Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

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those protected classes with generally lower incomes than the population at large. Clustering lower-cost
housing along major corridors also raises concerns about air quality (due to traffic), exposure to extreme heats
due to the urban heat island effect, and potentially other Environmental Justice concerns.
A related and important fair housing impediment is the procedural preference given to single-family and two-
family dwellings, even in districts nominally planned for denser housing types. Arlington’s Zoning Bylaw requires
a special permit for every multifamily use greater than two units, even in districts that are intended to
accommodate multifamily use. Although there is a district called the Three-Family District, a special permit is
required to build a three-family dwelling in this zone; the same is true for townhouses in the Townhouse District
and even small multifamily projects in the Apartment Districts. However, lower-density residential uses are
allowed in these ostensibly higher-density districts by right, as well as in business districts where appropriate
residential uses would likely be limited to mixed-use settings with housing units above ground floor retail.
Likewise, the strict dimensional restrictions placed on multifamily housing severely limits how many units can be
built, and ultimately the cost of living in those units, even where multifamily housing is permitted. These
requirements are by and large inconsistent with historic development patterns, and would preclude many
beloved historic buildings from being built today. High land prices coupled with these limits on housing density
can result in fewer but larger and more expensive units. This is particularly problematic when the Town’s
inclusionary zoning law, discussed in a following section,