Planning Board Meeting

Approved by the governor, the city is authorized to use remote participation at meetings of the Cambridge Planning Board. All board members, applicants, and members of the public will state their name before speaking, and all votes will be taken by roll call. Members of the public will be kept on mute until it is time for public comment. I will give instructions for public comment at that time. And you can also find instructions on the city's webpage for remote planning board meetings. This meeting is being video and audio recorded and is being streamed live on the City of Cambridge online meeting portal and on cable television channel 22 within Cambridge. There will also be a transcript of the proceedings. I'll start by asking staff to take board member attendance and verify that all members are audible. Jeff?

Thank you. This is Jeff Roberts from CDD. H. Theodore Cohen, are you present? Is the meeting audible to you, visible and audible to you?

Present, visible and audible.

Thank you, Ted. Mary Lydecker, are you present? Is the meeting visible and audible to you?

Present, visible and audible.

Thank you, Mary. Diego Macias, are you present? Is the meeting visible and audible to you? Present, visible, and audible. Thank you, Diego. Ashley Tan, are you present? Is the meeting visible and audible to you?

Present, visible, and audible.

Thank you, Ashley. Carolyn Zern, are you present and is the meeting visible and audible to you?

Present, visible, and audible.

Thank you, Carolyn. Associate members, Dan Anderson, are you present and is the meeting visible and audible to you? Aye, Jeff. Yes to all the above. Thank you, Dan. Joy Jackson, are you present? Is the meeting visible and audible to you?

Present, visible, and audible.

Thank you, Joy. Thompson-Avich, are you present? Is the meeting visible and audible to you? Thompson-Avish. As noted, the usual chair is absent. And Mary Flynn, can you verify if you are present and the meeting is visible and audible to you?

I am present and it is visible and audible.

Thank you, Mary. So that means we have six planning board members present and two associate members.

Thank you, Jeff. The first item is an update from the Community Development Department. And for that, I'm going to go back to Jeff. And Jeff, if you would also introduce any other staff who are present this evening.

Thank you, Mary. I'll try to do this quick. Once again, I'm Jeff Robertson. I'm the Director of Zoning and Development here in the Community Development Department. With me on the Zoning and Development team, we have Swathi Joseph and Emily Hutchings joining us. We also have from the community planning and design division in CDD, Eric Thorkelson on the urban design team. We have from the Cambridge Department of Transportation, Adam Schulman joining us. We may be joined as well by Brooke McKenna, and I'll note when we get there if she arrives, and from the Department of Public Works, with camera off for now is Cara Felice, supervising engineer. So that's all the staff members that we have present currently. I'll note again later in the meeting if we're joined by anyone else. Tonight, we have two public hearing items.

The first one we'll be getting to very shortly. It's a planned unit development special permit application, the first hearing on that. Later on in the evening, we'll have a public hearing on kind of an unusual non-special permit item. It's a public hearing on a proposed use in an open space zoning district. This is at 79 Sherman Street, the Salt Shed facility for the Department of Public Works. So we'll have a hearing on that if anyone's tuned in for that. You can sit tight for a little while. We'll be getting to that after we conclude the first hearing. Just a look ahead at what's happening at the planning board. We don't have a meeting scheduled next week, May 5th. We do have a meeting scheduled for May 12th where we'll be discussing a residential proposal at 1740 Mass Ave. This will be the second

We had the first review session for that a little while ago. This again is the first and so forth. Later on in the next couple weeks, the city council just referred two zoning petitions, which are These are some amendments to the amendments that were recently adopted for Massachusetts Avenue, the northern part of Mass Ave, and Cambridge Street. These are some amendments that the City Council wanted to pursue having to do with active use Regulations and strengthening mandates for active use. So we'll have those coming up to be scheduled. They were just referred yesterday evening.

There's a bunch of other things that are in the hopper that should be coming up over the coming months. So we'll give more updates on that as we go. And Brooke McKenna did join us as I thought she might. So welcome, Brooke. I'll turn it back over to the chair at this point.

Thank you. Do the board members have any questions on the update? Okay. Seeing none, then The next item is approval of meeting minutes. The board has received a certified transcript for the meeting held on March 10th of 2026. Do board members have any questions on the transcript? Okay, only full board members are going to be acting on this item, so may I have a motion to accept the transcript as the meeting minutes?

Ted, so moved.

Thank you, Ted. Is there a second, please?

Diego, second.

Thank you, Diego. And Jeff, maybe we have a roll call vote, please.

Yes, on that motion, Ted Cohen. Yes. Mary Lydecker.

Yes.

Diego Macias. Yes. Ashley Tan.

Yes.

Carolyn Zern.

Yes.

Mary Flynn.

Yes.

That's all six members present voting in favor.

Okay, thank you. So we're going to move on to our next agenda item, which is a public hearing, as Jeff mentioned. It's the first public hearing on case PB410, a development proposal for a planned unit development by HealthPeakOP LLC to develop multiple parcels in El Huaycuan Bay. Quadrangle, into a mixed-use development including residential, retail, office and lab buildings, as well as a municipal service facility site, publicly beneficial open space, and a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the MBTA railroad. CDD staff will start us off tonight by providing an update. And for that, I'm going to go to Emily.

Thank you, Mary. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, sorry, just a second. So the applicant has conducted a pre-application discussion of this project with the board in February. As this is a PUD project, this is the first of two required public hearings in this case. This hearing is for the board to review the proposal and make a preliminary determination on its general conformance with the zoning and planning for the area. With a preliminary determination, the applicant can file a final development plan which will be discussed at a later public hearing to grant the special permit. In the preliminary determination, the board can request additional information or changes to be considered in the final development plan. A negative determination would mean the board does not find the proposal in conformance with the zoning or the planning for the area and the special permit application is denied.

The PUD criteria and the objectives that were created specifically for this district are included in the staff memo along with other comments on the proposal.

Thank you, Emily. Our presenter this evening is Anthony Galluccio representing HealthPeak. Attorney Galluccio, you'll have up to 30 minutes for your presentation, but please be as concise as possible. And if you would begin by introducing yourself and your project team, please proceed.

I will. Thank you, Mary Anthony Galluccio, partner with Galluccio and Watson. I'm joined by co-counsel Jim Rafferty. I'm going to turn it over to Rylan and then come back. And Madam Chair, I'll be I'm happy to come back at the end and help with Q&A and managing that, but I want to turn it over to Ryland Squirrel and I'll come back.

Awesome. Thank you, Anthony. Hey, it's great to see everyone again. As Anthony mentioned, my name is Ryland Squirrel and I work on the investments team here at HealthPeak. And I recently took over the day-to-day management of this project from Kelvin Moses. who the community may remember from the Aloha Wife Working Group and that rezoning process. He's now the CFO of HealthPeak, so he's a little busy, but he is still very much so involved from a strategic point of view. And he and I are both very excited to be back in front of you all and share our proposed master plan. This plan is the culmination of five years of hard work from hundreds of individuals, including the team on this call that I will introduce in a moment. the Alewife Working Group that I mentioned before, and the various City of Cambridge departments whom we've had many meetings with over the past few months.

including the Cambridge Development Department, Urban Design, Economic Development, Forestry, Sustainability, Transportation, and DBW, just to name a few. And I probably missed some as well. and it was through this combined effort and the dedication of all these individuals many of which are actually unnamed and their efforts began 20 years ago with the original rezoning of the alewife quad and it's through the dedication and efforts of these individuals that we're here today and we have crafted this master plan to reflect the goals and desires of them and the community. But first when we first acquired these parcels, it was a completely different economic environment where development made a bunch of financial sense, both life science and residential development. However, today with increased interest rates, inflated construction costs Reduced lab rental rates and regulatory uncertainty.

We are met with some very serious challenges, not just for life science development, but also for residential development. Despite that, our early phase intention is to make residential work from a financial standpoint and deliver on some of the public infrastructure that you mentioned, including the DPW site to the city of Cambridge. But as of right now, residential development continues to be very challenging, but we're gonna still try to continue to see if we can work through that. But despite all these challenges, we're still here. We're still having this meeting. We are committed to moving forward with the entitlements as we want to capitalize, as I mentioned, on all the efforts of those from 20 years ago, as well as the Alewife Working Group. and to finally make some progress on the long-awaited and potentially delivered the pedestrian and bike bridge that will connect the quad to the Cambridge Park Drive and the Red Line.

But real quick, first I want to run through the agenda and the presenters that will be presenting each one of these topics. First off, you just heard from him, Anthony Galluccio is going to walk through the PUD process. Following Anthony is going to be Jim Rafferty who's going to talk through the preliminary determination that we are seeking at the end of this meeting today. Followed, Jim, will be David Manfredi, who is our master plan architect with Elkis Manfredi Architects, and he will discuss the existing conditions of the quad, as well as our proposed master plan. He will then hand it off to Chris Jones, who is our landscape architect from Arcadis, and he will talk through our open space, our publicly beneficial open space plan and the activities within those parks. Next, Allison Williams, who's our retail and placemaking consultant from OfPlace.

We will discuss the neighborhood uses, the proposed locations of the neighborhood uses, as well as the types that we are currently evaluating in this area and that will be the most beneficial to the public realm. Next up we'll have Selma Manzo-Prelzic. She's our transportation consultant with VHB and she will be discussing transportation. and then finally we have Jessica Zopchick who is our sustainability consultant with Atelier 10 and she will be discussing sustainability. And with that, that will be our agenda. I want to hand it off to Anthony to discuss the PUD process. Thank you all very much for your time.

Thank you, Ryland. I do want to give a shout out. Ryland's been incredible. managing this and also Michelle Nayaki who's not presenting but she's She's our version of Swathi that keeps things moving. So I wanna thank Swathi and Michelle for getting us here. Thank you to the planning board. I thought the... The update meeting, pre-conference meeting was super helpful to us. Gave us some additional charge to go back out to the community. Madam Chair, you reiterated the importance of that and we did that. Ted, you got focused on the MBTA and that's a critical piece. But it really capped off what was referred to in the memo as a robust process. The previous picture you saw, I really love because we're all smiling and we're having a, A good time out at the Quad at a community event.

I actually think that sort of depicts the energy that both the community and we have had for the process. This is a little, I think, an historic example of a development that was challenged and questioned that became subject to a moratorium under a previous owner. and then ended up in a unanimous vote by the City Council of zoning recommendations that were part of a collaborative effort, which is just pretty amazing in itself. I don't want to reiterate all the All the sort of process steps, because you've heard some of it at previous meetings. I do want to reiterate that, you know, we were able to go out and get surveys. And the great thing about that was it just it really Thank you. Thank you.

are representative of a three and a half year process. Just by example, Antennis coordinated meetings with neighbors over probably three years ago. with Jim and I asking how could we get Health Peak to purchase the land at Loomis Street so that they didn't have to worry about cars pouring through the neighborhood. We had a meeting with Doug Brown and Ian Stewart to follow up with the city on Terminal Road to try to keep that process moving. And recently we had another meeting with the neighborhood which got really focused on issues like retail and neighborhood uses. And Jim Rafferty had a great suggestion about combining the retail advisory use with

sort of an interim use conversation to make sure that things that happen in the interim before real commercial development takes off are considered so that was great. I do want to stress the continued work with the MBTA. As the planning board knows, that is a difficult process and the MBTA has a lot going on. We're continuing to work hard to make sure that we're able to secure a bridge location. You'll hear David Manfredi tonight. We believe in the bridge location that we presented. Make sense for a lot of reasons, particularly for existing residents and future residents. So we're working hard to make sure we get the MBTA on board on that location. It's critical to the development.

So with that, I'll turn it over to my co-counsel, Jim Rafferty, to talk a little bit about the preliminary determination.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. For the record, my name is James Rafferty. I'm an attorney with offices located at 907 Massachusetts Avenue. And as noted by Attorney Galluccio, I serve with him as local counsel on behalf of HealthPeak. It's an assignment that has gone on now for many years. I'm pleased to say when the determination, when the coordination for this presentation was being done a few weeks ago when people were assigned tasks, I was given the task of putting together a presentation that would walk the board through the structure involved in the determination that's being asked to be provided this evening. and I came up with a wonderful lengthy presentation and then a week ago we received a staff report from Ms. Hutchings and Jeff and

Anything you need to know about the approval process for the preliminary determination is so well set out there. So you know the highlights. It begins with the determination as to whether or not the plan conforms with the proposal, conforms with the plan. One of the benefits HealthBeak has is they've been involved in the very beginning in the formation of the zoning. that led to the adoption of the overlay district and also the guidelines. So it's an advantage that doesn't always occur that often that the applicant was in early and active involvement because, candidly, it was known early on that Health Peak is the dominant landowner here. And while I think the size of Health Peak might have initially caused people some concern,

I think it's been realized now and appreciated that to create the type of transformative change that this area is going to need, a single landowner, a large single landowner is actually an advantage. because the type of changes in terms of infrastructure, open space, roadway, they're going to be in the control of a single landowner for a long time, and that's an advantage. So it's for that reason that Healthfeek has been able to achieve compliance with all of the requirements in the district plan and the zoning adopted there. And then the determination for the board today is really a question of evaluating the plans that have been submitted now and determining the extent to which they're in compliance. But more importantly, this process should yield some direction to the applicant as the PUD process calls for, for what additional information should be provided to the board to assist it.

Because the next step, the final determination, will involve many more months of engagement with city staff and community members. It'll be informed by the results of this meeting, but it really will develop the heart of what's involved here. So having said all that, I think I will yield the balance of my time and turn it over to Mr. Manfredi, a man who needs no introduction to this board.

Good evening, everybody. I'm David Manfredi from Elkus Manfredi Architects. I'm joined by my colleague John Mitchell from our firm as well. You're looking at HealthPeak's holdings. HealthPeak, as Jim mentioned, has acquired 42 acres in the Alewife Quad, which really represents a quite extraordinary opportunity to implement really significant key components of Envision Alewife. All of our planning goes back to Envision Alewife. And the plan that we'll describe tonight includes five key initiatives that come straight from Envision Alewife. Number one is An additional pedestrian-scale layout of connected streets. Number two, new public ground. that will connect some of the city's most important natural resources and parks.

Number three, a diverse mix of uses, including office, science and technology, residential, retail, and restaurants. Number four, a network of publicly beneficial open spaces. And number five, strategies for enhanced resiliency. You see the photographs of Alewife and the quad area of Alewife today. It really doesn't look much like the Cambridge that we all know. And that's because it has been developed quite in an ad hoc manner over many years. largely with a minimal amount of public realm. You don't see a lot of sidewalks. You don't see a lot of street trees. You see utilities above grade.

The opportunity here is really extraordinary because these sites are surrounded by the city's really greatest open space assets in terms of Fresh Pond, Alewife Brook Reservation, Russell Field, Alewife Linear Park, Danahy Park, but none of these are really very well connected to each other, not connected by walkable and bikeable paths. And we have the opportunity here because of this collection of 42 acres to make those connections. Not to compete with those great open spaces, but to connect those open spaces in really a brand new way. The Quad, as you know, is divided into three sub-districts for several purposes, but here specifically for the purposes of heights.

The proposed special permit will be in compliance with the zoning height districts that have been established. And that includes a bonus provision for a large land conveyance Over an acre for the new DPW facilities. What you're looking at is the plan as it has been proposed. The buildings in yellow represent residential buildings. In pink or at least with pink edges are commercial buildings and in blue are parking structures. The first proposed building, and I'll point to it here, the first proposed building is what we call our two It's located really at the heart of the plan. And I say that because it is

at the foot of the future pedestrian bicycle bridge that will connect the quad all the way up to the Elwhaif MBTA station. It is along the new linear park that will Connect, Alewife Reservation from the north all the way along this new linear park to Fresh Pond. And... It really does provide the kind of chord to future development, a catalyst for more development. This represents more than 400 residences. and what we think will be the first new development on the site. This is my favorite drawing in this whole deck. It's my favorite drawing because It does address immediately the ideas about connectivity.

Connectivity is a key planning principle. And we think about connectivity within the site, within all of the existing but more importantly, the new infrastructure and the new open spaces, but also the connections beyond the Quad and literally in all directions. East, South to Fresh Pond, West to our adjacent neighborhood. I want to highlight five big ideas, and many of you have seen this diagram before. And so let me start with The upper right with the bridge. And Anthony mentioned the bridge. The pedestrian bicycle bridge will connect the quad to The neighborhood, the residential neighborhood to the north, the Alewife MBTA station, it will really connect north and south.

Thank you for joining us. really disengaged this from all of the assets to the east on air life in terms of retail, but also to important transit connections in the station itself. I'm going to go counterclockwise, and second to New Main Street. And New Main Street, you've heard us talk about this many times before, it is the one place where we really can control everything. And what I mean by that is we control both sides of a new street. We control the elevation of that street so we can raise the land and create a street

We also can control the ability to close the street. for events. Maybe it's weekly. Maybe it's like Memorial Drive on Saturdays and Sundays. in the summertime. Smith Park will be a key component of that new linear park which follows the old rail spur. We don't control all of that Real Estate, all the way up to Fawcett, but we control two-thirds of it and clearly Maybe more than two-thirds of it. Clearly, these will be the portals, the connection will be made, and this will be that really important connection from the north all the way through to Fresh Pond. Thank you.

Thank you. Office space, more than an acre, approximately 1.2 acres for a brand, really a brand new facility. And then finally, what we call the gateway. This will transform Mooney Street. It will transform the Northwest area. This will be, again, publicly accessible open space, but it's also open space for stormwater retention, for access to Blair Pond. It will be accessible to all and it will be planned in a way that it's not the private reserve of either the office tenants or the

The residents of Alewife, but a place that is an attraction for the adjacent neighborhoods, for the neighborhoods to the north, and hopefully all of this as an attraction to all of Cambridge. I'm gonna talk a little bit about Building Heights. This is the same development plan you saw just a moment ago. I talked specifically about heights and now each of the buildings is labeled with the proposed building areas on each site. I'm not going to take you through each one of these. But the point is this, that the area represents a split of 60% commercial and 40% residential. What that means, everything that you see in yellow,

is a very significant addition, total addition of new residences of diverse types, a significant addition to the city and to the housing stock in the city. This may be my second most favorite drawing in this deck. It's the green space. It's the green space that represents 14.6 acres of new and many more. It is every bit as important in terms of connectivity as any of the streets or any of the bicycle paths.

It ties these pieces together, which means that we're creating a network of spaces and places for people to to gather, to connect, to interact with each other. We're proposing a new Main Street and we're proposing A series of uses on that new Main Street that will be again a gathering place. And that new Main Street, again I mentioned, it is the one place where We really control both sides of the street. We control the elevation of the street. We control the width of the street and all of those parts of complete streets that will include

vehicular traffic, but closable for events of all kinds, parallel parking, landscape zone, walking zone, and everything you see in red is part of the required Thank you very much. So attractive, not only to these immediate neighbors, but to the bigger Yale-Weif area, but also to the whole city, that this becomes the kind of, Neighborhood Center that attracts people from a much larger catchment area. And remember that attraction, maybe the key part of that attraction is the proximity

of these kinds of commercial uses and retail and restaurant uses to these unbelievable natural resources and park spaces. I want to show you several conceptual massing views and I'm really just, I won't go into this in great detail. We can come back and answer questions about these views. But the point is this, The point is that these 42 acres represents a transformational kind of opportunity. This is not Small thinking. This is big thinking about how you bring things together, how you bring things together with proximity because that brings How you create new public realm that, again,

creates activity and again becomes a kind of attraction, gathering place, destination. Here's another view and obviously you're now looking You're floating over the MBTA station. You're looking to the Southwest, to Concord Avenue, and to Fresh Pond Beyond. A little bit about Phasing plans. And of course, phasing plans are conceptual. They'll clearly be affected by the marketplace. They'll clearly be affected by the economy and all of the things that Anthony has spoken about. But we do envision a Phase 1A. That begins with R2, and I think as many of you know, we're proceeding on the planning for R2. R2 is a very significant building.

It will be over 400 residences. It will have retail publicly accessible active uses on the ground floor. It's kind of... Central to so much of our thinking in terms of being at the foot of the footbridge and pedestrian bicycle bridge. Thank you for joining us. over the future bridge to the Elwife Reservation. It will have a significant amount of active space on its ground floor. It has adjacency through our great neighbor, Iggy's, that creates a kind of focal point for the entire neighborhood today.

I also want to mention that as part of phase one, you see additional residential. You see R1, we call R1 and R2 and R6. These are all residential buildings. Future Parking, the existing medical building here. But the point is that We hope, we believe that R2 will be the kind of kickoff for more residential. And unlike previous developments where the residential came later, maybe this will be the instance where the residential, because of all kinds of economic conditions, will come early and will meet the need that exists today. Phase 1B then moves to the northwest. and moves to the northwest because there's available real estate there because we can get the kinds of footprints that The office science and technology users will want.

We can create open space that will be accessible to all and that will also be a real key component of our stormwater management. Phase 2A and oops, I should have mentioned, by the way, that here's the bridge. in Phase 1B, the pedestrian bicycle bridge that will cross the rail tracks, connect the south to the north, connect these residents in all of these yellow buildings to the T Station. and then phase 2A again represents additional, you're seeing additional development, you're seeing the bridge in place More residential, the completion of the office and life science uses with parking up in that northwest quadrant. And then finally,

that area on Concord Avenue which will be New Street and this will be the kind of the retail restaurant Street level active part of the place, although those uses are spread out to the north and to the west as well. But it really creates a front door on Concord Avenue. And as many of you know, there are existing leases in place here that really dictates when these uses come online. I just want to show you a few renderings. Again, early conceptual. This is Main Street. These little red triangles represent where we're standing. So there's the plan. This is Fawcett and this is New Main Street. You're looking along that street on a typical day with wide sidewalks, parallel parking, a landscape zone, seating outside of

of food and beverage establishments with commercial uses above, with residential uses above. And if you look far down the street, you can see the bridge. The connection, not very far away, but that visual access to the connection to the north. That same view on a Saturday for a street fair, a book fair, celebration of any number of the holidays of the year where this becomes entirely pedestrian. where the retail spills out, where there's room for tents and activity becomes attraction for the entire city of Cambridge. and then Smith Extension. So I'm all the way up here in that Northwest corner. I'm looking out into that open space that leads beyond and all the way beyond to Blair Pond.

Retail at the base, active use at the base of a commercial building, but very open, very accessible, no fences, no borders, the opportunity for, again, for I always ended on this image Now we can put it away. We have buds on the trees. But you can see that there's the idea of A diversity of buildings, building a true neighborhood, and obviously our immediate and proximate neighbor, the new DPW site, the origin for the snowplows. And with that, let me introduce Chris Jones from Arcadis.

Thanks, David. I'm Chris Jones, landscape architect with Arcadis and pleased to be here with you tonight. David touched on a lot of things that I'll say, so I'll try to keep it as brief as possible, but offer at least a little additional insight into our thinking. One of the things that along the entire way of our conversation planning this is that we're really guided by all of the prior work that's been done by the community, the Envision Cambridge working group, and ultimately the Elwhaife design guidelines. And a lot of what that talks about is, as David said, connectivity and understanding our adjacencies. And in this instance, we know we are surrounded by a A large collection of really wonderful active parks and open spaces that offer recreation, sports, and the like. And that the quadrangle itself needs to be complementary

in what it provides to that surrounding neighborhood. And this is specifically more smaller scale neighborhood parks. So that's what we're thinking about as we design the open spaces. In the next slide, As David mentioned, you can design a bunch of parks, but you better make sure that they're well connected. And that has been high on our minds. Design these spaces as how they will connect to Merrifield and Rafferty and Blair Pond and the L.Y. Brook and beyond. And even to places, as David mentioned, like Trader Joe's and the way that the network of open spaces will enrich and enhance that. Next slide. I think, was this David's favorite slide or second favorite slide? It's my favorite slide. A major part of the

Alewife Guidelines and the Envision Cambridge for the Quadrangle is the signature space that was defined as diagonal park. And one of the wonderful things about this is that that diagonal park is really creating The walkable, bikeable connection from Fresh Pond ultimately through the quad and over the bridge to the Triangle and Alewife Brook. And that's just really a wonderful connection. It's a bit of a, I'll call it an hourglass shaped experience with two large parks anchoring the end and a linear connection in the middle. And you can see from our plan here, we don't control the middle. but we can set the stage for what this diagonal park can become and that future connection will really bring into life. One of the great things about this process also is that we have been working

closely with city staff and they've been extremely helpful in guiding us in the needs of the city in terms of the particulars of various spaces and that's going to be an ongoing process we understand who We welcome that as we continue to develop them. I'm going to walk you through sort of moving in four quadrants, upper right quadrant, left, and I'll work counterclockwise. In the upper right, is this sort of upper end of the hourglass, the diagonal part itself. And as David mentioned, the R2 building is the first building intended to come online. adjacent that are two residential buildings and to the south on the page is the commercial development. This creates a condition where we can create an open space that really is a mixed use park.

It's extension from where the bridge lands through and adjacent the two residential buildings and really hopefully extending that experience right to the edge of the commercial. with Wilson having qualities of a shared street experience. We see these open spaces as guided by the guidelines as being predominantly green spaces that are flexible in use, Passive use, active use, weekend use in its adjacency to the commercial can offer applause for food trucks and other gatherings. The curve of Fawcett is that sort of guitar pick shape being a bit of a landmark gateway marking the arrival to this park space. and due to the existence of so much residential, it should incorporate children's play as well.

This park and the totality of the diagonal park will carry a multi-use path that takes you from the bridge all the way to Fresh Pot. Another component of this as we move to the west is the true transformation of what are highly vehicular streets into and many other intensive mixed-use, multi-use streets that are very pedestrian, very bikeable, and they will provide much of the connectivity to the various open spaces. In this northwest corner, we call it Mooney Green or Mooney Quad. As David mentioned, it's surrounded by commercial buildings. We know that that means that during a workday it's filled with Users who are spilling out for lunch, going for walks, connections through the quad itself, spending time at the water's edge.

See this as an opportunity for summer activities, engaging in water, winter activities. Gaging the Ice, Green Space that can offer flexibility for sort of informal sport activities, and hopefully weekend activities that can be things like The head of a road race event and the way it's programmed to really activate it all days of the week and not just during work week. David did touch on The importance of, and illustrated here, the connections that can take you to Blair Pond, as well as showing a pedestrian connection to Loomis Street to engage the Highlands and allow for their connections. into the quadrangle and two adjacent neighborhood play spaces as well. Moving to the south, down Smith, David mentioned Smith Park, again, a name we've given this.

It's a really interesting opportunity with existing residential and future residential to be a family-friendly neighborhood park. Playground, sport courts, open, flexible green space. Again, a bit of a gateway into the site from Concord Avenue and its adjacency just to the south at Fresh Pond, using a small piece of land adjacent to on the west side of Smith Place as a part of that green gateway that brings you into the site and ultimately into Smith Park and beyond. Next slide. The last quadrant, as David mentioned, A bit more of an urban experience with the shared street of New Main Street. The images really told the whole story. The idea of a street that is very lush,

sort of chicanes your way through to provide traffic calming as you're moving north-south on New Main Street and its connection, supporting the concept of a high-quality retail environment with cafe tables and spill-outs. As well as an east-west connection at a midpoint that's connecting you to an existing pedestrian connection, taking you to Wheeler Street, Trader Joe's, and ultimately all the way over to Moulton Street. You can also see a little pocket park for making use of smaller spaces wherever possible to really provide that variety that is desired. And with that, being at Main Street, I will hand it over to Allison. All right.

Thanks so much, Chris. Good evening, everyone. Thanks for having me. My name is Allison Williams, and I'm the managing partner for OfPlace. We're the project's retail and placemaking consultant. Our team has been deeply involved with Alewife since 2022, helping to refine this ground plane vision in close collaboration with the team speaking tonight. We've participated throughout the working group rezoning process and many of the community events that followed. So we were around to really engage with the neighbors One of the strongest takeaways from these conversations has been the community's desire and commitment to create a sense of place, to shape a vibrant, self-sustaining neighborhood that lives seven days a week. In our conversations with Christina and Pardis, with staff, we discussed the importance of establishing a retail advisory group

so that the development team is able to have ongoing community conversations, a framework around ongoing community conversations as this entire Thank you for joining us. to a number of these desirable neighborhood uses, including Fresh Pond Mall. So there isn't really a need for more retail here. Rather, it was a desire for ground floor uses to help create an interactive and inviting environment for neighbors to gather and build community, which is why everybody paired Chris and my team together because so thoughtfully that's important as we're establishing Retail Place. If you could move to the next slide, that'd be great.

So in those conversations about what retail really looks like here and how it can create and build community, we wanted to really commend The neighborhood's strong support for including this neighborhood uses qualification in the airway-free zoning. From our perspective as retail consultants, that's both thoughtful and forward-looking. It shows a shared commitment to making sure that LA serves not only future visitors, but the people who will live and work here every day. and allows for flexibility that matters because successful neighborhoods need more than housing and infrastructure. They also need these everyday conveniences, gathering places and services that make daily life easier. and more enjoyable. The zoning here requires, frankly, a meaningful amount of ground floor active uses, 3% of the overall gross floor area.

So success will depend highly on placing those uses strategically. So as David mentioned, David talked to this slide a little bit earlier, we're proposing concentrated retail nodes in the Gateway, in the corner in Fawcett and in New Main Street. And these concentrated retail nodes are around key public spaces and pedestrian routes. That approach creates stronger destinations, better visibility for businesses, and a more vibrant public realm. You can move to the next slide. The neighborhood uses that we envision reflect both the community priorities that we heard and the business needs that help create a thriving mixed-use district. That could include things like local cafes and restaurants, childcare, healthcare offices, wellness studios, maker spaces, and neighborhood services that people use regularly.

But it's also really critical that we have tree-lined streets and outdoor dining welcoming storefronts, all drawing inspiration from Cambridge's historic squares while creating something distinctly new for Alewife. Together, these uses can help create a neighborhood that feels active and lived in and ideally really distinctly local. If you could move to the next slide. Speaking of things that are distinctly local, our conversations with Christina and Pardis also provided an opportunity to discuss some of the ongoing challenges retail faces locally. and Nationwide. So we work nationally and across the country, retail, especially food and beverage uses. have become, retails become more competitive.

So we're seeing a 20 to 30% decline in sales across most urban communities over the last year or two. So businesses are more selective about where they open and their success ultimately depends heavily on that location and visibility. and surrounding activity. So in Alewife, those challenges are compounded by our phase development, Thank you so much for joining us. First, flexibility matters. So the neighborhood uses framework allows spaces to adapt over time as the market conditions change. Second, concentration matters. as I spoke to the nodes that we've created destinations where people can meet multiple needs in one trip and enjoy a stronger sense of activity and discovery.

And third, place matters. The neighbors will be drawn to environments that feel welcoming, walkable, and thoughtfully designed. And that's exactly the opportunity that we have here. If you could go to the next slide. I'll close by noting that HealthPeak has a strong track record of creating vibrant communities serving places in other markets. And our shared goal is to bring that same street-level care and long-term thinking to ill life. to create a community, a neighborhood with a strong sense of place and spaces that truly serve the community. And I know David likes to end with his, Snowy, Snowplow, Slide, but I wanted to share just a little more Springtime rendering for everyone to bring the mood up from the sad winter. So with that, I think I have a couple more renders in here, but I will turn it over to the transportation team.

Thank you, Alison, and good evening, everyone. I'm Selma Mainzo, the transportation engineer for the project. I'm with VHB. So I'll start with parking and trip generation since that's often one of the biggest questions. The project will be built out gradually over many years and potentially decades. However, for planning and permitting purposes, the traffic study evaluates impact as if everything were built today. But in reality, development in traffic will grow phase by phase and building by building and not all at once. And as the Quad grows, background traffic in the area will also grow. Some new trips will replace trips from older buildings that are being removed, which helps with the net increase.

Our forecasts do rely on city planning assumptions for how people are expected to travel, including driving, transit, walking, biking, and working from home. And we do, of course, have a certified TIS or transportation impact study already on file that we worked on with city staff. And I thank you to Adam. I know he's on the call today. Moving into parking, parking does remain essential to stay competitive for office and lab users and support the on-site retail and visitors that Allison was talking about. Over time, the plan includes approximately 4,600 total parking spaces, and this is a combination Thank you for joining us today.

For example, in the evening office employees would go home for the day and residents of the development would come back from work and they would be able to park in those same parking spaces. also retail patrons would be able to share some of those spaces as well. And this is complemented by a significant Bike parking, over 3,500 bike parking spaces, an expanded Blue Bike Station network to help support shift toward a more sustainable travel behavior in the area. A major focus of the plan and it's been mentioned before is improving how people connect and move safely and comfortably through the site. and today as you can see in some of these photos many streets are not complete streets.

They lack that continuous sidewalk, they lack bike lanes and safe crossings and this project does create the opportunity to redesign these streets to function for everyone. Next slide. An important part of this is the long discussed terminal road connection based on city feedback. We studied a bike and pedestrian only connection as a first phase rather than a full vehicle street. This would create a safer and more direct east-west pedestrian and bike route between Wheeler Street and Alewife Parkway, avoiding today's uncomfortable routing through the parking lot. Next slide. And sorry, if you go back. Thank you.

This connection can build on the already completed MUSE segment and has the potential to extend all the way to Fawcett Street over time. Again, improving local mobility and connectivity while minimizing impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods. Beyond the site itself, the project focuses on addressing key pressure points in the surrounding street network. One of those critical improvements is the realignment of Smith Place at Concord Ave. with a proposed new traffic signal stage pool property does resolve the long-standing land access challenge and it allows for this improvement to finally move forward. Next slide.

Additional improvements along Concord Ave, including smarter signal operations at Moulton Street, turn lanes to reduce some of those backups, Enhanced MBTA bus stops such as shelters, benches, wider sidewalks with trees, Safer separated bike lanes. As you were able to see from earlier from some of David's plans, new buildings would be set back to physically accommodate these changes. And we have had conversations with the with the staff on some further studies for the Concord Ave corridor. The project also commits to a robust parking and transportation demand management, so PTDM program. including transit subsidies, shuttle partnerships, bike parking, blue bike station, as I mentioned, and annual monitoring on the Cambridge's PTTM ordinance.

The pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the railroad as was mentioned is one of the most transformative elements of the plan and this is something again that came out of the rezoning working group process. With the bridge in place, walking and biking time to Alewife station would be nearly cut in half. The route would be not only shorter, but also safer and far more pleasant than existing options. The bridge does close Thank you very much. As David noted previously as well, our proposal would allow for commuter rail and we do recognize the benefit that it would provide and wherever the bridge lands, it would not preclude opportunity for a station.

As was said, the proponent continues to work in collaboration with the city and the state to finalize bridge location and other issues like the commuter rail. So while the project cannot solve the regional congestion alone, it does represent responsible growth through phased improvements, ongoing monitoring, strong investments in multimodal transportation that align with community and city goals. And with that, I will turn it over to Jeff. Thank you.

Great, thank you, Selma. Hi, I'm Jessica Zofchak, a director with Atelier 10 Environmental Design Consultants. I'll round us out today. It's been a pleasure to work with HealthPeak as they continue to be fully invested in incorporating sustainability across their national portfolio and here in Cambridge in guiding and embracing innovative and emerging technologies. Through the evolution of all the great work you've just seen, ATEN has been collaborating to develop a set of sustainability priorities that will shape the Quad for years to come. These range from key principles of resource efficiency to climate mitigation strategies and community building. So first and foremost, this development will be all electric on day one, excluding backup power, bringing the reduction of carbon emissions to the forefront of operational design and construction.

As we explore building design pathways that use all electric systems, we can meaningfully reduce emissions from the code baseline while aligning with the grid that is steadily becoming greener. This matters for their community, lower emissions, mean cleaner air, improve public health, and really progress towards our shared climate goals. We've had productive conversations with city staff, and I want to acknowledge their visionary environmental shift that continues to evolve how we think about development within the city. As our design progresses, they understand the importance of looking futuristically, and in collaboration with energy providers who have the ability to assist with exploration and implementation of district strategies. So Cambridge Office of Sustainability is currently working with Eversource to develop a framework for thermal energy networks. that could be beneficial to this site and so once a framework is finalized we would be open to continuing those conversations and seeing where that goes.

Likewise, I think the conversations with staff have really been productive through the development and certification of our green building report in the fall. And as we look at how holistic approaches might evolve as the development environment changes. The projects will be certifying under the LEED and Passive House benchmarking systems to track and ensure those core building and site tenants are met. And while this board has discussed systems such as Envision, that system would only really be applicable to specific infrastructure projects with limited scope as compared to how we're thinking about this master plan. At the neighborhood scale, our approach revitalizes the landscape through integrated strategies for heat island reduction, stormwater management, and enhanced thermal comfort. And in particular, in explorations for the site design, as you saw in earlier images, we're combating significant urban heat island effects in this region of Cambridge due to the extensive hardscape and lack of vegetation.

So the master plan proposes significant amount of green space, including 14 times the amount that exists today with trees, ground level plantings, and shade. contributing to what we've studied as a four to five degree reduction in peak summer temperatures for improved microclimate. So we're already trying to impact the way that people feel and experience these sites through the landscape and site design. Next slide, please. Finally, we want to emphasize that creating a healthy and connected community has been at the heart of this proposal. Our approach to sustainability is holistic, supporting wellness, activity, and a strong sense of place. The site and building strategies, along with how the different pieces of the master plan work together, are designed to form a resilient and vibrant environment built on health, climate-conscious design, and everyday livability. So with that, I'll hand it back to Anthony. Thank you.

Thank you very much to all the presenters. I'll turn it over to the Chairwoman Flynn. I'm not sure if you want to go to the public or we're going to go to Q&A.

We're going to go to public comment first, and once we finish with that, we'll go to Q&A. Thank you very much for the presentation. It was a lot to cover, and I appreciate it. Thank you. As concise as possible. We almost hit the mark. A little bit longer, but very well done. Thank you. As I mentioned, this is a public hearing. Any members of the public who wish to speak, should now click the button that says raise hand. If you're calling in by phone, you can raise your hand by pressing star nine. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the board had received written comments on this case from Councilor Patricia Nolan, Ethan Frank, and Anne McDonald. Written communications received after 5 p.m. yesterday will be entered into the record.

So now, if people who are interested in speaking would please raise their hand now. There are quite a few people on the call. For the sake of time management, I'd really like to get a sense of how many people are interested in speaking. So we have about six people right now. If anybody else is interested. In making a comment, would you please raise your hand now? Okay, still seeing about six. All right, so I'm going to turn it over to Jeff and he will... unmute speakers one at a time. Please begin by saying your name and address and staff will confirm that we can hear you. After that, you will have up to three minutes to speak before I ask you to wrap up.

Jeff?

Thank you. This is Jeff. And I'm going to read the names that are just coming off the Zoom. So I apologize if I mispronounce anyone or if your name is not Written as your name in the Zoom. Either way, please give your name and address when you start. I apologize in advance for any misspelling and I'm going to give the next speaker and the following speaker so that the following speaker can be ready. So we'll be beginning with Ann Tennis. We'll be followed by Joseph Maglita.

Good evening. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Okay, thank you. Ann Tennis, 71 Griswold Street. Both Ann Stewart and I have been involved with HealthPeak since 2022. and we have some comments on tonight's discussion. The first one is on Concord Avenue. HealthPeaks Traffic Study admits that the taking of private land, golf course, Neville Manor, Fresh Pond Reservation to accommodate Turn lanes in and out of the PUD are unlikely. So in the case of that, hopefully there's no discussion of potential takings. Regarding the pedestrian bike bridge. with a commuter rail stop at Alewife. The city appears to understand that a commuter rail stop reduces vehicle dependency. Waiting until phase two for the bridge allows time for the city, Health Peak, IQ HQ and other developers to finance a rail stop that would be beneficial to all of the alewife.

Regarding the parking garage behind 2531 Wheeler Street, the planned 85 foot tall 24-7 parking garage will tower over that part of Wheeler Street. HealthPeak shows a narrow green space between the garage and Wheeler Street, and we think that that space will quickly become a very heavily traveled path for the MBTA bus stop passengers. Our other concerns, dedicated dog parks, play and recreational areas are not really totally identified. There is no mention of the future Eversource replacement of the 50-year-old underground infrastructure and impacts on the PUD. No open spaces only dedicated to conservation. Are electric bikes, motorcycles, and scooters allowed? And where would they be allowed? Is a blue bike station at Wheeler Street really needed? What we want to say is that we do support A police and EMT facility in the PUD.

With this population growth, there definitely will be a need for two stations. We support the DPW facility. The full connection of the path between Wheeler and Fawcett Streets in Phase 1, and the Wheeler Street Terminal Road Pedestrian Bike Connection. A mutual financial partnership, Healthy IQHQ, the city, other developers, etc., are backing the Healthy Peake Bridge, and the commuter rail stop in phase one. In summary, as residents of the Cambridge Highlands Quad, we have been have a working relationship with HealthPeak Since 2022. In the past four years, we have had many meetings to discuss our concerns and suggestions and HealthPeak is always willing to meet with us. We appreciate our past relationship and we expect it will continue. Last, this is the City's opportunity to create a new residential, small business and commercial community. Let's work together. Let's do it right.

And let's keep the collaboration effort going. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker is Joseph Meglita, followed by Doug Brown.

Thank you, Chair and Board, for the opportunity to comment tonight. My name is Joe Maglita. Oops, am I starting?

Yes, we can hear you.

Oh, okay. I didn't know if I was starting that or you. My name is Joe Maglita. I live at 160 Cambridge Park Drive in the Windsor Apartments. I've been a Cambridge resident for 21 years. and the last since October 2020 here at Windsor Apartments. Like a lot of folks I've talked to, and I'm sure you're here from, I'm deeply concerned about traffic impact in the area. Right now, if you come through here at all, you know it's saturated all the time. There's lots of new apartments that are adding to the overall base level. And it's just gotten worse and worse the last couple of years. Cambridge Park Drive figures strongly in bridge traffic and people going in and out of Alewife. Right now, without Any new development. It can take up to 15 minutes just to get out of Cambridge Park Drive and to merge onto Fresh Pond Parkway. So it would take a lot of convincing for me to believe that

That's going to be anything reasonable or anything better or not much worse with a new development. I'm going to take most of my comments today though to focus on something that is not on any of the presentations or any of the reports I've seen and that's noise. and that is specifically construction noise for a project of this magnitude and operational noise after the various facilities are built including loading docks, HVAC for many labs that do get built, I've done a very deep review of all the materials filed by HealthPeak and the various government boards. And there's very, very little about noise here. There is nothing in the DOT and DPW memos. There's no content in tonight's presentation. There's no construction phase noise limits, hours, or monitoring protocols, or any of the other more detailed levels. Thank you.

The other detailed levels here. And so I think for the purposes of this meeting, my question is, there's, I believe, one qualitative paragraph addressing noise and all the plans. So the question I would pose is, does this single paragraph satisfy the city's requirement for development of this size of almost 5 million square feet? The reason why I'm sensitive to this is I've lived for the last six years across that thin stretch of railroad tracks at Cambridge Park Drive, and it's been a horrible, horrible experience during the five. major developments that have gone there in the last couple of years. It's gone from annoyance to nuisance to hazard. I've lived in Cambridge, New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and this is by far the worst ongoing noise.

I will send other examples, but lest you think I'm exaggerating, we've not been able to open our windows for fresh air without hearing noise for more than six years. So with all that, I want to just encourage HealthPeak and Cambridge to take an opportunity to build a very vigorous noise mitigation plan and a construction plan that deals both with construction noise and with ongoing noise. It's a key part of environmental and sustainability that almost nobody pays attention to. I think Cambridge and HealthPeak have a wonderful opportunity here to take a lead and embrace that as part of the community development process. Thanks very much for the opportunity.

Thank you. The next speaker is Doug Brown, who's followed by Tim Blauer.

Hi, Doug Brown, 35 Standish. I've been intimately involved in AOI for the past 12 years as an officer of the Fresh Pond Residents Alliance that first called for a master plan served as a member on the Envision Alewife Working Group, wrote the zoning moratorium that paused the development at Alewife, and was eventually a member of the Alewife Rezoning Task Force itself. To begin, I want to congratulate HealthPeak on making it this far in the process. It's an exciting and ambitious project. I, like others you've heard from, believe that they have been an honest partner in this process. That said, I have some areas of concern that I want to highlight. After reviewing their filings and the City's memos, I strongly support the following items from the City memos. In the CDD memo, more details on phasing and timeline. The community deserves to know how long the plan will take to complete.

and the inclusion of more active recreation opportunities, particularly playing fields, which we have a real shortage of in the city. These could even be located on the roof of parking garages as called out by CDD. From the traffic memo, multi-use path along the south edge of the tracks, and this is essential for moving people across the district from east to west. Concerns about intersection delays across the entire district, particularly at the rotaries. and there's a mention of quote VHB's work on the topic of Terminal Road and I wish that the city would please share what they know about that work. From the DPW memo, we need more clarity around the city's plans for the DPW site. I think all of us strongly support this use, but we would like more clarity from the city as to its plans. In addition, I have my own areas of concern. As mentioned by Anthony, I strongly support early activation opportunities for unused parcels through the creation of an interim use committee.

It's important that we don't just talk about what the neighborhood will look like, but what people will actually do there. And there are at least six large parcels that are not part of phase one, and it would be a shameful outcome if we have to look at empty parking lots for the next 20 years. Rooftop mechanical noise, as previously mentioned, is a concern. We have six new tall lab buildings running mechanicals 24 hours a day, and that could make the surrounding neighborhood quite unlivable, particularly in the summer when windows are open. I personally believe that the bridge needs to be delivered earlier. Waiting 15 years to start construction would be a disservice to the community that's been crystal clear in its long-held desire for a bridge since at least 1979. Building heights on Cochrane Avenue, 160 feet, and near abutters on the eastern edge of the site, 80 feet. Some of the proposed structures are so tall they don't even fit within the published street cross sections that they extend completely out of the frame.

The Envision plan was quite clear that we wanted building heights on the interior, not out on Concord Avenue. And finally, several elements of the plan do require public involvement, permission, and financial support. and we're asking even begging that the city, DCR and the MBTA do what's needed to help move the project forward. As an example, the city must continue to push for a terminal road connection. and similar the city must reconsider some of its parking restrictions both on and off street if it hopes to create a viable commercial district. We look forward to continuing an open discussion with HealthPeak and its partners as they move forward with their efforts. Thanks.

Jeff, I'm not sure if maybe you've disconnected for some reason. So the next speaker is Tim Blower, who will be followed by Chris Casa. So, Mr. Blower, if you would please begin. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Chair. Thank you for the opportunity. Good evening, Board. I live at AT Fawcett Street, so in the area of interest. I only have one real question and I'm recognizing that there's been a lot of work put into this by many people over a long time and I've only known about this project for all of a week. So I come to this from a very naive point of view. As I live at 84th Street and I look at the plans, I see that there is a very large parking garage building P3, which I am currently effectively looking at the volume where it will exist. This building is going to be enormous. At 85 feet it will tower over my current building which is only 61 feet tall to the north and then to the east of this P3 building is a building that's 77 feet tall. One of the previous Speakers on Tennis also mentioned this.

And I would just like to urge the board and HealthSpeak to consider or explain maybe What considerations were put in for current tenants or indeed future tenants of these buildings who will lose views and sunlight as a result of this particular building? otherwise I think it's a fantastic opportunity I'm very excited to see how this all develops because it looks great thank you very much

Thank you. And I was inadvertently muted before, so I apologize for that. The next speaker is Chris Kassa, who's followed by Simon Gorlickoff.

Hi there, this is Chris Castle from 103 Gore Street, all the way on the other side of the city. This is my first time speaking at one of these meetings, so forgive my... lack of awareness of how this all works, but I just wanted to share an experience that I had the other day. I was working with Councilor Zusy and Jeff Parenti from the Transportation Department at Cambridge to try and improve safety around Museum Way near the Cambridge Crossing neighborhood. Cambridge Crossing has been an incredible and really analogous transformation in our neighborhood. And I'm really excited about the potential of Health Peak in the other side of the city. That said... The parking numbers that are proposed are just incredibly high. And I wanted to kind of call out the Cambridge Crossing neighborhood because I believe it's 0.3 cars per... It's a 0.7 or 0.8 cars per person or resident that are going to be proposed.

and that are existing in my neck of the woods and that's just been incredible in terms of like reducing traffic that goes through my neighborhood and also the reduction of the number of parking structures and buildings those are all More likely to be underneath the buildings and really much smaller in scale. And the reason I'm calling it out is because we're meeting with Councilor Zusy and Jeff Parenti with the Museum Way staff. the Museum of Science staff. We were trying to figure out how to make the roads safer. And one of the things that came up was EF, one of the largest employers in my neck of the woods, said that 85% of their staff don't arrive by car. and they were so concerned about the conditions of how dangerous it was for people to walk or bike or get to the tee that they wanted to make major, major changes in the neighborhood for the traffic circulation so that they could actually improve the quality of life for people who are walking and biking to their jobs. and I just thought that was such a different thing that I've ever heard before and that number just stuck with me.

85% of their employees are getting there. So to be competitive, maybe we have to make it more bikeable and walkable and make it easier to get to transit which really means we have to front load this type of bridge make that earlier in the project so you don't have to waste all this money on these parking garages and this and many more. and very disruptive to the neighborhood and the traffic patterns that are there. There's no one on this call and no one on the board who imagines 4,000 more cars a day is a good idea. for this area. Certainly the numbers of trips will be different, you know, any given day, any given time of the year. It sounds like this project is an incredible positive for the neighborhood. I would just really ask you to reconsider how you, in how many spaces are you allocating

for each thousand square foot of commercial space and for each resident and residents. And also reconsider the timing of when you're building the bridge. Thank you so much for your time and energy on developing this wonderful new neighborhood. Take care.

Thank you. The next speaker is Simon Gorlickoff, who's followed by Carlos Castro. You can unmute yourself and begin.

Thank you. Thank you, the board, and thank you all the presenters for Thank you for making this happen. This is very interesting and insightful for everyone who lives in the neighborhood. So my name is Simon Gorelykov. and I'm at 51 Loomis Street at the very like the eastern tip of the Wadrango West area. We moved here about six months ago with my wife and two young children from Ridge Avenue where we lived in the apartment. And, you know, it seems like anywhere we go, the major development follows us. So, you know, the idea of moving from brain jab to a quieter place was obviously, you know, so the kids can, you know, play in the street, have a little, you know, quiet yard and, you know, and also having a neighborhood.

So, you know, we have obviously mixed feelings because we're at the Loomis, you know, at the end of Loomis Street, our condos go from 51 to 63 and we're virtually surrounded by health peak The area behind us is currently a DPW and the proposed site for a new DPW is going to be right in front of us so at least at the moment the DPW is somewhat Sobrinho-Wheeler. At the proposed site, the DPW will be like right in front of us. And there's at the moment, at least there's no form of any like no barrier. And, you know, it's not the most, you know. Pretty sight to look at all the heavy machinery that they use sometimes late at night.

So I think my question and concern is, you know, the reason for the DPW location being at the site where it's proposed to be and you know if it's really the best site for it what are some and many more. Thank you. appeal of the DPW. And my second question is about building C6, the commercial building directly to the east of of the end of Loomis Street. The proposed height is 140 feet. It feels awfully close to the end of our property. So I'm just curious, how does that align with the zoning height requirement?

because it feels like on the map you have part of our property cut off so you start measuring like in the middle of it and you know it doesn't really line up at least from my Again, thank you for your time and we're looking forward to working with you in the future. Thanks.

Thank you. And the next speaker and the last speaker with hand raised is Carlos Castro. So this will be the end. If anybody thought they had their hand up and didn't or wants to put their hand up, you can do that now. I think there's maybe one or two more. You can go ahead.

Hi, good evening. So this is Carlos Castro. I live at 25 Normandy Terrace, right at the western edge of the proposed development. So I would like to thank the HealthPIC team for their presentations tonight and for this exciting project. And I had a few questions. My first question is about the buildings that are adjacent to the residential areas and the planned buffers to protect the residential areas from noise and light. In particular, I was interested in parking garage B1 and I was wondering whether there could be more details about the final design and programming of the surrounding area, including the proposed dog park. and outline any specific measures that will be used to mitigate noise, headlights or light spilling to the residential areas. My second question is about connectivity and I wanted to see if there could be more details about like specific Pedestrian and bicycle connections between the Quad and the Cambridge Highlines. I know there is one proposed at Loomis Street.

There seems to be another one at Blair Pond, but more details on that would be helpful. I had an additional question about estimated timelines for Phase 1a, 1b, 2, etc. Those could be helpful to understand. And I was also wondering about recreational facilities that will be available to the public in the new planned parks in terms of basketball courts or tennis courts, more details on that would also be welcome. And then finally, my last question is about stormwater and drainage and whether the new proposed construction may increase the amount of stormwater and drainage to the Elwhaif Brook and Blair Pond. and whether any kind of measures are planned in order to prevent flooding and protect water quality. Thank you.

Thank you. And that appears to be the last speaker, so I will turn it back over to the chair.

Okay, great. Thanks, Jeff, and thanks to members of the public who commented. We're now going to move from public. comment to board discussion. Additional written comments may be submitted for the record. We've received written materials from staff at CDD, DOT, and DPW. And as was noted earlier in the meeting, staff from all three departments are here and available to answer questions. So let me start with the planning board questions and let's try to keep it focused on questions for now and try not to at this point anyway, drift over into discussion because we will get there. So this can be for either board or staff. And Mary, you have your hand up.

So let's begin with you.

Thank you. So I think just working off of one of the last public commenters, I was wondering if the group could speak a little bit to the... The stormwater management approach for the development, in particular, maybe walking us through how that's going to work as it's phased, right? Are there any district... So maybe just talking to the stormwater approach. And then my second question is, Um, is relative to the residential unit types. I think there is a question in the CDD memo that touches on this, but it looked like your numbers are based on an 850 square foot unit. knowing that the city and community is looking to make sure there are multifamily housing

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit to how you plan to work with the city or how you determine ultimately, especially with some of the early phase work, what the unit mix is. So those are two questions.

Thank you, Mary. I think what we'll do is go one by one and answer the questions as we go along because it gets very confusing, I think, otherwise.

I'm glad you said that because I was already confused.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I think Ryland can start on stormwater, and I would say he could also start on residential, which is... An interesting topic because no one wants to do it more than us, but we do have some challenges and we want to make sure the board's up to date with economic conditions. But Rylan, why don't you start on stormwater and turn it over to Anyone else that can can add?

Yep, absolutely. Right now we're currently evaluating a variety of different approaches to stormwater. As you mentioned, we have quite a bit of land and we are evaluating different district solutions to We realized that the subsurface conditions across the quad vary significantly. So where a well makes sense in one place, a jellyfish makes sense in another, So what we've determined is that we need to spend more time taking actual borings to understand the subsurface conditions. So we're working with H&A, who is our sustainability consultant, who's very familiar with this area and has done pretty much every development in the quad so far we're going to get a handful of more borings drilled and then we'll be able to identify areas where we can look at some district specific solutions to accommodate some of those subsurface conditions that are a little that are less conducive to certain stormwater management systems.

and then regarding residential unit types as we mentioned previously in R2 we're currently trying to make residential work and in doing so we've gone through design on one of the first residential buildings which would be R2 That's at the corner of Fawcett, that elbow where the bridge would be landing. And through that design process, we ran a very detailed unit mix analysis ran by Heinz, which is a prominent They are a prominent residential developer all across the world. And we honestly determined that this market would accommodate larger units that would handle two and three bedroom units. So whereas right now we're currently holding 850 square feet per unit in the TIS and the master plan. In R2, the residential building, we're finding that about 1,000 square feet per unit makes more sense and is able to accommodate the larger families that we see in this area. Ultimately, we landed on 850 square feet per unit because we just wanted to be conservative.

Ultimately, that number lands into our TAS, which, you know, equals the trips and the traffic impacts and everything. So we added a little bit of conservatism there and this isn't necessarily what we plan to build from a market standpoint.

Thank you. Roland, how involved has the city's housing department been involved in your discussion so far? I know you've met with a lot of agencies, but... Have you talked to housing about needs in the city and mix of units, et cetera?

I don't believe we have specifically had a meeting with them just yet. As I mentioned, it is very early on. We are still working through the budgeting phase. But once we get a better understanding of the costs, because right now the costs are quite difficult, once we get those under control and see if we can move forward with that project, then we're going to reach out to the city and have more detailed conversations on use and need.

Okay, thank you. Ashley, let's go to you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think most of my questions relate to the presentation tonight. I'm glad to see there. have been changes to the plans although you know they were not what we reviewed so I just wanted clarification so the first one being it seems like based on the presentation tonight the um The thought is that the pedestrian or bike bridge over the rail lines would be in phase one, whereas most of, I think all the other docs we've been seeing have mentioned it as phase two, so I just wanted clarification. um similarly I think the plans we saw or were submitted had fewer or less neighborhood uses and retail uses and the one today had more maybe in the northwest or um Quad, and other areas. So I just wanted, if you can just briefly clarify that.

And then last similar question, I think the materials we received noted closer to You know, 5,000 parking spaces and the documents we saw today were around 4,600. Is that right? So if you all can just clarify that, I think that'd be helpful and helpful to some of the

Thanks, Ashley.

Sure, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to just, let's start with the thank you for your attention to the neighborhood use. I'm sure Allison will be pleased that you were paying good attention, Ashley. I can answer just high level. We show what's required under the zoning, and then we also show more aspirational. Just we're trying to be in, I don't want to refer to other projects that I represent, but as time goes on, you find You really, you have to be intentional and honest about where you think retail, or in this case, neighborhood uses can work. So we did show locations that If it can happen, we will deliver it. But we also were showing the required 75,000. So that's what I think you saw.

Brylin, do you want to just talk about the phase question with respect to pedestrian connections?

Yep, yep. And Ashley, I think I believe I remember what you were referring to. David mentioned that the bridge would come in phase one. Technically at the end of phase one, we would, according to the zoning, we have to begin construction at 50% build out of commercial per the zoning. and then we complete the bridge at 75% of commercial square footage. So while it doesn't get completed in phase one, technically we have to start at the beginning of phase one and then we have to finish it after about half of the commercial buildings within phase two are delivered.

Madam Chair, can I just also on the, just while we're on that piece, Member Tan, the energy that we have focused on the bridge cannot be understated. I don't want to go into all the detail. Ted, you raised this at the last meeting. We had a long and lengthy process with the MBTA. It led to the location that you see. Thank you for joining us.

And those conversations have advanced. We've also met with the city to enlist the city's advocacy. And it's not that there's resistance or opposition. It's just that the T has multiple priorities. And I think we're We're working with the community as well. You heard community members speak to advocacy to just make sure the T realizes how important getting the bridge location and in particular this location is. because that's really central to the conversation. So I just wanted to say that.

And then regarding your question on the total parking spaces, I agree. It is a little confusing. I think Selma by far knows the best on the number of parking spaces. I'll let her take that one.

Yeah, I'm happy to jump in. So the number of party space we're proposing is 4578. And this is the shared demand. and part of this is spaces that are already there. So 650 or spaces are already there. So the net new is about the 30, 32, 80, 88 if you're doing the math. So again, this is shared demand. If we were going with the maximum parking ratios, that number is closer to 5,000, which is maybe what you're referencing, but we're not proposing that We're proposing this lower share demand number, which, you know, be able to shave like 320 spaces through sharing, as I explained.

office employees, kind of the part for the day, and then residents can park in some of those spaces and also like retail folks can share some of that as well.

Thank you. This is all very helpful. Thank you. Ted, let's go to you next. Ted, you're muted.

Yeah, thank you. Well, we want to go back to the bridge. So, and I was similarly confused about the statement of phase two or phase one, but now since you've indicated that phase two, at the beginning of phase two, you're probably only at 75% completion. Given what you know now, what year, how many years from now do you envision that this pedestrian bike bridge will actually be usable? So that's the number I would like to know right now. And I realize all sorts of factors can change, but you're talking about a project over 10, 20, 30, maybe more years. And I want to know whether we're closer to the 10-year goal or the 30-year goal.

Well, Madam Chair, I could address that for a minute because it's a relevant question. But the threshold question, Mr. Cohen, is what would be the estimate of the approval process with the MBTA for the siting of the bridge? We've made it very clear this is not going to cost the MBTA any money. It's going to be paid for by HealthBeak. And the MBTA, without being critical of them publicly, have a tremendous amount of shifting priorities in that location. including what they want to do with commuter rail and what we heard about for the first time a year into it is their thinking around electrification of the commuter rail and the need for them to retain as much land as possible on their site in order to accommodate future electrification of the rail. I don't want to describe that as a monkey wrench, but it was a significant shift

in the focus of our discussions after more than a year without much mention of that concept at all. So secretaries of transportation come and go, governors come and go, We are going to need the full endorsement and activation of the city, which fortunately we have, and others, to make this a priority for the T. When we know when that process is over, engineers could tell you how long it would take to construct the bridge. And that's the easy part. But the first part is really the greatest riddle.

Yeah. And let me just jump in to Jim. I appreciate. That energy on a little more optimistic note, we went in to meet with the city administration Ted, as you know, some issues don't make it to the general manager or to the level of evaluation that need to. We are... More confident now that the message is going to get through to the MBTA. We know the city administration is very supportive of this bridge. I would also say that I'm not going to speak for HealthPeaks. Investment Team, but perfect world, Ted. The city, and this doesn't just speak to this particular area of the city, and I was on the council one week.

and the planning board was part of this when we unlocked housing in the special districts by adding density. Do you remember that? And it worked. So there's probably another opportunity now to look at PUD districts that have A lot of housing left on the table while the lab environment is slow and say, how do we kickstart residential? Because what I would say is if Hell Peak was able to get one or maybe two It would certainly kickstart the development and get HealthPeak thinking more and more about the bridge. Let's also be slightly more optimistic that maybe If the city continues to work with us as they have, then as the lab market warms up, which I think it will, you all have done a great job giving us

Density along the railroad tracks which as you know is what made Cambridge Crossing competitive. If we had not provided that density along the railroad, we would never have been able to market So you've given us the tools, but those two things have to happen. And residential is not easy to make work, as you know. So I don't want to make this a housing advocacy meeting, although you've been a great leader on housing. The way to get to the bridge is to get housing going and then hope for lab to just warm up a bit.

Madam Chair, if I could follow up on that.

Please do.

Slightly discussion that I was saving, but both Mr. Galluccio and Mr. Rafferty have raised memories. And so when I first joined this board as an associate member almost 20 years ago, at my first or second meeting, Members of CDD staff were talking how excited they were that this pedestrian bicycle bridge was going to be built in the very near future. So 20 years later, We're talking about a bridge being built. And in the interim, there have been any number of owners and developers of this parcel who have talked about the bridge and we have to, you know, permitted buildings that had areas for the bridge to start or to end.

And now you're still telling us that maybe the bridge is going to happen 20 years from now? I would like to know when this bridge will really significantly exist and be working. And I think if we're talking about Cambridge Common or North Point, that that really became viable when the pedestrian bicycle bridge was built in the area to connect North Point to across the tracks to the city, to Somerville and Boston. And so I think for your development and residential people and commercial people who we want to Abandon their cars and take the T or take a bike or walk. The bridge is a key element of it all.

and until we know when that's going to happen, I think the plan is great. I'm very happy with it with a couple of small concerns, but I think the is such a key to this whole thing. And if the bridge is not going to happen for some reason, then we've got to rethink the entire process of what we're doing out there. and so yes to Health Peak and to the city and to the teeth that I know can be difficult but I've dealt with them before and I know if enough pressure is put on them and it's enough that it's worth their while that they will give in at some point and agree to something. And so I think that's the really important thing that you and we and the city all have to be aware of that, you know, the key to all of this is the bridge.

Madam Chair, can I just respond? All right.

Let me just say this. I don't want to get into a big debate over this, right? Because we have a long way to go tonight. So keep it very brief.

I appreciate and have empathy for Mr. Cohen's skepticism. But I would only say that at this point in the process, it's the first time we have zoning in place that incentivizes development. So this is not a case you've got a developer complaining about the cost. What's being proposed here by way of a full buildup cannot be achieved without the construction of the bridge. So it stops at about 65% of what's proposed here. We haven't seen that in the zoning before here. So it's a direct connection and it's a credit to the structure that the working group came up with in this district. And I have to tell you, HealthPeak, if they could sit down and write a check sooner rather than later, would do so. It's very challenging and I'll say no more and I apologize, but there is a glimmer of hope.

And I will say the city administration is exercising the type of influence that we believe they have, I mean, ultimately, is a pejorative in some cases. People think the word political is a bad thing. There's a political component to this. And we are exercising that at many levels.

Also, just want to add, Ted, the funding mechanism for many years was thought to be the city of Cambridge, and then developers would provide landing areas like we did for Wheeler Street, etc. When the funding mechanism changed brilliantly to the private developer, that was a sea change. So now you do have a private developer willing to pay. But I do want to just point out that during those Sorry, Mary.

No, that's okay. I think, though, you know, what this is sort of leading to is what happens if the bridge doesn't happen. And so what are the backup plans in terms of mitigation? and managing the parking in and out because you're still going to have a substantial amount of development there and a lot of people plus people living there who are going to want to come and go. So I think the board needs to have some level of, I won't say certainty because nothing is certain in this, but some level of knowledge of The fact that there is a backup plan and really what the impacts are. And I guess that comes through more of the traffic analysis that you're continuing to work on with Department of Transportation. I don't think anybody is suggesting that you aren't doing everything you can, and I'm glad to hear that the city is 100% behind it, because it is, as Ted put it.

and you know that, you've said it yourselves, it makes the project work. But I think from our perspective, we do need to be thinking about what happens if that doesn't happen. Enough of my speechifying. Let's go on.

I have a couple of other short questions.

Oh, I'm sorry, Ted. I'm sorry. Go right ahead.

So a very easy question, I think. Given what I think is a real surfeit of parking, why in the world would you allow parallel parking on New Main Street? when that should be purely a pedestrian bicycle path that could be opened or closed as necessary. I'm not suggesting that cars couldn't use it, but why have parking on it?

Can I take that question, guys?

Please do.

Okay, it's really data shows that it's critical to urban street retail to have some level of parking in front of it and or drop-off area reserved. I know that that's often perceived to be in conflict with bike and pedestrian uses, but we find that across the country in many cases, so long as we're preserving safety through design and slow traffic mechanisms. It's really important to retail success to have that in urban situations to have that drop in quickly, perception, even if it's hard to find a space.

Well, you fortunately raised my other question. which is given the status of retail in the world today, given the number of empty spaces throughout the city of Cambridge, empty stores, who do you envision is going to be in all these lovely small retail spaces that is going to give us this urban retail environment. And I know you don't have crystal balls, But we've seen what's happened to retail over the past 10, 15 years. And I don't see any change to make it go any better. and there's a limit to the number of restaurants and bars and barbershops and nail salons that you can put into the city.

I understand you put this into the plan because it's required and you talk about it, which is great, and I'd love to see it happen. Realistically, how is this going to happen?

Yeah, I think two things are critical to the success of this. One is flexibility, which is really the benefit of the neighborhood uses zoning component that was established by the working groups. That allows us to not just have specific types of small boutiques and restaurants as part of our ground floor uses, but some more Active ground floor uses that you would see in a functioning city environment like things like a dentist's office or daycare and things like that. that are just will always be a required in-person activity. I think that retail businesses Ebs and Flows in terms of its demand. And so that flexibility is also important over time.

Like you said, Ted, I can't predict, you know, Five years from now, if we're delivering the first building or three years from now, exactly what retail demand will show up. But what I can tell you is that historically... If we're designing spaces in the right way, in a collection of them in a place and we've designed the public realm surrounding it to be the right way and we underwrite the retail in a way that allows our perform us to support those uses, I think that we'll be much more successful. And so all of those components are key to the plan that HealthPeak has put forward. and I think oftentimes what you see in terms of vacant storefronts

Unfortunately, is A, a factor of the market demand of the use, but B is a factor of the landlord's need to sustain a value perception in their rent number. for investors or for the bank. And so if you had $70 of foot in rent and now rent is really 35 in order for the business to be sustained, If you take that mark down, then you're taking a mark down on the value. And so unfortunately, what we see often in cities like Boston with a significant number of institutional investors is that they'd rather hold vacant storefronts. then lower the rent. And I think what we have a responsibility to do here is make sure that we're

I think one key location within our master plan that highlights

What Allison is talking about is New Main Street. New Main Street wasn't dedicated within the zoning. New Main Street wasn't something we were forced to do. It was truly the brilliance of David and Allison First, identify, okay, where can we make retail viable, doing what all other developers don't do. They start with the retail, start with the public realm, and then you put the residential and commercial around it. That new main street came at a huge cost to the lab, but David and Allison convinced us that it's the only way for neighborhood uses to be viable. And it's the only way that we're going to lease that space. So, I mean, to be honest, this is, I mean, it's the best shot that we have and we've assembled the team to create the best possible future for this retail and for this public room.

I would add, Ted, that there's an early canary in the coal mine in the process here. If we proceed with R2 as planned as our first building, there's ground floor retail in that residential building. And one of the reasons Allison convinced us of the importance of it. It's across the street from the biggest retail activity in West Cambridge. Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings, during the day, Iggy's Bakery is drawing customers in. and that's not a coincidence that this retail is located across the street from that magnet and if this These uses that Allison is describing, we're going to get an early read on whether they can succeed when we complete the first building.

Well, thank you. That's a better answer than I ever anticipated. So, you know, I appreciate your candor about it all. Mary, I'm done.

Okay. Let us move on to Dan.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So my question has nothing to do with the bridge, so we can pass on that. It does, though... Speak a little bit to some of the other connectivity. So if we look at Mr. Manfredi's favorite diagram of the connections outward, I'm thinking both Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Vehicular Some of the connectings such as some of our call-in members had over around C6 back into, excuse me, recovering a little bit from a cold. as well as connections back over such as to Trader Joe's and connections to current transit and commercial spaces. Kind of curious what,

Thank you so much for joining us. I think even internally, the diagonal park has an aspirational piece to connect Smith Place to you know diagonally up really you know back up to the pedestrian bridge um but um I'm curious about how those conversations are going. So there's one kind of question. The other is following on the question about community uses Maybe the question's already answered for me by Allison, but I would certainly hope to see some community use or retail use in and around Smith Park, the Triangular Park.

And I'm curious whether that just didn't... doesn't factor in for reasons that maybe were discussed, but that certainly would be an advantage to activating that park, to having other ancillary uses there. So I guess my second question is really, you know, Thinking about existing Street Patterns, Existing Transit, maybe rather than thinking about community uses further back in the, I think that it was proposed around C4 or I'm having a hard time reading the screen here, but near R1, whether those uses might be more beneficial if they're closer to Concord Ave. So those are my two questions.

Thank you. Mary, do you want us to respond?

Yes, please.

Sure. I'm going to quickly start because I get excited about the Smith connection and I think In the past, we haven't done as great a job as we could have, kind of highlighting how close we could be. to area play spaces. Courtney Kirk did a great job of grilling us and getting us to get our act together to sort of walk through that. But we now have families that will walk around the pond to get up to Glackenfield. and you can walk down to what will be a new field at the new Vassal Lane School. But the Smith green space, really becomes a gateway and a connection for families, which is what city staff asked us to think about. I'll let Ryan talk a little bit more about that. At early meetings with the Finch Building, One of the things folks said was play space.

They talked about parking too, I'll have to remind folks. So some of the thinking as to that gateway also involved The other piece I want to mention is to your point about terminal road. I just would say the leverage lies with the city to really push Eversource to just open up enough space that we can get bike and pedestrian connection there. There is loading use that goes on by the back of the mall, which is important to that owner. But Eversource is getting a lot of pressure to add substations and to add capacity, but that really has to be

We've done studies showing what could happen there, but Eversource is really critical there. Ryland, do you want to talk a little bit more about the connections?

Yeah, and I believe you're referring to the connection from New Main Street over to Trader Joe's. So currently today, Toll Brothers Development at 55 Wheeler, they left space for a pedestrian walkway that would get you from Foster Street over to Wheeler and thus to Trader Joe's. We would be continuing that pathway from Wheeler, right south of 55 Wheeler, through where the proposed parking garage is, and then that would connect directly to new Main Street. And then regarding the connection of the linear park, you pointed out we don't control the entirety of the linear park, but a partner of ours within Boston, Davis,

they own that parcel and when they come in for a special permit we will work with them closely to continue that linear part to make sure it continues through seamlessly and we've had preliminary conversations with them as well so when they do decide to move forward with development The connection from Smith all the way up to the bridge will be complete. The last question was about the retail at Smith.

There's just one more connection. Sorry, Allison. To Loomis, is the proposal that you'd be connecting vehicular path or strictly pedestrian? No.

It's strictly pedestrian and bicycle only. We have a small switch back there since there is a pretty significant grade change right on that corner. One of the things that we've heard from the Highlands community, many of which were participants in the Alewife Working Group, was to not have a vehicular connection at that location, so there's no pass-through traffic of people trying to avoid and other parts of the city. So that is primarily only going to be pedestrian and bicycle. And then I can hand it over to Allison to talk more about Smith Park retail.

Yeah, thanks, Rylan. I think that... As I said before, at the end of the day, it's really about how much we can control in one location and what the opportunity is. So I would say if we were... In control of buildings that were touching that park specifically, it would be easier for me to recommend that we put some form of retail there. I always think it's great when we can use commercial uses to activate a park. But we don't really have uses. We don't have building footprint that's touching it. and even then we only control small amounts of the building footprint in that area and so the end result is We might end up with just mediocre spread out retail as opposed to a well-concentrated group.

And so the dream would be... um you know you go get your sandwich and your coffee and your lollipop and your ice cream up in the more concentrated zone and then you wind your way through the park Sobrinho-Wheeler, Tan, Watkins, Zern, Zusy, Cambridge, Councilor isolating a single use in that location could be quite challenging in our opinion.

There's a Burger King on the corner already what more do you need?

We heard very clearly that if we did control the Burger King map is not to leave.

We can hope that the activation of the park helps maybe other abutters have some more retail space. So thank you.

Okay, let's move on to Carolyn, please. Great. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to everyone who presented. A couple of questions. A lot around the parking, garages specifically. In the last time we met with you all, there was retail screening, at least the parking garage that backs up to the new Main Street. It looks like that is gone. So I guess I... I want to confirm whether or not that there's really no ground floor retail on any of the parking garages and whether there is screening. I don't think I saw anything about whether there was screening for the garages. But I'm curious about that. The other questions that I had were, and I may be jumping the gun on these, but I know for the special permits you're requesting a reduction of the green roof requirements and of the flood and I'm curious about why you feel the need to request those. And then lastly on the residential piece, I was curious if you were

Thinking about partnering with any nonprofit, affordable or mixed income developers who might be able to tap into other funding sources in these kind of weird market blips to help speed along residential development. Thank you.

That's great. Mary, since David Manfredi is our most prominent presenter, I'm so excited that he now has a question to field around. Parking, Screening. So David, wake up and come back. And Carolyn, that gives Ryland a little chance to think about that affordable housing partnership, which sounds very exciting.

So I will try to address the parking structures. Look, we want to make the parking structures buildings and not slabs that is what you typically see. But it's very hard. Again, it's just another financial burden to try to build multi-use parking structures. What our goal is, build the most efficient parking structures Clad them, screen them in a way that makes them feel like a building. And we can give you lots of really good examples of that that have been done around the country without. Without trying to insert uses in them that may just make them more complicated, we want to make them as visually small as possible, but also just think of them as architecture.

and not some excuse for architecture. But at the same time, you'll notice that we've located them in ways where We hope, one, they're proximate, but two, they don't disrupt what might be a future path of I think the worst thing parking garages do is when they're in an urban environment they literally stop pedestrian traffic in its tracks because they don't have active edges. Can we find opportunities over time where you might insert something in the base of a parking structure that actually activates that edge of a street? Sure. I think that when we try to We try to align parking garages with residential uses. We complicate them. We make them far more expensive.

And we actually make them bigger and in some ways more offensive. I think we want to make them good architecture.

Okay, and then We had the green roof and flood resiliency question.

I'm not sure if we lost.

Rylan, are you still with us? Yep, yep, I'm here. John, could you take the flood resiliency question? And then Jessica, if you could take the green roof, please.

Yeah. So on flood resiliency, there's a requirement that the first floors of buildings be located above flood elevation. So the first floors of buildings will be raised up approximately five feet above adjacent grade. There are some uses in those buildings that that are captured in that requirement. But we're asking for relief to keep them low. And it's things like that you would want adjacent and flush to outside grade. Things like long-term interior bike storage, in simple accessory functions like dog wash. So instead of bringing a dirty dog in your house up ramps or stairs, we're simply asking for a relief to keep those two programs down that grade.

And jumping in here for the green roof item, this was really in context of at this stage, we have looked at the cool factor and how we're thinking about heat island across both the site and building rooftops. but proposing that we look at this as buildings are developed on a building by building basis in terms of how we're complying with the green roof criteria. Rylan, feel free to add anything to that you'd like.

That was fantastic. Thank you, Jess.

Okay, Carolyn, are you good?

We had one more on a portable phone.

Oh, right, right, right. The most exciting question, yes.

Let's see what kind of courage Rylan has on this one, Mary. I'm curious myself.

As I'm frantically looking through my notes to see if I have anything. Was it specifically regarding affordable development or was it any residential development?

I had asked about affordable or mixed income nonprofit partners, you know, other nonprofit partners that might be able to tap into additional funding sources.

Yeah, that's a great question. Previously, we've had conversations with HRI. They're the group that developed the Finch. We've looked at some options where we would identify a building that would be 100% affordable, that would be able to serve a variety of income ranges, not just 80% of AMI or in that range, which you get for inclusionary. Those conversations ultimately stalled as we decided to start moving through entitlement. But now that we have a better understanding of what we're building, the types of construction, because for instance, When we were talking to them, they were only interested in doing 5 over 2 development, which as you notice, a majority of our residential buildings are 13 stories. We have identified a building that would make sense for 5 over 2, so that would be a prime candidate for potentially an all-affordable building. We just would have to re-engage with them and adjust their numbers since those numbers are relatively old now. and see if that makes economic sense.

Thank you. Yeah, and I think to following up on Carolyn's point and the earlier point about I'm talking to the housing department. I think putting your heads together in terms of creativity on this could be helpful in moving the whole agenda. The Affordable Housing Trust for the city is a good funding source. Obviously, they have a lot in their pipeline, so I don't know how flexible they can be. But I think they can certainly give you a lot of advice and creativity if I mean you probably have that on your own but just as a you know another source to go to. Ashley I'm just going to skip over you for a minute because Diego hasn't had a chance yet so Diego let's Great, thank you.

I have sort of three quick questions. The first is an expanding on Dan's comment about the connections. And I was wondering if you could speak a little bit on sort of the potential future connections that sort of about the railroad. and connect to Blanchard. I feel like that would be really helpful with some traffic concerns and what the status of that would be. Another Another concern would be the noise concerns that some of the public comments brought up and how you're looking at that and how to address those concerns, especially like the rooftop equipment. And then lastly, I guess this has come up in your presentation, but the traffic on the Concord on sort of the Rotaries and on Blanchard Road It's pretty bad. So I'm just wondering if sort of that it's expected to just get worse or

If you could speak a little bit about some goals on how to mitigate that traffic and reduce that load. Because I mean, I'm not a big fan of all that parking that's going to come. I understand the financial need for them, but Yeah, that traffic is only going to get worse. And this is coming from someone who doesn't drive. I just bike everywhere. So just those are my questions. Thank you.

Thanks. Mary, through you. So we have both Jim and I Jim grew up in the neighborhood. I lived in the neighborhood. We know the traffic well. I think one of the things that Selma indicated is some of the mitigation, including the bridge, lines up with commercial development. which would be more of the demand on traffic. Diego, one of the balances here is the good stuff doesn't come unless we get commercial. And if we're not competitive, for commercial leases, none of the good stuff comes, right? So although we want to continue to look towards less parking and HealthPeak would love to build less parking, We have to be competitive in terms of what we offer to our commercial tenants in the early phases or we won't get tenants.

With respect to Blanchard and that intersection, If there was a solution to making it better, which we're happy to study and look at, it's difficult for us to take ownership for our city and other intersections that are state-owned. I think one of the things we've agreed to do is work with traffic and parking to study those and to the extent that there's some kind of a new design that would help reduce traffic. Thank you for joining us. The Orange Line. We're kind of putting all our chips on the table for that, but I did think

One of the public commenters had the quote of the night where he said, you know, I don't expect traffic to get much worse or much better. A lot of that traffic has passed through traffic. So we're trying to figure out a way to how do we build a great new community and neighborhood with all this good stuff without being dissuaded because of existing exceedances in some of these areas. But we're gonna continue to work with traffic to look at where we should study and how we can be helpful without making commitments that we can't deliver on. I don't know, Jim, do you have anything to add to that?

No, I mean, I think as it's noted in the traffic department memo, there is a recommendation that we participate in the Concord Avenue corridor study and a lot of A lot of that analysis will inform improvements here.

Good. And just to transition to noise, and I want to give the people who called in A lot of credit. I always am fascinated that folks don't spend more time on construction during the permitting so kudos to those folks. This is not that stage. but I can assure you that HealthPeaks community process is also a reflection on how they will operate during construction. I think developers that show Thank you for joining us. Folks know exactly what's coming, when. and to work with folks when issues come up.

So Diego, one thing I can say is like I hope you'll take solace in the fact that HealthBeak has sort of proven that communication and relationship is critical. and I appreciate, you know, it's hard living through construction. It's difficult. Jim and I have managed that with a bunch of different developments and it's essential to the process. Jim, you are.

And Anthony, it may be worth mentioning that Ascent Tech is, we have on our team, we have Ascent Tech. They are a acoustician. They're actually based in Cambridge. They do a ton of work in the city for us and for other architects. We've identified the baseline noise, ambient noise, and all proposed buildings, including rooftop equipment, will be compliant with the Cambridge Noise Ordinance. And so... That consultant exists as part of the robust team that has been assembled and it's been folded into the thinking of projects as we design through them.

Good. I think Diego also asked about the multi-use connection along the track. So Diego, we love that for so many reasons. I know, you know, Elkis I would file that under picking our fights with the MBTA right now. And the first one is to make sure we get the bridge location. We have not given up on the multi-use location. but that also involves MBTA, easement, and property interest. So we are still hopeful, but we're really trying to get their attention and focus on on the bridge. I don't know if John, David want to speak to that a little more.

Yeah, I'm happy to talk about the multi-use path. So we don't actually control all the land that a multi-use path can be put on, Diego. However, for the sections that we do control, like, for example, in the northwest quadrant where we're planning on relocating Mooney, HealthBeak is proposing adding that section of the multi-use path. If negotiations or talks with the T end up positive, we can deliver the extensions to the West as well as to the East. But it's really contingent on the T being at the table and actually helping out with... by providing the land or granting an easement.

Yeah, but making such great progress on the bridge, we've been holding off, twisting their arm on the path, to be candid. The good and the bad news is, We don't own it, but we know who does own it. And what we're proposing and drafted over a year ago was an MOU that was going to cover those paths, creating easements on those paths and the bridge. But suffice it to say that the focus of the attention has shifted candidly nearly entirely to the bridge in the last six or eight months. But it's In the big picture thinking, and when we were talking to them about it over a year ago, they were nearly prepared. They had done what's called a canvas through the EOTC, the Transportation Secretary's Office. that it wasn't needed.

This shifting priority around the electrification of the commuter rail is a long-term priority and goal for the T, but it's become very prominent in the decision-making and that's what's slowing They're not saying they won't do it. They're just saying we need to know more about how much of that land we need to keep within our control before we can commit to giving us an easement.

And do they have a process for figuring out? How much land they need?

We're in sort of purgatory, Mary. Yeah, we're in a little bit of purgatory and we don't want to really speak too much. Thank you so much. I'm just trying to summarize whether it's a spatial issue or it's a precedent issue. And to be honest, we may be dealing with different folks in a year. So, and I will say Cambridge has a great relationship with the T. So I know we sound like, I don't want to sound like we're off putting responsibility, but you know, the state reps and the legislators and, and the governor, they see Cambridge as an important place. So the more the community rallies around things, the more likely we are to get their attention.

And to Anthony's point, there's a precedent there that we're relying heavily upon. And that's how the city stepped up on the Green Line extension when that was stalled. and that relationship and the goodwill that was created there is paying dividends in these conversations with the team.

Good to know. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Okay, so it looks like we have two more follow-up questions or sets of questions, and then I'd like to try to move it into discussion. So, Ashley, let's go to you.

Thank you, Matt. I'm sure hopefully there are quick questions. First one is, and this might be actually a Jeff or a staff question, but am I correct that if HealthPeak is, I mean, we do want this bridge. In that event, it does not. My memory is that the developer can just contribute money. Is that correct? And instead of actually building a bridge, And then my second question is, is there a reason why Smith Park, which I'm excited about, is not in phase one along with the, I can't remember which buildings it was, but the residential buildings and why it's separately in phase two? Thank you.

I'm happy to let Jeff answer that just because we haven't heard from him. What was the second one, Ashley? Okay. That's a good question. Actually, I will start to say we have to begin construction on that bridge as long as commercial development is moving along. And if the commercial environment I just hate to say it, but if it doesn't pick up, then... conversations are going to really change around city priorities. I'm not sure the bridge is going to be our biggest concern, but we're still so hopeful that we get there.

Right. And Amy, to your earlier question, We're pursuing a PUD infrastructure, PUD special permit. So there's not an option to buy your way out of it. So unfortunately, the consequence of failing to deliver the bridge is a halting of development. So that means that the bridge is not just an altruistic move on the part of the developer, it's critical for the long-term success of the project.

Yeah, there's about 1.3 million square feet of commercial tied behind that bridge, which is a significant amount. And hopefully this gives you some solace, but ultimately I understand I'm a developer, so some... Skepticism, I'm sure is warranted, but we completely understand that the viability of this market hinges upon that pedestrian bridge. This market, as many of us have noticed, would be relatively tough to build and invent this type of development that we're talking about right now and invent this market. Thank you for joining us today. commercial buildings being built so we can fold in the significant investment of the bridge into that construction but we plan on bringing it as soon as possible

Thank you. I just wanted to confirm, you know, it's not something, you know, 20 years on the line. It's just a payment instead.

Okay. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Rylan, did you want to talk to Smith? The Smith Park. I think, Ashley, you also asked about that.

Yes, she did.

And the reason why Smith Park is in phase two is the same reason why the bridge starts or finishes in phase two. We were trying to maintain a open space requirement that's consistent with zoning. I believe it's 20%. of land area needs to be open space. Since we're delivering the Mooney Quad, which has that significant open space within the quadward well excess of that requirement, So Smith Park was pushed into phase two to even out the two phases. It's purely a zoning requirement decision. Ultimately, When we're improving Smith Place, it would probably make sense to do them at the same time, but right now it's based on zoning.

Thank you. Carolyn. Thank you so much. I will try and be quick. Just really a point of clarification for Selma actually. You had mentioned, I think, as one of the traffic mitigation measures, a shuttle may be running from the site to It's a 25 minute walk from Iggy's to Alewife. So whether it's, you know, from somewhere in the middle of the site, maybe at one of the parks right now or at Until the bridge is built, at least. Is the shuttle something that you guys are considering? It wasn't in the narrative that I could see. So I'm curious to hear if that's really on the docket.

Yeah, and I can definitely start. So there is an existing TMA, Transportation Management Association, that operates in the Alewife. And they do have shuttles that they run We met with them and we are working with the DOT staff on figuring out what that coordination wants to look like so that and HealthPeak wants to support kind of the shuttle piece as well. So what that wants to look like. We're also proposing when we're talking about curbside uses, apparel parking spaces. It also includes planning for shuttle bus stops, you know, making sure that there is infrastructure available for people to actually Nobody's buses stopped so that they end up using them so that we can get people out of cars. So there is a system already out there and we're working with the staff to figure out how we can

Thank you very much.

All right, so I think now we can move into discussion after all of those questions. And as we... As we go over the project, just a reminder that both in the CDD memo and as Jim pointed out in the memo and then he kind of reiterated what What actions the planning board or things they need to think about this evening? And, you know, one is, does the proposal at a concept level generally meet the criteria of the PUD and the The Alewife Overlay District zoning requirements as well as sort of relate to all of the other planning studies that have been done for the area. And then probably most importantly tonight is for us to focus in on whatever revisions, modifications, or additional detail we would like to see in the final development proposal.

This is really our opportunity to give them as long a checklist as we can think of and I guess, you know, the three memos that we received, one from Community Development, one from DOT, and then Public Works, all have additional information that they are requesting. And I think the memos have been pretty comprehensive. So I would say, you know, as a starting point, we would say, respond to all of those points and provide responses to the information that's been requested. But above and beyond that, if you have other things that you'd like to add, please do. So with that, who would like to begin the conversation about the preliminary determination?

We're all jumping once.

Okay.

Ashley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I can start just to kick things off. First off, thank you for the proponents for your patience. I know it's I love the new Main Street idea. I appreciate your commitment to the pedestrian bridge and it's definitely something we would unlock, you know, especially the northwest quad of I'll speak for myself. I think there's still some large larger tweaks that I think need to be done before or you know more information I would want to see to feel comfortable and others may disagree but

For me, it's kind of two big buckets. Maybe they fall into three, but one, as we all know, it's the amount of traffic in cars and the other. I think the Northwest Quad can use improvement. It currently reminds me a lot of what we already see, but we've gone through this whole process of planning to zoning in efforts of not recreating something we already have but wanting to see something that would really improve the neighborhood and so On those buckets, on the mobility and traffic side, I know this is out of your control, but anything to do to...

Progress, both the pedestrian bridge and terminal road I think would be very helpful, especially given how concentrated, I know this is out of your control too, Given how most of the commercial buildings are in the Northwest Quad, and that currently is a 1.4 mile walk to Ill Life, which I don't think is a reasonable walk, you know, 35 to 40 minutes. And so just I think we'll need more information about cars, whether or not there is going to be shared parking, what the commitments are to... Whether it's improving the existing shuttles, running more shuttle services, especially on weekends, I think that's all things we need more information on.

And in terms of the Northwest Quad, both in the plans that we've seen and even the ones tonight, there is very little retail. I think there's one space for retail and neighborhood uses and if that's going to be in phase one, I hope the tenants and the residences there will have more than just one option of I think it would be helpful to see in that corner whether that quad can I guess accommodate food trucks or have more plaza space so that there can be a little more active uses there until the bridge is built and there's more connection.

What else? Otherwise, I definitely agree with everything in the memos. I think... Yeah, careful look at that. I know the staff has put in a lot of effort, but I definitely would love to see what creative things can be done about just really activating the Northwest Quad. What can be done about traffic and transportation? I will say this is probably the first time I've seen a memo from the Department of Transportation that has serious concerns. in many years. And so anything to alleviate our concerns, I think would be helpful to make the findings we need to make to grant a special permit. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate your comments. Ted.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my first question is for Ashley. Are the things you want to see things you need to see before we can make the preliminary determination? And you're nodding your head yes.

Yeah, and this is rare coming from me because I think normally if a project is 60 or 70% there, I think tweaks can be done to get us there. But in this case, you know, whether it's the parking count, the Even the TDM, you know, I read all the entire TIS and there's just things like, I know we talked about today, like The amount of garages without active use, at least this is my perspective, I think there can be work that needs to be done to be able to say that all six

I just was curious where we were in the process. and where you wanted us to be in the process. And that's fine from my point of view, because I think as a board, if one or more members felt strongly that they needed to see That's fine and I would be fine with I'd say continuing this matter till you get the additional information or whatever. We all want to get. Personally, I would be prepared to make the preliminary determination

I think the proposal is basically good, basically sound. and I have no reason to question the sincerity of HealthPeak and what they've said to us tonight. I certainly think we need to incorporate everything that was in all of the memos. And I personally would like to see a shifting of the delivery of the bridge to phase one. Obviously, we can't guarantee that, but if we're shifted to phase one to hold Health Peaks, and the city's feet to the fire, as it were, that obviously there would be a procedure for amending it or continuing it.

If things were moving apace, but I hate to be in the situation where we're 10, 15 years down the road and get to the point, well, the MBTA will never give us this. So if we were to approve it now, I would still want to see in the final plan a shifting. I also think I would like to see a reduction in the parking. It seems that it's just way too much and that, you know, we've been trying to limit parking for the past number of years everywhere. And it seems to me this is a great With the bridge, this is a great transit community, transit-related project.

That doesn't need as much parking and we're doing away with parking in many, many other areas. And I think we found that in you know a lot of the projects we approved over the years where we were had mandates of the the amount of parking we needed that there are If we could do less parking then some of the parking structures can be lower perhaps and that can address some of the other. members of the community and their comments. Really, those are my comments right now. I thought the staff memos all incorporated pretty much every questions that I had.

But I am perfectly willing to say that if one or more members have strong feelings about it, I'm perfectly happy to go along with that too. Madam Chair.

Let me get through this first, Anthony, and then we'll see. Thank you. I know that there are issues in terms of wanting to continue the hearing, so. Let's go to Mary next.

Thank you and thank you to everyone who so many of you have clearly been involved in this process for so long and it really shows across the different I would also reiterate that the SAP memos, all three of them were extraordinarily detailed and I know you are looking at this closely, and so I'm just going to touch on some that are touched on there, but I would like to see I'll start by saying It's such an opportunity like you framed. You have so much land here to really make this impact. You're also doing something incredibly hard in that this land is not all contiguous. It is fragmented. When I was looking back at the ALYF design guidelines, what struck me is that

The massing and development for this area within that was much more oriented towards perimeter buildings with kind of courtyard or landscape on the interior right, which really allowed the building face to come up to the street a bit like to the west or sorry to the east between Wheeler and Fawcett Street. You know how that has kind of more of this interior quality. Okay. Now that can sometimes have a challenge in that you're creating publicly beneficial open space that kind of seems semi-private. Do people use it? Do they not? It's a type of, you know, kind of has a quality to it. But David, as he teed up kind of these five pillars that he was looking at, I was struck that number two was new public realm and then number four was publicly beneficial open space that's connected. I feel like you guys really want those things to basically be connected.

If you're kind of fragmenting the concept of it, it's showing up a little bit.

We can't hear you for some reason, Mary.

Parks and the publicly beneficial open space, it's very hard. to tell what is what. And I think it's... inhibiting placemaking and a sense of you've arrived somewhere. Obviously, we've all talked about the biggest challenge there is the diagonal park, right? I know you don't own the in-between, but the two pieces that you do own Don't really talk to each other, right? Other than the idea that you could create a path in the longer term. I'm not going to dwell on it too much, but I know the memo talks about the way that R2 intersects these axes between new mainstream Park, and The Bridge. I think that continuing to just workshop that because I mean what a fundamentally you know grounding framework if you could get those axes to work from a public realm in a visual perspective to anchor

Thank you so much for joining us. Somewhat more interior or open courtyards. you didn't get nearly as much kind of residual landscape as what I see I see buildings there up against the street but then like say C3 you look at that and you think to yourself what is that landscape behind it that would be going up to a fence to a property that hopefully they you know it's a little bit like it's not I'm hoping to see a little bit more assertiveness about how you are teeing up the future development for what you don't own. And right now, it feels like because you have this new Main Street concept, which was so eloquently described in terms of how that seems most viable. It's near the other energy in its

you know gonna have the most teeth to actually work but then to the upper west it looks kind of like a mini Cambridge Crossing office oriented I very much worry about I totally buy that residential retail would be so hard there. But I also worry that it's going to feel kind of like... you know like a lagoon in an empty office park on the weekends next to the parking deck so it feels to me like you have three different kind of development moments and just continuing to use the public realm to tie it together because it's such an interesting moment you guys have and I think this is also just goes to the placemaking and the sense of identity and I know that this is a bit of like kind of the pre-development so we have the Smith part then you mean everything's a bit intentionally generic and I think you can hold that but I do feel like there's this quality of being between Fresh Pond and Alewife this like intensely

Nature Immersion and you're in this kind of light industrial area, I think there's something very cool and immersive and I'm hoping you guys can lean into a little bit because I think that would just be really compelling, you know, both for the visioning and helping to tie these different Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much. but if we could get those axes and that crossing and ultimately once you get the okay,

that's going to be such a key kind of could be a really key identity piece to the whole site as well and so there's kind of a node moment over there by Iggy's which is also I love going there. And I think as Allison described, that's the first thing that happens. That would just be an amazing kind of little collective note, especially if that connectivity piece as Ashley and Ted have talked about could really be pulled to the fore. It's like how transformative that could be. So those are things I'm hoping to see. Paired with that, also just a little bit more detail as I think you've talked about relative to Um... Where are the other recreational pieces around? You guys did a good job of sharing where the big piece connections were. And now I'm kind of wondering, well, but if I live there, where's the other playground? And that's actually something to think about.

Right now, you talked about these kind of two little play areas. I think don't be afraid to consolidate things I'd rather have one cool playground that I can go and my kid can hang out for an hour than two or three scattered that you know might not be as much of a destination so that's maybe just an idea of don't I wouldn't be afraid to make some destinations here that feel like they add to this bigger network hoping to see a little bit more I am excited about the potential of the residential being part of this first push and I would encourage, and it sounds like you're doing all the right things and talking to the city, working out what can be done and so just continuing

I like the density that I'm seeing in what you're doing. lean more towards Ashley who fully read everything on the on the parking I can't figure out why it's so much parking but of course that also struck me four parking garages just felt like I'd like to see more information on that, just unpacking how to explain that to my neighbor. Help me have the easy description. I think that's it. I feel like, like I said, you all have been working on it. I think that the intent is there to get something great for the city. I'm just hoping to see a little bit more on those topics.

Thank you, Mary. So it sounds, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds as though you're at a point where You feel like a preliminary recommendation is doable this evening, and that the additional information can be part of the final plan. Is that my summarizing? your position correctly? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Carolyn, let's go to you next.

Great. Thank you. I want to reiterate my appreciation for the whole team that presented tonight and for the staff that put together the memos, CDD, DOT, DPW. They're really wonderful. So I endorse. My plus one goes to all of those. There are three kind of areas that I am hoping to see more on. The first is... One of the reasons that maybe there's what I see as an excess of parking, Selma mentioned that without shared uses, it would be 5,000 spaces. With shared parking, it's about... Thank you for joining us. The total parking count. So I would really encourage you to drill in on that really see if you can't reduce that by more. I've always seen it multiples of where you are in terms of the total parking count reduction.

I do want to reiterate that I think it's DPW and CDD memos about looking at district-wide energy and district-wide stormwater reduction. And then I also want to push on and build on what Mary Lydecker was saying about really community building and being specific to Cambridge learning lessons from the Seaport redevelopment. that felt like Main Street USA and it was all very kind of generic brand retail on the ground floor that could have been plopped down anywhere. All due respect to anyone on these teams that worked on that. but really driving community. I'm really excited to see what you're gonna do that really builds community. A bunch of the public halls talk to dog parks. And I'm all for children's playgrounds, but as a dog owner, nothing builds community like dog parks. But childcare and libraries and, you know, where...

Please expand on how you're kind of thinking about really building a neighborhood and building community and not just having a Main Street USA. And that's it. Thank you all. Thanks, Carolyn. Dan.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm not sure as an associate member whether I'm voting on a finding or not, but I certainly... You will be tonight. You will be tonight. Very appreciative of the materials put forward and certainly feel like I would be supportive. I think there are tweaks. There are pieces that I want to second on my other committee members' comments. I think that they're more or less tweaks. I'm glad that District Energy was brought up. That was on my list on sustainability. and I guess I would be also curious to know if all the buildings are going to be meeting a passive house, including the commercial buildings. I know that it's particularly challenging around

Thank you so much for joining us. I really would like to see some more active use. I know that we mentioned that previously. Mary's mentioned it. I was pleased to see Some clear delineation of some active use spaces. I think somebody even mentioned whether there'd be the possibility of rooftop on parking structures. I know that that may be a reach, but We desperately citywide need active green space. And I think for this to be a really vibrant community, it would be a real loss not to have more. I think that those are the sort of social Thank you.

Thank you. I think, as Carolyn mentioned, I really would love to see some strategies for parking and traffic reduction. We're all suffering from it. And I think to Ted's point, we're really having a hard time with projects that are coming forward with parking. We just saw one from affordable housing with surface parking. It baffles me. And I know that there's a strong economic component You've got to be able to make this work, but if there's a strategy for ways to see this reduction over time, I would really love to see that.

Maybe more minorly, I'd like to see a little bit more development of The space between the commercial and residential buildings on Main Street. I was pleased to have visited Barcelona again last year and was really struck by the spaces between buildings. That crossing that happens there I think could benefit from some breathing room. and I think that it kind of goes a little bit more to my other thought about about building types. Mary mentioned this, but right now these are all very block buildings, especially This is more of an architectural piece to David and his team.

I mentioned previously how much I appreciated the buildings along Wheeler Street and their kind of thinner profile and ability to allow some landscape and open space to break up the massing. And I know that if, although this is a master plan, unless some thought is going into it in terms of how these are viable and if we're really going to be looking at building R2 as being a first building. Out of the gate, I really put it out there as a challenge to say, how do we avoid this just being a, what are we looking at, 12-story block, right? It just would be really unfortunate not to have something a little bit more. Thank you. Plastic, I'll say.

And then the very last piece, I know these are small pieces, but in the Northwest quadrant, I really feel strongly that, and this is maybe my urban design opinion here, but If building C4 were rotated 90 degrees, I think that that green space would be significantly improved. I think that the ability to have retail working there Opening that space up to South Light would be a vast improvement. So I would encourage you just to look at that a little bit more carefully. I think that's it on my list. I'm really looking forward to seeing it come back. I want to see this move forward as quickly as possible. So thank you.

Thank you, Dan. Diego.

Just to reiterate what the other planning board members have said, the staff memos were great and the presentations today was really great. It's just so much information and it's almost hard to grasp everything. and I think that is I have two main comments well first off I'd like to say I think I'm okay with the preliminary determination I think what I've seen so far it's a lot of maybes for some stuff that's going to come through but I think if everything does come through which it sounds like I'm kind of an optimist I hope it's going to come through Then I think this is going to be a really great asset for the city. I think it's going to be a great development. But my two comments are, first is the parking. I think it's a lot. It makes sense that it's needed, but I guess I'm just looking for more opportunities to make the parking more

I like the ideas of having some recreational activities on the roofs. That's difficult or perhaps some flexibility since this is such a long development and it's going to be decades. That there's some measuring going on with the first parking structures that are built. We've seen a lot of projects where parking has been moved, has been sort of asked to be removed or borrowed from other places. It's great to see that flexibility come through and hopefully that happens with the development of these parking structures. And then the second comment I have is sort of to piggyback on Mary's comments. So this development's so large, I had a hard time understanding the placemaking that was happening. I don't have any issues with some of the designs I've seen so far for the parks and open space in Main Street.

but it's hard at this scale to connect to it because I'm familiar with like across the street in Fresh Pond there's Maher Field and there's a really great meadow and that milk I forget what it's called but I'm so connected to those because I'm always there. So I can just envision myself going into this development and I really just kind of want to understand that more. But I think those are my two comments, just placemaking and some flexibility in the parking. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Let's see. So I want to get back to Ashley in a minute. I think we've heard pretty much from everyone. Are there any final comments? No, okay. So Ashley, I think the things that you're looking for in terms of additional information regarding the traffic and the Northwest Quad, et cetera, and the pedestrian bridge are things that we all wanna see. I don't know, you know, we have to issue our determination within 21 days. So I'm not even sure that it's possible for the team to put together all of that information in 21 days. So, you know, as Ted has noted in the past, usually, you know, one member has reservations. We tend to go that way. But I just want to circle back and see.

where all the other board members have similar concerns, if you would be okay proceeding with the preliminary determination tonight knowing that the information is coming in the final. Yeah, and if you're not, that's fine too. No, thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, I'm flexible. You know, definitely I'm in the minority in this flexible of going with the board. And I guess my big concern is that if we... move forward and I hope the proponent will you know do their best but I think my fear is always once you move forward with something there won't be a you know good try to change or substantially try to change on this I think my big thing is the parking and Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm happy to go ahead with the board, but that's the big one because, yeah.

I'm just thinking about every time we've had, especially the affordable housing projects, we'll just get a different iteration of the same answer on the second round. And so, yeah.

Okay, well, let me ask the project team then, is there any information that you could provide to Ashley sooner that would help?

Madam Chair, I hate to see Ashley, you're stressed. You shouldn't be. We made a collective decision with Ryan McKinnon, and working through the DOT, I'll refer to it by the new name, DOT issues. We all sort of agreed that we didn't have to get the PDTM done for preliminary determination. So unfortunately, the memo outlines all the issues that we're continuing to work on. It doesn't mean that we're resistant to any of them. and I think there's a will by the team to work through the majority of them. Diego, we agree and Jim has stressed throughout the conversations as the project

Thank you for joining us. at different points of intersection. So I think, Ashley, you have our strong commitment. We would not have come tonight if we didn't think we were gonna get to a PDTM agreement with So we wouldn't have wasted HealthPeaks resources, time, and money if we didn't think we were going to get there. We got to a point where we agreed with Ryan Let's keep working on it because we have some additional issues to work through. You have our full good faith commitment that we will do it. So there's a way, I think, to get to a good place on all of those.

And just to add, Mary, you also raised a bunch of issues that since we had that pre-filing meeting, Madam Chair, we then went and met with staff. All the different staffs, retail, open space, parking, and we actually made a lot of progress, but those changes didn't show up in tonight's presentation because they weren't in the filing. So I think you're going to be really Thank you for joining us. The next phase. So, Ashley, please have faith that we will get there on PDTM. We're confident of that and that all those issues are contained within the PDTM memo.

Hopefully that helps. We do, I do wanna say healthy, We're trying to keep Pelphie motivated and inspired to continue to keep moving forward. So we would appreciate a vote on the preliminary determination tonight.

Definitely understand. Also, Ashley, you don't have to vote with the majority. You know, always remember that. I mean, we generally tend to always vote kind of as a group, but it's not a requirement.

Madam Chair, if possible for one minute, I just want to remind board members and Ms. Tan included There's months of work left to be done. And when the final development proposal comes before the board, there will be memos. from CDD, Traffic, and DPW, just like they were today. But rather than memos asking for information, They will contain requirements of being imposed upon us, conditions necessary for approval. So that's an ongoing negotiation that's taking place. All the vote tonight allows us to do is to move into that phase of the process. and it is very critical that we were able to continue the momentum we have now. So since we were asked, given a chance to speak and I know we're in deliberations, I'm going to stop talking. Thank you.

Well, point was well taken. So anyway, Ashley, I think you have enough information for people to make a decision for yourself. I don't have really anything to add in terms of additional information requested because I think everybody's sort of hit on the big things the parking you know usually I'm the one who's saying you need more here I'm taking the other The other position, I think you need less. And so I'd like to see further analysis on that. Obviously an update on the bridge. To some, whatever extent you can put sort of a, Timeframing on this

I know it's hard so you know maybe it's a range you know assuming best and worst cases but just to give the board some level of comfort and may I also say that you know we change schedules all the time on PUDs based on economic conditions and other things. So to the extent you can give us some guidance on that, it would be helpful. Dan, you have your hand up again.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate Attorney Rafferty's and Guglielmo's encouragement on this. And as I said, I'm inclined. Very much so to support the finding and determination. I was just curious if staff, Jeff or others, had anything to add.

Yeah.

This is Jeff. I'll just add, in terms of the process or in terms of, I think in terms of the content, a lot of it's covered in the memos. In terms of the process, Yeah, it's a little bit of an unusual process for the planning board. I think we're used to sort of just getting all the information and then you know making a decision so this sort of two-step process of the preliminary determination is a little strange but it is really meant to be kind of I think of it sort of a gatekeeper step of you know is this is this you know should this just stop here is the plan not really consistent with what the the planning in the area calls for or should it should it move forward to a real special permit deliberation at which point The board will have to make not just the findings that the board will kind of have to make at a general level tonight, but the board will also have to make findings that the application responds to the specific

and so forth. but making that next step and going to the final plan makes sense. and if we can update the PUD process somehow at some point in the future to make that piece a little bit clearer, then maybe we will. But this is what we're working with. Nothing about the preliminary determination dictates what the final result will be and all of these issues that the board has brought forward will have to be discussed at that point. Thanks, Jeff. That's super helpful.

Okay, anyone else on the city staff want to make any comments at this point? Is there anything that we're missing? Again, the memos were so comprehensive. I can't think of what we could be missing, but if something has occurred to any of you tonight, now's the time to speak up. Okay, I'm not seeing any hands. So, all right. So what we need to do then, it sounds as though we have the majority of board members who are willing to make the preliminary determination approving the development proposal. But first, we have to make the findings that are listed in the CDD memo on page three, the PUD. approval criteria of section 12.35.3.

We have to make the findings that the proposal conforms generally with development controls and the PUD district. conforms with adopted plans and guidelines for the neighborhood, which would include things like the Alewife overlay district, quadrangle zoning, the Envision Cambridge plan, and other planning studies and documents that have been referenced in the memos and that the The proposal provides benefits that outweigh negative impacts considering site design and integration of land uses, building types and density, preservation of natural features, compatibility with adjacent areas, area and types of open space provided, amenities for the broader community, traffic flow and safety, utilities and infrastructure, impact on existing public facilities, and potential fiscal impact.

I think what we've heard tonight is that in general, there's been a long process. There's been involvement from the community. The proposal does generally conform with the controls. I think we've had a robust discussion on the benefits and the negative impacts that we want to see mitigated. So are we comfortable making the findings that I just outlined this evening? And if you could all just raise your hands or nod yes or no. Okay, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, all right. So then, let me just see where we are here. Okay, over here.

Okay, we've talked about adding in all the staff memo conditions and then the suggestions and requests for additional information that were put forth tonight. with all of that information included, is there a motion to make a preliminary determination approving the development proposal based on the board's finding that the applicable zoning criteria are met and with the request for modifications and additional information. And we're... Who wants to make the motion, if you would first just state your name.

This is Ted, so moved.

Thank you, Ted. Could I have a second, please? This is Carolyn, second. Thank you, Carolyn. Okay, Jeff, could we have a roll call vote, please?

And I believe you said this before, but just to make it official, appoint... and an associate member to substitute for Thompson-Avish, who's absent.

Correct. Yes, I am appointing Dan Anderson as a substitute to vote on this finding and determination.

Great, thank you. So with that, on that motion, Ted Cohen? Yes. Mary Lydecker?

Yes.

Diego Macias? Yes. Ashley Tan?

Yes.

Carolyn Zern, Dan Anderson, and Mary Flynn. So that's all seven designated members voting in favor.

Excellent. All right. Well, thank you to everyone, to the team, the project team, the city staff, to the planning board members who have spent a lot of time reviewing materials and having a good discussion tonight. We look forward to seeing the team back sometime in the future, but we've got a lot of work to do before that happens.

Sorry to have kept you from the salt shed. I know that's an important matter for you.

Well, you know, that'll probably take us another three hours, Jim. I was honored that we were ahead of DPW.

I was honored we were ahead of DPW. I don't want to aggravate Kara. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Very welcome. Thank you to everyone. Thank you. Okay, so let us move on then to agenda item number two, which as was just noticed is a public hearing on for the proposed replacement of the salt storage shed and site improvements at 79 Sherman Street by the Department of Public Works. And Jeff is going to begin by summarizing why this is before us.

Yes, thank you, Jeff Roberts again. And this is a public hearing. It's a little bit of an unusual one that we don't see that often, but this relates to section 4.25 of the zoning ordinance. and it relates to non-open space projects proposed in an open space zoning district. So the Department of Public Works is proposing a replacement of the existing salt shed along with some site improvements within the existing footprint of the use, which is within Danahy Park. and the process is to hold a public hearing and to make a report with recommendations that gets filed with the city clerk. So it's an advisory process. In addition to this process under Section 4.25, the replacement salt shed, because it's a new structure, it's a demolition of the existing structure and replacing it with a new structure,

The new structure will require a special permit and dimensional variances for the Board of Zoning Appeal and that is a public hearing Thank you for joining us. If you want to transmit any recommendations to the BZA.

Okay, thank you. The presenter this evening, I believe, is Effa Viglianti on behalf of the city. And if you would please introduce the project team and begin your presentation. Angled your name, I apologize.

That's okay, thank you. My name is Aoife Filianti, I work for Capitol Buildings for the city of Cambridge. My team here tonight is Tyler from Wesson and Sampson, his colleague. I'm just looking across here to see if Who's left at this late hour? Billy Bender. Oh, Billy's still here? Okay. And then we have my colleague Nick Stout. Brendan Roy, and John Nardone still here to represent DPW. Tyler's going to present the information of the application. Yep. Thanks, Tyler. Thank you.

All right. Good evening, everybody. My name is Tyler Cofalici. I'm project manager for Weston & Samson, working with IFA on this project. So I'm just going to go do a quick overview of the project that was in our and then we'll just open up for some questions so just to orient everyone the red outlined area is the limits of Danity Park and it's the in the open space district Our project is focused in this portion where we'll be replacing the salt shed, doing some minor reorganization and operational improvements, as well as Modifying an existing access road for emergency vehicles to access the park. So we'll be focusing on this part of the project of the site. So this is the existing conditions plan. We got the salt shed in the main center of the building.

and we have the Bryan operations off to the left here. Right now it's split up with two main uses. The green area is mainly used by the DPW and DHP. who maintains the ball fields and does some maintenance around the park has some storage in this portion of the building. What we're proposing to do is to replace the salt shed Someone Kind, we're going to be increasing the storage capacity to help with snow fighting operations and we're consolidating the DPW use kind of in one area. and giving the DHP their own area off to the side. We're also improving the wash

vehicle washing area for the DPW employees and I mean overall that's pretty much what we're proposing to do along with us stormwater improvements for the site The existing salt shed was built in 1990. It's a high arch cambrough with a, you know, Wood push walls and we're replacing it with a newer salt shed with a slightly different design but roughly the same we're going to be matching the same height and we're adding new spaces for the DPW operations that includes a bathroom, a brine equipment room and a small A little break room for the DPW operators to break in during long snow fighting operations. And that's kind of the overview of the project.

So much simpler than the previous one.

Yes, yes. Kind of a nice way to wrap up the evening. Short and sweet. Good. Thank you. Okay. So this is a public hearing. So any members of the public who wish to speak should now click the button that says raise hand. If you're calling in by phone, you can raise your hand by pressing star 9. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the board had received no written comments on this case. I'll now ask staff to unmute speakers one at a time. So first, let me see if there are any speakers. If there's anyone who wishes to comment on this proposal, please raise your hand now. Okay, seeing none.

I believe we can proceed then with the planning board discussion. So board members, do you have any comments or Questions for staff. And I don't see any questions. Oh, wait, Dan.

Madam chair. I think my biggest question here is, I'm just reading through the report and looking at analysis of alternate sites. I've always wondered why this structure and salt, All I'm seeing in the write up here is that no alternative sites have been identified. So I'm kind of just asking for some I guess in light of our previous conversation The identification of uses potentially specifically for DPW at Alewife. You know, given, again, a constraint on open space and active recreation, I would highly prefer

That to be happening at Danahy, then Assault Shed. So maybe staff can speak to the site selection alternative process.

Sure. Who from DPW or I don't know if Tyler is the one, but I think it's probably someone from DPW.

Aoife, is that something you can talk about? I would like if John Nardone could address this.

Sure. Thank you. Yeah. Hi, folks. John Nardone. I think Just to answer the question about the Mooney Street Postal and what you folks just reviewed, I do want folks to keep in mind that, you know, currently DPW is renting a lot of property out at that site. and we are taking up about four to five acres of land where we have a lot of equipment spread out. When we finally do get to build on the Mooney Street, what I'm calling the Mooney Street site, but the Hell Peak site, We are down to just over an acre. It's about 1.2 acres. So that site will be specifically used for streets and sewer operation. It will house the equipment that they use there, but there really is no... Extra space to keep salt.

This particular salt shed, we're looking at about a 2,000 ton capacity. Right now, the existing salt shed is a little shy of that. It's about somewhere between 1200. If we were to really stuff it to the gills, it's about 1500. We do have some other satellite spots around the city. There is one up the street, Sherman Street, that we're going through a process now that will eventually house some other folks that we have at Mooney Street. And then we have a location at Webster Ave. Again, it's about an acre. It's very much residential. That's a temporary site for us that will eventually be turned over for a housing project. So I guess the short answer is, you know, we're not a big city to begin with, and the properties that DPW controls are actually pretty small.

As Tyler mentioned, this salt shed has been here for almost 40 years. Before my time, I think it was a convenient and accessible location for us to run those operations. So I hope that answers the question.

Not especially. I understand that Mooney Street and Alewife was just came up because so I appreciate your description of that not fitting feasibly. Was there a more in-depth process that went through to evaluate sites that gave us some sort of site selection alternative process? Or just in looking at your inventory, you said, no, don't see anything. This is the best one for us to go forward with. I mean, historically, this was a dump. So it's not like there's been change of use.

Right. I think that's the honest answer is like we looked at our inventory and there really is not A location where we could utilize this and still be able to run the other operations that we need to run year round.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, John. Are there any other questions from board members? Okay, I'm not seeing any. All right, so as Jeff mentioned, What we have to do is send a report to the city clerk. So, I think at this point the report would basically say that we've had a presentation and then, you know, does the planning board want to go on record as in support of the project or? or just, you know, leave it with no comment. We're not sure exactly what else the report needs to include, Jeff, since we haven't really done one of these.

Ten. Well, I actually think it's kind of fun walking around Danahy Park in St. Petersburg and encountering the salt shed. I've always enjoyed it as a Just a landmark when I'm walking around. But I think we, you know, it's the city and It's been there for over 40 years and they're just replacing it with a newer structure. And so I would think we would recommend it to the ZBA that they approve it.

Okay. So, as I mentioned, we have to send a report to the city clerk's office, but then we will need a second motion to transmit a report to the BZA. Jeff.

I just wanted to pull up the zoning to read it to say that what the zoning says is the planning board shall prepare a report with recommendations concerning the proposed development or conveyance, including conditions that should be attached to such action. Not to editorialize too much, this is a process that really, I think, anticipates a A more substantial kind of action that would be something along the lines of the city taking a public park and dedicating it for housing development or doing something really different. with the use of the site. And so it probably doesn't, there doesn't need to be anything too elaborate. And again, the instructions in the zoning are are fairly open-ended in terms of how much or little the board wants to say in its report.

Okay, so it seems like the report should basically say that we had a public hearing. There was a presentation by the Department of Public Works explaining the need for the The change in the structure. Again, you talk a little bit about the history of it being there for 40 plus years. And then I think I mean, unless somebody has strong objections, I think we can say that we're in support of the city's project on that site since it has such a long history there. So let's do this in two different motions. So first there would be, is there a motion to conclude the public hearing and send a report, as I've described, to the city clerk?

And this vote is for full board members only. Would someone like to make that motion, please? This is Carolyn, so moved. Thank you, Carolyn. May I have a second, please?

Ted, second.

Thank you, Ted. Roll call vote, please, Jack.

On that motion, Ted Cohen. Yes. Mary Lydecker?

Yes.

Diego Macias? Yes. Ashley Tan?

Yes.

Carolyn Zern?

Yes.

Mary Flynn?

Yes.

That's all six members present voting in favor.

Okay, and then I need a motion to transmit the report to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Again, this is full board members, so someone please make that motion.

This is Diego, so moved.

Thank you, Diego. Is there a second, please?

Ted, second.

Thank you. And Jeff, a roll call vote, please.

On that motion, Ted Cohen? Yes. Mary Lydecker?

Yes.

Diego Macias? Yes. Ashley Tan?

Yes.

Carolyn Zern, and Mary Flynn. It's all six members present voting in favor. Great, thank you.

So that concludes the business on our agenda. I'm surprised that we're finished as early as we are so this is good. Are there additional comments from staff?

Thank you for hanging in there. It was one of the longer meetings we've had in a while and we'll be back in two weeks.

Okay.

All right. Board members, anything else you want to add before we adjourn? I see no hands up.

Thank you. Mary, could I? Yeah. I really think tonight's hearing and the Future Hearing would benefit from our being live all together in one place with the proponents and hopefully a model. and it's been almost five years if not longer that we've been on Zoom and I really think it would be beneficial for us and all the proponents if we were back together live in the future.

Yes, other board members feel the same way. I know Swathi has been staying in touch with the IT people and working on this diligent, well, at least trying to get them to work on this diligently. So I think certainly by the time this project comes back to us, We should be live. I don't know that I can promise any sooner than that, but I think that will work.

I'd like to get it before the pedestrian bridge.

Right, right, right. Yes.

Mary. Well, it's a slightly different topic. I would say, though, to Ted's point, I really enjoyed the one we did this past year one time. My comment is only because Ted mentioned the bridge again. So the bridge I'm also so interested is the one to the east, right, that connects across to Danahy Park. And I was just curious. I didn't want to bring this up with the group on the call. When the city is kind of advocating for two crossings so close, is there any, you know, what's the dynamic between that, right? Working with MBTA and asking for those. If one happens, does it give them leverage to, not be as collaborative on the other one. I'm just kind of interested in how the dynamics of those two crossings work together and how the city advocates for both of those.

Jeff, do you have any idea?

Well, I think probably we can bring this back to talk about a little bit more. It's not a subject I know a lot about and probably not something you know as we're kind of past the agenda that we want to get too deep into but you know all good points that that we can come back to the board on at some time in the future.

Thank you. Dan.

Yeah, so I think too, I'm certainly happy to get together in person and I'm just curious whether I will see anyone tomorrow night.

I'm planning on going.

Yes. Good. So we can satisfy some of Ted's hankering for physical interaction, social interaction. Yes.

It's good to see people live.

Yes. Truly it is.

Know what they're doing, how they're doing. Great.

I'm glad people are planning on attending the city events. Thank you all very much. All the time and attention you put into this effort. Thank you.