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Jan-Feb-2021-FINAL-W Belmont Citizens Forum Building Booms on Belmont’s Border Quadrangle Development Brings Traffic, Gridlock By Meg Muckenhoupt Since aggressively upzoning the Alewife area a decade ago, Cambridge has permitted hundreds of thousands of square feet of new development in the Quadrangle neighborhood adjacent to Belmont, and bordered by Fresh Pond Parkway, Fitchburg line railroad tracks—and Concord Avenue. Now, even more development could solve some long-standing transportation issues, or it could make getting out of Belmont or traveling around CAMBRIDGECITY OF the entire Fresh Pond area A map of the Quadrangle area from the 2019 Alewife District Plan. even more difficult. the tracks and Alewife Brook Parkway turns Why build in the Quadrangle now? what should be brief trips to grocery stores, restaurants, and the Alewife T stop into lengthy Unlike the rest of Cambridge, the Quadrangle expeditions, whether you choose to walk, bike, has a history of sparse development. Originally or drive. (Current development of 55 Wheeler one of the lowest-lying areas of the Mystic River Street is supposed to provide pedestrian and watershed, it’s smack in the middle of what bike connections between Fawcett and Wheeler colonial-era maps labeled “The Great Swamp.” Streets, which will shorten the trip to Alewife For much of the 20th century, the area was Brook Parkway.) home to primarily industrial sites and “urban- The 2005 Concord Alewife Plan Report edge” businesses which provide essential services divided the Quadrangle into three zones— that would disrupt residential neighborhoods: residential, mixed use, and mixed use/light warehouses, truck-loading areas, supply depots, industrial. The city of Cambridge sought to and parking lots. There were few sidewalks, fewer increase the amount of housing and resident- trees, and hardly any housing. friendly businesses by splitting the area into Part of the reason for little development, apart four overlay districts: Quadrangle Northwest, from marshy beginnings, is the lack of connec- Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast. tions between the Quadrangle and the rest of In 2006, Cambridge rezoned the entire Cambridge. The Quadrangle is bounded on the Quadrangle, along with the Triangle (the area north by train tracks. All its roads empty onto between the railroad tracks and Alewife Station) Concord Avenue. The lack of connections across January/February 2021 Preserving Belmont’s Small-Town Atmosphere Vol. 22, No.1 and the “Shopping Center” (the area along Belmont Citizens Forum Alewife Brook Parkway) creating a total of six Alewife Overlay Districts (AOD). Officers The four Quadrangle overlay districts Grant Monahon, President (Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and John Dieckmann, Vice President Southeast) differ principally in two factors: Evanthia Malliris, Secretary Floor area ratio (FAR): This is the ratio of built space to the area of the building lot. For the Radha Iyengar, Treasurer Quadrangle Northwest and Northeast districts, the maximum FAR is 1.5 for all uses. In the Directors Southwest and Southeast districts, the maximum Sumner Brown FAR is 1.5 for nonresidential uses, and 2.0 for David Chase residential uses—encouraging denser devel- Vincent Stanton, Jr. opment of housing. The Northwest and Northeast overlay districts also restrict building heights near the Cambridge Newsletter Highlands neighborhood, Russell Park, and Blair Meg Muckenhoupt, Executive Editor Pond. Any portion of a building within 100 feet Sue Bass, Newsletter Committee, of residential or open space zoning is restricted Director Emerita to 35 feet; within 200 feet of that zoning, the Virginia Jordan, Evanthia Malliris, building is limited to 45 feet. Vincent Stanton, Jr. Runaway success, runaway traffic The 2005 Concord Alewife Plan Report Belmont Citizens Forum Inc. is a not-for- predicted a surge in new development in the profit organization that strives to maintain Quadrangle area in Appendix C, “Anticipated the small-town atmosphere of Belmont, and Development: Predicted & Proposed Massachusetts, by preserving its natural and Zoning.” Unfortunately, that report didn’t antic- historical resources, limiting traffic growth, ipate just how popular the area was going to be. CAMBRIDGECITY OF and enhancing pedestrian safety. We do this In the past 10 years, developers have built 588 The Quadrangle’s Alewife Overlay Districts as illustrated in the City of Cambridge’s 2018 Alewife by keeping residents informed about planning housing units and more than 683,067 square Zoning Recommendations. Figures indicate the maximum heights permitted. and zoning issues, by participating actively in feet of housing, commercial, and retail space in public hearings, and by organizing forums. the Quadrangle area. Buildings currently under units already have either been built, are under According to that 2016 analysis, the inter- construction, permitted, or proposed would construction, or been permitted for the area. section at Fawcett Street and Concord Avenue The BCF Newsletter is published six times a bring total housing units to 1,816 and increase That’s a lot of people traveling to work each would exceed those numbers by 2030 under year, in January, March, May, July, September, total construction to 2,623,250 square feet. day. According to the 2019 Alewife District the proposed Envision Cambridge Plan. That and November. Published material represents Those numbers matter because Cambridge Plan, 53% of Cambridge residents living in and exponential traffic deterioration may happen the views of the authors and not necessarily has been slow to acknowledge just how fast around Alewife commute by car. All the new much sooner. the Quadrangle has been developing, or the car trips from the Quadrangle must end up on A 2017 traffic analysis of just one Quadrangle those of the Belmont Citizens Forum. traffic impacts of Quadrangle development. The Concord Avenue. development site—55 Wheeler Street, where Abt 2019 Alewife District Plan states, “Based on an In 2016, the city’s Envision Cambridge Alewife Associates is building 525 units of housing and Letters to the editor may be sent to analysis of building trends in Alewife, roughly Working Group published an analysis of the 448 parking spaces—was predicted to produce P. O. Box 609, Belmont MA 02478 or to 60% of the total projected development in the Quadrangle’s intersections at Concord Avenue, “added delay of more than 20 seconds” at both [email protected] Quadrangle may be realized by 2030,” but as of to see how many cars could fit through the Fawcett and Wheeler Streets during rush hours, 2020, developers have already built 20% more intersections before traffic came to a stand- dragging down both intersections to an “F” belmontcitizensforum.org square footage than the total predicted build- still. Intersections at Fresh Pond with 1,500 or level of service, with wait times of more than © 2021 Belmont Citizens Forum. All rights reserved. out. A May 2018 presentation by the Alewife fewer vehicles per hour can allow motorists to 120 seconds per car at both intersections along District Plan Committee predicted an additional get through intersections in two light cycles or Concord Avenue. That’s just for one devel- 725 housing units at 60% build-out of the fewer: with more than 1,500 vehicles per hour, opment, where planners optimistically estimated Quadrangle by 2030, but 1,267 new housing traffic begins to “deteriorate exponentially.” only an additional 58 to 62 car trips per hour 2 belmontcitizensforum.org January/February 2021 3 Predicted vs. actual development in the Cambridge Quadrangle tation, reduced flooding, or green space. Square feet of development Cambridge’s contract Predicted s.f. Built as of 2020 Permitted/ under construction Proposed Total built/permitted/proposed zoning habit 1,175,493 683,067 738,329 1,201,854 2,623,250 The city of Cambridge justifies spot-zoning to Number of housing units suit developers by calling it “contract zoning.” In Predicted # Built as of 2020 Permitted/ under construction Proposed Total built/permitted/proposed contract zoning, devel- opers get to build much 725 588 679 549 1,816 more densely in exchange Sources: 2005 Concord Alewife Plan Report, Appendix C, “Anticipated Development Under Existing and Proposed for providing some kind Zoning,” Cambridge Community Development Locator Map, Doug Brown/ Fresh Pond Residents Alliance. of public amenity. In a letter to Cambridge Day, during morning and evening rush hours in development is supposed to include a pedestrian Cambridge resident and CAMBRIDGECITY OF their 2017 application narrative, due to Wheeler pathway to connect Wheeler Street to the shops one-time City Council Streets proximity to the T. (The “proximity” in and restaurants along Alewife Brook Parkway. candidate Ilan Levy the 2017 design depends heavily on a “potential The many visions for greenways wending described how the MIT bike/pedestrian connection” to the as-yet- through the Quadrangle would make biking and Investment Management unplanned bridge; that feature remains on the walking attractive and convenient. Company (MITIMCo), 2020 design update.) Unfortunately, these greenways don’t exist yet. the investment arm of Another 144 units are already under And some of them may never exist if the current MIT, bought 10 acres of construction, and an additional 549 are already owners of 15.9 acres of the Quadrangle have land at a Kendall Square planned. What will the state’s standard be for their way. site for $750 million. In worse-than-”F” intersections?
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