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Hanna Bao submitting comments re: the proposed zoning overhaul.
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To the Honorable Board:
Please vote on Somerville Proposed Zoning Regulations soon.
I know it's not on anyone's "top priorities", but zoning regulations is one of those things that affects everyone eventually, and when it does, no one likes it because it feels like bureaucratic red tape getting in the way of you improving your own home. But when it's not your home but the neighbor's home undergoing renovations, it feels like an inconvenience and nuisance that you have no control over. Basically, it's one of those things, like taxes, that everyone complains about while contributing to the problem. I know it's difficult for city councilors to make decisions or changes.
I won't pressure you to think a certain way, but I'd like to suggest the current and future aldermen over the proposed zoning regulations and make a decision quickly. I've been a resident of Somerville for many years, but I'm also interested in developing property in the area. Right now the zoning board is basically on hold because they don't know what will happen to the proposed zoning regulations scheduled to maybe go into effect next year, because Somerville is voting on new city council members soon. This makes it hard for developers to decide how to buy and develop houses in Somerville.
There's been a large and long effort to engage Somerville residents and get their input, but in the end, you can't please everyone with zoning regulations. So please, just take the yes-or-no vote and get it over with.
I know, developers aren't very popular in Somerville. Everyone complains about gentrification and Somerville getting overcrowded and poorer residents getting pushed out. So I'd like to say a few things in my defense:
Somerville is an old city with old houses. Old people can live in these houses, but their children cannot. There are many houses that are difficult to sell (lead paint, not-green, 100-year-old plumbing and wiring) and impossible to live in. With the current zoning regulations, owners cannot make meaningful improvements to their houses. Once you take down a wall, you have to redo the wiring, redo the insulation, remove lead paint, make it energy-saving, add landscaped area, add smoke alarms, etc. This means unless you have a huge amount of money saved up, you just cannot improve an old house. This opens up a market for developers to come in and demolish old houses to build completely new ones. But given the high land value, mass movement of people back to cities, attractiveness of Somerville, and difficulty getting permits in Somerville, it's not worth it unless the New House can be sold for a lot of money.
I have some suggestions for how Somerville can deal with increased population density, if it is seen as a problem. First of all, stop making Somerville so attractive. All the festivals, the pedestrian streets, the parks, the restaurants, arts/cultural centers, Tufts, fitness challenge, all the awards, just spend less money on those things. Why do it and then complain that too many people want to live here? Secondly, open more housing loans to owners.
Give them money and permits to improve their houses piecemeal. The Lead Abatement Program was an excellent idea. There should be more of those. If the city doesn't give the 'old' residents money to fix their homes, us developers will be happy to buy them. Lastly, and this will sound like the craziest idea of them all, Somerville is going to have to let some homes stay un-Green. From what I can tell, the regulations regarding energy-efficiency and undeveloped/green areas are just too stringent. The cost of updating a house built in the 1920s to today’s level of energy-efficiency (new windows, new heating/cooling system, new cooking system, new insulation, new plumbing system) is completely out of reach for the average Somerville resident. I think protecting the environment is great too, but looks like the only way to do it is by buying and demolishing old houses.
The fact is, trying to stop Somerville from being gentrified or over-developed gets in the way of Somerville's other goals (increasing the city's attractiveness, having more houses young families can live in, general environmental protections). I'm not saying let developers do whatever they want. I just want you to be aware that Somerville Has Old Houses. And that's in conflict with the city's goals.
Thank you for your attention,
Hanna Bao