New plan for Dakota Partners will be to "swap land" with Veterans of Foreign Wars Dilboy Post, freeing up a parking lot for a 30 to 36-unit apartment complex. ~Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Tom Nash

(The Somerville News Exclusive)

The
developers of a long-contested condominium project on Summer Street
held a meeting with neighbors Monday to announce a series of changes
that would completely reshape the development.

If the new plan
moves forward, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Dilboy Post will "swap"
land with Dakota Partners, freeing up a parking lot for a 30 to 36-unit
apartment complex to be built by a potential new developer, the
Cambridge-based Oaktree.

The VFW could have a new two-story
building built by Oaktree on land owned by Dakota that had
been slated for the original 14-unit condominium development, which has
been in legal limbo since 2002.

"I think it's fair to say a
number of abutters were concerned with this building being somewhat
ominous," Dakota Attorney Rich DiGirolamo said, noting the project is
pending final approval from the VFW and has not been submitted to
Inspectional Services. "What we really wanted to do is talk to you
about what's going on rather than show you."

Along with
DiGirolamo, Dakota Principal Roberto Arista explained the new approach
to 13 residents invited by Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz, who also
attended the meeting.

The plan calls for a four-floor, 35,000
square foot building with the first level occupied by commercial space.
An underground parking lot will serve residents, the VFW post and
retailers. Preliminary architectural drawings were shown of both the
VFW post and the apartment complex, but DiGirolamo and Arista stressed
they were only conceptual.

Residents expressed cautious optimism
about working with a new developer and being allowed to give their
opinion of the design, which was still widely panned as too many units
for the neighborhood to handle.

"Generally, I'm happy to see any change in the plans at all," Carol Dempkowski said. "This is what we wanted seven years ago."

Since
2002, the legal battle among abutters, the developer and the city left
Dakota's construction permit on the brink of lapsing. The Zoning Board
of Appeals gave the project an extension in February, which set off the
most recent round of legal wrangling.

Four of the 13 residents
gathered have sued Dakota during the past seven years, including Dr.
Mohammed Hanif Butt and three abutters, including Dempkowski, who
recently filed a suit challenging Dakota's permit extension. An ongoing
fight between Dakota and the city over a public shade tree has also
kept the builders from breaking ground.

Despite the two lawsuits
embroiling the current plan, DiGirolamo said it will remain in place
until the new proposal moves forward. He said a review of the new
concept by ISD was "months away" and that until then Dakota intends to
continue its legal action against the city.

Gewirtz said more
meetings on the new plan will be held, with a larger group of people
sought out — including abutters to the proposed VFW site who were not
invited.

"I think what we wouldn't want to see at the next
meeting is the exact same thing," Gewirtz said of the new apartment
proposal. "We need to have a different building that takes in our
constituents (concerns)."

Responding to residents' primary
complaints that the new development would have too many people in too
small of an area, and that a new VFW hall may disrupt abutting
neighbors, Arista assured meeting-goers the developers are listening.

"I think we've heard you loud and clear," Arista said. "We're not looking for a fight."