Heights and the Center.
Therefore, the assumptions made from a description of
the physical context can be summarized:
51)
This will be even more so if
transit stops are constructed there.
The site is easily reached but is
1) SPECIAL PLACE.
isolated from its context.
Therefore, access in and through
the site must be improved without destroying the special
sense of being "behind" the Avenue,
a sense found all
along
the Mill Brook.
2) COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITY.
The activity found at this
site should complement, not compete with, other activity
along the Mill Brook and in particular at the Old Schwamb
Mill.
3) COMMERCIAL FUNCTION.
Since any commercial develop-
ment can not hope to compete with Arlington Heights and
Arlington Center on the terms of the functions of the centers, different terms and functions for this site must be
found that will affect the neighborhood environment in a
positive way.
**
In addition, the following Site Criteria were pre-
viously established:
4) MIXED USE.
Financial sense can be made of the
development by designing a community with primarily residential
uses complemented by some commercial space on the more
valuable frontages.
5) LINEAR PARK.
the rail
The linear park will be developed along
and/or the brook rights-of-way.
6) MILL BUILDINGS.
Most of the existing buildings will
be reused and become important elements of the design.
PROGRAM
& DESIGN
Place
What sort of place will this be?
Given the assumptions just listed about access to a
special place, complementary activity, a "special" commercial function,
and the context of the linear park,
the
mill buildings, and mixed use, one can further assume that
the special quality of the activity of this place should
be related to that context.
In other words, the mill
buildings, the linear park and the idea of a mix of uses
and activities are what will make this place special.
The
programming problem is one of finding compatible uses for
the site that depend upon the unique qualities found here,
capitalizing on the fact that there is
currently no place
in Arlington that offers such an opportunity.
The large brick mill building on the brook could provide
Arlington with a place for a "quality" restaurant,
something
many groups with the support of the Market Analysis Report
have recommended for the Town. 52
52)
The mill could also house
It can move into the
Jimmy's Restaurant, currently the best in Arlington, is two blocks away.
mnill building, thus alleviating traffic and parking problems at its current location, or a better
restaurant may establish itself in the mill.
59
park
ope
n
nitymunit
"commu
/
enter
/
housg
/
PIP
a community meeting room which could be used for weddings,
bar mitzvas, lectures, meetings, or perhaps as a theatre
or music hall.
Also,
a day care center and offices for
civic groups such as the Conservation Commission, a Women's
Center, a Social Services center, or local chapters of the
Boy Scouts and other organizations could find a place in
The other mill buildings could likewise be
the building.
adapted as professional offices, services, or for general
office space.
The mill buildings area will thus become the center for
the
site
and
the
surrounding
neighborhood.
Because
of
its
location along a linear park on the Mill Brook, the open
space
around
corner,
the
buildings,
especially
near
the
southern
could be used for activities that would relate
to
a much larger community, even more so if the park were
connected or made adjacent to the Summer Street park.
This
could be an open place to set up a tent for a wedding, to
operate a flea market, or to locate a children's playground.
The edge of such a place would be a good location
for low density mixed income subsidized MHFA housing where
residents could participate and add to the activity.
Other
housing clusters could be designed in the more private
areas behind this center of activity.
A commercial struc-
ture could also be designed to connect the community place
by the brook with Massachusetts Avenue and to complement
the mill buildings. (See Site Diagram, previous page).
The commercial
structure should house those food,
clothing, specialty, office and service concerns which
are operating below their current market potential if
such commercial activity hopes to survive.
Furthermore,
only about 35-40,000 square feet of new space will be
added to the 30,000 square feet in the existing mill
buildings,
so this is
by no means a "shopping center."
A possible tenant mix is
FOOD
listed below:
Coffee House
Quality Restaurant
Wine and Cheese Shop
Ice Cream
Delicatessan or Mini-mart
53) At least not in the normal sense.
53
RETAIL
Drug Store
Clothes Stores
Art Supplies
Records
Gifts
Antiques
Plants
Oriental Rugs
Small Furniture Outlet
Bookstore
Glassware, Jewelry, Silverware
Kitchenware
Import Store
Fabric and Sewing Center
OFFICE
Insurance Agency
Travel Agency
Doctor
Lawyer
Architect
Dentist
Photographer
Art Gallery
Other Professional Offices
COMMUNITY
Community Center.
Meeting Rooms
Civic Organizations
Day Care Center
**
The activity of the place behind Massachusetts
Avenue has become the unique feature of the program and
the site design diagram.
The place is the interface for
the entire site with the Avenue; it must connect the
street with the activity at the Mill Brook.
Since there
is very little frontage available, the design of this
place is
site.
critical to the success of the Theodore Schwamb
Thus I decided to concentrate my design efforts on
this commercial area.
Three alternative concepts were
diagrammed and "fantasy designs" drawn up for study.
Alternative Commercial Diagrams
The first alternative diagram for organizing the
design of the new commercial structure can be seen as a
prototype for clustering commercial activity along Mass
Ave and for use in such areas for redevelopment as Arlington
Center and Arlington Heights.
It involves underground
parking for about 200 cars on two levels accessible from
both Forest Street and Quinn Road.
The precast concrete
post-and-beam/concrete plank construction system used for
the parking structure is
shops and offices above.
continued to form a framework for
The first
level has a high 20'
ceiling allowing for the construction of mezzanines for
for the shops.
Above this is a level for offices.
An
enclosed mall is found in the center of the structure.
Additional elderly housing is found closer to Mass Ave
than in the other schemes because, with underground parking,
there is a need to offset the cost by the addition of more
rentable space.
(see Plates 1,2).
However, the site value
calculations show that this tactic is not very helpful
because the additional construction costs are too significant when related to the increase in rental income (see
Appendix).
Furthermore, the place by the brook at the mill
has become distictly separated from the commercial activity
within the structure.
This scheme was rejected for those
reasons.
If the underground parking is removed from the first
scheme and takes the concrete construction framework with
it, what is left is the mezzanine structure.
The second
scheme involves small clusters of shops built of low
technology materials such as brick and wood.
Less dostly
surface parking behind Massachusetts Avenue replaces the
additional elderly housing of the first scheme.
The parking
area is seven feet lower than Massachusetts Avenue and serves
a lower level of shops directly.
An upper level is reached
from the parking area by stairs.
A short ramp from the
Mass Ave sidewalk serves the upper level directly, and a
longer ramp leads through the lower level to the Mill Brook.
The upper level continues on bridges over a service alley,
through the first mill building, and over the brook to the
second level of the large brick mill building.
scheme is
The second
developed mainly along the Avenue with a small
64
spine of shops following the edge of the parking area to
the brook.
(see Plates 3,4).
The third scheme is very similar to the second one
but it avoids demolition of the two houses at the corner
of Quinn Road.
Instead of stringing shops along a spine,
the third scheme turns in on itself forming a courtyard
which gently slopes down to the Mill Brook.
This scheme
was chosen to be developed further in design because it
so closely corresponded with the activity programmed for
the place.
(see Plates 5,6).
65
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40
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DIAGRAM:
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80
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71
Design
The actual design activity has been an incidental
part of this thesis as I have attempted to show more of
the "outside" influences providing design information for
this site rather than developing fully one design solution.
The design included was carried out at a scale of
1/16"
=
1'.
The decisions which need to be made to fully
develop this design must be studied at a much smaller
scale,
preferably with a client or set of participants
advising.
raw,
The solution included in these pages is
and needs an explanation of the intentions involved.
Since the commercial area is
it
somewhat
a place for the public,
was decided that access be maintained for those who
cannot negotiate stairs.
One elevator is
provided con-
necting the three unbroken levels. Since this restricts
the amount of communication which can be achieved between
the floor areas, light wells and breaks in the floor over
circulation areas were developed to allow visual and
auditory communication through these areas. (see Plates 7-11).
The structural framework consists of a combination of
brick block bearing walls, piers, columns, concrete beams
and concrete plank.
The foundation is
laid out along two
interlocking irregular grids providing lines of support
(bearing wall/pier systems)
beam systems).
and points of support
(column/
The entire foundation is continuously tied
together with a poured concrete floor slab and floor beams.
This system allows the use of continuous bearing wall
surfaces providing a division of major spaces, wind
bracing, direct support of the concrete plank, and fire
zone divisions.
It also allows the use of columns for
the necessary continuity of larger spaces and flexibility
in the layout of shops.
Sloping shed roofs constructed of purlins and wooden
rafters were chosen for a variety of reasons.
The roof
provides a certain unity to the spaces underneath, associated with the Parisian markets (marche).
The roofs are
broken providing clerestories to get light into and through
the overlapping levels especially in concourse areas.
The
space above the third floor will collect the rising heat
during winter,
which can be recycled through air ducts with
substantially less heating necessary thereby economizing
on operating costs.
In summer, the same effect will cause
a draft for natural ventilation.
The space can house the
necessary air duct pumps and other mechanical equipment
where they are most needed.
One area above the third
floor near the elevator could also be developed as a
"crow's nest" office with views down through the building,
over the other buildings to the brook, and up & down Mass
Avenue.
The space also provides for other possible mezz-
anines to the third floor offices.
The court is
time.
seen as a plaza and theatre in
the summer-
Second level concourses overlook the court providing
rails to lean on and several terraces, some with greenhouse
73
roofs.
The court floor can be used for a flea market or
a performance but most often for lounging.
trees and some groundforming --
A cover of
places for sitting
and
playing (Ghiradelli Square, San Francisco is a good
example) --
as it slopes down to the brook would complete
the design of the courtyard.
The mill building has been adapted by adding shops
under the connecting bridge on the courtyard side.
If the
old mill's sheathing is found to be in a condition worth
restoring, the shed additions and bridge access to the
second floor (as shown in all the plans) should not be
constructed. (see Plate 11).
This will provide more space
by the brook which can be used for outdoor stands with
canopies.
It will also help restore the original sense and
setting of the mill as a complete building in itself.
Several aspects of the design need to be refined.
A
closer look at the foundation and structural system coupled
with the advice of clients on their special needs will help
direct the finishing of floor plans.
The roofs, being a
different system from the major framework, has a life of
its own which needs to be explored in conjunction with a
study of mechanical system needs and space needs for the
office clients.
There is a complexity to the place which tends to
contradict the intended use of the roof as a simple
unifying element.
Because of the time constraint,
I
found myself falling on exceptionally eclectic and pictur-
74
esque solutions to this contradiction while sketching
the elevations (which are, after all, just fantasies at
this stage).
Even if the final design can avoid the
over-eclectic tendency, there is the danger of it becoming
overly decadent.
What is intended is a certain exuberance
conducive to the activity envisioned for this place.
This pursuit will occupy my explorations for a long time
to come.
75
L.
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16
PLATE
7
64
76
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64
MASS AVE ELEVATION
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16
PLATE 10
64
79
SECTION
D
ALTERNATE MILL ELEVATION
QUINN RD ELEVATION
PLATE 11
Conclusions
80
If the Mill Brook Linear Park is to be built, the park
can be more than a pedestrian link, more than an urban design
element of the Town of Arlington.
It can have an active
component that augments the passive park concept by adding
public uses and activity at available sites along the Valley
Since this route is parallel to Massacusetts Avenue
floor.
(the commercial strip of the town), the planned public use
can relate not only to the public park concept but also to
the Mass Ave context.
In other words, the activity of the
linear park "node" can be directly related and connected to
the public function of commercial activity.
Therefore,
there is the opportunity to concentrate commercial centers
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81
with adequate space along Mass Ave by taking advantage of
the linear park activity and developing commercial frontage
orthogonal to Mass Ave and the brook (see diagrams, previous
page).
The Theodore Schwamb site provides an excellent opportunity for developing such a concentration of public uses.
The Mill Brook park can be connected to the Summer Street
playground by means of paths diagonal and orthogonal to the
Mill Brook thus connecting the passive pedestrian function
of the brook edges to the active recreational functions of
the playground (see p. 59).
This orthogonal organization
can continue as the public uses cross the brook to Mass Ave
in a commercial development.
Also, the mill buildings on
the site can be reused for public purposes such as restaurants,
offices, retail, or a community center.
The Theodore Schwamb site is currently underutilized
and largely available for development or acquisition.
In
addition the Town has realized that a subcenter of activity
is needed along Mass Ave between Arlington Center and the
Heights.
The Brattle St intersection was designated as the
center for this neighborhood partly because a large convenience market is located there now.
However, that area is
highly developed and there is little opportunity to build
a neighborhood center there.
82
For all these reasons, I recommend that the Town of
Arlington designate the Theodore Schwamb Mass Ave frontage
as the center for this neighborhood instead of the Brattle
St intersection, and move to redevelop this frontage to the
Mill Brook as a commercial and neighborhood center.
The design problem for this center has been to relate
Mass Ave to the Mill Brook without loosing the sense of being
behind and removed from the Avenue at a place by the brook.
The solution offered provides a direct connection from the
Mass Ave sidewalk to the second level of the retail and
office structure through to the mill buildings (which are
already connected at that level).
Parking and servicing
are pulled behind and below Mass Ave off Quinn Rd and Forest
St, serving the lower level and courtyard directly, thereby
having two levels directly accessible to shoppers.
..........
I~
A~~Lg~L
The Massachusetts Avenue street frontage is maintained
by reusing the old houses which are currently there in front
of the parking areas.
The part of the building which conforms
to the street frontage forms an open area between the building
and the brook.
The space is
flanked by returns in the struc-
ture forming the courtyard as a place for outdoor.public
activity.
Since this space will only be used for five months
of the year, interior concourses are also provided in the
design scheme.
These ideas are nothing new, but they are applicable
throughout the Mill Brook Valley to accomplish the Town's
stated goals of concentrating commercial activity, providing
off-street parking and servicing, providing a mix of uses
for the Mill Brook Valley, separating pedestrian and motorist
actvity, and maximizing pedestrian activity along the brook.
84
APPENDIX
Site Value Method
The major assumption to the site value method is that
the development must offset the cost of acquiring the land.
Thus,
the land purchase price is
amount and,
presented as a fixed
for various construction costs and mortgage
interest rates, the relationship between developable density and rents or sales price can be made explicit.
This
is especially helpful in determining which parameters -density, construction costs, money, rents --
are critical
in the control of the total development cost.
As an exercise, I looked at the site value method applied
to the entire site developed as condominiums or apartments
under MHFA or private financing.
site cost,
To arrive at a reasonable
I took the 1974 assessed valuations of all
parcels
to be assembled on the site and inflated the costs by 20%
(valuation in Arlington is currently about 92% of fair market
value, so this is highly conservative).
The total cost was
divided by the total area giving an average site cost per
square foot of $5.05 (see Table next page).
85
TABLE 1: SITE ACQUISITION COSTS
Parcel
1000 sq ft
NET
79.9
83.6
storage
mills
124.7
garage
18.2
28.4
storage
storage
9.6
industrial 18.4
industrial 16.4
storage
1.9
mills
17.7
13.7
storage
industrial 62.4
gas staticin 22.5
park dept. 68.9
ROWs
25.8
vacant
1.5
7.0
house
8.3
house
TOTAL
base price
+ 20%
$439.5
292.6
498.8
82.0
99.4
28.8
$88.0
73.8
5.7
88.5
10.1
280.8
180.8
275.6
58.5
99.9
16.4
19.9
5.8
12.9
14.8
1.1
17.7
2.0
56.1
36.1
55.1
4.5
50.0
50.0
.9
10.0
10.0
64.4
598.9
CONDOMINIUMS.
=
cost/
sq ft
price
$527.5
351.1
77.3
88.6
6.8
106.2
12.1
336.9
216.9
330.7
$6.60
4.20
4.85
5.40
4.20
3.60
4.20
5.40
3.60
6.00
1.00
5.40
9.65
4.80
5.4
60.0
60.0
3.60
8.60
7.25
3030.7
5.05
598.7
98.4
119.3
34.6
The sales price of a condominium includes
its share of the construction costs including fees, the
builder's profit and expenses, the developer's profit, debt
servicing incurred during construction and sale,
and the
amount of money the unit contributes to the purchase of the
land underneath and around it, called the site value.
The
site value is thus a function of the density (which will vary)
and calculable (estimable) expenses.
For a given density,
a sales price can be easily determined.
The following calcu-
lation makes these assumptions:
1) CONSTRUCTION will be of bearing wall and concrete
slab primarily, which Dodge Reports estimates at $19/sq ft
including fees (C = $19 x U, U = sq ft of dwelling unit).
2) BUILDER'S PROFIT and expenses is 10% of the total
development cost,
3)
an MHFA standard estimate
DEVELOPER'S EQUITY is
10% of total
(BP = 10% Tb).
cost,
an MHFA
minimum requirement.
4) DEVELOPER'S PROFIT is a 6% return on equity, or
0.6% of the total cost (DP = 0.6% Tb).
5) DEBT SERVICE average (one year) is 11% interest on
a 90% mortgage, or about 10% of the total cost (DS = 10% Tb).
6) SITE VALUE is variable with density and can be
expressed as a site value per square foot times the unit
size
= SV/sq ft
(SV
x U).
7) The base cost (Tb) is the total of all costs except
the site
value;
total
cost
(T)
is
the base plus site
value.
Tb = C + BP + DP + DS
T
=
($19 x U)
=
1.26
+ 10% Tb + 0.6% Tb + 10% Tb
($19 x U)
= Tb + SV
= 1.26
= U
($19 x U) +
($24
(SV/sq ft
x U)
+ SV/sq ft)
Using this relationship, the cost of different size condominiums at different densities with private financing can
be determined.
(see Table 2).
If MHFA financed the construction of these condominiums,
the relationship formula is only changed by decreasing the
interest rates to 6%, or debt servicing to 5 % Tb.
T
= U ($22.60 + SV/sq ft)
Thus,
for MHFA financing.
SALES PRICE OF PRIVATELY FINANCED CONDOMINIUMS
TABLE 2:
15
.281
17.80
41.80
net density
FAR
SV/sq ft
cost/sq ft
$33,200
45,900
58,500
71,000
ft
ft
ft
ft
25
.469
10.70
34.70
35
.656
7.62
31.62
45
.844
5.93
29.93
55
1.02
4.85
28.85
65
1.22
4.10
28.10
27,800
38,100
48,500
59,000
25,300
34,800
44,300
53,800
24,000
32,000
42,000
51,000
23,100
31,800
40,500
49,100
22,500
30,900
39,400
47,800
800
1100
1400
1700
sq
sq
sq
sq
NOTE:
Net Density is dwelling units per net acre where net
acres, is the total area less 25% for roads and open space.
Site Cost is $5/sq ft; site cost divided by FAR yields
the site value per sq ft.
SALES PRICE OF MHFA-FINANCED CONDOMINIUMS
TABLE 3:
15
40.40
net density
cost/sq ft
800
1100
1400
1700
$32,300
44,400
56,500
68,500
sq
sq
sq
sq
ft
ft
ft
ft
If
one is
25
33.30
35
30.22
45
28.53
55
27.45
65
26.70
26,700
36,600
46,600
56,600
24,200
33,200
42,300
51,400
22,800
31,400
40,000
48,500
22,000
30,200
38,500
46,700
21,400
29,400
37,400
45,400
willing to make further assumptions in this
exercise, these prices can be compared to the price of an
average home in Arlington.
The median cost of a home in
1970 was $25,800 when the consumer price index was 121.2 for
housing.
The index is now 167.9, so the cost of the same
house today is
$35,800.
The median size house was 6.1
rooms, or about 1100 square feet.
Thus, the average
Arlington market is expected to pay $32.50 per square foot
for an existing home in town.
Assuming that the same market
is willing to pay the same amount for a condominium as for
a single-family home
(or share of a two-family house),
these
figures can be used to determine a working density for the
site design,
as below:
cost
-
base
e
site value
FAR
net density
Conventional
32.50
24.00
8.50
.589
31.4
MHFA
32.50
22.60
9.90
.505
26.9
Since these densities can be developed with the construction
method assumed earlier, the costs and densities are probably good approximations of a probable development on this
site as approached by a developer.
Apartment construction can be approached
APARTMENTS.
in
the same way,
must be made.
but additional
(and more critical)assumptions
The site value of an apartment is part of
the mortgage payment made by the landlord, and must be
carried by rents.
We assume a conventional 25-year 10%
interest (11% constant payment) mortgage for private financing, and a 40-year 6% interest (6.64% constant) mortgage
for MHFA financing.
Furthermore, we assume that mortgage
payments normally constitute 40% of the total operating
expenses plus cash flow in apartment management,
or,
in
other words, the total rental income is 2.5 times the
mortgage payment.
tion --
There are major problems with this assump-
it is not very precise, and in reality the operating
expenses table offers more trade-offs than are assumed here.
Assume for this exercise that this relationship is approximately correct, and that construction costs and equity are
the same as were assumed in the condominium exercise.
Thus,
times the mortgage payment,
the mortgage pay-
rent is
2
ment is
the constant rate times 90% (full less 10% equity)
of the total development cost, which means:
rent/month = 1/12 x 2.5 x 0.9 x CP x T.
For conventional financing,
CP =
T
0.11
= U
($24 + SV/sq ft)
Rent/month = 0.0206 x U
($24 + SV/sq ft).
For MHFA financing,
CP = 0.0664
T
= U ($22.60
+ SV/sq ft)
Rent/month = 0.0124 x U ($22.60 + SV/sq ft).
TABLE 4: MONTHLY RENT, PRIVATE FINANCING
net density
cost/sq ft
850
1000
1150
1300
1550
sq
sq
sq
sq
sq
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
15
41.80
$ 734
862
950
1120
1335
25
34.70
35
31.62
45
29.93
55
28.85
65
28.10
608
715
823
930
1110
555
653
750
848
1010
524
616
710
802
956
506
595
684
774
922
493
580
666
754
900
301
354
407
460
548
290
341
392
443
528
282
331
381
430
513
TABLE 5: MONTHLY RENT, MHFA FINANCING
850
1000
1150
1300
1500
sq
sq
sq
sq
sq
ft
ft
ft
ft
ft
$
426
501
576
652
776
351
413
475
536
640
319
375
431
487
581
By comparing these rents to the median rents for
Arlington, it can be seen why developers have turned to
higher densities in an attempt to lower necessary rents.
The median rent in 1970,- when the index for rent was 110.1,
was $168/month.
The index is now 132.8, translating to
a median rent of $202/month.
The median size apartment
is 4.5 rooms, or about 850 square feet.
The apartment
In
rents, even with MHFA financing, don't come close.
fact,
at an impossible infinite density, or at a site
value of zero, the high construction costs still demand
$219/month for the median-sized apartment.
**
This exercise led to conclusions in the text that
the residential development on the Theodore Schwamb site
should consist of either privately-financed condominiums
or MHFA-financed apartments.
Furthermore, it was suggested
that the residential development be built on the less costly
land behind the Mill Brook and that limitted Mass Avenue
frontage be developed for commercial use.
Land Bank Article
(The Proposed Warrant Article Calling for the Creation
of a Land Bank and a Conservation and Development Fund,
Rockport, Massachusetts, is hereby appended verbatim).
The Rockport Board of Selectmen is authorized to petition
the Great and General Court (under Section 8 of Article 89
of The Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution) for
legislative authority to establish a land bank,
the activities
of said land bank to be financed through the creation of a
Rockport Land Conservation and Development Fund.
The Fund
shall be administered by an Executive Committee.
The Exe-
cutive Committee shall consist of the Board of Selectmen,
the head of the Conservation Commission, the head of the
Planning Board, and the head of the Housing Authority.
The Executive Committee shall be empowered to buy or lease
land or interests in land for any of the following purposes:
(1) to acquire open space, including easements and restrictions as described in Chapter 666 of the Acts of 1969, in
accordance with a duly approved Open Space Plan prepared
by the Conservation Commission;
(2) to acquire ecologically-
sensitive natural resource areas threatened by proposed or
existing development;
(3) to acquire property for the con-
struction of housing for residents who cannot afford to
purchase or rent existing housing units;
(4)
to acquire
property for the purpose of preserving unique historic
sites or buildings in Rockport; or (5) to acquire property
for the expansion of commerce or other job-creating activities during periods of high unemployment.
Open spaces, ecologically-sensitive natural resource areas,
or historic sites and buildings,
purchased or leased through
the Fund, shall be transferred to the Conservation Commission.
Transfer of land or interests in land shall be effective
upon filing in
the Office of the Town Clerk a record of the
vote of the Executive Committee to transfer title to The
Conservation Commission.
Property purchased through the
Fund for the purpose of providing housing shall be transferred to The Housing Authority and property purchased for
industrial or commercial development shall be transferred
to the Industrial Development Commission in the same manner.
One half of one percent of all local property tax revenue
collected annually shall be automatically deposited in the
Land Conservation and Development Fund.
If at any time the
Fund exceeds $350,000, additional revenue shall revert to
the town's general fund.
The Executive Committee shall be
authorized to employ experts and advisors to undertake
whatever studies or to provide whatever assistance and
counsel the Committee deems necessary.
The Executive Committee shall prepare and submit an annual
report to the town detailing all its activities during the
previous year,
listing any and all land acquisitions or
sales, and summarizing the financial status of the Fund.
The administrators of the Fund may from time to time decide
to sell land or interests in land purchased through the
Fund provided that the Executive Committee has voted to
approve such sale and that the town meeting has approved
such sale.
In the case of land acquired for purposes
described in Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts
Constitution,
the General Court must approve sale of such
land as therein required.
The Executive Committee shall serve as tax title
custodian
for lands acquired by the town for non-payment of taxes.
The operation of the Fund and the powers of the Executive
Committee shall be pursued in
the manner described above
not withstanding any other provisions of the law inconsistent therewith.
Clippings
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, January 30, 1975
75% Vote In Favor
Town Meeting
Approves New School
Town Meeting Monday voted 178-61 to
approve the upgrading of Arlington High
School contingent upon receipt of 65 percent
state aid, and Tuesday a delegation of 10
Arlington officials went to a meeting of the
Mass. Board of Education to say that the town
expected to get the 65 percent state aid that
had been promised. (See separate roll call.)
The Board of Education agreed to exempt
Arlington from the moratorium, which they
,also lowered to 45 days, in view of the bid in
hand and the Town Meeting vote.
However, according to Town Manager
Donald Marquis, the town was told that it
must have final approval of the building
project by the Department of Education
within 30 days. Under the bid laws the- town
would have to sign a construction contract by
March 6 anyway.
"It's clear to all of us who went there that
if we had not gone to Holyoke today we would
have been completely left out and part of 118
other communities that find themselves in
limbo," said Marquis Tuesday night.
"Arlington is still in there and has 30 days
in which to work out the approval," he added.
Arlington representatives who went to the
State Board of Education to protest the
proposed moratorium on school construction
aid included Marquis, Permanent Building
Committee Chairman Robert McLaughlin,
School Supt. William Gibbs, Asst. Supt.
Richard McKay, Selectman Chairman Harry
McCabe, Town Treasurer John Bilafer,
Selectman Robert Walsh, and School Committee members Doris Cremens, Ann Klein
and Charles Lyons.
Six cents is the difference between
building the nine needed physical education
stations in a traditional gym or in the
proposed fa, ties. The diversity and
.-oposed facilities would
flexibility of i
accomplish the gvels of offering lifelong
sports, intramural sports and after-school
community facilities.
The vicious enemy is delay, McLaughlin
said, pointing to inflation and reduction in
state aid. To wait two years would raise
construction costs to $25,700,000 and decrease
state aid to at least 50 percent for a net cost to
the town of $12.8 million or almost twice what
the project now will cost.
The town has already committed $1
million on the project. To say "delay," is to
say never, said McLaughlin who noted that
each alternate solution leads to more expenditure. He referred to the impact the
school would have on property values,
community identity and quality of life in
Arlington and urged the Town Meeting not to
fail at this last step in school upgrading.
School Committee Chairman Robert
Murray told the meeting that even in hard
times clear priorities must be set and plans
must be made for the future. The high school
project met both and Murray called it the best
project with the least impact on the tax rate.
Murray told about cuts in the school
budget to the point that further cuts would
affect service. The tax rate estimate he felt
was reasonable for an inflationary period and
he asked for support of the project, saying
that a 1975 comprehensive system cannot be
run in a 1914 building.
Supt. of Schools William T. Gibbs briefly
reviewed studies over the past four years on
enrollment and curriculum. The present high
school with its many additions and revisions
does not meet the needs for flexibility and
changes in sizes and spaces, he explained.
"Grossly inadequate" is how Gibbs
described the present facility. Students
cannot be offered the variety of courses they
want and need. When a school's programs
come up short in competing with other
schools, it's the students who come up short
too, Gibbs said.
He also spoke of the academic needs which
would be met by the recreational facilities to
be used three times a week by all of the
students for physical education classes, intramural and interscholastic sports and other
programs.
Gibbs concluded by referring to the junior
high modern learning areas and said the high
school proposal would meet the far more
complex needs of high school students.
Resident Modestino Torra was given
permission to address the meeting. He
discussed the petition he has been circulating
for people who oppose a tax increase to sign,
and said that the high school should be put off
until things normalize.
Arlington High student Janet Prince told
the meeting that if the project did not pass
and Arlington High was not accredited it
would be to the detriment of the students.
Anyone who cares about young people should
know how to vote, she said.
Sophomore Andrea Russo told about students who have lost interest in their
classes because the programs are limited at
the high school. The modernized school would
reach all students with a flexible curriculum.
something which is not possible in an inflexible plant, she said.
Edward Dever reminded meeting
members that Building A today is not the one
they went to school in. It is in "terrible
shape," he said. Hyde Park High School in
Boston is in better physical condition.
Dever, a former state legislator, said the
moratorium on state school aid and the cut
coming in July make it clear to him that the
state will not be returning to 65 percent
reimbursements.
The asset of the town is its people, their
spirit and participation, and this revolves
around the schools, Dever said. A vote for the
school project is not just for the younsgters,
but for the welfare of the town. Dever asked
what is the alternative to parental
dissastisfaction with Arlington High and
asked if parents can afford private school
tuitions.
Bruce Wright said most people felt
something had to be done at the school but
they stopped short of approving the proposed
plan. He said he would vote against the
school. The demoeratic process can best be
accomplished by giving all registered voters
an opportunity to cast a ballot.
Meeting member Irene Shea asked for
approval of the project, noting that good
schools are an investment in property. The
only people interested in buying large family
homes are those with children who are. interested in the schools, she said. When the
schools decline, so do property values.
George Remmert, former chairman of the
Redevelopment Board and Finance Committee, spoke as a 20-year Town Meeting
member with no personal interest in the
school who believes he has a responsible
approach to town affairs.
He said the town should go ahead because
the educational need for a comprehensive
high school has been demonstrated. Those
who toured Building A could not help but
agree it was a shambles, Remmert said.
The more proper question on cost should
be if the tbwn can afford not to modernize the
school, Remmert said. Competition is keen
The approval of the high school renovation
and upgrading culminates a program
outlined by Booz-Allen and Hamilton six
years ago for the whole system. This year
expanded and refurbished junior highs
opened.
With the 65 percent state aid the cost of the
project, $19,300,000 gross, will be $6,755,000 to
the town. Northgate Construction Co. of
Waltham was lowest of the 10 bidders whose
bids were opened last Thursday night.at Town
Hall. This cost includes site work; construction and renovation and fixed equipment.
The town will be able to replace the 1914
Building A with a new academic facility, and
will have for community use by all residents a
six-gym field house, swimming pool and
skating rink-tennis court building. The
remaining part of the high school will'be
renovated. The new facilities will give needed
physical education space, as well as a learning resource cen4er, cafeteria, central
kitchen, and rooms for academic departments.
Work is to begin on the academic building
this spring to the rear of the freshman
building. When it is completed and can house
students Building A, which houses 50 percent
of the school's academic space, will be torn
down, thus alleviating the need for double
sessions. The gym and pool will be built on A's
site and the rink-tennis court building where
the gas tank is. Renovation will be done
without disruption to the school program.
The Meeting
Irving Stein reported for the Comrnmittee to
Procure an Independent Survey of the
Facilities of Arlington Schools that his group
endorsed the school project and voted to
recommend to Town Meeting that no major
construction or reconstruction of any school
be undertaken within the next decade.
Stein cited the town's solution to
elementary overcrowding with demountable
classrooms, the upqrading of the junior highs
and the continuing bad conditions at
Arlington High's Building A.
The project comes at a bad time, but Stein
reminded meeting members that it is not a
decision of this recession year. The high
school is not adequate, rebuilding is five
years overdue and the town cannot afford to
redesign or postpone action, he said.
Robert O'Neill got his baptism as Finance
Committee Chairman. He introduced the
motion for the school with the qualifying
amendment that the contract not be signed
and no money borrowed unless the state gives
at least 65 percent aid. The article authorized
the treasurer to borrow $19,200,000.
95
O'Neill reviewed estimates for the next tax
rate, explaining the conservative'position his
committee takes on estimating state receipts
and other variables such as receipts from
auto excise, water taxes and revenue sharing.
He figures next year's tax rate will be
$69.60, an increase of $2.40 based on budgets
and warrant articles. It could be lowered 45
cents if the town collects and is allowed to use
half of $319,000 it was awarded in a suit
against the state for joining the regional
school district.
O'Neill pointed out that for the past five
years expenditures for Building A have been
kept low in expectation of its removal. The
building is "deplorable," and would need
extensive renovation before being declared a
safety hazard, O'Neill says. Renovation
would mean double sessions, would do
nothing to enhance the educational program
and would still cost $3million with no state aid
coming. Over a 10-year bond this would mean
$1.35 on the tax rate for the first year to 89
cents the last year.
"This is not in the best economic interest
of the town," said O'Neill who explained other
cost alternatives. The only project with
economic merit is the one before Town
Meeting, O'Neill said, and it would result in a
net averaqe reduction of the tax rate over the
next 20 years.
Costs of operating And maintaining the
facility O'Neill did not address himself to
except to say that they were not a determining factor as fees and charges could help
pay these costs. O'Neill concluded that the
project was the most important decision to be
faced by his committee this decade, one
which will decide the future of the town.
Permanent Town Building Committee
Chairman Robert McLaughlin drew a laugh
when he said the amendment he would have
offered after hearing about the 90-day
moratorium on state aid to school construction would have been one to secede from
the commonwealth.
The building committee has done the best
job it knows how and feels that the project
accommodates tlie needs of children and
citizens and gets maximum value for the
expenditure. The committee also worked to
get the information out to the public and
meeting members so they would be able to
make informed decisions according to
McLaughlin.
He explained that the project does not
expand the high school enrollment of 2600. On
maintenance 'costs, McLaughlin estimated
they might add 85 cents to the tax rate, but he
pointed out that if Building A were kept a lot
would have to be spent on maintenance there.
The rink could be profitable and neutralize its
expenditures.
and kids should not be sent out from Arlington
High inadequately prepared.
Remmert called the cost a modest amount
to insure educational quality. For a difference
of 6 cents on the tax rate between nine gyms
and six gyms, skating rink and pool, Remmert said the town had an opportunity for
community facilities which should not be
missed. After adding the pluses and minuses,
he came up with a big plus, Remmert said.
Charles Lyons of the School Committee
said he did not want one person opposed to the
project to think that he was saving the town
money. What it means in terms of time, state
aid and program can never be repaid.
Lyons called for an effort to fight state
mandates and to find a way other than the
property tax to support town costs. The
decision before Town Meeting, he said, was if
Arlington will go downhill.
Frank Powers told the meeting that the
more he looked at the proposal the harder it is
t6 vote against it. If the school is defeated and
that is the wrong decision, it can never be
brought back, he said.
"Progress can't be gained with no, no,
no," said Powers. Two years from now you'll
be glad you voted yes, Powers predicted.
Town Treasurer John Bilafer explained
the borrowing techniques he has developed
that would lessen the impact of the bond
issue, likening the town's borrowing to that of
a person purchasing a home.
Bilafer said that by borrowing $5 million
each of the next three years and $4million the
last year the full impact of the borrowing
would be put off until 1980. By that time he
expects the national economic picture to
improve.
The school project can be financed at no
additional cost to the taxpayer over what is in
the tax rate now for school bond issues, according to Bilafer. "The figures are accurate.
They don't lie. They have not been tampered
with or shaded," Bilafer said.
The reason the school can be built at no
additional impact on the tax rate is because
state aid will come in at one-nineteenth a year
even though the town will only borrow $5
million the first year, and because other
school bonds will be paid off during the next 19
years, lessening the debt retirement.
Bilafer pointed -out that these other school
debts show how the town was short-sighted in
the past. Noting that he has criticized the
school department in the past, Bilafer said
this time "the figures dictate support of the
issue."
Meeting member Fred Lewis did not say
how he would vote, but he raised questions
about the ability of retirees to meet taxes and
if town and school-budgets would be able to be
pared for the next several years. He said it
was time for selfish interests to stop
demanding and for everyone to make
sacrifices and let department heads keep
their budgets down.
After the question was on the floor
Selectman Chairman Harry McCabe told the
meeting that property in Arlington sells at
125-130 percent of its assessed value. Property
values in Arlington are high and should be
kept high to protect the investment in
property of people like Lewis.
McCabe said no one in Arlington has lost
his home because he could not pay taxes. He
cited programs for the elderly and tax
abatements and said in terms of long range
impact on the town, this is the turning point.
If real estate values decline those who will
be hurt the most will be those who can't afford
it, McCabe said. It is. the people of moderate
means and their children who are being
fought for this evening, he said, and children
whose education will end at Arlington High
School.
Ronald Nigro said the burden of the school
would fall hardest on the elderly and those
least able to pay. Taxes will go up anyway, he
said. The only sane, logical decision is for
quality education or the town dies, Nigro said.
A standing vote of 169-58 preceded the roll
call vote.
'The meeting then proceeded with the rest
of the warrant.
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, February 6, 1975
Referendum( n
School March 15
A special referendum election will be held
March 15 on the question of the proposed
project to expand the Arlington High School
facilities with a new academic building to
replace Building A and nine physical
education stations housed in a pool, field
house and skating rink-tennis building.
Town Meeting, in a special session last
week, voted to approve the plan, on which the
town has already spent in the area of $1
million, by a vote of 178-61.
Coincidentally, on the day of the special
meeting, the state announced plans for a
moratorium on state aid for school construction. Arlington had counted on receiving
65 percent state aid.
Tuesday a delegation from Arlington met
with the Mass. Board of Education and got a
commitment that Arlington, because it had a
bid in hand and Town Meeting approval,
would be exempt from the 45-day moratorium
if the plans were okayed by the state
department of education and the board again
within 30 days.
However, petitions asking for the question
to be put before the electorate were in circulation at the close of Town Meeting.
On Monday petitions reported to contain
3,000 names were taken to the office of the
Board of Selectmen.
On Monday night the Selectmen set the
March 15 date. The Board of Registrars have
seven days in which to certify the signatures.
One possible complication with ballot
boxes has been taken care of. The town's
boxes for the regular March election must be
impounded for 30 days, meaning they would
not be available for the special election.
Arrangements have been made to borrow
boxes from Cambridge.
The school department has given permission for the schools to be used as polling
places on March 15.
In addition, the school department has put
the packet of information on program,
building plans and costs which Town Meeting
members received in the public libraries for
interested residents who wish to become
more familiar with the school project.
By law the polls for a referendum must be
opened at 2 and closed no earlier than 8 p.m.
Twenty pe rcent of the electorate must participate in order to have a valid election. A
majority vote will carry the issue.
There was serious question last week
whether Arlington would still qualify for the
65 percent state aid in view of the 30-day limit
put otlrj ect approval by the State Board of
Education
A meet ing was held with Department of
Assistance
Education and School Building
people on Friday. At this time, according to
Supt. of Schools William T. Gibbs, the townwas told that the department plans to
recommernd the Arlington project for apthe state board at its late February
meeting. If the state board approves,
Arlington still has a chance for the funding if
the voters pass the project.
reove r complication which has not been
resolved a t this time has to do with the state
he bids opened two weeks ago are
bdlag
for 30 days. The special election will
come afte r that period. It is understood that if
all of the contractors who won -subcontracts
agree to e xtend their bids by a few weeks the
bids will still be valid.
If for some reason the bids cannot be
extended,,the town would have to go through
woud t sing and, rebidding, a process that
could re ke another six weeks, and which
ult in bids different from those in
hand
chooses not to support the
IfrthetE electorate
and at a later
igh
school
cure hs to renovateproject,
or expand the, school,
Gibbs sa ys the town would start out from
nd would have to begin again the
process of getting state approval.
Town Manager Donald Marquis told the
Town M eeting Assn. last week that he is
pessimist ic about State aid for school construction continuing. He anticipates a move
by the sta te to discontinue this aid except for
inner c ity projects and particularly
significar t suburban school projects.
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, February 27, 1975
State Makes Arlington
No. 1 For School Aid,
65 Percent Is Assured
"Arlington was given approval because it
had done its homework. It had the vote of
Town Meeting and a bid in hand. Now it is up
to the voters."
These words of Mrs. Rae Kipp, chairman
of the Mass. Board of Education, sum up the
situation after Tuesday's vote by her board to
give Arlington 65 percent state aid for the
renovation of Arlington High School and
expansion with community recreation
facilities.
The board at its monthly meeting considered Arlington first among five school
systems seeking state approval of funding
and voted unanimously to approve the funding.
According. to Selectman Margaret
Spengler who attended the session, "there is
no reason to think the state would default on
its commitment."
Town Manager Donald Marquis, who also
attended the meeting in Framingham, said
Arlington got approval because of its unique
position of having Town Meeting approval
and a bid in hand. "Now it is up to the voters,"
he said.
Asst. Supt. for Secondary Education
Richard McKay, who represented the school
department, said that Arlington was the
furthest along of the five schools which sought
a funding commitment. The others, which
were also allowed to proceed, were
Framingham, Newburyport, Chicopee and
Pittsfield.
McKay says he detected a change in policy
at the state level which will probably
eliminate Arlington and similar suburban
towns from state aid in the future. He reports
that the State Board of Education voted
policies on school desegregation.
By the next meeting of the board in March
the present 45-day moratoriumr on state aid
for school construction will be over and the
state will be ready to implement a new
program. McKay says it looks as though the
new policies will be aimed at a statewide
approach to developing quality education
with more aid to inner-city schools.
Town Manager Marquis several weeks ago
said that he expected this to be the end of
state aid in view of the state effort to trim the
budget, with future aid going to the cities.
If the March 15 referendum is approved by
voters the construction bid can be awarded
and construction can begin right away, according to McKay.
McKay feels that if the town does not act
now to build a new academic wing and the
nine physical education stations required by
the state this expansion will never be done.
99
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, February 27, 1975
Bank Word Due
Dexter House Has Site,
Moving Funds Donated
A site has been found for Dexter House, the
building which housed the first children's
library in America. In addition, over $1500
has been donated to help pay moving and
restoration costs.
According to Historical Society President
John L. Worden III a lot on Swan Place,
owned by former Arlington resident Walter
Hill, has been made available for temporary
or permanent location of the house.
In order to move the house to the site a
zoning variance will be needed. Hill has
authorized an attorney to begin with legal
proceedings.
John Doyle of the Dexter House Fun4 met
with officials of Arlington Five Cents Bank
Tuesday morning to outline latest developments. The bank recently acquired the
property, which is next door, and had set a
March 1 deadline for removal of the house or
it would be demolished.
The bank was expected to have a decision
on the new request later this week.
Hill has told the Dexter House committee
that the building can be stored on his property
until Town Meeting vote on the warrant article under which the town would accept the
house. If the meeting does not accept the
house or if town property cannot be found for
the house, the house will be given to Hill and
kept permanently on Swan Place.
Additions on all sides of the Dexter House
would be removed for the move and the
original exterior would be restored. The
original front of the house now faces the
railroad tracks.
The Arlington Historical Society this week
voted $1000 for moving costs with the condition that when restoration is complete the
owner of the house give the society a
preservation easement under which changes
could not be made to the exterior without
society approval.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has given $500 for architectural services in connection with moving and
restoration of Dexter House.
Other funds have been contributed by
individuals. Residents who wish to contribute
may send donations to John Doyle at 182
Highland ave. Wordon says that if the effort to
save the house is not successful, the contributions will be returned.
This week by 2-2 vote with Arthur Saul
abstaining the Board of Selectmen failed to
pass a motion by Margaret Spengler that the
board ask Arlington Five Cents Savings Bank
to hold up demolition until Town Meeting
action which the board would request early in
the warrant.
That motion came after the board received
a letter from Arlington architect G. W. Terry
Rankine, a member of the Arlington Historic
District Study Committee, who said that "the
house is worth preserving in spite of its
present sad condition.
"There are not many of its particular kind
in Arlington, and its history as the first
children's library makes it of unique interest," wrote Rankine.
"I feel strongly that it is important for
Arlington to preserve any buildings of
significant architectural and historic merit.
The history of the town starting before the
founding of the nation is not as apparent as in
some of the surrounding towns with less
history. "Arlington should hold on to what it
has," said Rankine.
100
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, March 20, 1975
45% Vote
School Plan Defeated
By 822 Vote Margin
Town Meeting action for renovation and construction at Arlington High School was
overturned by voters at a referendum election Saturday.
A total of 45.3 percent of the 30,013
registered voters of the community, 13,618
turned but during the six hour period from 2 to
8 p.m.
A total of 7,215 voters were in opposition to
the request, while 6,393 were in favor. Ten
blank ballots were turned in for tabulation at
the office of the Town Clerk.
The specific question was: " Shall the
Town. vote to approve the action of the
representative Town Meeting whereby it was
voted that the sum of $19,300 be expended
under the direction of the Permanent Town
Building Committee for the purpose of
enlarging the Arlington High School by
constructing, equipping and furnishing an
addition thereto, and reconstructing,
remodeling, rehabilitating and modernizing
said Arlington High School?"
The proposal, which had been developed
by the Permanent Building Committee over
several years, and approved by Town
Meeting voters for the past three years with
the endorsement of major town boards, called
for the construction of a new academic wing,
renovation of existing space and construction
of a community field house, hockey rink,
tennis court building and pool.
The school proposal was voted 178- 61 at a
special town meeting held in late January.
The total vote was one of the highest
recorded at a special or regular town election
since 1957.
However, nearly 55 percent of the
registered voters of the community did not
turn out to vote.
Only 31.2 percent turned out to vote at the
last special election in 1966 when the dog leash
law was approved.
The average voter turnout since 1957 was
40 percent. Only twice in that period has it
been higher than 50 percent. A total of 14,372
or 53.7 percent voted at the town election in
1958 and 50.2 percent or 15,003 voted in the
1965 election.
A total of 46.3 voters turned out in 1970 and
46 percent voted the following.
The total vote Saturday was compiled in
only six hours while the votes at the annual
elections were recorded during full day voting
sessions.
The first results came into Town Hall at
8:35 p.m. from Precinct 1, while Precinct 18
was the last Precinct reporting at 9:55 p.m.
Absentee votingwas extremely high with a
total of 310 persons responding to the opportunity to vote even though they were not
going to be around on election day.
101
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, March 27, 1975
Special Tn.Meeting
On School, No Rink
Going To Be Asked
A special Town Meeting to vote on new
plans for high school expansion is going to be
sought this week by former School Committeeman Robert Murray.
Murray announced his plans at a two-hour
public forum on the school Tuesday night.
About 800 residents attended. Those filling out
anonymous slips of paper to indicate their
vote on the recent referendum indicated 3-1
attendahce by supporters of the school plan.
Opposition to the plan, which would have
cost the town $6.7 million, which was voted
down-to add an academic wing, demolish
Building A, build a field house, pool and
skating rink-tennis court facility-seemed
varied. Opponents spoke against the school on
the basis of vandalism, cost, unnecessary
facilities, method of presentition and planning.
One of the later speakers was Bruce
Wright, chairman of Citizens for Fiscal
Responsiblity which led the petition drive to
put the school question on a referendum. He
said that he and those who questioned the
school were not proposing a $6 million
alternative as has been suggested. He said
they were trying to force the Permanent
Building Committee to come up with a project
that cost that much.
Building committee chairman Robert
McLaughlin said that Wright, who made the
proposal in campaign literature before the
referendum, was irresponsible in saying that
this was not what he had proposed.
He called it "amazing" that Wright would
put out that figure then walk away from it and
thrust it to the building committee. A $6
million school can't be done, said McLaughlin
who indicated his willingness to discuss it
further.
The meeting began with committee
chairman Richard Kraus noting the four
ways the school question could go: resubmission of the same plan, the only one on
which costs are known ; alteration by deleting
a physical education space-this plan meets
with state approval and Arlington would still
qualify until June 30 for state aid;
Discarding all of the plans and starting all
over to redesign a complex which has the
disadvantages of allowing inflationary costs
to mount and loss of state aid; and to give up
all plans and settle for purchase and rental -of
alternative space in and out of town.
The first question to McLaughlin was on
the cost of the physical education facilities.
He said the facilities proposed would cost$5.5
million, while more gyms instead of the pool
and rink would cost $4.3 million. This net
savings to the town of $400,000 amounts to 6
cents on the tax rate.
On a question of vandalism, Supt. William
Gibbs said that new facilities would be
alarmed, and he told of the school department's involvement in a program to involve
the whole community in discussions of the
vandalism problem to develop responsiblity
and respect in the student and adult
population.
A Town Meeting member asked
McLaughlin if he had heard any positive
alternative plans from the Citizens for Fiscal
Responsiblity.
McLaughlin noted that on Tuesday afternoon he received a letter from Wright
asking if specifications and working drawings
could be made available to him for review
and use in presentation of ideas for building
committee consideration.
The plans have ben available since Dec.
18, McLaughfln noted, adding that while
Wright was welcomed to them, it appeared
that he had never looked at what the building
committee presented when he suggested the
committee come up with an alternative.
Kraus answered a question about how the
physical education stations were chosen by
telling about the selectmen's -committee
which reviewed facilities several years ago
and came up with these recommendations
since there was a demand for more water and
ice which were adopted by the school
department and building committee.
102
In response to a remark by a resident that
she would vote against the project again if
both the rink and pool weresin the plan, School
Committeeman George Buckley said during
his work for the school he offered to take more
than 70 people to see facilities in nearby towns
where they are profitmaking and an asset to
the town.
To eliminate one is a mistake, said
Buckley, noting Arlington has a rink without
seats, local teams can't be viewed at home,
residents spend over $90,000 a year renting
ice, on concessions and gasoline.
In answer to a question why the project
was so important that all of the politicians
supported it, Kraus said after long study town
officials honestly felt the proposal was in the
best interest of the town.
McLaughlin added that the town now has
bid in hand and state approval until June 30
after which it is possible the town will get no
aid since the Mass. Board of Education is
redrawing priorities for aid. There is no room
to redesign and get 65 percent, he said, and
with lost funding and inflation the town will
pay more and get less.
Liz McDonough, girls' atheltic coordinator
at the high school, noted that too much attention is given to the athletics and team
sports aspect of the proposed facilities. What
they would allow the students and town are
development of skills that carry over into
lifetime sports, such as swimming, skating,
golf, tennis. A rink does not just mean hockey,
she pointed out.
One resident suggested that a survey of no
voters be conducted in The Advocate. (The
editor is happy to have residents express their
views about the school. Signed letters to the
paper have always been printed. If anyone
cares to write briefly not for publication why
he voted against the school we will be happy
to pass it on to the building committee.)
One resident proposed the town acquire
the Route 2 rink and try to rent or purchase
other needed physical education space.
One speaker said the kids were getting a
bad rap because of a minority. He said that
selfishly he supports the school because the
town will never be offered a better financial
deal.
Finance Committee member John Perry,
who opposed the school, said most residents
want the school but the cost is bugging them.
He said the town should come up with a school
for half the amount. McLaughlin explained
that the costs have risen in the past five years
since the Booz-Allen and Hamilton report
because of inflation and costs of redesigning
Mill Brook which had not been foreseen.
When Wright made his remarks he noted
that-while some have been privy to the school
plans, the Finance Committee did not have
working drawings. He suggested a dollar
limit on the project be set, then plans
developed. Wright also proposed putting ninth
graders in the junior highs and renovating
Building A instead of building another
academic building.
He warned against the matter being
rushed through a special town meeting or
flying in the face of voters without public
forums for discussion. If Permanent Building
Committee members did not agree be called
on them to resign.
AHS senior Janet Prince said the school
was important to 2800 students who want to
graduate from .an accredited school. Not
every student is a vandal, she said, and she
asked if any in the audience had come to the
school to see performances, or students'
prize-winning art.
Murray, before announcing his plans for
calling a special meeting, said the referendum vote showed that people want something
done. Vandalism is not just a problem in
Arlington or among the young, he noted.
Murray said he believes the state will not
have any assistance for Arlington after June
30. Beacause of this concern and the call of
people for action, he said he would seek a
special town meeting. He would take out the
rink and add two gyms because taking off the
pool would mean major redesign and loss of
time.
Those dissatisfied with this alternative or
the original plan Murray called upon to come
into town meeting with plans. Everyone
should put aside selfish attitudes and work for
the good of the town, he said.
103
In Cornerstone
The Arlington Advocate, Thuraday, March 27,1975
Time Capsule Found At Church
Brass buckles and tags cut from the belt of
a dead British soldier, a flint, part of an old
cartridge box, and even a human tooth-all
reminders of the British retreat from
Lexingt6 on April 19, 1775-were found
Monday in a leaden box in the cornerstone of
the recently burned First Prish Unitarian
Universalist Church.
Almost 119 years ago, members of the
First Congregational Society of West Cambridge-assembled at the site of what was to be
their new church. (Six months earlier, on
New Year's morning, their church had
burned down.) But, on this day-July 1, 1856the, new cornerstone was being laid and the
building committee had decided to plant a
time capsule in it.
A leaden box was filled with* church
records; , newspapers of the day, and
mementos of the Revolutionary War. An
artist was even on hand to record the day's
event on ambrotype-an early form of the
photograph.
On Monday, members of today's church
waited eagerly for the box to be opened. The
small crowd was doubly anxious because
during services on Sunday Rev. Charles
Grady had told them the box was lost.
In an 1856 building report, he had noted
that a leaden box was placed in the southeast
corner of the tower. However, when he went
out to where workmen were cleaning the site
last week, he was shocked to find that some of
the foundation stones had already been
removed.
Nonetheless, both workmen and church
_members were anxious to find the box and on
Friday spent nearfy thieehours sifting
through the rubble to no avail.
Everyone had pretty much given up, when
workmen who were rearranging the foundation blocks in the backyard of, the church
noticed an outline in one of them. The word of
the discovery spread quickly and pretty soon
a small crowd had gathered for the 11 a.m.
opening.
As the crane tipped over the large piece of
stone, a small opening appeared. Rev. Grady
then removed a piece of loose slate covering
the hole and removed a lead wool packing
(similar in composition to SOS pads).
With his hands nervously shaking in anticipation, he removed the box which had
been partially crushed. Then the crowd
followed him into the chapel where theontents were removed.
The articles which were taken from the
box have been put in a safe deposit box at the
Arlington Five. They include:
-gold, silver, and copper coins. The oldest
is from 1780;
-a brass-gilded lead tip of the weathervane from the 1804 church;
-an apothecary jar sealed with wax and
containing a parchment list of what was in the
box;
-articles found in in the common grave of
the 12 men killed in the Jason Russell House
on the retreat of the British from Lexington,
April 19, 1775: a piece of woolen stocking, a
human tooth, a part of an old cartridge box, a
flint the brass-buckles and tags cut from the
belt of a British soldier killed on the same day
in the yard of a "Mr. Parker."
-- and a "sketch from memory" of the
church that burned on January 1, 1856 by an
Eben Baker. Rev. Grady said he believes that
this may be the only picture in existence of
the third church.
Marjorie Cohn of Jason street is advising
on preservation of the newspapers and other
papers which included sermons and an 1856
illustrated San Franciso newspaper with
accounts of the vigilantes.
Since the church was destroyed two weeks
ago, fundraising activities for the First
Parish Church have reached the $10,000
mark. Contributions may be sent to the
rebuilding fund in care of: Arlington Five
Cents Savings Bank, 626 Mass. ave.
Contributions include $1,000 from the
Unitarian Universalist Association and a man
whose only family consists of two sisters who
are nuns told Rev. Grady, "I am not of your
faith, but there is only One," as he pointed
upward. He gave $30 cash.
From all over the country, messages have
come from individuals and other churches via
telephone, telegram and letter. These groups
have included the Arlington Municipal
Employees Credit Union, the Arlington VFW
Post, the Arlington Historical Society, the
Masonic Library of Boston, the Arlington
Education Assn., the Arlington Philharmonic,
the Winslow Towers Assn., and the Arlington
Art Assn.
ton Advpcate, Thursday, May 1, 1975
Three School Questions
To Go On Referendum
At Early June Election
In early June Arlington voters will have an
opportunity to vote on three separate
facilities for Arlington High School: a new
academic wing with fieldhouse, a pool and a
skatinq-tennis facility.
These options will be on the referendum
thanks to a vote by Town Meeting to approve
the three articles with the understanding that
their passage was intended to put all of the
choices before the voters and that approval is
conditional on 65 percent state aid.
The Finance Committee, School Committee and Selectmen supported this move as
a way to put the questions back before the
voters who in March, by a margin of 822,
overturned Town Meeting approval of a
package which would have included all of
these facilities.
Because of the continuing inflationary
rise, the cost of that proposal has already
gone' up. And because of the delays caused by
.* referendum, Town Counsel Joseph
Purcell has ruled that the town can no longer
honor the bids it has, and will have to rebid
whatever parts of the project might be approved by voters.
The original total package was $19.3
million for a net cost to the town, with 65
percent state aid, of $6.7 million. Costs now
for the academic wing and fieldhouse are
$16.9 gross, $5,915,000 net; for the skating
facility, $1,590,000 gross, $556,500 net; and fbr
the pool, $1,520,000 gross and $532,000 net.
The School Committee has scheduled an
informational public meeting for 8 p.m. on
May 15 at Lowe Auditorium at which
residents will be invited to ask questions
about the three facilities, costs, needs, etc.
Finance Committee chairman Robert
O'Neill told the Town Meeting that there were
many reasons which accounted for .no votes
on the school. While his committee still felt
the original package was in the best interest
of the town, they felt that town boards and
Town Meeting have a moral obligation to give
the voters an opportunity to speak again on
the matter.
Robert lurray, who started the petitions
for the Special Town Meeting, said It is important to do something at the high school and
the people have a right and obligation to say
what the high school will be.
The way to accomplish this is to give the
voters the pieces and let them vote. He told
Town Meeting that if they passed the three
articles he would circulate the petitions for
the referendum.
IIe added that a yes vote by meetinq
members would not prejudice their vote and
should not be construed as Town Meeting
support for the sense of the articles.
Not all meeting members agreed with this
technique for putting the questions before the
voters. Elsie Fiore asked that the record show
that her yes vote was on the merits of the
articles. James Fowler agreed with
separating the pieces of the project, but
thought residents would want to know the
meeting's position on each. Robert Coffey
noted that previously members who wanted a
referendum were chastized.
Lengthy remarks were made by Bruce
Wright, chairman of the Citizens for Fiscal
Responsibility, who organized the last
referendum which 'he said was in the best
interest of the town and fitting reward for
those who worked to give citizens a direct say.
Town Meeting did not function in a
responsible fashion, said Wright. The town is
in this predicament, he said, because of the
inconsistencies' around the project and
qualification for 65 percent state aid; because
Town Meeting did not pass judgment on the
project until January; and because it is trying
to build a project to satisfy state
requirements, not just community needs.
Wright says residents should be involved
in school problem-solving. A key feature not
on the referendum is the renovation, Wright
said. He said he has not been convinced of the
need to destroy a major portion of the facility
to give quality education to our youngsters.
As for curriculum, which Wright noted
some say is lacking, he said that proponents
of the school say students should be allowed to
pursue any subject in which they have an
interest. Desirable, said Wright, "but
practical?"
He said the town must guard against
federal and state influence and said that too
much is risked in a rush to meet expectations
of a larger governmental unit and ignore local
concerns.
Wright said he hoped the vote on the school
showed policy makers that more deliberation
is in order. Offering a slightly altered revision
of the proposal is inconsistent with the will of
the people, he said. He suggested the proposal
to pass the three articles is a sham and offered no alternatives.
104
105
Selectman Robert Walsh, speakinq as a
Town Meeting member, said he was grateful
for the special meeting since it offers an
opportunity to convince people the project is
in their best interest.
On the question in some minds about what
do to do in view of the referendum vote, Walsh
said he felt an elected representative should
vote on the side of conscience.
The will of the majority on the referendum
was the 55 percent, the silent majority, who
did not vote. Walsh said he interprets their
silence as being close to his positipn.
The arguments for the high school project
are positive, Walsh said, studied and
documented to show need. Town Meeting
voted for this study; the Permanent Building
Committee, created by town Towh Meeting,
was charged with its implementation.
Walsh cited some of the factors which may
have caused negative votes-inner-city
busing, vandalism, the parochial school
question, the threat to fixed incomes.
Youngsters are the future of our society, he
said, and some of those reasons against the
school he could not support.
He questioned how many voters were
influenced by the blatant deceptions of the
citizens for fiscal responsibility. They had an
opportunity to participate in the formulation,
Walsh noted, but he saw none of them at the
many meetings about the school which he
attended. -He asked what has been their
positive and constructive effort. Nothing, he
said; their interest is obstructionism..
. Walsh concluded that if our system of
government reaches the point where Town
Meeting members must vote by consensus, a
computer could do the job. He closed with a
quotation from Jefferson, noting that Wright
has been quoting Jefferson, that an informed
public will make the right decisions. Related
Walsh, when he authorized the Louisiana
Purchase Jefferson told unhappy constituents
that he did it for their good. " 'I thought it was
my duty to risk myself for you.' "
A motion to end debate did not pass and the
discussion -continued.
Ron Nigro said if the intent was to give the
voters a program they would pass, this was
the wrong approach. He said the three ar-
ticles would antagonize the voters because
the whole is made up of the sum of the parts.
It was irresponsible for Town Meeting to
approve all three articles, he said.
Alex Wilson called the proposal responsible, a way to update academic and physical
education facilities and qualify for 65 percent
state aid, while offering a project of less cost
than the original.
If the state aid is lost, the town would have
to come in with a project of less than $12
million, Wilson said, to accomplish the same
cost to the town.
William Grannan noted that after hearing
Wright discuss architecture, curriculum, the
educational process, citizen participation,
etc. he still'did not know how he was voting.
Wright reread his statement that offering a
slightly revised plan was inconsistent with the
will of the people.
The vote on Article 2 for the academic
wing and fieldhouse was 179-47.
On discussion of the skating facility, Tony
Peduto, president of the Arlington-Menotomy
Hockey Club, presented information about
hockey costs and revenue.
His club paid $43,500 last year to rent ice,
while Arlington High paid $8,000.
By having a facility for community use,
and rentals for ice time and tennis courts,
Peduto figured that at rental charges lower
than what area rinks charge, the town could
earn $107,000, save the $8,000 AHS pays for
ice, earn another $22,400 for tennis, and
$10,000 on concessions, for a total of $147,450.
By having a facility for community use,
and rentals for ice time and tennis courts,
Peduto figured that at rental charges lower
than what area rinks charge, the town could
earn $107,000, save the $8,000 AHS pays for
ice, earn another $22,400 for tennis, and
$10,000 on concessions, for a total of $147,450.
Having this self-supporting community
facility Peduto said would reduce costs for
skating, reduce travel for skaters, allow
people to see home play. He called on the
meeting not to eliminate this facility which is
the only revenue-generating item in the
school package.
The vote was 140-66.
After a 154-56 vote on the Article 4 for the
pool Wright was in the aisle calling for a roll
call. Enough members stood to ask for the roll
call which ended in a 158-66 vote. (Votes will
be reported next week.)
Articles 5 and 6 for a total school package
and a community survey on the school
received no action votes.
106
National Honor
The Arlington Advocate, Thursday, May 1, 1975
Bekher House Named
Historic Site
The Belcher House, 64 Old Mystic st.,
recommended by the State Historical
Commispion chaired by State Secretary Paul
Guzzi, for Ticliision in the National Register
of Historic Places, has been accepted according to Gary Everhardt, Director of the
National Park Service in the U.S. Depa'rtment
of the Interior.
The Old Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust
submitted the application with the endorsement of the local Historical Commission
and Redevelopment Board.
Also known as the Fowle-Reed Wyman
House, it is the oldest in Arlington. It stands
on a tract of land which was once known as
Squaw Sachem's Farm. The present house
was built about 1706 and the surrounding land
continued to be farmed until the turn of this.
century.
As a suburban residential community
grew up around the house its -acreage
dwindled and now the building stands on a sixtenths of an acre.
The various owners of the farm played
prominent roles in the development of
Arlington and the house and land are
\igficant in the townSliisiory.
The vast tract of land which Squaw
Sachem'. the widow of the former chief Qf the
Pawhicket Indians. owned was north of the
(harles River in what is now Middlesex
County, stretching from Charlestown on
Massachusetts Bay to beyond Concbrd. By
1638 Squaw Sachem had conveyed most of her
holdings to the English settlers of the
Charlewtown and Cambridge settlements,
reserving for herself her homestead of about
500 acres west of the Mystic Ponds.
In 1639, she deeded her farm to Jotham
Gibbons, son of Capt. Edward Gibbons of
Charlestown, stipulating that her tribe'be
allowed to hunt, fish and plant. on the land
until her death:.
- Early historians of New England indicate
that Edward Gibbons, who arrived from
England in 1629, was a man of some distinclion. A successful merchant, he represented
Charlestown in the General Court in 1635 and
1636 and served as 'Major-General of the
colony's militia from 1649 to 1651.
His son Jotham was a mariner and had
business interests in Boston and Bermuda.
After his early death in 1658, Jotham's
daughter, Love, inherited the farm. Love
lived in Boston with her first husband,
William Prout, and, following his death, she
married the Rev. John Fowle of Bermuda.
When she died in 1701, the 480-acre farm was
divided among her eight children.
A map of 1706 showing the division of the
land indicates that a house stood on one of the
parcels ipherited by Love's only surviving
son ,3 ohnFowle. This house is believed to be
the olde* section of the Belcher house.
According to structural evidence, it could
have'been built as early as 1701 but this lacks
documenta tion.
John Fowle sold his parcels in 1707 to
I aniel Reed, yeoman, of Woburn. The
property in turn was passed on in 1738 to
Daniel's son, Seth, who also farmed the land
and served as a Prudential Committeeman
nd Precinct Assessor. In 1775 the Reed farm
entered the hands of the Wyman family,
related to the Reeds on the maternal side, and
who, with their descendants occupied the
house for more than a century.
The Wymans were not only diligent farmers but were active in public service in the
area. In 1911, members of the Hutchinson
family who were descendents of the Wymans
sold the land to Jennie S. White. By this time
the house which stood on the once extensive
farm was surrounded by only eight and seventenths acres. When the house was solcf to
Donald and Katherine Belcher in 1924, the lot
had been shaved to six-tenths of an acre.
The Belcher house has witnessed many
changes in the area surrounding it. Today,
standing in the 20th century Colonial Revival
neighborhood which grew up as Arlington
developed into a residential community, the
Belcher house remains as a reminder of a
much more distant past.