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]

Under the proposed ordinance, certain uses would be prohibited entirely due to their noxious character,
such as laundries using flammable solvents, kennels/pet boarding facilities, and all heavy industrial uses (e.g., abattoirs, foundries, refining or rendering facilities).

Yeah, it's really difficult hearing the screams of dying cattle on my morning commute.

Some of this seems like basic common sense (let's not let people store explosive items in an unsafe manner) and some of this seems pretty obnoxious. I doubt local restaurants are terribly enthused at the idea of getting a "Special Permit" from the zoning board.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Not that I have a dog, but I've watched the fun my boss has to go through to get her dog to a kennel before she goes out of town. How is that friendly to non-car owners? I'm not sure how a responsibly run kennel or boarding facility is NOXIOUS, either. what a choice of words.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

It seems to me these proposals have only tertiary impacts on cars, it is more like "we don't like these things 'cause they are ugly".

[ron_newman]

Somerville used to have lots of meat-packing plants, believe it or not.

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

I think they are referring to the "Car Share" segment, which I'm understanding to mean it would be easier for Zip Car to position additional vehicles around town.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

That's what I got out of this as well: a lot of ordinances on aesthetics and hazardous materials.

Personally, the bad aesthetics of the microindustries around Somerville doesn't bother me that much. Maybe having one in the middle of a bunch of condos is bad, but in the areas where there are several clustered together, you kind of expect those areas to be ugly.

I guess maybe that's the city wants businesses to get permits: to make sure the ugly stays with the ugly.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure it did. Feeding lots of people back in the day meant lots of meat, which means slaughterhouses. Still, these days, not so much. :-)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, everybody loves dogs, but nobody likes dogs barking at three A.M. Or dog turds.

[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.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

How is that friendly to non-car owners?

That's a good question. Can't walk to the nearest boarding place cause the city won't permit them - well, I guess there's Zipcar, or taxi, or a ride from a friend, but they all amount to car usage and therefore more car trips!

[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.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

You're actually not supposed to take pets in Zipcars...

[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!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Chicago of the East!

[ron_newman]

If you want to lobby to take that provision out, please hook up with the som|dog folks.

[ron_newman]

One thing to keep in mind here: zoning laws apply only to future uses, not to current ones. Anything already there is 'grandfathered'.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I think they're willing to overlook it if you don't make a mess (or clean it up so clean it's like it was never there).

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

Kind of surprised by all the tangents and fixations on small provisions here, and lack of support for the measures. I guess since most posters on Davis Square live journal naturally live in West Somerville, Davis area, they are unaware of what its like to live in East Somerville, so they aren't used to thinking about these kinds of issues.

[ron_newman]

Most of the proposal seems reasonable to me, but I always want to see more restaurants and entertainment spots, not fewer.

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

I can't believe no one commented this:

"...a variety of uses that involve toxic, flammable, or otherwise environmentally unsound materials. Some of these uses -- eg. open lot storage of machinery, metals, coal, coke, junk...

Coke? Coke?!?

Okay, so after some googling, apparently it has a third definition I wasn't aware of: "The solid residue of impure carbon obtained from bituminous coal and other carbonaceous materials after removal of volatile material by destructive distillation. It is used as a fuel and in making steel."

Funny to call a softdrink that...

[ron_newman]

It was called that long before there was a soft drink with that name.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Dogs are allowed on T trains and buses off-peak.

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to mention how awesome that the city is straight up changing the zoning laws to discourage auto-related development. Consistent with the green line extension, etc.

[nuns.livejournal.com]

Which would be why naming the softdrink was funny.