tjrileywisc t1_j8niwjx wrote
Reply to comment by WinsingtonIII in Most towns are going along with the state’s new multifamily housing law. Not Middleborough. by TouchDownBurrito
I read through the towns surrounding mine (Waltham) and they seemed to be concerned about losing commercial tax base to lower tax base residential (someone tell them about mixed use zoning please) but generally they appeared to be at the acceptance stage of grief.
Waltham's response was at the bargaining stage though with a lot of excuses as to why we shouldn't have to comply and some nimby nonsense about luxury housing.
hvdc123 t1_j8odyot wrote
The only surrounding town that would reasonably apply to is Lincoln. If they lost the commercial space next to the train they'd have none left. I don't know that the legislation can force the cities/towns to build mixed use but that's been their plan for years. Everything got put on hold until the details shake out.
closerocks t1_j8oj3qx wrote
Mixed-use zoning still reduces the commercial tax base because is typically used for low value commercial like nail salons, coffee shops, and dentist chains. High-value commercial like manufacturing, pharmaceutical, chemical, R&D lab, nuclear medicine isotope production would still be isolated in an industrial ghetto. They should be colocated with residential so that the people that work in these companies can live within walking distance.
tjrileywisc t1_j8op2yp wrote
I don't think Lincoln has much of the latter anyway, does it?
closerocks t1_j8ozlzl wrote
I have mixed feelings about Lincoln. It is an agricultural community that used extremely exclusionary practices to preserve open space. Which to me means that it should be treated as a nature/agricultural preserve and the state should have the right of first refusal on any property sale. The goal would be to eventually eliminating all buildings except historically/architecturally important ones and rewilding land.
Given Lincoln's proximity to Boston, it would be transit accessible nature space which is more important than most people can possibly imagine. One way to think of it us as a potential addition to Middlesex Fells and Blue Hills.
Maxpowr9 t1_j8o4q16 wrote
Cause Waltham hasn't been gentrified enough already.
tjrileywisc t1_j8o4zi7 wrote
Not providing enough housing supply for the top of the market is how you get gentrification as all others have to compete against them and lose.
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