Planning Board Puts Cap on Residential Units for Redevelopment Project

The Madison Planning Board agreed during its Tuesday meeting that the will maintain a residential density cap of 125 units, along with incentives, for the entire site.

The board motioned to include language about the density cap in the site’s construction requirements following suggestions from Susan Blickstein, the board’s professional planner.

Blickstein had modified the redevelopment plan for the property and said she wanted insight from the board.

“I’m trying to come up with parameters that you feel reasonably comfortable with including in the redevelopment plan,” Blickstein said.

Blickstein explained that the zoning uses for the upper part of the site – 2.6 acres – are residential only but that the lower half – 2.4 acres – could be residential or non-residential. She said various residential unit types will be permitted, including “townhouses, condominium flats and stacked configurations.”

“We’re trying to provide as much flexibility as possible but still stay very close to the parameters that are in zoning,” she said.

She explained that, without a cap, considering there is so much flexibility in the bottom part of the site due to its mixed zoning use, the board might run into many arguments. Therefore, Blickstein said, the planning board needs to communicate the policies as clearly as it can.

Although she had suggested 125, or at least an amount close to that number, Blickstein said the cap could be whatever the board wants it to be.

“If the board feels like it has to be 100 units, it has to be 100 units,” she said. “And I would work backwards and tweak the base density unit incentives on the upper part of the site and set the overall cap at 100.”

Planning board chairman Steven Tombalakian said he would be in favor of a cap as long as the board is not providing minimum apartment size standards.

Board member Jeff Gertler, an architect who had been instrumental in formulating the ideas for the site’s zoning, explained that it is hard for a board to sit there and know what 125 units, or any amount of units for that matter, look like.

“It’s a very ethereal concept,” Gertler said. “What does 80 townhouses look like on that site? What does 60 units look like?”

Blickstein said she is not necessarily advocating for a particular number and is more looking to maintain consistencies with the planning policies being developed for the site.

Regardless of what the board sets, however, Blickstein said there will always be a potential contractor who asks for more.

Gertler said that if there was a developer who came in with a plan that “really made sense and enhanced Madison,” but also went over the limit a little bit, there should be language in the planning policy to allow for some sort of deviation.

“There are provisions in here for some deviations, but they have to be pretty darn consistent with the plan,” Blickstein said. “There’s a little bit of a gray area there, and it would depend on the degree of the deviations.”

However, Mayor Mary-Anna Holden pointed out that they do not want to diminish the incentives, which would include height and impervious coverage, the potential redeveloper receives for staying within the guidelines. Blickstein agreed that had been one of her concerns.

“There was some concern there wouldn’t be any incentive to use the incentives,” Blickstein said. “So let’s make the incentives be incentives as much as we can.”

The planner said she plans on taking time to go back over the way incentives are structured in the plan to make sure they are worthwhile to the developer.

“If you really want the incentives to pack a punch, the challenge is that you have to set the base densities lower,” Blickstein said. “And many boards are tentative to do that.”

After the board unanimously motioned to allow the 125 cap, Blickstein said she would make revisions to the policy sometime later this week.

Green Design Techniques

Blickstein also suggested that the planning policy require the redeveloper to meet minimum LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, requirements for green design techniques, which would also be incentive-based. She explained that the language would be kept broad, stressing that they are not asking that the buildings be LEED-certified.

Board member Peter Flemming asked if it stands to reason that anybody doing construction nowadays probably meets LEED standards, anyway.

Blickstein said developers can get points many ways, such as by being near a train station or supplying bike racks.

“It is up to you to figure out what categories you want to implement,” Blickstein said.