Seniors raise concerns with Medford Square rezoning plan

It was supposed to be about zoning but for the most part seniors at the Medford Square Rezoning informational meeting wanted to talk about parking. 

City officials, along with consultant Emily Innes of Innes Land Strategies Group, brought their Medford Square Rezoning presentation to the Senior Center Thursday Feb. 19, and they received some tough reviews. 

“Remember, we are seniors,” said Marian Tomaszczuk. “There are a lot of people in their 80s and 90s that are here every day, and they need you to consider that.”

Innes said in general, the rezoning of Medford Square seeks to revitalize the area that includes not only a number of streets but also civic centers such as the library, the Chevalier Theater, City Hall and the Senior Center. It also seeks to help support economic development, jobs and activities, she said. 

The plan includes adding mixed-use structures or buildings with both commercial and residential spaces, and setting a standard for building requirements.  

Jan D’Amore wondered how adding apartment buildings to the area was going to help revitalize it.

“I’m really concerned this is going to be a lot of housing and not a lot of commercial space,” she said. “I don’t see it revitalizing the square.”

Innes said in the 1970s and 80s, the advent of the mall caused downtowns across the country to dry up as people got in their cars and drove to the mall. That trend started to reverse in the 1990s and 2000s, Innes said, when housing was moved back into the downtown areas. People might go to work during the day but they interact with local businesses at night and on the weekends, she said. 

But what about parking?
One resident was concerned that parking for the Senior Center would be seriously hampered by the rezoning project. She pointed to a proposed parking garage that would be two blocks from the center noting that many of the seniors could not walk that far. She also questioned a proposed plan that would reserve 100 parking spaces for those that work in and visit City Hall.

“Well, that's great, but how many in City Hall take the bus, ride their bike or walk, because that's what you want all of us to do for the future of Medford,” she said. “And I don't see this happening in City Hall.”

Medford Director of Planning, Development and Sustainability Alicia Hunt, said she thought there had been miscommunication regarding parking. She said they’ve been working with a developer whose proposal includes keeping half of the parking lot directly across the street from the Senior Center, a public parking lot. But that spot is also slated to be home to an urban grocery store, and D’Amore said she worried those spots would be eaten up by shoppers.

But according to Hunt, the entire downtown proposal, which is separate from but contingent on the rezoning effort, includes 567 parking spaces, 

“Which is actually 184 more parking spaces than currently exist in all of that,” she said. “So while there'll be new uses, we are not decreasing the number of parking spaces in total. We're shifting where some of them are, and what they're available to.”

Hunt also said they’ve been working with Medford Director of Elder Affairs Pam Kelly to determine the average number of visitors that drive to the center each day and 50 is the number they are working with. 

Donna Hickey scoffed at the number. She said the center has upwards of 200 visitors per day and while not all of them drive, many do.

“Everyone keeps saying the Senior Center is going to have plenty of spaces,” she said. “Well, what's plenty of spaces?”

Hunt tried to sway the conversation back to zoning but the seniors were not giving in.

Kelly said 50 cars was an average day but on their busiest days, like Thursdays, or when there was a special event, that number would shoot up.

“If you want the Medford Senior Center to continue to grow for our nearly 13,000 residents, just residents of Medford that are 60 years of age and older, I can't grow with 18 spots, or even 50 spots,” she said. “It's not going to happen.”

Hunt said they were also trying to expand alternative transportation options for seniors, and Innes said there was also the possibility of shared parking, where daytime use could be for public parking and nighttime for residential parking. 

Hunt said it was much too early in the development’s planning stages to really know how things like parking might play out.

“We are dealing with conceptual drawings at this point,” she said. “To tell you exactly what's going to get negotiated in the end, all of this is a pull and push.”

Before the meeting ended, Marian Tomaszczuk presented Hunt and City Councilor Matt Leming, who emceed the presentation, with a petition signed by about 150 seniors calling for designated senior parking.

“Because we don’t want to be told we have these certain spots and they’re not marked because that's meaningless,” she said. 

Now what
Next steps for the rezoning project start with another joint public hearing with City Council and the Community Development Board Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m. in City Hall, another public information session, March 11 at the McGlynn Middle School, followed by another joint public hearing on March 25 at 6 p.m. in City Hall. And although the Senior Center presentation was not an official public hearing, Innes said they would take the seniors' concerns into account. 

“I want to make sure that you understand this is sort of the beginning of this public engagement process,” Innes said. “And I'm really glad you're here.”