2024 TOWN MEETING SLIDES VOTE NO! on Articles 11, 12 & 13
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
[USE ARROWS BELOW TO SEE THE TOWN MEETING SLIDES] Many Towns Are Waiting Until The Fall To Vote On MBTA Zoning. VOTE NO! So We Can Wait Til The Fall
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
The Town Has Yet To Quantify The "Net Impact" Of The Proposed Zoning on Existing Residents
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
Allowing more new building can be very expensive, not just in taxes but in the total cost to the community, like tenant displacement of existing tenants, water/traffic/school impacts, and of course, the environment
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
Many Towns Are Waiting Until The Fall To Vote On MBTA Zoning. VOTE NO! So We Can Wait Til The Fall
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
Allowing that much building would create an "economic incentive" to evict 70 modest income families. Officials said "the owner" of this parcel "has no plans" to build that much "right away". Of course, he has no plans! because zoning doesn't allow any additional building on the site. Verbal assurances are not comforting to tenants.
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
The housing crisis is a crisis of pricing, which more building of expensive condos WILL NOT SOLVE. Officials say that MBTA Zoning requires "Net Zero" building. But "Net Zero" does NOT include the carbon footprint of the loss of trees, or the "embodied" carbon footprint building materials or the fossil fuels to truck them to the building site.
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
We know "sprawl" is bad. Sprawl is where new building is built all over the place and destroys forests and everything in its wake. Acton is currently building 50-70 new single family homes a year. That is Acton's "sprawl rate". But MBTA Zoning will not reduce that "sprawl rate". MBTA Zoning will ADD to it.
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
Again...MBTA Zoning would not REDUCE Acton's carbon footprint. It would ADD to its carbon footprint
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
SEE "Post-Town-Meeting" CORRECTION OF THIS SLIDE BELOW. MBTA Zoning proposes new building where there is existing housing, most of which is already affordable to middle income households. When adding so many unaffordable units, the average the cost of the existing housing in the neighborhood will be MUCH LESS than the average coset AFTER MBTA Zoning building. Relative to the NUMBER of affordable units, he warrant article states " shall provide a minimum of ten percent (10%) of the DWELLING UNITS". Leading up to Town Meeting, we thought that this meant that there would need to be at least 10 units created to get the first 1 unit. Town staff stated verbally at Town Meeting that this understanding is incorrect, and if there are fewer than 10 units, then 1 will be created. We emailed to confirm this in writing because it did not make sense, because it doesn't say that in the warrant. The warrant clearly stats 10%, and it's not clear how 10% of say 3 units can equal 1 unit. But let's say the verbal explanation was/is correct. And 8 units could be built on a parcel where one $600K house stands. The CORRECTION in the slide below would be that the AVERAGE price for the 8 units would still be higher than the $600K. We admit that there would be 1 unit that would be LESS expensive than the $600K. But at what cost to the tenants? With ZERO protections for tenants from no-fault eviction to make way for MBTA Zoning, the liklihood a devloper would voluntarily care for the tenant during construction. Where will they live while the MBTA Zoning construction occurs? Either way, this correction does not change our main objection that the number of affordable units will be few and the tenant displacement risk high, while also createing detrimental water, environmental, traffic, and taxation impacts..png)
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning Tenant Displacement Risk
Real families live at Dover Heights apartments. MBTA Zoning would increase what the land owner can build on the site. As a result, the landowner, if he razed the buildings and build new condos, could make TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. How long do you think tenants will last, if Acton votes MBTA Zoning in? We hope you would not vote to increase the economic incentive to evict these tenant families..png)
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
Let's push back on the state so they will allow ACTUALLY affordable condos to meet the intent of their own law. VOTE NO! so we can get what our community really needs, instead of more costs for something that harms our community.png)
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning Too Many Water Risks
Even Acton Water District has expressed concerns about the MBTA Zoning proposal
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning We need To Reserve Water Capacity for Community Needs
By letting developers race to get all the water, we risk not having enough water for important community needs
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning The Question of Grants
Officials say if we do not enact MBTA Zoning that we will "lose out" on state grants. We have looked at the grants. And they would NOT reduce taxes for on-going services. And they rarely pay for entire infrastructure projects, many of which may or may not be necessary. They would give us a "discount" on these infrastructure projects. But it's often cheaper just to wait on these projects, or not do them at all.
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning New Unaffordable Condos Cost the Community
If developers actually paid for all the costs, then we would not be facing millions of dollars of school, stormwater or water infrastructure costs. On-going costs of additional residential building do not pay for themselves. So if Acton is going to be affordable, we need to be careful about how much additional residential building we allow, and stick with our Acton Housing Production Plan, which calls for a focus on housing for people making $50K/year or less. MBTA Zoning would create ZERO of the high priority housing that the Housing Production Plan calls for.
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning Listen to the Finance Committee's concerns!
VOTE NO! on Article 12 MBTA Zoning Let's leverage the Free Legal Services other Towns are providing
VOTE NO! On Article 12 MBTA Zoning
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
