As an Upper Falls resident supporting the Northland development and its recent permitting amendment, I would like to both expose one fallacy in the opponents’ arguments, and offer one proposal for a compromise.
The fallacy concerns the alleged higher taxes from offices vs. residences. This might be the case at current valuations and assessments. However, the glut of office space (including my own, throwing 15,000 square feet back on the market on First Avenue, not yet captured in the Peer review report) will depress rents. Commercial space is valued at a “cap rate” comprised of rents vs. carrying costs. The likely assessments, a lagging indicator, will crash – and with it, the tax receipts. (This has already happened in Boston.) So scratch that argument off their list.
One other area is ripe for compromise, and that is about the shuttle service only being at peak times as opposed to all day. I would posit that a vastly disproportionate amount of traffic happens between November 1st and Christmas Day. Perhaps offering all-day shuttles for less than 1/6th of the year could alleviate the large majority of traffic woes.
Al Lewis
Newton Upper Falls
