ZBA grants Armory permission to have matinees

[ron_newman]

I did not attend last night's Zoning Board of Appeal meeting, but I did get this e-mail today from Debra McLaughlin:

Arts at the Armory is pleased to announce that the Zoning Board of Appeals did approve our request to gain daytime use of the hall last night. The vote was 4-1 in favor of our application.

They also approved a clarification in the process to secure a beer and wine permit as already outlined in the 41 Conditions that govern the use of the building.

For a variety of reasons, we withdrew from consideration our request to schedule overlapping events. We need occupancy numbers from the architect, in conjunction with the Inspectional Services Department, as part of the final permitting process, to answer some of the Zoning Board member questions. We plan to address those soon. We will keep you informed of our efforts on that front.

We appreciate the lingering concerns of the neighbors about traffic, noise and parking. Through the recently established Neighborhood Advisory Committee, we will aggressively and proactively work on these issues. If you have an idea or concern, please contact any of us at NAC@artsatthearmory.org.

Thanks for your overwhelming show of support at the hearing and via e-mail. It made such a huge difference.

We look forward to working with you to promote arts and culture in Somerville!

[end of e-mail]

If anyone reading this attended yesterday's ZBA meeting, please tell us how you thought it went.

(x-posted to somervillemass)

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I love that I misread that as "Armory permission to have manatees." How cool would that be? :-)

[ron_newman]

Huge manatees!

(Now someone needs to pick up on this theme for the SOS show in May.)

[unferth.livejournal.com]

It is a huge relief to find that I was not the only one, and that if it's a sign of my brain misfiring it's at least not misfiring in a way unique to me.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Holy seacow, I can't believe I'm the third person who intended to note this misreading.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Dugong, dugong, it's the cow of the sea-ee-ee!

[anyee.livejournal.com]

It took me...so many tries to read "matinees". Manatees are JUST THAT COOL.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

Dude, i had the EXACT same problem!

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

This is most excellent news. I was unable to attend, but had written the Zoning Board an email supporting this.

And I still chuckle about the "41 Conditions". Goddamned if it doesn't make me think of Martin Luther nailing up his 95 Theses......

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I overheard two people on the bus talking about how contentious it was at points, but that they were glad it came through.

I'm looking forward to it.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

i am curious to know why this issue was so contentious in the first place.
was it based solely on predicted traffic issues or worries about potential noise? i'm curious about those 41 conditions!

[ron_newman]

If you click on the 'development' tag and look at all the posts that have the word 'armory' in them (and one that has 'citadel' instead), you'll see some history of the controversy. I'm starting to think that 'armory' should be its own tag.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

One reason could be that they didn't have approval for daytime events, yet they told outside groups to go ahead and schedule daytime use of the facility.

It seems, to some people, like the Armory people were putting the ZBA in the potential position of being the big-meany if they didn't allow daytime events, when such were already scheduled (counter to what the Armory originally agreed to)

really good explanation of the impressions people got are here (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1673212.html) and especially here (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1673212.html?thread=19465724#t19465724).

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes, what you just said.

I think it's great to have matinee shows. I think it's either incompetent or dishonest to schedule matinee shows when you don't yet have permission to do so.

This whole thing has reduced my good opinion of the Arts at the Armory management.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

To be fair, evidently they had planned for another group to be one of their main tenants, and that group didn't need daytime use.

that tenant fell through, from what I have read here, and what they should have done was tell all prospective tenants "here are the hours we have agreed to with the neighbors and the zoning board; do not make any plans outside of those hours UNLESS we get approval to change them."

[ron_newman]

I hope you'll go to a show, enjoy it, and change your opinion over time.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I attended it -- it was 4 hour hearing. (3 + hours were about the Armory).

There was a wonderful outpouring of support that filled the room, from the neighborhood and around the city.

The condition to allow multiple events will be taken up at another
hearing. There are too many facets to examine on that one to vote on it
last night (parking, building capacity, etc.)

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

After involvement in many development/special permit/zoning variance issues, it is my belief that the outcome of the hearings is pre-determined. The Administration tells the ZBA (and other boards) how to vote. This could be why the Armory so blatantly told people that they could have matinees despite the fact that the conditions did not allow them. They probably knew that the ZBA was going to allow it. It's all a scam, sorry to say......

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

IAWTC.