Let's get 299 Broadway to the finish line!

Star Market Redevelopment Process Continues This Week

January 03, 2023

Somerville YIMBY

We hope everyone's 2023 is off to a good start!

The city kicks off the year with a

from the mayor, City Council, and the School Committee, tonight at six.

The biggest item for the week is still

. After the developer's initial presentation to the Zoning Board of Appeals, we have a correction about our prior announcement: the developer is asking permission for

half

the residents in the market-rate units to be allowed to get parking permits.

That's what might stop the development of hundreds of affordable homes on this long-blighted parcel: the option for 78 households to have on-street parking permits. That's not a trivial number of cars, but by the time this building is complete, the city will have a lot of other ways to manage demand for on-street parking, and we don't think it's worth holding up so much badly-needed housing, especially the huge number of affordable apartments in this project.

The ZBA will be

. It's important to let the ZBA know that this is an important project with a lot of community support, so

if at all possible, please attend

. If you haven't done so already, you can also write to

to tell them that you want them to approve more housing.

There's one other, smaller item on the ZBA agenda tomorrow: a request for a permit to allow more than four unrelated people to live in a house on Hamilton Road, which the board didn't approve last month. The more-than-four-unrelated rule is archaic and generally ignored, and  city council apparently intends to abolish it this year. Needing this permit is a relatively small barrier and surmounting it will house just a handful of people, but it's still frustrating to see it dragged out like this.

Then, on Thursday evening, the

which will replace the Glass Stop at 200 McGrath Highway. The developer has filed a massive

, if you want the full reference, but basically this is a couple of large lab/office buildings and some streetscape improvements to go with them. The city needs the jobs and tax revenue as well as the infrastructure upgrades, but it's not without drawbacks, and we look forward to seeing how it pans out.