These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
For those curious about CSOs
Draft updated combined sewer overflow control plan office hours, 5 to 7 p.m. Monday. A project team takes questions about a draft control plan to end the release of waste in public waterways when sewer and water systems get overwhelmed by rainfall. The plan about combined sewer overflows has been submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Protection. There are five additional office hours planned, in-person and virtual, but this instance is online only. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
One developer at 90 Washington
Somerville Redevelopment Authority, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. A request for a vote on a developer designation for the 90 Washington St. site, where the city once had two teams vying to remake the 4-acre former shopping center in the Inner Belt – but saw North River Leerink withdraw its more popular proposal, which had an oval of green space surrounded by buildings. Fortunately, remaining company Wood Partners has done a major revamp of its proposal, and a 398-space overground central parking garage is now 244 spaces moved belowground, allowing for three buildings of up to seven stories around a passage and open space. The plan increases the number of homes to 418 from 324, keeping about 15,000 square feet of retail (with one slot of up to 11,000 square feet for a grocery store) and 7,000 square feet of community space which is likely to house a senior center.
Breaking ground at Star site
Groundbreaking Ceremony for 299 Broadway + 15 Temple St., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Marking the start of a project transforming a long-vacant Star Market on 2.6 acres into 319 sustainably designed apartments – 136 of them deeded affordable – with retail, a public plaza, playground and enhanced pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The grocery store closed in 2007, making for around two decades of blight.
Hotel, and apartments in Porter
Planning Board, 6 p.m. Thursday. A six-story, 145-room Moxy Hotel plan straddling the Cambridge-Somerville line at McGrath Highway returns from the June 18 board meeting. A four-story, 29-unit apartment building is proposed for 32-40 White St. at the White Street Place cul-de-sac, across from a shopping center now known as The Mix Porter Square. The apartments would replace two homes and the long-closed Fleming Printing. A four-story laboratory office building (with a fifth floor of mechanicals) was proposed for this site in 2022, but the developer withdrew when a Planning Board memo in 2023 limited its available square footage. In the new plan, among a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom homes are five that are deeded as affordable. There will be 29 long-term bicycle parking spaces and four short-term, but no car parking is included – and because they will be within a quarter-mile of a T station, residents can’t apply for on-street parking passes.
Opinion on micromobility rules
Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday. A 15-minute review of a draft letter on the Ride Safe Act is on the agenda for submission to the state. The act, which addresses micromobility devices such as scooters and e-bikes, includes 16 recommendations that define and regulate kinds of small electric vehicles based on their maximum speeds and engine power.
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