Unfortunately for us and Arlington, the ARB voted on Monday, April 4 to support Article 38. This allows it to gain significant chance of passing at Town Meeting, which starts April 25. It's going to be important for all of us to let our neighbors and Town Meeting Members know about this and ask them to commit to opposing it.
We should oppose it if we care about affordability, open space, the Arlington we chose to buy or rent in, the delivery of good services like schools and infrastructure. The measure would do nothing for Arlington, except add higher priced housing, taxes and density.
Here's a brief primer on how Warrant Articles work: By January, they are proposed by residents or the ARB, or other town bodies. They are reviewed by the appropriate Town Body. If the articles receive support by the board, then it is much more likely to be approved by Town Meeting, when the elected Town Meeting Members meet, starting April 25. A vote of 'no action' by the board would have virtually condemned this bad article to defeat in Town Meeting. Now, we residents and concerned Town Meeting Members will have to work to convince our neighbors that Article 38 - ending single family housing zoning - should not be approved by the 250 or so Town Meeting Members.
Article 38 was introduced by two residents. It mirrors an article that one of the current ARB voting members, Steve Revilak, proposed two years ago - and which was not supported at that time. I earlier argued, unsuccessfully, to the ARB that Revilak should not have been allowed to vote on Article 38 because he certainly supported what he himself proposed so recently. Although the board said Monday they night they had never before received as much comment on any other article, they dismissed concerns about the article in a session where the public were not allowed to comment, noting the public had been allowed to comment earlier.
