With Town Meeting on track to make a crucial decision regarding changes to the zoning bylaws that would increase housing density in certain neighborhoods, a group of residents is mobilizing to try and prevent the changes from being approved at Town Meeting.

The organization Arlington Residents for Responsible Redevelopment (ARFRR) is trying to encourage Town Meeting members to vote down the pending bylaw amendments at Town Meeting. The group was founded last year when the bylaws were being discussed and introduced by the Redevelopment Board.

Carl Wagner, a Town Meeting member and a member of ARFRR, said that one of the initial concerns about the proposed changes was that residents did not feel they were allowed to express their opinions before the articles were being drafted.

“In December when these drafted articles began to appear without much if any involvement of the residents, we met and started to say that we should have a meeting about the changes,” Wagner said. “As far as I know, there is no outside interest in this group, only that we all live in Arlington.

The group also expressed concern that the town has worked with outside groups, notably the Massachusetts Area Planning Council and the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. The MAPC is an organization that assists Boston-area communities in planning and development projects, but the group has taken exception to how it has classified Arlington.

“The MAPC has categorized Arlington as an ‘inner core community’ along with cities like Somerville and Cambridge. I think Arlington can’t be lumped into a group with those cities, we are a town and are different from the way those cities operate,” ARFRR member Don Seltzer said.

CHAPA is an advocacy group for affordable housing proponents, and towns frequently utilize them to work as a watchdog group to track affordable housing projects in the community. ARFRR expressed skepticism about the group’s motives, saying that the group is staffed by real estate developers.

“This CHAPA organization is often connected with affordability drives, but its name is sort of a misnomer. It is an organization that is a developer majority, and they don’t really work for affordability,” Wagner said. “My concern is that the citizens should have a serious say in deciding these articles before they come to a vote of just 250 Town Meeting members.”

ARFRR also expressed concern that while the zoning bylaws are being pushed in part because they will increase affordable housing in Arlington, there are loopholes in the laws that allow for developers to avoid building any affordable housing units.

ARFRR claims that the existing zoning bylaws that stipulate developments must have one affordable housing unit for every six units, could be avoided by developers, who could subdivide a lot to create dense, five-unit developments, allowing them to skirt around the six-unit requirement.

“The way these articles are being advertised is that they are going to bring affordability and we seriously disagree with that. I think that we have analyzed it better, particularly these loopholes and understand why this kind of density isn’t going to create affordability,” Seltzer said.

Seltzer also added that private development only accounts for 18 percent of the affordable housing stock in Arlington, with a majority of the stock being created by the Arlington Housing Authority.

ARFRR member Jo Anne Preston said that the town is using affordable housing as an advertising tool to market projects that otherwise would be unpopular.

“Two affordable housing tenants during a public meeting back on Dec. 17 said they were tired of being used for other purposes, and I think this is what they meant,” Preston said.

Arlington Director of Planning and Community Development Jennifer Raitt firmly denied that such an action could take place under the zoning regulations.

“The articles being proposed only work to strengthen our existing affordable housing laws,” Raitt said. “While some people might try and get around the laws, there is nothing that will allow developers to avoid our current affordable housing regulations.”

ARFRR is advocating that Town Meeting members vote no on the articles and that the town should take more time preparing a more appropriate plan for the future.

“Slow down, let’s get it right,” ARFRR member John Warden said.

Town Meeting begins on Moday, April 22.