Brookline Infill and Small Developments

Bartlett update: one floor in the works.
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I kinda like it. The interiors look quite Scandi, and so does the exterior. Comes off as a polished gem next to that concrete bunker to its left in the aerial...
 
shawn said:
I kinda like it. The interiors look quite Scandi, and so does the exterior. Comes off as a polished gem next to that concrete bunker to its left in the aerial...
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I agree - - and you're so right about 100 Centre Street (the gray bunker to the left). My folks lived there a few years - - very sweet staff work there, but wow, it must have been built by the Bulgarian Government in 1970.
 
The Coolidge Corner parking lot proposal is getting push back from some neighbors. This would bring 103 apartments and 60 underground parking spots to the area.

A "Town Meeting member" ( what the hell is a Town Meeting member? )

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On email listservs, Town Meeting members also quickly began to debate the project Wednesday.

“We need rational, fact-based and community guided zoning, not one-off developer windfalls with ZERO forethought, planning or engagement,” wrote one, Linda Olson Pehlke.

She said the “massive up-zoning” would bypass broader planning processes like the Comprehensive Plan, which she is helping to create.

“Hundreds and hundreds of new cars and people in an area that already has inadequate capacity in terms of roadways, parks, shops, sidewalks, post office and [Trader Joe’s] on the weekend anyone?” she wrote in a later email.
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JohnAKeith said:
The Coolidge Corner parking lot proposal is getting push back from some neighbors. This would bring 103 apartments and 60 underground parking spots to the area.

A "Town Meeting member" ( what the hell is a Town Meeting member? )

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Oh no, we've created this wonderful mixed-use town center constantly full of life, and driving our town's economy with so much demand! Coolidge Corner sure is chaotic in the best way. One that demonstrates how great it is with it always being busy and flush with people. The actual density of Coolidge Corner is less than that of neighboring Allston Village (according to statistical atlas data), and if anything what Coolidge Corner desperately needs is another grocery store cause Maruichi and Trader Joe's just aren't cutting it for all the visitors the area gets. It'd be nice if the Centre St lot could do like what the Alder/Stop n Shop at Boston Landing did and have a parking garage below a mainline grocer below like 4-6 floors of apartment homes. It goes without saying but putting more apartments there means less car traffic to all Coolidge Corner has to offer and instead more foot traffic.
 
Linda Olson Pehlke Is, unsurprisingly, a completely daffy elderly woman. Her life’s goal is to keep Brookline small, wealthy, and white.
 
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Jeremi said:
Linda Olson Pehlke Is, unsurprisingly, a completely daffy elderly woman. Her life’s goal is to keep Brookline small, wealthy, and white.
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While I cannot confirm this, I live in Coolidge Corner. Whenever there is opposition to new development, she is one of the leaders. She is also leading the opposition to a six story development 429 Harvard Street that includes ground floor commercial space plus 40 residential units (8 of which will be income-restricted at 50% AMI). Her argument is that six stories is too big. I live behind a six story building with commercial space two blocks away! The development and cafe space has been nothing but a success.
 
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JohnAKeith said:
A "Town Meeting member" ( what the hell is a Town Meeting member? )
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Like a few dozen larger towns in the Commonwealth, Brookline has a "representative town meeting" form of government. In true "open town meeting" governments any voter can show up and vote, but in representative town meeting governments only elected "town meeting members" are eligible to vote at the meetings. Brookline has 255 of these out of their population of 63k residents, so each member represents about 250 residents.

Koopzilla24 said:
if anything what Coolidge Corner desperately needs is another grocery store cause Maruichi and Trader Joe's just aren't cutting it for all the visitors the area gets. It'd be nice if the Centre St lot could do like what the Alder/Stop n Shop at Boston Landing did and have a parking garage below a mainline grocer below like 4-6 floors of apartment homes. It goes without saying but putting more apartments there means less car traffic to all Coolidge Corner has to offer and instead more foot traffic.
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The Stop n Shop on Harvard St is a 5-minute walk from the heart of Coolidge Corner.
 
"We need rational, fact-based and community guided zoning, not one-off developer windfalls with ZERO forethought, planning or engagement,” wrote one, Linda Olson Pehlke.
She said the “massive up-zoning” would bypass broader planning processes like the Comprehensive Plan, which she is helping to create.
“Hundreds and hundreds of new cars and people in an area that already has inadequate capacity in terms of roadways, parks, shops, sidewalks, post office and [Trader Joe’s] on the weekend anyone?” she wrote in a later email."

This Olson-Pehlke person is either living on a different planet/ or is consciously pulling wool over peoples' faces. The ALREADY EXISTING surface lot has 62 spaces, so the new underground parking with 60 spaces represents a net negative 2 spaces!!!!!!

I'm sorry, but people like Linda Olson Pehlke are simply bad actors.
 
SuffolkHeights11 said:
The problem isn't Linda Olson Pehlke, it's Brookline listening to Linda Olson Pehlke.
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They both feed the central problem of Luddite/NIMBYism. They are the classic motivated transmitter and willing receiver. BOTH are crucial to propogate falsehoods to block human progress, in this case that there would be more parking capacity from this development.
 
shmessy said:
"We need rational, fact-based and community guided zoning, not one-off developer windfalls with ZERO forethought, planning or engagement,” wrote one, Linda Olson Pehlke.
She said the “massive up-zoning” would bypass broader planning processes like the Comprehensive Plan, which she is helping to create.
“Hundreds and hundreds of new cars and people in an area that already has inadequate capacity in terms of roadways, parks, shops, sidewalks, post office and [Trader Joe’s] on the weekend anyone?” she wrote in a later email."

This Olson-Pehlke person is either living on a different planet/ or is consciously pulling wool over peoples' faces. The ALREADY EXISTING surface lot has 62 spaces, so the new underground parking with 60 spaces represents a net negative 2 spaces!!!!!!

I'm sorry, but people like Linda Olson Pehlke are simply bad actors.
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The person leading the comprehensive planning effort that could result in many positive urbanist outcomes is not inherently a bad actor, nor is she inevitably stupid to be annoyed that this project is short-circuiting it.

Depending on the details one could get there, but if you advocate "not listening" to comprehensive planning in favor of whatever developers want you get Houston.
 
Equilibria said:
The person leading the comprehensive planning effort that could result in many positive urbanist outcomes is not inherently a bad actor, nor is she inevitably stupid to be annoyed that this project is short-circuiting it.

Depending on the details one could get there, but if you advocate "not listening" to comprehensive planning in favor of whatever developers want you get Houston.
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That would be a dream. Houston has built more high density housing in the past two decades than Boston has in the last century.
 
Jeremi said:
That would be a dream. Houston has built more high density housing in the past two decades than Boston has in the last century.
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New build townhouses in Houston that would be completely illegal to build by right almost anywhere in Boston or Brookline or Cambridge.
 

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