Promising new zoning proposal

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

Saw this in the Union Square main streets newsletter:

 

Anything that reduces car trips in Somerville and makes life better for non car owners is a good idea in my book, and I'm excited about the number of proposed changes.   Please show your support to your alderman.  

http://www.somervillechamber.org/pdf_files/08tableofuseschange.pdf

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Either that or the tax base isn't up to snuff. That "Special Permits" for restaurants jazz makes me cock a VERY skeptical eyebrow.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

Yeah... same here. It's not like there are a lot of bars/pubs/taverns smack in the middle of residential areas, where drunks are causing trouble at 1 AM. Most of the bars are on the main roads (which is why I can't get anywhere while driving in the morning, because there's at least one beer truck on every block making a delivery).

Good point about the tax base. You can probably squeeze a lot more tax money out of twenty condos than a warehouse holding one or two businesses.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I can see it being SOMEWHAT of a concern in the sense that some people live above restaurants/bars, and literally you enter a residential area pretty much the microsecond you step off of any main drag in Somerville. But still, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Agreed. There are of course, those of us who choose where we live in order to be NEARER to the bars, but we never get the same kind of hype!

yes, I'm kidding

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's just because you're always lying a puddle of your own vomit whenever they have neighborhood meetings.

Re: yes, I'm kidding

[ron_newman]

Or when the advocates of later bar hours do go to neighborhood meetings, they act like this.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You know, it totally slipped my mind, but over in b0st0n we got a heads-up that a rule limiting students to no more that four per apartment is pretty much fated to hit the books (the zoning board is overwhelmingly for it.)

Now I'm REALLY suspicious about the timing of this.

[ron_newman]

I don't see any relationship. This is all about commercial and industrial uses.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's a bit conspiracy theory of me, but this law seems practically designed to shut down some businesses and create some more usable land to develop into housing to rent out to the flood of students that are no doubt coming.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I think the zoning ordinance already requires special permits for restaurants. The only new special permit requirement I see is for bars under 2,500 sf. in Central Business Districts. It seems very reasonable that all new bars (remember, existing ones don't have to get new special permits, even if the owners changes) would need a special permit to make sure the location is reasonable.

All these changes seem very reasonable. You should check out the zoning in places like Cambridge or Brookline if you think Somerville's zoning is being made too restrictive. I don't see why being a little grungy means the city has to allow all sorts of crappy auto uses that other places have outlawed.

I am as skeptical about motivation as anyone, but I get the sense from reading this one that its pretty much on the level.