Green Rise Homes, LLC has submitted an application to the Planning Board for the redevelopment of the “Caruso’s Pizza” building at 681-697 Main Street. We are tremendously excited to see an application that requests a special permit for a full waiver of parking requirements for this site. We know that many car-free households already live in Melrose, and many more will choose to do so if we build these units. You can read our letter to the Planning Board below.
Date: July 25th, 2022
To: Melrose Planning Board
Re: 681-687 and 689-697 Main Street
To the Members of the Melrose Planning Board
We are writing in support of the Special Permit being sought by the developers of the 681-687 and 689-697 Main Street property under MZO § 235-40.C, and to encourage Board support for this project under Site Plan Review.
Our Committee continues to strongly support development patterns which enhance Melrose’s reputation as a walkable, bikeable city. This project is a reasonable, realistic infill development of a site which has languished for years despite its proximity to downtown and to transit. We feel that requiring any portion of this site to be used as auto storage would be inappropriate and would harm the ability of this small historic parcel to return a positive value to our city.
It is important that we recognize just how urgent it is that we keep leaning into human-centered, transit–oriented developments – which are, not coincidentally, exactly the sort of developments our downtown first grew around. The state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs recently released its Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030. This document details the state’s comprehensive plans to achieve aggressive emissions reduction in the next five years. It is “rooted in the understanding that climate change poses a unique and potentially irreversible threat to the well-being of society.” In Massachusetts, the transportation sector is our largest source of emissions. In this plan, the #1 Transportation goal is promoting alternatives to personal vehicle (car) travel. The plan calls for a “transformation in the way communities think about land use, urban planning, housing, and transportation” and recommends strategies focused on multifamily housing around transit; bus and bike infrastructure; and in particular, promoting e-bikes statewide.
This proposal is exactly the kind which that plan would envision for a dense, transit-oriented community like Melrose. Not only does it optimize land use on the site, but by including a proper bike room right in their initial proposal, the developer has shown that they understand the needs of car-free individuals, and truly want this model to succeed in Melrose. We as a community should be doing what we can to help this sort of development succeed, so there are more like it in the future. This building’s future residents will do more local shopping, support more local businesses, and where auto needs arise, we feel that the developers have convincingly demonstrated a tremendous surplus of existing parking along Main Street.
If we were to make one recommendation, it would be for the developer to consider slightly expanding the size of the bike room to allow for one bike per bed (27), rather than one bike per unit (18), and to allow employees of this future business access to that room as well. The spacing of the racks should allow for common ebike and cargo bike models to fit securely.
We thank you for your time and encourage a favorable review of this project.