2021-11-08 Subsequent Town Meeting Minutes

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SUBSEQUENT TOWN MEETING Virtual Town Meeting November 8, 2021 via Zoom Webinar efficient process. The Rules Committee voted to adopt electronic voting and asked the Bylaw Committee to draft revisions to Rule No. 13 in Bylaw Section 2.2.1 to configure the various ideas discussed. The Bylaw Committee will be meeting In the next few weeks to begin this process, which will include research into Town technical capabilities and precedents set by other towns that have gone to voting. The two committees will meet again to review a draft of the bylaw revisions that results from the Bylaw Committee's work and finalize the version that will be brought to Town Meeting for adoption, likely April 2022. CPDC 40R Zoning Update: The Community Planning & Development Commission (CPDC) provides the following update to Town Meeting on the status of their efforts to revisit and propose amendments to the 40R Downtown Smart Growth District (DSGD) Zoning Bylaw Section 10.5. Why is the Downtown Smart Growth District significant for Reading? The DSGD has been instrumental to Reading, by: • helping the Town accommodate our forecasted share of the region's growth in a planned, intentional manner, • allowing the Town to manage this growth at the local level to continue to meet the state mandate that we achieve and maintain 10% of the Town's housing stock as affordable to avoid future 408 projects; • enabling the Town to achieve the 10% mandate via development projects that respect locally -established zoning controls and design guidelines; • promoting mixed-use (housing + commercial) development, which has the following benefits: • increases the immediate customer base to support existing and future downtown businesses; • ensures that the Town is able to retain and create commercial space within the downtown; • provides mixed -income housing opportunities near services and transit; and • providing a mechanism through which the Town is able to keep downtown vital and preserve what is important, while ensuring the Town remains queued up for opportunities. The DSGD has been an important economic engine for the Town and has played a critical role -in offsetting another override. Redevelopment or reuse of 5 properties downtown alone (currently known as: MF Charles, 30 Haven, Rise475, Postmark, and Ace Flats) have resulted in $958,000 in new growth tax revenue to the Town (roughly broken down as follows: $600,000 to the School Department and $350,000 to the Town government, annually). Background Information on 4011 and the DSGD What is 40117 Massachusetts General Law (MGL) Chapter 40R is a Smart Growth Zoning state statute adopted at the local level. "Chapter 40R encourages communities to create dense residential or mixed- use smart growth zoning districts, including a high percentage of affordable housing units, to be located near transit stations, in areas of concentrated development such as existing city and town centers, and in other highly suitable locations." 40R and 408 At the local level, Chapter 40R offers towns much more control over development projects than Chapter 408. Projects proposed under Chapter 40R must comply with local zoning, whereas 408 projects do not. Chapter 40R allows towns to establish desirable dimensional controls (i.e., setbacks, height, lot coverage), waiver criteria, parking requirements, open space, and other typical provisions found in zoning. Towns can also influence the design and feel of 40R projects by establishing parameters to control massing, scale, facade treatments and building aesthetics within Design Guidelines. While both chapters 40R and 408 promote the development of housing, Chapter 40R expressly allows mixed- use (housing + commercial) development, which can be a tool to preserve the vitality of historic downtowns and commercial areas by bringing more residents within close, easy, and ideally walkable access to the businesses. Chapter OR does come with certain limitations on local authority. For example, towns must comply with 211.1¢