The Discussion Questions posed by the working papers are:
- What historic Town resources are important to you, and which do you feel are most at risk?
- What are the most significant threats to Arlington’s historic resources?
- How can Town build support for historic preservation initiatives, including historic district designation?
- Many of Arlington’s historic assets, such as Town Hall, the Robbins Memorial Gardens, or the Central School (Senior Center), serve as valuable community spaces. How can the Town continue to maintain these historic resources as community assets while remaining both historically sensitive and fiscally responsible?
Town Resources:
Robbins Library
The Robbins Library is one of the coolest buildings and one of the better libraries I’ve ever been in.
Local Historical Documents and Resources
In addition to the awesome building, a great book selection, and the affiliation with the Minuteman Network, the library has a pretty good local history room. I think expanding this section of the library’s mission would help give the community a better sense of the history of the town. For instance, the fire-maps from every year of the late 1800s into the 1930s would help residents better age their houses. Cultural outreach events where the Town-History librarian and perhaps some local historians can meet with residents to discuss their houses and neighborhoods in a historical context would go a long way towards informing and exciting the population about the unique history of the town. Additionally, electronic scanning of town-owned historical records would be a great resource for residents.
Commercial Buildings and Storefronts
I am also a big proponent of preserving the historical accuracy and atmosphere of the commercial buildings in Arlington Center (and the Heights). Rules governing electric or light-up signs, window displays (i.e. back of furniture in store windows) and advertisements (Keno etc) would go a long way towards recovering the historical atmosphere of the town. Look at the rules governing signage and window displays upheld by Lexington Center and determine if a gradual implementation of a subset of those restrictions would aid in making Arlington Center and Arlington Heights a higher-end historical destination.
Christmas Lights
I know this doesn’t really go here but I have a bone to pick and I plan on picking it whenever tangentially related. Don’t do holiday tree lights if you aren’t going to do them well. The horrible Christmas lights on the trees in Arlington Center look shoddy and ugly. We would be MUCH better off doing 1 or 2 trees well than hap-hazardly draping a scant string of lights on every tree in the center. I appreciate the move to LED but LED lights from 5 years ago look horrible when compared with the excellent job Medford and Lexington does with lights. Somerville takes a different approach and does the hanging kissing balls on the street lights which is simple and elegant. Arlington just throws up some blue twinkle lights and calls it the Holiday Season. Terrible.
Threats
One thing that stands out to me as a threat is the limited access to Arlington’s historical documents. An Electronic, searchable database including both the Arlington Library and the Arlington Historical Foundation documents as well as anything from the Jason Russell House and Old Schwamb Mill would be great. The loss of availability of these resources through budget cuts and space invasion by more “popular” programs could be detrimental in the long-term historical preservation of the town.
Another threat is the building of non-historical buildings in open space. I am fine with progress. If a house needs to be torn down to make way for a nice high-end condo complex, I am fine with that but I think the condo-complex needs to conform to the same zoning restrictions as the historical district it is in. Wood windows, wood siding, a period atmosphere commiserate with the look and feel of the neighborhood. Paint colors appropriate to the time-period it is attempting to emulate etc. We need systems in place to make sure we don’t have a bunch of ugly buildings like the car dealership and the motorcycle store which are great boons to the local economy and great drags on the visual look of the town. Same with Mel’s Auto shop. Great business, horrendous buildings.
Building Support
The number one idea I have is to update the year-built numbers on the tax records. My house in Arlington Center has a 1920 year-built date. I have found the house (and wrap-around front porch) on fire maps as early as 1885. By digitizing the records, we should be able to get much more accurate age estimates on the houses and communicate them to the residents. To follow up the age research, community outreach events to help people get a more accurate estimate on the age and history of the house will encourage much more interest in the historical district zoning in Arlington. Another thought is to lower the fees on building permits for historical houses which will offer a financial incentive to get into a historical district.
Community Assets
I’ll say it once, gut the inside, preserve the outside. Pick and choose the pieces to keep and modernize the rest. Spend the money now to keep the usable space usable and the pretty space pretty. We don’t need or want 1930s style rooms. We don’t need bathrooms from the 1950s. We have to spend the money (and the annoyance) of clearing out the buildings and bringing them up to date. Sometimes the best maintenance plan is to re-build. Side note, you can also get state/federal grant money to renovate but not to maintain.
