Watertown Infill and Small Developments

[shmessy]

So Watertown is planning this:

First Details of Redevelopment of Watertown Square Parking Lots Revealed, Including Garage & Residential Project

Monday night, the public got the first glimpse of a possible future for the parking lot behind CVS, the Armenian Museum of America and other businesses in Watertown Square, and it may include a multi-story garage built by the City and a residential building constructed by a private developer...

www.watertownmanews.com

Tomorrow is an Open House meeting.

I guess I have to reveal something. For those who remember me from years ago, like that meetup a long time back, I used to work in tech, and that’s probably still the background most of you associate me with [edit: or perhaps more recent is when I mention in some posts in trying the join the MBTA back when they were in massive crisis and seem like they can use anybody - I failed to be hired for any position]. That’s no longer my life. I’m now involved in various businesses ...including the laundromat specifically mentioned in this article.

This space generally leans urbanist / pro-housing / pro-development, and I think most of you have a general sense of where I usually land. But it’s a lot harder to talk in the abstract when you’re on the receiving end of a plan that may seriously damage or wipe out your business depending on how it’s actually carried out.

And honestly, part of the weirdness here is that this is not even some clean urbanist vision. A parking garage is still a parking garage, even if it is part of a broader redevelopment plan. So I’m not just struggling with development in general. I’m struggling with the idea of being asked to take a serious financial hit for a plan that is itself a compromise.

So I’m genuinely asking: how should people think about this? I want more housing. I’m not against change. But if the real relocation details only get worked out after approval, then I can’t just take vague promises on faith. I can’t support a plan, even in principle, if it may well leave me financially wrecked.

I may end up, on this issue, in uneasy alignment with the usual local anti-development types, which is not a sentence I expected to write. But here we are.

Thank you for that close-in perspective.

I hear you and empathize. My question from 10,000 million miles away, is what kind of remediation Watertown/developers give you?? Would they help with a temporary location and then have your laundromat on ground floor of a multi-story residential tower with many more possible clients??? Before that is known, it's hard to quantify the net effect to your business. I wiould definitely side with you that it should be Watertown/developers next move to at least be upfront with you as to the effects.

 

[ant8904]

I hear you and empathize. My question from 10,000 million miles away, is what kind of remediation Watertown/developers give you?? Would they help with a temporary location and then have your laundromat on ground floor of a multi-story residential tower with many more possible clients??? Before that is known, it's hard to quantify the net effect to your business. I wiould definitely side with you that it should be Watertown/developers next move to at least be upfront with you as to the effects.

So far the only contact has been through my efforts. They haven't contacted any of us directly, property owners excepted. I only learned about it from that news article. Places like the diner were more generally aware, but mostly only through various things they were hearing from customers. Some are now more aware only because I started reaching out to the neighboring businesses.

Their draft "Demonstration Project Plan" on Section 3.10 on page 37 says that they commit to being fair, equitable, consistent, minimizing the adverse impact, and preventing the closure of businesses.

To their credit, they have been quick to meet once I contacted them. The Director of Community Design was very emphatic in expressing sympathy, and did a lot of note-taking while I tried to explain the costs, logistics, requirements, and difficulty of moving and reopening a laundromat. But their response is still that they cannot promise anything. If their understanding of relocation is just giving checks, based on a mental model closer to moving an office, then I'm facing massive financial losses. And just giving out checks, even big checks, will not necessarily be sufficient to keep some businesses open. For example, the owner of the diner is near retirement age. No amount of money changes the sheer amount of work required to build out a new diner. It can cover the costs and maybe even compensate for buildout, but it doesn't reduce the work itself. They need to provide sufficient funding, but also real help with relocation and buildout.

I will be trying to communicate that and more. Admittedly, we might have come at the City Manager a little too hard during Wednesday's Open House, though the person from another business who came with me reassured me it was okay. I will be meeting with him again, but more privately.

But if they intend to only start making concrete promises after approval, that creates a catch-22 for us. Does that mean they can't promise anything before approval because it isn't approved yet, but then after approval the basic plan is already locked in?

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Also, one other thing I have to express from being on this end is the paralysis this creates. I have to operate on a worst-case timeline. Even if projects like this can get delayed for years, I still have to think: what if I only have 1.5 years left? That affects whether it makes sense to invest in improvements, new equipment, or even certain maintenance. And if it gets delayed, unless it is by a long period, that mostly just means continuing to operate in the same mode despite more time passing.

 

[shmessy]

So far the only contact has been through my efforts. They haven't contacted any of us directly, property owners excepted. I only learned about it from that news article. Places like the diner were more generally aware, but mostly only through various things they were hearing from customers. Some are now more aware only because I started reaching out to the neighboring businesses.

Their draft "Demonstration Project Plan" on Section 3.10 on page 37 says that they commit to being fair, equitable, consistent, minimizing the adverse impact, and preventing the closure of businesses.

To their credit, they have been quick to meet once I contacted them. The Director of Community Design was very emphatic in expressing sympathy, and did a lot of note-taking while I tried to explain the costs, logistics, requirements, and difficulty of moving and reopening a laundromat. But their response is still that they cannot promise anything. If their understanding of relocation is just giving checks, based on a mental model closer to moving an office, then I'm facing massive financial losses. And just giving out checks, even big checks, will not necessarily be sufficient to keep some businesses open. For example, the owner of the diner is near retirement age. No amount of money changes the sheer amount of work required to build out a new diner. It can cover the costs and maybe even compensate for buildout, but it doesn't reduce the work itself. They need to provide sufficient funding, but also real help with relocation and buildout.

I will be trying to communicate that and more. Admittedly, we might have come at the City Manager a little too hard during Wednesday's Open House, though the person from another business who came with me reassured me it was okay. I will be meeting with him again, but more privately.

But if they intend to only start making concrete promises after approval, that creates a catch-22 for us. Does that mean they can't promise anything before approval because it isn't approved yet, but then after approval the basic plan is already locked in?

-----

Also, one other thing I have to express from being on this end is the paralysis this creates. I have to operate on a worst-case timeline. Even if projects like this can get delayed for years, I still have to think: what if I only have 1.5 years left? That affects whether it makes sense to invest in improvements, new equipment, or even certain maintenance. And if it gets delayed, unless it is by a long period, that mostly just means continuing to operate in the same mode despite more time passing.

Thank you for your insight into this. I hope the best for you. Please keep us updated.