Somerville Planning Board 10-16-2025

All right, good evening. This is the October 16th, 2025 meeting of the Somerville Planning Board. I'm Amelia Aboff. With me tonight are our clerk, Jahan Habib, and members Lynn Richards, Michael McNeely, and Luc Schuster. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Somerville Planning Board will be conducted via remote participation. A video recording of the proceedings will be available on the City website or by emailing planningboard at somervillema.gov. We have a few items on the agenda tonight, including a few minutes approvals, a few hearings, and some items about their business. We will start with our minutes. Starting first with the minutes from September 4th, 2025. Has everyone had an opportunity to review those minutes? Are there any suggested revisions or edits to them? Okay. So with no edits, I move to approve the September 4th draft minutes as the record of that meeting, seconded by Jahan. Could staff please call the roll?

No, I'm really, so only just to start the meeting, make sure to have a roll call attendance.

Sure. So just to reiterate for membership for attendance here, could we, would you please do a roll call of those present?

Hi. Lynn Richards.

Hi.

Luc Schuster.

Hi.

Mike Manoli.

Here.

And Emily Ava.

Hi. And so moving on then back to the September 4th meeting minutes, could staff please call the roll for the motion to approve the September 4th meeting minutes?

Hi, Lynn Richards.

Hi.

Luc Schuster.

Hi.

Mike Minnelli. Hi. And Emily.

I thank you. All right. And we also had the minutes from September 18. Has everyone had a chance to review those minutes? Any revisions? Okay, seeing none, I move to approve the minutes from September 18th as the record of that meeting, seconded by Jahan. Could you please call the roll?

Jahan Abiy. Aye. Lynn Richards.

Aye.

Luc Schuster. Aye. Mike Manuli. Aye. And Emily Ava.

Aye. Thank you very much. Sarah Bosler , All right, we have three cases this evening, the first being 379 summer below, which was previously opened and continued from past meetings my understanding from staff is that the applicant has requested a further continuous to this meeting and staff is there any other commentary or can you confirm.

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, Lexi. Hi. Sorry. Hi. Hi. I'm the case planner for 379 Somerville Ave. And we received a continuance from the applicant. So they're going to be continuing to the 1st November meeting.

Okay, great. So I will move to continue 379 Somerville Ave to our meeting on November 6th, 2025, seconded by Jahan. Could I please have a roll call?

Hi. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools & Lynn Richards. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools & I look sister. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools & Mike manually. Joseph Baeta, Supt of Schools & I'm able.

Emily Abel, Thank you. Emily Abel, Right our next case is one myrtle street, this is a new case, so can I ask you to please read it into the record for us john.

1, Myrtle street, clear view, sun room and window seeks to modify an apartment building in the mid rise 3 zoning district, which requires site plan approval. Z. P. 2, 5 dash. 0. 0. 0. 0. 8. 6.

Thank you. And do we have someone in the audience from the applicant team who wants to make a presentation on this?

Could the applicant please raise their hand from the audience and I will promote them to panelists.

This is a pretty small and straightforward case it's possible that there is no one from the applicant team here to discuss it does staff, do you have any sense of whether we were expecting someone.

So this one was steve's case and i'm i'm not sure if they would be attending or not it's it's being done just by the sunroom company and the resident of the House so. i'm not sure if they they were supposed to be attending or not okay.

I don't think that I am set up in a way where I can see raised hands. So if you are not seeing any hands raised from your side, we will assume the applicant is not here and move on. Before we open up to public comment, is there any discussion the board would like to have on this case? Okay. All right, so then we will open this up to public testimony. Since this is a minor item, I will ask anyone who wants to speak on this item, either in favor of it or with concerns about it, to please raise their hand at this time.

Madam Chair, I don't see any raised hands at the moment.

Okay. All right, so I am then closing oral testimony for this. My read of this item is that this is sort of an accident of the zoning ordinance that this is even in front of us for site plan approval and I welcome any thoughts from my colleagues, but I do not feel that it would be necessary to keep this open for written testimony until a future date. So is there any other discussion? Is there any discussion of this that members would like to have before we make a motion on it? Okay. Following public testimony, review of the submitted materials, and deliberation of the required considerations and findings as outlined by the Somerville Zoning Ordinance, I move to approve with the conditions identified in the staff memo the request for site plan approval. Sorry, with the conditions as described in the staff memo dated October 2nd to approve the request for site plan approval. Seconded by Jahan. May I please have a roll call?

Zainab Abid?

Aye.

Lynn Richards?

Aye.

Luc Schuster?

Aye.

Mike Minnelli? Aye. Amelia Eilert?

Aye. All right. Thank you very much. And our other new case for this evening is 44 White Street. There are three separate applications all having to do with relief at the same site. So Jahan, if I could ask you to please read these into the record for us.

Absolutely, Madam chair, 44, white street, the law office of Richard G. D. seeks to develop a 3 story apartment building in the mid rise for district, which requires site plan approval dash 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 8. the law office of Richard G. D. seeks to establish a residential housing use in the mid rise for zoning district. which requires a special permit Z P two five dash zero zero zero zero three nine. The law office of Richard G. Eger Alamo seeks to exceed the parking maximum in the mid rise for M R four zoning district, which requires a special permit Z P two five dash zero zero zero zero seven seven. Thank you, Madam chair.

Thank you very much. And for this, I am expecting that the applicant is here to give us a presentation. Hi Anne.

hi good evening amelia uh members of the board if i could also also ask for the rest of my team to be made panelists uh tanya carrier from causa design she's our architect uh steve saragusa our traffic engineer steve bremus who will be speaking relative to the parking special permit and jacob simmons he is the actual developer and he will also be addressing the board and i i know it sounds like a lot of people we are not going to be super long by the way we may bore the baby but you guys won't get too bored thanks and i think could you just give us your name and information for the record i don't think uh attorney ann vigorito on behalf of the applicant which is actually 44 white street uh my office at 424 broadway somerville massachusetts thank you thank you And I think everybody else is on. Just want to make sure that everyone has been made panelists. Yes.

Is there anybody else? Sorry. And is there anybody else that you need me to make panelists?

Is Tanya on? I don't see. I'm not sure if I see Tanya Carrier. yes oh i just hear awesome and i see jacob and i believe i see steve ramis so i will begin uh 44 white street this is a project it is to give you the uh Immediate location, it's right across from the star market over importer square. I think everyone may be familiar with that area. There are some other projects that are going to be happening. On that street, which will be a little bit different. This is a. Proposal for 3 family size units. That's what we're calling them because there are 3, 3 bedroom units and we've designated each 1. to have one parking space. And when Tanya takes over, she'll go through the actual units with everyone. So we did have two neighborhood meetings. Our first was back on November 19th of 2024. It was hosted by the Ward 5 Councilor, Naima Syatt. It was pretty well attended. There was definitely a positive attitude. There were questions about because it's an MR4, why would it not be four stories, but the size of the site really doesn't allow for that size of a project. Then our second neighborhood meeting, was on March 18th of this year and there were more questions about construction times and those types of concerns the developer assured them he would be heavily involved and that they would be able to discuss any concerns with him once that process would begin. We had three trips to the UDC back in January of this year and recommendations were given on February 4th. Tanya from CalSA Design will go through the UDC recommendations. And I'm going to be brief because this is almost a case of first, this is one of my first times where I'm coming before the board asking for relief to have additional parking. So, you know, this evening you will hear from the traffic engineer, Steve Saragusa, but we also have Steve Bremis this evening, and he is a real estate broker who works very, very vastly in the city of Somerville. He understands quite a bit of what, you know, people and when people are looking to purchase residential homes in the city, what, you know, some of the concerns or some of like maybe a checklist of things that they need. And, you know, there's been a huge, huge outcry for, you know, more family style units. And he'll discuss the fact that a lot of them, you know, will say that, on the top of their wish list is, you know, to have parking spaces. So Steve will discuss on that. But for right now, I am going to hand off to Tanya to go through the plans. And then after Tanya, Steve Saragusa will speak, Steve Bremes, and then Jacob Simmons, the developer. Thank you.

Great. Good evening. Tanya Carrier, Colsa Design. I just sent a request to share the screen. Let me see. It seems to be turned on. So let me do that. Okay. Let me start at our site plan. So here's our proposed site plan. As Ann mentioned, we're at 44 White Street, which is just across from the shopping center. One of the items we are proposing, which is per code, is to increase the sidewalk area to 12 feet. So our front setback would be 12 feet from the curb. And then We are proposing to have three parking spaces, which are concealed from the front of the site with a garage door. Just next to that, we have a bike parking area, which is also secure. We have two regular sized spaces and one oversized space that can accommodate a cargo bike. And then we have our three parking spaces in the rear, which have pervious pavers. Adjacent to that area, we have a landscape and outdoor amenity space for a ground floor unit. um as far as the zoning we are an mr3 our mr4 zone but we're proposing a three-story building which fits in nicely with this size site having a meeting code with our our stair and egress system i won't go through every item on the chart but we are proposing a building that complies with all dimensional standards of the zoning ordinance except for the one special permit we are seeking here today for the motor vehicle parking. And this is just our existing site plan to give you an idea of how it currently looks. It houses a single family house and also has a driveway in the same location that we're proposing to remain. And our proposed site plan with the landscape elements. So here you can see our sidewalk extension from 410 up to 12 feet. We do have a visitor bike parking space in the front. And we'd be extending that sidewalk along the full length as required by the code. In the rear, we propose several landscaping items, different shrubs and trees, along with a crushed stone recess patio. And one thing we did add was a curb Amy Nunez, Here at the back under the fence, which was a request to prevent behind our site is a large parking lot prevent salt from disturbing our new landscaping. Amy Nunez, And we also have a green roof, which is where these visuals come in you'll see later. Amy Nunez, This is just showing our fenestration calculation in meeting the code. Amy Nunez, Now, for a unit sizes, we have three as in mentioned larger size units. unit one is a duplex with the first floor living space and basement living space and that totals at 1854 square feet unit two is a flat on the second floor at 1828 square feet and unit three is the top floor unit, which is 2002 square feet. Now, as far as our unit layouts, as I mentioned, first floor unit is a duplex. We do have a first floor bedroom, bath, and then open kitchen, living, dining, with two additional bedrooms in the basement and a family room. Every unit does have outdoor space, with unit one having a patio, and unit two and three have multiple decks, balconies, and unit three has also a roof deck area. Janet Callahan- unit two and three are similar in layout with three bedrooms two bathrooms or three bathrooms actually i'm sorry. Janet Callahan- kind of family size unit with a full size living room, dining room and kitchen. Janet Callahan- And on top, we have our roof deck for additional outdoor amenity space with a green roof and then concealed behind the stair is our mechanical units. We also have a solar-ready area on the page top here. For our exterior design, we worked closely with the UDC over multiple meetings, presenting initial three designs and tweaking them per comments and discussion. So this is where the design came about at the end. So we have a scheme which is a khaki brown and bronze scheme, providing a nice warm facade. And we have different balconies on the front as well, so it's a mixture of panel and lap siding and then also our metal railing system. And maybe I should have started with this slide but i'll show you now so here is our site in context, you can see that. We're adjacent to a couple of smaller one-story buildings and then there's quite a mixture on the street and some of these have changed since this aerial view. We have some four-story buildings, two and a half-story buildings, some single-story buildings, all facing this larger shopping center. And then behind our site, you can see in this photo, is that large parking lot, which we'd be backing up to. And then over here, our site, this is the existing brown building you can see and curve cut, which we would be able to narrow as well for the driveway entrance. And just a better view of how the building can look. So we have these nice large windows on the bay, letting a lot of light in and kind of activating the facade, highlighted our Our entry here with a little canopy and our garage door kind of blending into the facade design. And a kind of an aerial view showing how we fit in with the streetscape, the changing streetscape. And then our back, we're just abutting the parking lot and screening also, in case that ever changes. These are repetitive. And here's a detail showing how we plan to um you know as we discussed this with the udc how we're gonna be concealing the foundation since it is kind of a walkable street so we have a um insulated panel but it's actually clad with concrete so it has a nice finished look to the facade um so you can see some examples here how it will look under the um at the base of the building as far as our shadow study um HAB-Juliette Boone, I don't think it has too much impact, seeing as all the buildings are very close together and our buildings on either side or are very close to our property line with little or no windows on those sides, so we would be just shadowing on their on their roof. HAB-Juliette Boone, areas and then also on the you know, most of the building shadow onto the street and parking lot. HAB-Juliette Boone, And just existing very similar to what the proposal will be. Okay, something. So with that, I think I'll turn it over to Bowman to go through their traffic study.

Sure. Good evening. My name is Steven Sirgus. I'm with Bowman Consulting. I'm not sure how, if we can get the slides to be.

Yeah. I think I'll open them separate. They're different scale.

There we go.

Yeah. There we go.

Can you see me?

Yes. So again, my name is Steven Saragusa. I'm with Bowman Consulting. So we worked on multiple traffic aspects of this and coordinated with mobility throughout. Um, throughout this process. So just to give a quick timeline of submissions here. Uh, so we submitted a parking utilization study, uh, which is required per, uh, zoning for a special permit. We submitted that in June of 2025. Uh, we submitted a transportation impact study waiver request, uh, submitted that in August, 2025, and it was also granted in August of 2025. Next slide, please. So just to give a bit of an update on our parking utilization study, as I mentioned, this is part of the requirement per zoning to receive a special permit for any changes to parking on site. So this was our study area. So we did some utilization along the entirety of White Street and then along Elm Street from Burnside Avenue to Cherry Street. Next slide, please. And so what we found is, so we collected data in May of 2025. So we took it during the evenings from 3pm to 6pm. And then on Wednesday morning from 7am to 9am. Again, we collected data along White Street, and there's a total of 11 available parking spaces there. On average, it is actually overutilized along White Street with vehicles parked in non-marked spaces and or within the loading zones. And then there was a maximum of over 125% utilization. And then data collected along Elm Street. Again, within that segment, there was 11 available parking spaces with an average utilization rate of 83% and a maximum utilization of 100%. So in total of 22 available parking spaces within the vicinity of the site, approximately 94% utilized with a maximum utilization of over 100%. Next slide, please. um we also submitted some trip generation and and vehicle ownership um studies so we did some trip generation calculations uh utilizing the institute of transportation engineers tripgen manual and it is as you can expect a three unit building should result in very minimal trips one trip during the morning peak hour two trips during the weekday afternoon peak hour and then a total of 14 total trips during the typical weekday. And then that doesn't account for anything in terms of multimodal trips. So the way that ITE has their trip rates set up is it is for vehicle trips. So on a conservative and even with the three parking spaces, it would be expected to generate very, very minimal trips during the peak hours. We also looked at vehicle ownership in this area of Somerville specifically, and approximately 75% of workers over the age of 16 have access to at least one vehicle. And then given that this project will be geared towards families, it's expected that the families would own at least one vehicle. Next slide, please. And then overall, so just to give a kind of a summary, On-street parking is at or above full utilization along both White Street and Elm Street. Sites estimated to generate minimal vehicle traffic, even with the on-site parking spaces, and the waiver for full TIS was granted by the planning board because of this. And given that the 44 White Street development is geared towards families, it is expected that families would own at least one vehicle. So based on our findings, we do recommend that parking is provided on-site as proposed. And if you have any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, I will hand it over to, I believe, Steve Bremis will speak next.

This is Anne Vigorito. I believe Steve Ramos is a participant and needs to be promoted to as a panelist, please.

It is promoted. Okay, guys, we're good.

Hello, we can hear you okay all right yeah nice and looking at the plans and going to the site and reviewing the size of these units, I mean there's no question in my mind. That this is definitely good towards families as you've already stated, given the fact that families, obviously, will have children activities be a shopping sports, etc, I think it's impractical to assume. and discouraging to families if you only give one parking spot to the entire building. In my opinion, even one parking spot per unit is a tough ask, but at least it could be somewhat manageable. But to have one spot for nine bedrooms is impractical. Also, when you look at it, I mean, I believe there's restrictions on the project that they can't even get on street permit parking either. So to be able to function at all with children or in general, I think it's next to impossible to do all that with a family and use 100% public transportation all the time for any of their needs. You know, whether it be shopping, school activities.

Steve, please hold on a second.

Sure.

And can you mention who is the, Steve Bremes was the person to, this is Oliver speaking from the planning department. Is Steve Bremes here to finish the presentation?

Steve Bremes is speaking. This is attorney Anne Vigorito. Steve Bremes is speaking right now. Apologies, he did introduce himself first. I think he was having some problems with the unmuting and so forth. But Steve Bremes, who is the owner and operator of Bremes Realty, here in Somerville, Massachusetts is speaking now. Steve, maybe give a little more of your background.

Thank you. So I'm sorry. Thank you for the clarity. Sorry about that. Yeah, Steve Bremis Realty Group. I've been a realtor in Somerville for the past 43 years. Our business has been operated specifically in Somerville for the past 70 years. I am very much involved with developers on a regular basis handle and deal with a lot of listings specifically and some of them will see the needs of a lot of these buyers that are coming in as we are marketing a number of units in the area. So I speak with knowledge of trying to market similar properties and similar concerns and other properties that we've sold very recently and in trying to market and sell to families that have needs for units of this size I'm just saying you know just reiterating that this is a very very difficult ask for a family to operate with no transportation no access to parking which is I think more or less what's been proposed by the city and I think it's it's an important aspect of this project to at least give one space per unit And it's also extremely limiting when I believe these people can't even get an on-street permit to park cars. So to think that a family is going to be functioning without any use of a car, I just don't think that's a practical application.

Just respectfully, that's not a proposal by the city. That is the existing condition of the zoning of the site that your team has selected.

Yes. So with that understanding, yes, I'm just saying it's extremely difficult. And I think that one parking space per unit is very, very important. Especially if you're a family trying to move into the area or even stay in the area for that matter. But that's pretty much what I have to say. I don't know if there's any other questions at all. Or Ian, if you want to add.

Thank you very much. And Stephen, is there anything else you want to say as to the presentation?

Jacob Simmons, who is the developer, will be speaking now.

Hi, everyone. Jacob Simmons, the owner of the property. And I will try to be brief because I know that I know that there's been a lot of folks talking. I'll just, I guess, briefly speak to the process a little bit. So when we when I initially looked at buying the site and did the scoping that was back in October of 2023 and through the design and the pre-submittal process, all of that happened prior to the change to the zoning. So the the difficulty we have is that this is a rather small MR4 site relative to a lot of the other ones that we've seen. A lot of the larger sites can accommodate a larger building with a bigger mix of units. And so when we look at a parking, a 0.5 or less parking ratio, I think that makes a lot of sense for a smaller studio and one bedroom units. The reason why, you know, I hope that it's an appropriate ask here is just because the sort of unique unit mix here is these are large units that well i completely understand and frankly agree with the uh the intent of summer vision to reduce vehicle trips um i i feel in this case uh proposing larger family units with one space is a net reduction versus a typical suburban or even a lot of the pound house that existing converted family size units in Somerville. So I totally agree with the intent to reduce parking. And I think in this case, although this may not meet the text of the zoning here, which is why we are seeking this special permit, I think the intent is sort of met and I I do think this is a a great location for families um I think that it's an underserved and underbuilt part of the housing market in Somerville I love seeing oh you know what units and different mixes but in this case I sort of saw this site as a great option for um to build true family housing and that means having space and that means you know having access to neighborhood amenities and um Ian Vigorito- Again, I don't need to ramble or take too much time, so I will. Ian Vigorito- i'll end my comments, but I just wanted to give a little thinking as to sort of the thought process and why this product looks the way it does that Thank you everybody appreciate it.

Anne Vigorito- Thank you everyone. Anne Vigorito- This is the invigorator again. Anne Vigorito- I just I know there were some letters of support sent. One came from the owner of Magpie for Kids. She's very excited because she'd like to have some families living close by, especially with another project coming in at the printing shop building that is mostly going to be some studios and small one beds. And she may be on this evening to speak on the public commenting, but she did write a letter The, the owner, well, the former owner of the site at 44 White Street, Elaine Severino, who former member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, who I would be terrible not to mention, she gave Jacob and myself a lot of direction as a team on putting this together. And she gave us quite a bit of input because she was happy that Jacob wanted to do units that would be family-friendly as she raised her family. She has two kids and she happily raised them here at 44 White Street. So she did give us quite a bit of input and I'm hoping she can speak because she had an unexpected situation, but she may be on now ready to speak during public commenting. But I would be remiss in not mentioning her and her giving us the guidance. You know, when we started this project back in the, well, we started discussing it in the spring of 24, you know, before the ordinance went into play. So, and that's why, you know, it's, you know, things changed up midstream for us. So that's why we're here today. But, you know, we don't want to change this project. We want to welcome more families to Seminole. And that's it for me right now. I appreciate it. Thank you, Amelia. And any questions from the board for us, we're here to hopefully answer and give some good direction.

All right. Thank you very much. And I I may be mistaken, but I don't think we've received the written testimony from the owner of Magpie. But we will definitely be leaving their written comment open after tonight's meeting until at least our next meeting. So if that didn't make it to the board members yet, we'll have plenty of time to review that before a decision is made. I know there's been a little bit of some staff absences on the city side, so we may it may have made it to staff, but hasn't made it to the board yet. All right, so to my colleagues, do we have any questions for the applicant team before we open it up to public comment? Okay. All right. So with that, I will open it up to testimony from the public. Anyone who wishes to provide comment in favor or support of this project, please raise your hand and staff will promote you so that you can speak. As a reminder, please, before you speak, list your name and residential street for the record.

Elaine, I'm unmuting you.

Do we have someone who's been unmuted and wants to comment?

Yes, we have one hand raised. I just asked them to unmute.

We can't hear you. You may be muted on your side.

Hi, this is Elaine. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, my name is Elaine Severino, and as Anne stated, I did live at this property with my husband and my family, my two children, for over 40 years. Many wonderful memories there. And I did submit a letter to the board in support of one parking space per unit. These are family units. They're larger units. And I think having lived there and raised my family there, it would have been very difficult trying to raise a family on that site without a car. We had one car. Some of the examples that I had stated in my letter, my children were involved in after school activities in Somerville. There were many times that I would have my son finishing flag football at Lincoln Park Community School, which is now Argenziano, and my daughter finishing ceramics over at East Somerville Community School. I absolutely needed a car to get from one side of the city to the other to pick up children at the end of these activities. Shopping for raising a family, going to Market Basket right on Somerville Avenue, as many of you probably go there. I needed a car to shop for a family down there. I know Star was right across the street, but it was a pretty high end market while we were living there. And I did most of my shopping at Market Basket where I needed a car. There were times when my children and their activities, they were out of town games. So I needed a car to travel to out of town games. And, um, of course there were many, you know, kids in the town, um, going to these games. So we did cut down on some of the car use because we carpooled, but when you carpool with other families and take other kids and pick them up, drop them off some, you, you need a car because your, your turn comes around when you need to carpool with other families. We also walked a lot. We used public transportation in the area. but I really feel that where these are family units and we're trying to keep families in Somerville, I absolutely needed a car and I really think it's important to have one space there per unit. And I'm trying to think, I hope the board can support this and where I have so many wonderful memories of raising my family there, one family on that piece of property I hope that three families will now get to have as many great memories on that piece of property as I did growing up. I'm getting a little sentimental about it, but I hope the board supports the request from the developer of giving one space per family unit. Thanks.

Thank you very much. And as I noted before, I don't think the board has yet received that written testimony, but we certainly will before any motion is made on this case. So we'll make sure we review that. Thank you very much. Do we have anyone else who wants to speak in favor of the application?

Yes, Madam Chair, we have one more person. I just ask them to unmute.

Thank you.

Just to add, I forgot to share my screen with the timer, but I'll be sharing that now with the two-minute timer.

That's okay, Lexi. We don't have that many people lined up to speak tonight. We can have people. But thank you.

I am unmuted. I'm pretty certain I'm the one you were speaking about. My name is Mary Kay Severino and I am one of the owners of the building that Magpie is in. I also grew up in Porter Square and also spent years living there as an adult and i think that it would be really important and valuable to have a parking space if a family is going to live there for many of the reasons already stated but one of the things that i wanted to mention is there are some other units on white street right now that are larger units that have three to four bedrooms but don't have parking and because i am one of the owners on that street i do know that most of those units are occupied by young professionals or graduate students that and their It's wonderful to have lots of graduate students and young professionals living in the neighborhood, but it makes me wonder if families would be there if they did have parking. Because right now those units do not, and it's pretty rare that they're occupied by a family. There's only one time that I know of that they were. So I wanted to mention that, that there are already use cases on that street where larger units exist and there are not families in them. And I think parking is one of the major reasons why.

Thank you very much. And I'm sorry if I missed this at the beginning, but did you give your current residential street just for the record?

I currently live in Woburn, but I own property on White Street. I own the building that Magpie is in.

Thank you very much. All right. And do we have anyone else wanting to provide comment in favor of the project?

Madam Chair, the only hand that I see is from Elaine. Would you like me to ask her to unmute again?

Yes, Elaine, please. If you had something to add. I mean, we can't hear you. So if you're still muted.

Okay. I just I just unmuted. I just forgot to mention that. Steve, I think from premise mentioned that there would be no on street parking permits. And that is absolutely true. Because the street White Street does not belong to Somerville. It belongs to Cambridge. It has plowing is done by Cambridge. And the properties sit in Somerville. So you can't live in Somerville and get a parking permit for a Cambridge street. So there needs to be parking because you can't get a parking permit because, as I say, the street belongs to Cambridge. And I forgot to mention that. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, we will now switch over to anyone wishing to express concern about the project. Please let me know if there are any hands raised and we can unmute folks.

Madam Chair, there are no raised hands at the moment.

Okay, very good. So with that, I will close. Oral testimony for tonight. We will leave the written comment on this case open until 9am on Friday, October 31, which is the Friday before our next meeting. And any comments can be submitted to planningboard at SomervilleMA.gov. And the written testimony that was already sent on to staff will definitely be reviewed by the members of the board ahead of that November 6 meeting. Thank you for those of you that have already sent in written testimony. So with that, we will turn it over to discussion amongst members of the board on this case. I understand that we may want to hold on a more substantial discussion until next meeting when Michael will be back as well. But if there are any questions for the applicant or any initial discussion that would like to be had, open the floor to my colleagues. I see Luke.

Brett KenCairn, You know yeah one just process question we're talking about the full project now, not just the. Brett KenCairn, parking question is that right.

Caroline Miller, The parking question is a gating question for the other approvals that the board needs to consider for the project. Caroline Miller, So at this time, we can I think discuss any aspect of the project that is under the board's purview, but when we begin to consider motions, we will need to consider the parking issue, first and foremost, is my understanding.

That's helpful. So your sense for any discussion now is it's fair game to talk about the whole project, but just when we actually vote, we'll have to follow that sequence. Is that your preference?

I believe that's how we should proceed. And if Steve felt differently, he'll have to correct us next week.

Sounds good. I'll share a couple thoughts on parking that I have a question about something unrelated. On the parking stuff, I just feel really torn. I see the case they're making. Anecdotally, I'm a parent who has become an avid e-biker with two young kids going to several schools. And we use the e-bike as much as we possibly can. We're in a cohort of families that are HAB-Jacques Juilland. : um you know, have organized a bike bus on Friday mornings to bike our kids to school and there's just a lot of like great energy around. HAB-Jacques Juilland. : Not using cars and still living in somerville as a as a as a family that's doing all the kid activities and we're biking our kids to soccer practice across the city and the bike infrastructure has helped a lot with that. HAB-Jacques Juilland. : So you know that part of me feels like it's just not true that families can't live in somerville without a car on the flip side, though, is. the very end of the day i would bet that like 90 of the families who i'm biking to school alongside also do have cars and that's true of me too i also have a car and you know we try to not use it very much but we use it on the weekends um so there is i think it is just true that a lot of families and it's not just the uh sort of middle to upper income thing my sense is that a large majority of families of all income levels in somerville if they have young kids, are still finding a way to have a car and using it. So I get it. If there's any location in Somerville where a family could get away with really not having a car, I do think this is it. You can literally walk across the street to the supermarket. So I also just like the idea of having some segment of our housing stock really available to those families. And I bet there would be some families who would like it. one question i'm curious about and i apologize if i missed this but is the intent for these to be rental units or for sale condos and i guess what's behind that is i wonder if the for sale approach is more likely to really require the parking for marketing purposes yeah

This is attorney and vigorito apologies. I should have said it in my open. These are. Meant to be for sale condos. So, if it definitely, you know, parking, you know, when someone's looking to buy, they have their wish list of things. And I think Mr. has tried to speak to that, but that's usually, you know. one of the things i know he mentioned that to me i'm not sure if he dove into it but he gets a lot of people who you know may may now be you know married or you know planning to start families and some and they're living in some of them and they they get displaced out of some of them because they can't find some place that you know they you know they kind of say well jesus would like to have one car because we're going to start the family um but yes these these will be for sale condos

Thanks, that's helpful. My one other, actually, I see a couple other hands. I had one thing unrelated to the parking. I don't know, Amelia, if others wanna chime in on this thread and I can just pause that for later, or if I should ask that question. I don't know if Jahan and Lynn raised their hands right in the middle of that back and forth or not, but.

Jahan and Lynn, are your comments specific to parking?

They are, however, I'd love to have Member Schuster finish his thoughts. So I'm certainly going to yield the floor.

Go ahead, but have Luke go.

Yeah, sounds good. I'll just raise this question and then, yeah, yield the floor. So this one's about just the total number of units, because this is MR4, so we could go higher and get a fourth unit. And I'm just curious to hear more about the thought process behind that, because while this is a great location for considering housing without any parking at all, it's also just a great location for maximizing the number of units we've got. So love to hear more about the thought about only three units.

I can speak to that, if that's OK. Yeah, so one aspect with design and building codes for you, seeing as this is quite a small lot, compared to other MR4 lots. For a four-story, we would be required two stairs and then also an elevator, and that would eat up quite a bit of space on this footprint. And in the end, we'd have much less usable unit area. So we found this to be a more efficient design for this specific lot.

That's helpful. I don't know how far you went down this path, but am I hearing right? Like if you did the fourth story, add in the second staircase and elevator, you could have had more units, but maybe not necessarily more bedrooms.

Correct. Yeah. And our common area would be I don't have the numbers on me of the study because it was quite a while ago, but the common area would be much higher. So we'd be basically wasting that area that could be rentable area or a sellable area.

um that can actually be used by the residents so just on the specific lot if it felt better to do this this option and i believe the fourth unit would also kick into the affordable unit so it would be somewhat less smart less of a economic decision given the other obstacles of or given the other investment that going another story would require correct

John Potter, Oh well, thanks yeah um I think i'm all set for now, thank you.

Jennifer Horne, um if you don't mind john and then i'm going to ask one clarifying question on the parking just before I turn it over to you guys just on the on the timeline because I. Jennifer Horne, I did interrupt to make the point that this is the existing zoning for the site and you all said a few times during the presentation that you'd started this and sort of late 2023 early 2024 um. My memory, and I could be wrong here, and I don't know if any of the staff were on the line. I don't think they've been here long enough to have the institutional memory. But is that the parking requirement that we're talking about that's here what you're seeking the special permission for is a zoning Sage Robins, is an element of the zoning that has been in place, since the new zoning ordinance was adopted. Sage Robins, In December of 2019 so I don't think that the city has like pulled a fast one here in changing the zoning since you started this project in spring of 2024. Sage Robins, We can revisit that with the benefit of the case planner being available in in November, when we continue this conversation but i'd i'd love if we could get some clarification from your team and from city staff on. What on whether there is a time, whether there was some kind of a change that I'm not remembering here because to my mind, this would have been included in the overall zoning overhaul and I think it would be zoning that's been in place for some time so and if you have a response on that now I'm happy to hear it, otherwise we'll plan to pick that up in November, if you don't mind.

Well, just to be brief, the parking in a transit area, you would get no on street parking permits if you're within the quarter mile of the transit walk shed. Parking maximums, that changed. And it went into effect, I believe it was notice for public hearing in December of 2024. And then it became an actual ordinance, February of 25. I have a little more of a understanding of this because I had a project in Davis Square, which came before the planning board right around that time. And when they went to apply for the building permit, they are now in a little bit of laundry. And that's my understanding of it. Our original case planner was Sarah Lewis. Steve has taken over, but Sarah Lewis did notify us JoAnne Hanrahan, Right at she I think it was in some time in May, though, that we were going to need the special permit.

JoAnne Hanrahan, For the parking, thank you for the clarification that was about the maximum it's not about the walk sheds because I was thinking that it was the issue of the walk sheds given the location, thank you for the clarification. JoAnne Hanrahan, All right, I think I saw john next and then Lynn.

John Lund, Thank you, Madam chair, so my question is going to go back to the parking matter and i'm just trying to. Better understand between what what I just heard during during the testimony regarding white street being a Cambridge within within the confines of the Cambridge boundary, which, which concludes any residents of white street on the summer real side to apply for any Cambridge. parking parking permits uh and i'm trying to reconcile that with the the staff memo and i'm just going to read the relevant section just so everyone you know everyone's reminded um and the section talks about mobility's position is therefore the study is not appropriate for demonstrating on-site parking need this policy exempts future residents that may be choice limited including persons with disabilities occupants of Affordable dwelling units and the end residents with extending circumstance through a favor application. So I'm just trying to understand between what's written in the staff memo from a mobility division perspective versus what was mentioned today regarding. the even the feasibility of of securing parking, even through some sort of waiver process. Madam Chair, I recognize that this this question may require some research or a response at a later point in time, and that's perfectly fine. But I just wanted to put this out there for the record. So that way, if the relevant relevant persons are not here and available to respond, at least we can revisit next time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you john um when this has come up before I think we've been advised that there are specific exemptions that language for. For units that are affordable units that are managed by the city as affordable housing stock, as well as. units occupied by persons that are eligible for a handicap permit and that there are exemptions for at least those categories to the general sort of prohibition on street permit parking. But I think we'll have to ask staff to give us some additional guidance and come back to the next meeting with a more fulsome answer for you.

Sure, thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Chair, and I appreciate your background, but it does seem to be a rather atypical, so to speak, situation here, so I'd love to get some clarity at a later point in time. Thank you again.

Yeah, thank you.

Emlyn? Thanks, Amelia.

Yeah, I wanna, I like this order because the parking maximum, the elimination of the parking maximum was passed by this board and the city. Then a few weeks later or a month later, this board took up a residence, a development that's almost identical to this one on Chester Street, which is in Davis Square. It's three stories, three big units geared for families, The same distance from Porter square versus David square. And so my question to staff would be, how are these 2 buildings different? Like, I don't understand and I don't I actually want to hear from staff. I don't want to hear from you on this. Um, I'd like to understand from staff, um, how these 2 developments are. Are different on it, because we talked about parking because that on Chester street, they needed 3 units and they needed 3 parking spaces and we just talked about and we just talked that we just pass this or. The city passed the elimination of maximum and Michael at the time said, well, you know, we're leaving it up to the developers. That was the whole purpose of of us passing that if the developers felt that they needed parking that they had the ability to put in parking at at a greater cost to them. So, I think and again, and I don't want to hear from you on this. I want to hear from staff at next week's meeting clarification. on what the legal differences on parking between this development versus the Chester Street, because in my mind, they're nearly identical. Then the other point that I wanted to make, which I think is an important one, that these are going to be condos, they're not affordable. They're talking about anywhere from 1,800 to 2,000 square feet. I'm guessing that these are going to be between 1.5 to $2 million. Ain't no way a young family getting ready to start, a young couple getting ready to start a family is going to be able to afford a $2 million apartment. So, I mean, maybe more established, maybe with help from parents, but I think we need to be aware that that uh it's not going to be students moving into here um because or unless somebody's going to buy it and then and then rent it out so i'm not sure what the demographic of moving in here we're saying three units but at that level like at that price point Who really can move in what kind of young family? So I think that too is, it sounds disingenuous to me as we're like, oh, it's gonna be a young couple ready to start a family. I'm like, I don't know any young couples ready to start a family that could afford moving into one of these units. And finally, I wanna say for the record, much like you, Luke, I too have a son, I have a car, I also have several bikes, and when my son and I were living in the Cambridge area when he was 10, we got around everywhere on a tandem. And like Luke now, I move everywhere around on a bike with him. So I do think it's possible. to live with children in Somerville, particularly now because it's so much easier. But I also think that with families like, again, very much like Luke, having a car on the weekends. I had a child that had a chronic health condition. So does the car have gas? Can we get to Children's Hospital? Okay, we're good to go. So there's other, I think, Considerations to put in here, but amelia i'm happy to email Steve this very clarifying question because understanding the legality between the two is I find I find confusing because the two seem.

yeah really. I think Steve will probably review the record, but by all means reach out to him to make sure he can prepare an adequate answer for you i'm sorry that we don't have the benefit of his knowledge here tonight to discuss it live.

Lisa E. yeah no, but after you asked for clarifying and then your heart your heart, I was like you know with where we're all kind of really wanting to understand what the regulations say here, and when the regulation said what. Lisa E. Thank you very much, thank you.

Lisa E. Thanks and i'm Michael I think you may have had your hand up quite some time ago and I didn't have you on my screen, because we have so many faces up right now, please.

No, it's all good. I was patiently waiting for my colleagues to explain all the things that I also want. So if, again, I could just put my hat in the ring to Andrew Tuft & reiterate that I would love a timeline of like consulting the city that application actually going forward any changes in ordinances that would be very helpful to understand. Andrew Tuft & Obviously i'd want to consider whether or not you know the the goalposts moved on them at application so i'd appreciate that detail. Andrew Tuft & i'm going to save most of my more intense questions for the next meeting, but just you know kind of preview a little bit I also am very concerned about. putting parking here. To Member Schuster's point, this is an extremely mobility-centric area. There's the T right there. You've got a grocery store literally across the street. It's very walkable. So for what it's worth, I'm definitely going to want to ask lots of detailed questions about that in the next session. One, I think easier question I want to just touch on today while we've had a couple minutes is regarding some of the feedback that Mobility had regarding the access via the curb cut. So they did note that it's kind of challenging, at least in the staff memo, it's kind of challenging for those cars to be able to turn around in the garage area. And so there's either going to be kind of a backing in to park or backing out by way of rear. and that they kind of recommended some type of mitigation plan to communicate to pedestrians that there are cars entering or exiting. I was wondering if the applicant is aware of this recommendation and if you guys had any thoughts on what that might look like, especially considering that there could be neighbors hearing bells and stuff like that.

Steve Sergis I'm with Bowman I can kind of speak to at least the mobility part of it. Steve Sergis We had a lot of back and forth with the mobility department with Greg about the transportation access plan that we put together basically every aspect of that. Steve Sergis bike parking being one vehicle parking being the other. And yeah, I understood that the turning around within the garage may not be feasible, but through our back and forth, which was multiple emails about this access plan, the backing up onto White Street was never really raised as too big of a concern, especially given that White Street is a one-way street. So the backing up into White Street wasn't an overall concern. and understood about the condition to put in some type of signage and or warning system to alert pedestrians. I'm not entirely sure of the of the design of that or what that might look like. And somebody else on the team may have a better idea of that. But I just wanted to kind of speak to our conversations with mobility about just about the backing up onto White Street.

OK. anything else on that okay that's that's helpful um i definitely would appreciate a bit more thought and detail on that by the the next meeting just so that i can you know better understand what you're proposing um i'm also just in particular concerned about interaction with pedestrians on the sidewalk. That area is traveled on foot quite often. So especially with a little kid centric building right next door, I definitely don't want a little kid kind of running ahead of their parents and having an interaction that is unpleasant. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" appreciate your thoughts there if I could also just ask one other simple one, which is about kind of bike parking, so I think during the narrative I heard. TAB, Mark McIntyre:" That you're proposing to smaller bike spaces and one oversized can you just talk me through the thought process here on prescribing one bike spot per unit. In my household alone, I think we have three bikes for two adults. So I feel like that's not uncommon for people to have and just wanted to see if you guys had considered that a bit further.

I can answer, I guess. So yeah, we worked closely with staff. This is the code, the zoning code on what is required. So that's what we've provided at this time and included the oversized space as well. We also have the two out in front, which are more visitor versus long-term storage. HAB-Masyn Moyer- But yeah, these are smaller size they're they're full size they're three by eight the small the smaller ones are in the large one is four by 10 so you could potentially fit two smaller ones in there if you really if you didn't have an oversized one as well, but. HAB-Masyn Moyer- yeah so that's how we came about it, we went by what what the city had requested there.

Okay. Justin Cappos- appreciate that and yeah my my concerns more about the permanent spaces than the temporary ones I think you're right that the temporary is is great. Justin Cappos- Just for the record, I heard several times today concerns about being able to do things that would be potentially benefit and consistent with our goals as a city like more bikes. being able to have accessible, friendly units, have affordability units, and that you don't feel the need to do those because you're not required by code. But then on the other hand, your position is that you should be exempt from the code on the parking. So I just want to make that clear that I heard that today. And again, just hope you guys think a little bit harder about that during the next meeting together. So those are the only questions I had for tonight. I really appreciate your time.

Thanks very much, Michael. I'll just add to that. I think if you are pitching this as a family development and you're emphasizing, you know, you're looking for this parking relief, but also being in support of the city's goals, and you've said to us a few times that, you know, nine bedrooms, it would behoove you to look at whether we might be able to accommodate additional spots. I see that as something that would be very appropriate for the board to require if this mitigation is going to be granted, and I'm not sure. where the board will collectively stand on that, but I would encourage you to give it some thought. I'll just say, you know, I think this is a very tricky one to consider, given the uniquely transit-oriented location of this, even for family development. I think given that the T is literally on this block, as well as a grocery store, pharmacy, you know, multiple eateries, there's a school around the corner, like this is perhaps the Sage Robinsons, Site and some reveal most suited to family living without a car, which makes it a little bit difficult to sort of consider how to move forward on this request. Sage Robinsons, Though I am certainly very sympathetic to the. Sage Robinsons, very appreciative of the developers intent to sort of make the three bedroom units and the. we're so often fighting tooth and nail, I think, with applicants who come in with no three bedrooms. So very grateful for your planning and response to the city's need in that front. So I'm sure we'll have more discussion of that with the benefit of some of these questions getting answered at our meeting in November. Also appreciate you considering the sort of cargo bike storage area out front. We'd like to obviously see more of that, but it's I appreciate that you guys are already thinking about how to be responsive to sort of what the market and the city's goals are in those respects. Unless there are any other questions or comments from my fellow board members, I think we will leave the discussion here for tonight. And we've already left the written record open. I will move to continue discussion of this item to our next meeting on November 6th, 2015. Seconded by Jahan. Staff, can I please have a roll call?

Thank you very much.

We will see you in a few weeks. Thank you. We'll see you November 6. Good night. We had a few items of other business on the agenda, including the Chapter 91 approval for the pedestrian bridge at Draw 7 Park. I believe that we may not be able to have a more fruitful discussion of that without Steve's Alison Tucher , The Capacity Collective, explanations of where conversation stand. Alison Tucher , The Capacity Collective, But if there are any other items that the members of the board would like to discuss on that. Alison Tucher , The Capacity Collective, For the record, for tonight's meeting, we certainly can open that i'm for discussion i'm just I don't have any updates from him at this time. Alison Tucher , The Capacity Collective, anyone. Okay, alright, so I don't think we need to officially continue that we will just leave that on the agenda as an item for our subsequent meeting, and then we also have our item for open discussion of other points of board administration. Lynn, I know you had one item I think you were hoping to discuss, please.

Yeah, and we can discuss it with Steve not here. We can discuss it next time. But remember a couple of weeks ago, we had the planning board had to engage on and approve somebody turning their deck into a sunroom. And we had something similar today. And in the interest of trying to streamline permitting within The city of Somerville. I'm wondering what, if anything, we can do to empower staff to make some of these decisions. I understand the staff memos are excellent in terms of understand laying out technically why we need to get involved. But I do know from conversations with Dan, he's interested in tweaking the zoning code again to kind of streamline it. So to have that conversation of. Do we need to get engaged in these kind of duct to sunroom conversions? How much can we empower staff to do that? So maybe we can bring it up next week with Steve here or bring Dan in and figure out how we might be able to go forward with a kind of regulatory relief.

I believe in the past we have had items where we have voted on a text amendment that defines certain things as minor site plan approval that staff can sign off on without the board's involvement. So I wonder, Lexi, if we could ask your team to with Steve maybe come to the next meeting with an idea of what the what the legal language or the steps would be for putting that in place happy to discuss but I assume no one has any objections to trying to move that into staff review I'm sorry I can't hear you can you hear me now yes sorry my microphone is so bad um we're currently editing a couple different sections of the ordinance so I believe that's one of the ones on our list like we're redoing

pre-submittal meetings neighborhood meetings requirements and different things like that so in different board reviews so we're definitely aware of that and Dan and the team and all of us have talked about it we're working on changing the the ordinance awesome thank you all right thank you very much is there anything else anyone wants to add or discuss for the good of the meeting

all right uh with that i will move to adjourn tonight's meeting second by johan could we please have a roll call and a bit hi lynn richards hi Luc Schuster hi michael mcgilley hi amelia hi thanks all thank you have a good night thank you take care