The Planning Board is drafting a new bylaw to preserve the town’s open space and encourage diversity in the types of housing available. Called the Open Space Design Project, it would provide an alternative method of developing large parcels of land.
The Open Space Design Project would offer developers an option that involves the construction of smaller houses, along with the preservation of open space. It would waive the standard lot size and frontage requirements (1.5 acres and 180 feet) in exchange for a large percentage of the land being permanently designated as open space. According to Planning Board member Michelle Catalina, “People need to realize that there is currently nothing stopping these large open properties from being developed tomorrow.”
When large parcels are developed, the default way of doing so is to completely fill the space with large houses, which is not always the best outcome for the town. The town already has a large portion of expensive housing, but, according to Planning Board member Rich Maiore, “What’s missing in the housing portfolio is the mid-range.”
While smaller houses are less inherently profitable for developers, developing parcels according to the Open Space Design could cut costs immensely in several ways, explained Town Planner Bill Scanlan. First, the smaller houses are less expensive to build. Furthermore, due to lower frontage requirements, clustered housing designs require less roadway to be constructed. Additionally, the clustered housing might be able to share a septic system, which would save costs.
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The precise amount of open space to be mandated by the town is still up for debate. The Planning Board has settled on 65 percent for now, but that number is subject to change. Nearby towns with similar bylaws have requirements ranging from 60 percent to 80 percent. While a higher requirement would preserve more open space for the future, it would also decrease the economic viability of a project, increasing the likelihood that a parcel would be developed normally, preserving no open space.
The timetable for this zoning bylaw’s appearance at Town Meeting is still uncertain. The Planning Board wants to have a professional analysis of the bylaw’s full financial impact before putting a final version up for a Town Meeting vote, which would require a two-thirds majority. For this reason, the bylaw could appear at the 2018 Annual Town Meeting, a special town meeting in the fall, or the 2019 Annual Town Meeting.
Smaller units; more open space
The graphics that accompany this story are drawn from a case study by Scanlan, using a property in town that is not developable. They provide a side-by-side comparison of what the development of a large parcel would look like under Harvard’s current protective bylaws and using the proposed open space bylaw (see drawings above). Notably, the total number of units constructed is similar, but with the new bylaw in use, the units are smaller, and significant areas are placed under a permanent open space restriction.
