Residents 0-2 against Planning Board

On December 23, 2009, in Uncategorized, by The News Staff

369-371 Beacon St., the site of a proposed hotel and restaurant. ~Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Tom Nash

An unpopular set of zoning changes and a heavily opposed hotel project got the green light from the Planning Board last week.

A
hotel slated to be built on the site of a gas station at 371 Beacon St.
will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals after representatives for
the project convinced the Planning Board last Thursday that they had
compromised with concerned neighbors.

During a series of seven
community meeting held since early last year, residents have called for
changes to the four-story, 35-room hotel and 60-seat restaurant.
Somerville resident Seth Goodman has led an effort to draw attention to
traffic congestion along the section of Beacon Street, near Porter
Square.

Despite changes to the hotel's pick-up and drop-off
areas, Goodman says the traffic issue has yet to be addressed fully.
The hotel would be on the corner of Beacon Street and Somerville
Avenue, an area notoriously difficult to navigate as it is.

Project
attorney Rich DiGirolamo said the developer, George Makrigiannis, whose
son Lewis Makrigiannis stood in for him at the Dec. 17 meeting,
insisted they had the community's approval despite a petition against
the project that circulated just days before the meeting.

"There's been a lot of participation, and I think the project has changed substantially because of that," DiGirolamo said.

"I'm
very disappointed with the way the process went," Goodman said of the
Planning Board's vote. "I don't believe the specific issues brought up
were addressed in a reassuring manner."

Among the issues was the
fact that the former gas station site is still in need of an
environmental clean-up, which the developer neglected to address until
residents pressed the issue at a community meeting.

"The big
concern now is that when the cleanup begins, that everything is done
correctly, and that they're not cutting corners," Goodman said.

The
project is scheduled to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Jan.
6. Goodman said neighbors will continue to fight to make sure the
developer works to minimize traffic disruption and that the Planning
Board's condition on the project are followed.

link to graphics:

http://www.somervillema.gov/cos_content/documents/11_19_09%20Plan%20Set.pdf

Senior housing zoning changes approved

The
Planning Board also voted to recommend approval of a set of zoning
amendments that would enable for-profit senior housing developers to
build projects with fewer restrictions on unit size and the number of
stories, in addition to other changes city officials say are meant to
encourage private development.

At a Dec. 3 Planning Board
meeting, Office of Strategic Planning and Development Director Monica
Lamboy said the change Senior housing projects are only allowed
variances in local zoning regulations if they are non-profit – which
Lamboy said is stifling potential development.

The Planning
Board brushed aside claims from opponents of a senior housing project
at 44 Park St. that the changes are tailored to the development in
order to bring it back to life. The proposal was taken off the table
last September after abutters raised questions about the developer's
ties to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

After listening to 44 Park
St. abutters' concerns at a Dec. 3 hearing, the Planning Board appeared
to side with the city's position that the amendments would help keep
more senior citizens in Somerville.

"These are very important changes to be made whether there sis a development in front of us or not," Chairman Kevin Prior said.

The amendments will now go before the Board of Aldermen.