. . . A cumulative, regional review of the impacts of development in the Alewife area is needed . . .

Neighborhoods Count: Smart Growth

Alewife area needs more thorough study

On behalf of the Great Boston Group of the Massachusetts Sierra Club (GBG), I would like to note our concern with the development projects planned on or near the Alewife Floodplain in Northwest Cambridge. While we understand that "smart growth" requires denser development around existing transit facilities and that people must live and work someplace, the exceptionally dense development proposals currently planned for the Alewife area, including parts of Arlington, Belmont and Cambridge, is likely to:

• crush the valuable "urban wild" of the Alewife Reservation;
• turn several acres of the Reservation into a sewerage receptacle for neighboring developments, including ones that are not even in Cambridge;
• result in poorer water quality for the Alewife Brook and Mystic River;
• provide short-term benefits for unique groups of people at the expense of the entire floodplain;
• increase flooding of residential and commercial areas in and around the Floodplain, and;
• overwhelm the region's traffic capacity, resulting in increased pollution from auto emissions and more neighborhood cut-throughs.

The Alewife Reservation is one of greater-Boston's most unique natural resources. It has numerous species of wildlife, is a wonderful stopover point for migratory birds and, not least in importance, provides area residents with a place to experience at least some modicum of nature's wonders. A cumulative, regional review of the impacts of development in the Alewife area is needed to mitigate the problems, including flooding, noise, traffic, shadow and illumination that such massive development is likely to produce.

Only with sufficient mitigation should the developments continue.

Cambridge Chronicle
June 11, 2003