Approximately 100 people gathered at the Bromfield School Feb. 6 to learn about open-space residential design from Randall Arendt, an expert in the field. Over the course of roughly five hours, Arendt, Director of Community and Economic Development Chris Ryan, and several guest speakers explained the principles of open-space design and the benefits it could offer Harvard and made recommendations for Harvard’s open space bylaw.
Arendt is a site planner, author, and lecturer who received his degree in urban design and planning from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and has worked in the planning industry for about 45 years. He has written multiple books advocating a conservation-oriented approach to town planning, including “Rural by Design: Planning for Town and Country.” According to Ryan, Arendt is widely considered to be the father of conservation development.
What is open-space design?
Open-space design, also known as conservation development, is an alternative development strategy for large parcels. According to Arendt, its primary benefits are the preservation of open space and increased diversity of housing options, while the main drawback is that it is more complex to implement than standard zoning.
Under normal zoning, the developer splits a large parcel into individual lots of the minimum size allowed in the town (1.5 acres in Harvard), and builds a large single family home on each one. Arendt criticized standard zoning as “planned sprawl,” saying, “No town says that its goal is to transform 100% of its open space into roads and houses, but that is exactly the outcome that standard zoning guarantees.”
With an open-space design, the developer instead splits a subsection of the parcel (at most 50%) into lots far smaller than those normally allowed in the town and then builds small houses on the small lots. In some cases, these include designs that the town’s zoning does not normally allow, such as townhouses. The homes are clustered together in a manner that creates a neighborhood environment and allows their owners to take advantage of the remaining open space. According to Mass Audubon Society Assistant Director of Advocacy Heidi Ricci, many towns in central Massachusetts have an overabundance of large houses and too few starter homes for young families or houses for aging citizens who want to downsize.
The remaining open space (50% or more) is permanently preserved. Common forms of open space include a central green (deliberately mimicking the greens at the center of old New England towns such as Harvard), recreational fields, a view of a rural farm, or nature trails through a forest. In many of Arendt’s examples, the open space preserved in a single development connects to other tracts of undeveloped land (often preserved by other open-space developments). This allows the town to realize larger conservation goals, such as creating corridors for wildlife to pass through the town uninterrupted or preserving an entire large undeveloped resource.
Open-space designs are usually density neutral, meaning that they include the same number of housing units as would be allowed under standard zoning. According to Arendt, towns adopted minimum lot sizes to fight overcrowding. By remaining density neutral, open-space designs remain true to the intent of regular zoning practices.
According to Arendt, in addition to benefiting the town, open-space design can also be profitable for developers. While under normal zoning each home needs its own well and septic system, clustered housing may allow homes to share these utilities. Under normal zoning the homes need to be spread evenly over the entire developed parcel, forcing some into less desirable areas, while clustered housing can gather all the homes in the most ideal location (whether for septic systems, views, ease of access, or some other factor). Offering a variety of housing options also helps developers sell the homes faster, he said.
Harvard’s bylaw
Ryan has been working on an open-space bylaw for Harvard, and Arendt has been providing input for approximately three months. While it is not ready yet, the Planning Board intends to have it prepared for 2020 Fall Town Meeting.
Ryan’s bylaw differs from Arendt’s recommendations in one key respect: It would keep standard zoning as the by-right development option, while allowing open-space designs only by special permit. Arendt recommends the opposite, saying developers generally avoid special permit options wherever possible. He cautioned that, in his experience, towns that make open-space development the default option see many such developments, while that option is often ignored entirely in towns where it requires a special permit.
According to Ryan, he is pursuing the special permit option because he believes Harvard voters will be unwilling to change the default zoning to something the town has never done before, and this is the only way the bylaw will pass at town meeting. However, he remains open to the possibility of embracing Arendt’s recommendation, depending on the feedback the Planning Board receives during public outreach.
Because the bylaw would require developers to willingly submit to the more onerous special permit process, Ryan’s bylaw also gives them additional incentive: a density bonus of up to 15%, based on a variety of factors, such as the addition of senior housing or the presence of wetlands.
