hello I'm Melissa Nickel Actton Select Board member and I will be presenting article 31 Open Space Residential Development the summation of an engagement effort commonly referred to as Habitat for All resident input has informed the goals and action items in
the development of the town's housing production plan climate action plan and open space and recreation plan these plans elevate the desire to leverage residential development in land conservation efforts for years now community members have expressed concern
about how Actton's residential development occurs today in 2023 the planning conservation and sustainability departments received a grant to address these concerns and explore how Actton can improve its current process for new
residential development staff formed a working group consisting of representatives from the select board planning board conservation commission acting community housing corporation design review board actin housing authority green advisory board open space committee and agricultural
commission today I have working group members Bob Van Meer Holly Ben Joseph and Betatina Abbe joining me to discuss article 31 before we begin let's review how subdivisions occur today under Actton's existing
zoning the planning board oversees the subdivision control process under Massachusetts subdivision control law this is a statute regulating the laying out and construction of roadways in subdivisions providing access to the lots and ensuring sanitary conditions
under the state subdivision control law Actton's planning board must adopt reasonable rules and regulations regarding subdivision control the rules and regulations specify the board's requirements relative to the location construction width and grades of the
proposed street subdivisions are a byight permitting process meaning that an applicant is entitled to approval so long as the plan complies with the rules and regulations and zoning requirements actton's current standard subdivision
process requires an entire parcel to be carved up into individual lots with specific dimensional requirements and a road extended to access these newly created lots there is no requirement for any of the land to be preserved as resource land and it is typical for the
majority or even all of the property to be clear-cut the planning board hears regularly from abutters and other community members at public hearings residents are increasingly concerned with how these subdivisions are built the large number of trees removed the
large size of the homes constructed and how the street views of these developments alter neighborhood landscapes although this is Actton's only byright method for residential development the town does have another option allowed through a special permit a special permit is a discretionary
permit on the screen is a different method of development called open space residential development in Actton we call this planned conservation residential community or PCRC for short this type of development allows developers to build homes clustered
together on a certain percentage of a parcel while the remainder of the parcel is preserved as resource land open space residential development is typically more environmentally friendly as the homes are clustered closer to the street and a large portion of the parcel is
protected for its natural resource value there is significantly less impact on the land as roads and utilities do not extend deep into the parcel this article proposes to make open space residential development the buy right method for
subdivision adopting article 31 is the first step this would change the zoning requirements to require resource land to be set aside for each new development and establish new dimensional regulations for setbacks the article proposes to use the same density
standards that already exist today if approved at town meeting the planning board would then hold a public hearing and adopt changes to the subdivision rules and regulations that define the new process for development the new process would require a developer to site the natural resources on the lot
first and site development areas last this would ensure that valuable natural resources are prioritized when locating the homes the subdivision rules and regulations would also include regulations for enhanced landscaping including buffers and street trees holly
Ben Joseph is here from the design review board to provide details on the new proposed landscaping requirements thank you Alyssa the new requirements to be included in the subdivision rules and regulations would address community concerns about the visual impact of new developments from
existing streets the regulations would require a vegetative buffer consisting of a variety of species and heights to provide a visual screen the ratio of shrubs to trees as well as their spacing was vetted by the design review board to
ensure there will be adequate space for the plants to grow while maintaining a robust visual screen the regulations also require that trees in the buffer have a 3-in caliper minimum or for an evergreen to be 8 to 10 feet tall and
that deciduous and evergreen shrubs be 3 ft in height at the time of planting on sites where natural vegetation exists priority is given to retaining existing trees and screening thank you Holly this initiative was certainly focused on protecting valuable natural resources
betina Abbe is here from the open space committee to talk about how zoning has been an effective tool used by actton to preserve resource land thank you Alyssa hello everyone article 31 utilizes the standards of Actton's current open space
development zoning also known as PCRC since its adoption the PCRC bylaw has been an incredible tool used to preserve open space in Actton since the PCRC bylaw adoption almost 30 years ago
Actton has been able to preserve over 628 acres of land that is about 5% of Actton that has been protected without the town even purchasing the land since 1991 our existing subdivision method not
the PCRC has resulted in 28.3 acres being developed without any resource land protection we have had a PCRC opportunity since 1991 if this form of open space development
had been the only buy method all along the town could have preserved about 125 additional acres paid for by the private developers for comparison when we look at how much open space has been
preserved through the PCRC special permit bylaw we see that 628 acres were preserved more than half of that preserved land ended up being gifted to the town rather than kept in a
homeowners association for example to give you some perspective town meeting has approved 202 acres of open space at a cost of almost $11 million that is essentially more money
for fewer acres over half of the land preserved was gifted to the town and became public land this proposed article 31 retains much of the same development process and standards of the PCRC and
also makes improvements such as increased buffers from the resource land it even gives incentives for preserving 80% resource land as Alyssa mentioned if the article is adopted the planning
board would amend its subdivision rules and regulations to include standards for identifying highest priority resource areas first this will give added environmental benefits and allow for a more thoughtful development process
there are also many environmental benefits of this approach such as improved water quality and supply enhanced wildlife habitat and biodiversity better air quality effective storm water management
increased groundwater recharge natural flood control and more carbon sequestration without all the asphalt thank you Betina in addition to environmental protection residents who participated in the Habitat forall public engagement opportunities
expressed a strong desire to evaluate how Actton could address housing affordability bob Van Meter from the Actton Community Housing Corporation is here to talk about how article 31 proposes options for housing affordability thanks Alyssa housing prices continue to
rise along with the typical size of homes constructed under Actton's current zoning bylaw new homes now are often from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet rising housing costs and the lack of housing diversity make housing choices difficult
for young families seeking to live in the town they grew up in it also makes it difficult or impossible for people working in Actton to live in this community and avoid long commutes it makes it more difficult for older people to continue living in Actton as their housing needs change through the recent
planning efforts we found there is a need and a desire for in Actton for smaller homes and for more reasonably priced homes article 31 offers three approaches that address these concerns the first approach establishes a new regulation which requires more land area
for homes over 3,000 square ft and less land area for homes under 3,000 square ft this creates an incentive to build smaller homes the two other approaches establish options for creating more reasonably cost homes the first of these
approaches is an inclusionary zoning provision that allows for additional homes to be built on a site if 10% of the homes are affordable to households with incomes of 80% of the area median income or less this article proposes
allowing inclusionary zoning by right for homes of less than 1500 square ft so long as 10% of the units are deeed restricted affordable units actton has conducted an economic analysis to ensure that the proposal is feasible the
economic analysis found that seven units per acre is required for feasibility which is what we have proposed in article 31 the second approach included in article 31 to promote reasonably priced housing is a provision that establishes a new special permit option
for multifamily development at a maximum of 15 units per acre for homes less than 1500 square ft when 10% of the homes are deed restricted affordable and 80% of the land is protected this approach has less impact on the environment as it
concentrates development in smaller areas while maintaining larger resource land area there is no change to the maximum height of 36 ft which is standard for single family homes the special permit option includes more
robust landscape design requirements in the zoning thank you for pointing that out Bob the special permit option for multifamily inclusionary zoning includes enhanced requirements for landscaping along the front of the property facing the existing street as well as
additional screening requirements for abuing properties the size requirements for trees at the time of planting are increased to a minimum of 5-in caliber tree or 12 to 14t tall for an evergreen the landscape requirements for multif family special permit include planting
larger species at the time of construction and vegetation requirements within the development to screen abudding properties thank you all so much for helping to explain some of the details of this article to voters today i've been so impressed with the careful and
thorough process of developing this bylaw involving professionals and consultants from a broad range of disciplines conservation housing planning landscape and building architecture real estate agriculture and sustainability especially striking are
the many changes that were made as those folks offered critiques questions and suggestions for improvement and the robust public input that really shaped this proposal in closing this bylaw offers a forwardthinking approach to balancing residential development with
environmental preservation it promotes more efficient land use and prioritizes the protection of natural resources it is responsive to the desires expressed during the many public engagement opportunities these were requiring open
space protection for all new residential subdivisions encouraging smaller home construction in contrast to the typical large home construction we've been seeing recently and finally increasing affordable housing throughout the town we encourage you to review the text of
the bylaw in the warrant and the summary that follows and reach out to planning staff at this email address planning.gov with any questions we'll also provide an FAQ at town meeting for voters to review before the meeting
begins please join us in voting yes on article 31 we hope to see you at town