Residents who say sewage-laden floodwater entered their homes challenged Massachusetts Water Resources Authority officials at Monday's Arlington Select Board meeting, arguing the agency's $340 million draft plan for Alewife Brook will leave the waterway polluted with raw sewage for decades to come.
The Arlington Redevelopment Board voted 4-0 Monday night to approve a commercial and industrial expansion at 26 Dudley Street, clearing a path for Santini Realty Trust to enlarge its building in the town's I District after addressing a list of design and engineering concerns raised at an earlier hearing.
A 47-year Pine Avenue resident said she felt "betrayed" by town officials. Her neighbor warned of floodwaters rushing across Summer Street. A woman whose husband was nearly killed in a car crash outside the site questioned why a second curb cut was even necessary. Residents turned out for a July 6 hearing to oppose a proposed marijuana dispensary at 251 Summer Street — and the Arlington Redevelopment Board heard them out before unanimously voting to demand a round of design and engineering fixes before the application can advance.
The Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals wrapped up public hearings on two residential special permit applications at its June 23 meeting, with the board signaling it is inclined to approve both — a two-story enclosed porch addition at 14 Orchard Terrace and a second driveway at 25-27 Heath Road. Final votes are scheduled for July 14. The Heath Road application carries a notable condition requiring the applicant to consult the town's tree warden before the permit is finalized.
A contested London plane tree near Stratton School won a conditional reprieve Monday night as the Arlington Select Board voted unanimously to preserve the tree unless the town's tree warden determines it cannot survive — the culmination of a two-week deliberation that drew neighbors, tree advocates, and engineering revisions back to Town Hall.
The Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a special permit Tuesday night allowing a homeowner at 19 Lancaster Road to build a second-story addition that extends into the right side yard setback — the board's only substantive action at its June 9 meeting.
The Arlington School Committee received a sweeping set of math-instruction recommendations Tuesday night — including a full audit of the district's decade-old elementary curriculum and a new internal review of how middle schoolers are sorted into math courses — while also approving a one-year contract extension for Deputy Superintendent Dr. Mona Ford Walker, who announced she will leave the district after next school year.
With Reservoir Beach expected to hit capacity for the June 19 USA vs. Australia match, Arlington's Select Board convened a special 8:30 a.m. meeting Tuesday to approve a second watch party venue at Town Hall — giving residents an indoor-outdoor alternative and a chance to catch hometown defender Miles Robinson on the national stage.
Arlington's School Committee divided Wednesday over whether to extend cell phone restrictions at Arlington High School to a full bell-to-bell ban — a debate sharpened by pending state legislation and competing views from parents, students, and the high school's own principal.
The Arlington Select Board voted unanimously Monday to authorize one-day beer and wine licenses for four FIFA World Cup watch parties at Reservoir Beach honoring hometown U.S. Men's National Team defender Miles Robinson — then spent nearly an hour debating whether to remove a 90-year-old London plane tree on Hemlock Street before unanimously deferring that decision to its June 22 meeting.
A family-owned proposal to nearly double the size of a Dudley Street industrial building ran into a wall of unanswered questions Monday night, as the Arlington Redevelopment Board continued the hearing without approval and gave the applicants a clear list of items to address before returning in July.
With a $14.8 million Proposition 2½ override on the horizon, Arlington's Finance Committee spent its March 18 meeting pressing Town Manager Jim Feeney, Deputy Town Manager Julie Wayman, and Deputy Town Manager Christine Bongiorno on the real costs behind several warrant articles — including a proposed dark sky lighting bylaw that drew sharp skepticism, a three-part fee modernization package, and a school electrification feasibility study with uncertain outside funding.
Three Arlington High School freshmen stood before the School Committee on May 28 to describe finding dead birds in the AHS courtyard — and to propose a fix. Their presentation opened a meeting that also surfaced a potentially sweeping change for every Arlington high schooler: a new state graduation framework that could require senior capstones, end-of-course assessments, and FAFSA completion.
A commercial property owner's bid to nearly double the size of a building near Mill Brook hit a wall of technical objections May 21, as Arlington's Conservation Commission told the applicant's engineer that a revised stormwater report still uses the wrong rainfall data standard — and that several other required analyses remain incomplete.
Arlington's 2026 Annual Town Meeting closed its final session Wednesday night by ratifying long-delayed union contracts for police and firefighters and directing more than $3 million in Community Preservation Act funds — the two votes with the most immediate impact on town employees and residents — before working through a slate of resolutions on surveillance privacy, healthcare, environmental policy, and workplace rights.
The Arlington Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously Tuesday night to close the public hearing on a special permit application for a second-floor bathroom addition to a circa-1900 workers' cottage at 9 Lancaster Road — setting up a formal approval vote for June 9 after the board directed Co-Chair Patrick Hanlon to draft a written decision in favor of the permit.
Town meeting members on Monday voted to authorize the Select Board to seek repeal of a 46-year-old state law banning Red Line expansion into Arlington — a symbolic but potentially consequential step — while also revising how the town's MBTA Communities zoning overlay defines ground-floor commercial space, in a session that worked through the fine print of Arlington's post-MBTA Communities zoning reality.
Robert Donovan, a combat veteran and clinical social worker who lost a sibling weeks into his new role, introduced himself to the Arlington Select Board on Monday — the same night the board unanimously endorsed the town's updated 10-year Comprehensive Plan.
Arlington Public Schools received a $2 million state grant for the Hardy Elementary School electrification project the same evening the district's food services team showcased a universal free meals program that has erased income-based barriers for families across all 11 schools — the two headline outcomes from the School Committee's May 14 hybrid meeting.
Two of Arlington's most consequential conservation decisions — what to do with a deteriorating historic house atop Mount Gilboa, and whether to formalize Indigenous access to a site the Massachusett Tribe considers its last foothold in town — moved to the front of the agenda at the May 7, 2026 Conservation Commission meeting. Both questions hinge on the same constitutional provision: Article 97.
