Arlington Town Meeting Approves St. Camillus Site Rezoning for Assisted Living

ARLINGTON — May 13, 2026 — Arlington Town Meeting voted 207-10 to rezone a four-and-a-half-acre St. Camillus Church parking lot from R1 to R6 for a proposed 145-unit assisted living and memory care facility. Attorney Mary Winstanley O'Connor, representing developer HYM Investment Group, told the meeting the project had cleared approval from St. Camillus Parish, the Archdiocese of Boston, and the Vatican, and projected approximately $600,000 annually in property taxes from a parcel currently exempt. A companion Article 51 adding dimensional regulations — capping any assisted living building at three stories, 50 feet, and a 1.2 floor-area ratio — passed 270-4. Town Manager Jim Feeney flagged that the project would fall in the Park Circle fire station's response district, already serving three other care facilities, and said a required special permit before the Arlington Redevelopment Board would examine sewer, traffic, and emergency-call impacts. The meeting also rejected 190-18 a substitute motion by Guillermo Hamlin, Precinct 14, that would have codified local tax-lien transparency and payment-plan procedures, with Feeney citing $365,000 in accrued interest on the town's top 15 tax-lien properties as evidence of the financial stakes. A Norcross Street rezoning from R1 to R2 covering roughly 20 East Arlington parcels passed 173-39, and a contested commercial-bonus definition question under Article 53 was left unresolved after a termination-of-debate motion fell short of two-thirds, 111-80.