Renderings

What Should be Done: Accurate Renderings are a Critical Part of Basic Transparency on Rezoning

While renderings done by developers are usually structured to market the project to investors or permitting bodies, the renderings for municipal rezoning should be different. Municipal renderings should provide an accurate picture of what the town is allowing, and what these areas will feel like for residents living near the new structures or interacting with them in their daily life. Practically, this means that renderings should meet these criteria:

• Full area. If a district is being upzoned, the renderings should include the full district, not just one or two buildings. 

• Maximum sizes allowed. Show the maximum build-out allowed, as this is the scale residents are being asked to accept. If we don’t want that scale, it shouldn’t be in the zoning.

• Include allowed encroachments. If the zoning allows encroachments into setbacks or public space (as the Center Overlay most definitely does), those elements need to be included in the rendering. If they are good enough to allow, they are relevant to the pictures you draw.

• Human-level vantage points. The images need to show how the structures feel close up, and from the ground level. With declining costs of CAD models and increasing levels of data that can be imported from baseline GIS, multiple perspectives can often be provided at low expense. Too often, images are done from a far-away bird’s eye view. This technique allows developers, or municipalities, to hide the scale and impacts of their structures. Not providing ground-level perspectives prevents Belmont residents from gaining a realistic sense of how the new structures will change their neighborhoods.

• Don’t just show high-end finishes. If the zoning allows buildings to be constructed using a variety of materials by right (our overlays do, even if higher end finishes are encouraged), images of the district need to include that mix of the allowed finishes, including those that may look cheaper. Using only expensive finishes distorts what can, and often will, go up.

• Images need to be provided with enough time to modify zoning parameters. Renderings should be provided in a timely manner, allowing problematic elements to be visible, discussed, and potentially mitigated prior to a vote on the new zoning. Not releasing accurate images at all, or releasing them only a few days before a Town Meeting vote, disrespects the public hearing process and the residents of Belmont.

For the BCOD, images should show at least (1) the scale walking down Leonard Street; (2) a view of the 5-story structures from the Claflin lot and neighborhood; (3) a view of the back of West Leonard from the Pleasant Street historic district; and (4) and a view looking at the bridge from Leonard Street showing the new 4- and 5- story buildings on either side of the bridge.

For the CGOD, images should show at least the wall of 5-story structures running from the bridge to the fields for (1) a student walking to Center from the BMHS; (2) for a person outside of the new Belmont Library; (3) a person outside church; and (4) what the structures look like from the homes on Channing Road.

Again, because of the increasing ease of CAD models, it is straightforward to shift the camera angle from which a proposed development is being viewed.