Second Community Meeting on 620 Broadway Set for Monday June 30th at 7pm.

[courtney o'keefe]

The development team of Gorka/Laurentzi Brabo and their attorney will be presenting an amended proposal for an 11-unit residential replacement to the Shield Gas Station occupying 620 Broadway. Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang will be facilitating this second gathering to discuss suggestions made to the project at the first meeting which was held on Monday June 2nd at the DAV located at 616 Broadway.

This second meeting will be held inside Pescatore Restaurant, 158 Boston Avenue, on Monday June 30th at 7:00 PM.

The initial proposal, which was never formally filed with the City of Somerville, was presented to the public as a 19-unit residential project with 21 underground parking spots and 2-three bedroom units being designated as affordable. It was during this meeting that concerns including a lack of a commercial space, parking, facade and the construction schedule were brought up by residents. The amended proposal bring the unit amount down to 11 which will certainly have impacts on parking requirements and, possibly, the amount of affordable units. According to the development team, the units will remain as rentals with the market deciding on pricing and whether or not they will be sold as condos.

Comments

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Minimum parking requirements are one of the main reasons why housing is so UNaffordable.

If the legal requirements result in this very expensive feature taking up much of the building, that explains why housing costs are so high.

And even a 21-car underground garage wasn't enough for the neighbors, so half of the proposed housing isn't getting built? That's a perfect example of a failed regulatory system.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

This. I'm really disappointed they went to this extreme rather than pursue a variance for less parking. Ironic too since the City is devising a new zoning code this year.

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

They were going to seek a variance to remove 11 parking spots. Please note that the first proposal was not formally submitted to Planning Department as the development team wanted to conduct the community meeting first.

[ron_newman]

I don't see why 21 parking spots would be insufficient for 19 units -- that's more than one per unit, and some of them are going to go unused.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I don't either, for a TOD development. But it's way below what's required in the current zoning code for residential development. (This illustrates is why it's important for the community to attend these zoning workshops to give feedback to the City for its zoning code overhaul.)

[ron_newman]

I just came back from tonight's workshop, in fact.

Even for a non-"TOD" development, I don't see why you'd ever want to require more than one parking space per unit.

[ron_newman]

The page you linked to says Pescatore is at 158 BOSTON AVENUE (Ball Square) -- not 158 Broadway (far away in East Somerville). Please correct this.

Corrected...

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

...with my sincerest apologies for the confusion.

RE: Corrected...

[ron_newman]

thanks

[tideb71589.livejournal.com]

Are there any notices going out to the neighbors? If I hadn't seen it linked on facebook, I wouldn't have know there was going to be a second meeting. Or is it not opened to the public this time?

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

No, it is open.

I am unsure of the flyering. You may want to contact Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang: mniedergang at somervillema.gov