[Petrella]: Hello everyone. Welcome to Method Happenings, a show for and about the city of Medford. I am John Petrella. The purpose of our program is to give Medford citizens facts and information to help you make informed decisions. Today, we have a special guest, Holly Racer, who is an attorney with the law firm Rich May. Holly will be speaking on things you really need to know about Method's new zoning audiences. Welcome, Holly. Thank you for joining us on the show today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, John, for having me.
[Petrella]: Before we get into any questions, can you just give us a little background, what you do?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Harley Racer. I'm at the Boston law firm Rich May PC. I'm a land use and litigation attorney. My practice centers on the intersection of municipalities, open space, land use, and disputes that arise from those.
[Petrella]: Okay, very good. Thank you. So, we're going to get right into asking some questions here with Holly. So, I want to start off with Salem Street zoning by asking you, what was the process and where does the Salem Street project stand right now? Where does the zoning stand right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, so the Salem Street rezoning effort and the Salem Street corridor that went forward started in the City Council and they hired a consultant to do a revamp and change that would allow for greater density and for mixed use as a right along the Salem Street corridor and the areas that abut it. When it went to the Community Development Board and just before that, when it was finally made public, there was quite a bit of opposition from the Salem Street community and the neighborhood. And there was particular concern that the environmental justice community, which runs straight through, wasn't given the necessary involvement and engagement and the mayor to their credit uh stepped in and it slowed down when it got to the community development board and there were some changes that were recommended by the community development board okay um and and some of those remained when it went to the city council and some the city council chose to reject okay so
[Petrella]: There was involvement from the community after the fact, I guess. Is that okay to say that? I mean, the community got involved because they were upset and they weren't notified, that type of situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fair to say. There wasn't the level of involvement or engagement that there should have been for the environmental justice community in particular. Okay. The Medford has a comprehensive plan and it has goals and objectives of tracking the environmental justice policy that the state has. Okay. And that requires some extra involvement when it goes through these communities. And that just didn't seem to occur and it led to considerable public backlash when it became more widely known.
[Petrella]: Okay. Okay. I appreciate the answer. The other question, there was a... A loss, a big issue about a methadone clinic going into that neighborhood down by the Roberts School. I mean, that's a tight area. What's the status of the methadone clinic? What's going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, last year there was a project that was proposed to put a methadone clinic in the Salem Street area. That received considerable opposition from the neighborhood, and it didn't go forward. One of the problems with the rezoning effort is that it would have changed the zoning in that district on Salem Street to allow similar clinics as of right. And this came just months after the clinic was defeated in the initial go-round. And so that was a real problem and that really upset a lot of people. Now, when it got to the Community Development Board, the Community Development Board did take that clinic As of right out of the zoning changes and so those are not part of the Salem Street zoning district Okay, so the methadone clinics definitely out the clint the right to have a clinic as of right is out is out Okay.
[Petrella]: All right, and then you know you mentioned Environmental justice neighborhood a lot of people I know do not know what that is. Can you give us a little information? What exactly is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, the state and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has an environmental justice policy. And this came after the recognition that underserved communities are often, they catch the brunt of environmental Harms from projects and so this is an effort by the state to engage these communities More and so when a state when a project goes forward that needs some state review It there's there's additional obligations and requirements to engage these communities these communities are defined by if the annual income is 65% of the median in the state, if it's 40% minorities, or if there's 25% of the community doesn't have English proficiency.
[Petrella]: Okay. All right. And these obligations, I mean, they have to be met.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have to be met for state projects. And so Medford has adopted a comprehensive plan that tracks those requirements and sets them as goals, as ideals for the city to do the same thing in practice here.
[Petrella]: OK. I appreciate that. OK, Holly, thanks for that previous answer. I'd also, I mean, there's a lot going up at St. Clair Road. It's a big mess up there. the neighbors, people don't understand, a lot of questions. What exactly is the situation? What started it? What's going on? Where do we stand?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was an interesting situation there at St. Clair Road. Your viewers are likely aware that it was the former convent. And so it's an old boarding house that has been vacant for many years. And it's zoned residential, and so it's not permissible to have a boarding house there. And so the building is sat and a for-profit developer purchased the property and had a plan to move forward with a for-profit project, which was to renovate the interior, redesign it, renovate it, and then lease it out for a profit. Now, it couldn't do that as a right under the zoning ordinances, and so it applied to the Community Development Board for to not have to follow the zoning requirements as a Dover Amendment project. Now, the Dover Amendment is a state statute that prohibits municipalities from enacting and enforcing zoning ordinances against nonprofit religious organizations and nonprofit educational organizations. And so what the developer did is applied for Dover Amendment approval with the board, and did so by saying that eventually the organization that would be leasing it is a non-profit organization. We thought this was a problem because under the Dover Amendment, it's supposed to be a non-profit entity that is seeking the relief from the zoning ordinances for a non-profit use. And here, we had a for-profit developer seeking it for a for-profit use even though eventually it would go to be a non-profit use by the person leasing it, which was a shelter. And so it took multiple rounds of the community development board, the for-profit developer made changes to their presentation, they reorganized the entity that would house the building, and eventually satisfied the board, although we still disagreed with their analysis.
[Petrella]: Okay, so moving ahead, there, what's going in there? I mean, so the company that originally owned it, they still own it. They were going to fix it up and lease it. So a non-profit is going in.
[SPEAKER_00]: A non-profit will lease it. And the non-profit is, it's an organization to house, It's a temporary shelter for victims of domestic violence.
[Petrella]: OK. All right. So it's all set. It's done. They're going in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: As far as last I saw, yes.
[Petrella]: OK. All right. Because you never know. You know, things change. And depending on who the nonprofit is, and we all know how that works out. You know, another thing in method, and this is my observation, you know, The people of our neighborhoods, okay? There's a lot going on. Now we're talking Medford Square. Every part of Medford, basically, with this, I don't know what kind of zoning, you know, if you could label it what you would call it, but, you know, it seems like people came out talk to the council, talk to the zoning board, I mean, whatever. You saw all the meetings, you hear about them, big discussions, and it's like totally ignored the community. I mean, you know, a few people want, you know, what's happening, but what do people do? What's their, like, how do they fight it? How do they try to, I'm not even talking about fighting it, Holly. How do they get people to listen? I mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this isn't unique to Medford, first of all. And what it takes is it takes people showing up. It takes effort. It takes time. You have to pay attention to the agendas. You read the minutes. And you show up to all the boards, all the committees. And one thing that really helps is to organize. get together. There's, I've seen it here in Medford and I've seen it elsewhere, there's a great diversity of expertise in your neighborhood. Everyone's neighborhood has it and there's skill sets that your neighbors have that are different than yours and if you can pull your resources, pull together and divide and divide and share the work that is before you to keep track of what's going on. That's the first step, is to know what's happening and to show up and to have your voices be heard.
[Petrella]: Okay. I mean, that makes sense. It seems like that's going on, but then it just seems like whatever this zoning push, I mean, you're telling me it's not just Medford. Is this like a statewide push?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, there's always competing interests. There's interests that will come from the city councils and the mayors and from the different boards. They'll have objectives, and those don't always necessarily align with the neighborhoods and the communities that are going to be affected. And so it's important for the people to show up, pay attention, track what's happening, and if something seems off, if it seems wrong, if the people know it's not right, then get a legal opinion and see if there's something that's happened that needs to be looked at a little closer. See if there's some impropriety in the procedure. See if there's some process that's not been followed. See if there's some substantive defect to what they're pursuing.
[Petrella]: OK, all right. That all makes sense. I'm going to follow up again. Basically, people are looking for good governance. That's what I call it. People that, OK, we're going to do this. Everyone wants to see Method get better. Everybody. I mean, we're not just the people that aren't I mean, I think some of the zoning, what they're going to do in Medford Square, I mean, it could be a positive thing. It could be if it's done right. And I think everyone in the city wants to see changes. But these are like, I mean, they're wholesale. I mean, they're going up stories. You know, how do you foster good governance? I don't even know if you can answer that question, but what do you do? What do you do? It's like our hands are tied.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, it's hard, you speak with your vote, for one thing, and you show up, you know, we know democracy isn't a one-day event on election day, you know, you show up and you have your voices heard and you organize, and it's really important for projects that go forward, especially rezoning projects and big changes that are going to affect neighborhoods, for it to be what the community in the neighborhood wants and what they need. You know, we know that people who are the residents and the business owners that live on these streets and in these neighborhoods, they know what needs are there. They know what needs to be done. They know what problems need to be fixed. They know what is going to make it worse, too. And so they need to be listened to. They can also help organize to present their solutions, you know, so that they can be considered before it's done from a top-down approach. But it really does take integrating with the community and speaking to them and engaging with them and listening. And it's hard to force people to listen. But if you show up and if you make sure that they're being watched carefully so that the interests of the community are being heard, that helps.
[Petrella]: okay, all right, because I just I think there's I just think there's a lot of frustration in method because You know, like I said people want to see changes they want to see good things they want to see the city grow Yeah, we want to see some affordable housing there's a lot of things we want but it's like I I don't even know where to begin. They're coming down with like everything. And it's all at once. And we're not talking minor. You know, you're talking major renovations. And it's like, you know, I guess it's, I mean, who's pushing it? I guess it's the city itself. The people running the city right now, they just seem to be pushing this and pushing this and pushing this. And I think it's like, such a fast speed that they're doing all this. Do you see this in other communities where they're, I mean, I don't want to get into too much, but Boston Ave, Tufts College, South Method, you know, Mystic Ave, I mean, we do need updating, we do need things to happen. But these are like, I mean, this whole city, I mean, it's going to be under construction if everything goes through, you know? I mean, you're seeing this in other cities or?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, yeah, it's not uncommon. But what I can tell you is if you show up in an organized way, you can have an impact and you can have an effect and you can slow things down if they're moving too quickly. There are ways to make sure that what's being done is being done properly, that corners aren't being cut, that the proper notices are being provided, that the engagement's being done, that all of the procedure is above board. And so those levers that are there, there are many levers available to citizens and residents and the community, but it does take effort. And it's not going to happen on its own.
[Petrella]: So, you know, the levers are there. You pull all the levers and they still it's just going to happen. Now, where do you go?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to you're not going to win all the time.
[Petrella]: Oh, no, I understand. Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. But I mean, if there's if there's something that that looks bad or smells bad. you know, get a legal opinion and see if it's something that could lead to, you know, some type of action more than just showing up in the meetings. And the way that you find that is by showing up and having the community oversight, the citizen oversight on what the government's, on what your local government's doing.
[Petrella]: See, I look at this all and I don't see, you know, I don't see winners and losers. I see this whole entire city wants things to be better. They want more money to come into the city. We want more business. We want more than likely what every other city wants. It's just the size. I guess that's what's the biggest problem. So anyhow, I know we're getting on in time here. I want to thank you. Before we finish. Have you done cases like this where you've been hired by cities or?
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been hired by citizen groups, sometimes aligned with cities and sometimes adverse to cities. Okay. And sometimes fighting a project and sometimes supporting a project. Okay. I've seen it from both sides.
[Petrella]: So you have seen it from both sides. Yeah. And this goes on a lot, I take it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It goes on all the time, everywhere. Okay.
[Petrella]: And it's been going on for a long time. Absolutely. It's nothing new. It's nothing that hasn't happened before.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're absolutely right. Okay.
[Petrella]: We can finish the show with that. Thank you. Really, Holly, I appreciate you coming on. I think you cleared up a lot of questions. And I think you got a lot of information out, especially in method. Like right now, people really need to hear that. So I want to thank you for joining us today. You know, we're near the end of the show, so thank you so much. We really, really appreciate it. Thank you. I also, as we end the show, I want to take a minute to thank everyone who's been watching the show. Thank you for your feedback. We've gotten a lot of positive and we've gotten negative and we'll take it all. We'll take any feedback. And if you'd like to share any comments or have any suggestions for a show or appearing on a future show, you can contact us at johnpatroller55 at gmail.com. And you will be able to see replays of this show on metfordtv.org, Metford Happenings on YouTube, and also Metford Happenings on Facebook. And from all of us at Metford Happenings, I'm John Petralla. And remember, stay informed, and I'm going to just finish with, I have a funny feeling you're going to be coming, or I'm going to invite you back on the show, maybe about five, six months up the road, because there's so much activity. I'd be happy to be back, and thank you for having me. Thank you for coming. Have a great day, everybody.