Development at 377 Summer (corner Summer and Cutter)

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

I wanted to update you all about the status of the project at 377 Summer St. (corner of Summer and Cutter).

 

The ZBA unanimously passed the two special permits last night, allowing the project to move forward with the current plans. Comments from the board were that they felt that the building design was attractive and would help to anchor the eastern end of Davis Square and better unify the CBD. They acknowledged the concerns of residents regarding parking and traffic but felt the project had been properly reviewed by the Traffic and Parking Division and that the mixed use nature of the properly and being in a TOD would mitigate the loss of the 7 required parking spaces. Regarding the footprint and height of the building, they acknowledged that while this might seem too big to many people, it did meet the zoning requirements of the CBD. Pretty much as expected.

 

There were a few minor concessions agreed to. One is to cut back the angled first floor corner at Cutter and Summer by approximately 2 feet to provide better visibility around the corner. The other was an increase in payments to the city for traffic and parking marking and signage in Davis Square from $4000 to $8000 and that half must be spent in the Cutter Square area.

 

The next step is the finalization of a document to outline the responsibilities of the contractor during construction and the building management after construction. I believe this is being called the Construction Impact Statement. This is essential as this project will take a year or more to complete. One nice point is that there will be a $3500 fine for each instance of a violation of the agreement, with the proceeds to be donated to non-profit groups benefiting Davis Square. If anyone would like to see a copy of the final version of this document I suggest contacting Alderman Gewirtz at Rebekah@rcn.com. I also believe that there will be a small committee of local residents formed to act as watchdogs for adherence to the CIS. Of course the more eyes on them the better. This developer has had a bad track record in the past of meeting his obligations.

 

About ten local residents spoke very passionately and eloquently against the granting of the special permits and over 200 people in Davis Sq. during the weekend singed a petition stating the same (thanks Johanna). So there are plenty of folks who truly love Davis Sq. and do not want to see its unique character destroyed by over development, but want smart integrated development. I’m looking forward to seeing the comments and hearing of any suggestions on how we all can become both more informed and engaged in enriching our neighborhood.

 

Thanks, Chuck

Comments

[ronhaha108.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that I don't know anything about this project, would you be so kind as to explain what is being done with this lot and give the meanings of the acronyms ZBA, CBD, TOD and CIS.

Thanks,
Ron

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

here is the previous post. (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1793708.html) there are links to the diagrams in the comments as well.

can't help you on the acronyms, but that other post should give you the gist of what's gone on so far :)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

ZBA: Zoning Board of Appeals
CBD: Central Business District
CIS: Construction Impact Statement (mentioned in the same paragraph)

(TOD, I don't know - here I am being an insufficiently helpful used car salesman again!)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

TOD: Transit-Oriented Development, I think (means - more or less - it is close to public transit)

[unferth.livejournal.com]

http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/TOD - "transit oriented development".

From a Denver web page:

TOD encourages compact, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, high-quality development within one-half mile around transit stations. Some land use and transportation planners call these "transit villages." One of the main purposes of TOD is to increase transit ridership. With careful planning for the future of the new stations, more Denver residents will be able to live, work, shop, and recreate using transit, bicycles, and walking. They will be able to more often leave their private cars behind.

[ron_newman]

Zoning Board of Appeals, the final authority on zoning questions in the city

Central Business District, the zone that this property is in. Both Union Square and Davis Square are CBD zones. Buildings of up to 4 stories and 50 feet high are allowed in Somerville's CBD zones.

Transit-Oriented Development -- meaning that it's an easy walk from a transit station, and therefore residents and business customers are expected to use public transit rather than automobiles much of the time. Davis Square was a TOD for many decades before this term was invented.

Construction Impact Statement (defined earlier in paragraph 4)

[ronhaha108.livejournal.com]

Thanks all for giving me the back info!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for giving us such a thorough update.

Cut?

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

Like most long posts should most of this be behind a cut?

Don't get me wrong. I want to know what's in it and appreciate the detail.

Re: Cut?

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

Honestly I'm new to this and was lucky that I could even post. Where can I learn all the tricks of LJ?

Re: Cut?

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

that should help you out. (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75&q=cut)

it's pretty easy once you do it a couple times :)

Re: Cut?

[ron_newman]

See sparkgrrl's reply immediately above mine. Also, in the future it is best not to use the Rich Text editor at all, since it does nasty things like adding extra blank lines between your paragraphs. Better to just type regular plain text in the HTML editor.

Don't worry too much about any of this right now. The important thing is that you provided a very useful news update on a subject that many of us are interested in.

Writing to Rebekah

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Chuck, thank you for this update!

I wrote to Rebekah and asked her, regardless of what actual permits get granted, to keep an eye on the development to hold the developers to building what they agreed on. She wrote back pretty quickly and said she would.

Not that it's an excuse for the rest of us to ignore that -- everyone should probably do the same, and it might help if Rebekah got additional emails saying the same thing.

Here's hoping the development turns out to be what they're saying it will be!

Re: Writing to Rebekah

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Yeah, seconded. All of this discussion will be for naught if the guy doesn't adhere to the agreements. And it sounds like that is mainly how he goes about getting what he wants.

Also I think it's good if he is made to pay for all of the increased enforcement that his bad reputation requires.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update. It is important that concerned residents watch this development closely. There is a misconception that when the city enters into an agreement with a developer that they will oversee adherence to the agreement. That is not the case. I don't really think they check on it at all until the project is complete and looking for a Certificate of Occupancy. And even then, they don't check that all aspects have been adhered to. Hence, the problems with the building at the corner of Willow and Morrison(same developer). It wasn't discovered until the building was completed that certain items which had been agreed to after much 'discussion' were not followed.

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

About ten local residents spoke very passionately and eloquently against the granting of the special permits and over 200 people in Davis Sq. during the weekend singed a petition stating the same (thanks Johanna).

To the ZBA: Way to listen to the voice of the residents. You're really doing your jobs, aren't ya? You agreed to let an unreliable developer build something that nobody seems to want in an area that doesn't really need it. Well done.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

Honestly, this is what is a bit scary. The mayor and Economic Development folks are heavily pushing increased development density in Davis and elsewhere. It felt a bit like trying to stop a locomotive.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a big honkin' monstrosity, isn't it? The building dwarfs the Rosebud next door and looks utterly out of place. No thanks. I'm eager to see that derelict car rental place torn down, but not to make room for this thing, really.

For those who want to see the plans, click here (http://www.somervillema.gov/cos_content/documents/SummerSt377Plans05.20.09.pdf) for the PDF.