Mid December 2022 - 299 Broadway

,

This Wednesday the 14th at 6:00 pm, the Zoning Board of Appeals will review one of the most important development proposals it's addressed this year: 299 Broadway, the vacant Star Market Site.

299 Broadway has blighted the community for years, but we now have an incredible proposal from two developers that have been working quite closely with the community to come up with something that the neighborhood wants and needs. Their project will build a pair of sustainable buildings with 287 apartments,

more than half of them

permanently affordable, plus retail, public space and even a small park! This proposal is a huge win for the city, and a huge step forward for our housing and sustainability goals.

But first, it needs to get through the ZBA, and as always, the big problem is parking. 

Specifically, the zoning ordinance doesn't currently allow people living in the market-rate units to get on-street parking permits. The developer had planned to build underground parking, but there's so much asbestos in the soil that it's cost prohibitive. So they're asking permission for their residents to be allowed to get regular on-street permits. Their lenders are balking at financing a project that big with no available parking.

Parking in the area is pretty tight already, and the neighbors are not pleased by the idea. The ZBA has a long history of listening to neighbors angry about parking, so

there is a real risk they could deny permission, the project could fail, and we'd be stuck with the blighted site for years to come.

We're not big fans of the parking waivers ourselves, but we don't think it's going to be nearly as big a deal as the neighbors fear. Councilor Jake Wilson is working with the developers to find some off-site parking nearby, which could help a great deal.

But more importantly, by the time people move into the building, the parking landscape is going to be entirely different in the neighborhood. Between the Green Line Extension and the MBTA bus network overhaul, the area will be much better served by transit, and the city's upcoming parking reforms will provide an additional layer of parking demand management tools.

In other words, about 100 additional households will be able to get parking permits if the ZBA grants the waivers, but the area as a whole will be much less parking dependent by 2026.

Even if the new homes do make it more inconvenient to park in the neighborhood, we cannot afford to let that stop the project. If we are serious about addressing the climate crisis and the housing crisis, we need more housing in places like 299 Broadway.

Please

join us online on Wednesday night

, or write to

[email protected]

to let the ZBA know the city can't afford to let this project slip away.

Warmly,

Your friends at Somerville YIMBY