Agenda Text
title
Joe Kislo submitting comments re: #211170, an amendment to re-zone the property at 256 and 278 Elm, 58 Day, and 7 Herbert Streets to a mix of Civic and CC4.
body
Official Text
To the Honorable City Council:
I am generally in favor of the development on the 4 sites Asana purchased last year. However, as a direct abutter (directly across from 7 Herbert), I have been surprised at the lack of community engagement by Asana. The previous community engagement meeting was poorly advertised, distributed as an unreadable paper-printed URL, had two conflicting meeting start times, and without distribution to all of the abutters (we received no notice). I would think Asana would be better served by actively engaging with the community, rather than trying to ignore the inconvenient truth that the four sites that they purchased last year directly abut a residential area. Let’s not use the pandemic as an excuse to avoid public discourse or basic community engagement, these changes will shape Davis Square for our generation and the next.
Davis Square is not downtown Boston, or Harvard Square. The character and charm of our square come from the independent shops, history and integration with the surrounding neighborhoods. Granting a zoning variance to such a core area of our community should be done with full community engagement.
In the interests of brevity I will list my comments and concerns below:
Asana has made several references to the building only being four stories. I feel that this is misleading since I do not believe most people can visualize the size of the building they’re proposing. According to Google, a typical two-story house in the US is 18-20 ft tall. By that housing standard, their building would be 6.5-7.25 stories tall. They are seeking a zoning change to build beyond the current zoning limit and build the tallest building in Davis Square, directly abutting a residential zone. This would be over double the height of the residences on the same street
The removal of the loading/unloading parking lot on Herbert street will make the already challenging loading/unloading issue in Davis square considerably worse. Harvard Square has a dedicated road for loading/unloading (Palmer St), while Davis Square has no solution for loading/unloading. Adding any additional commercial or retail capacity into Davis Square while reducing the limited existing loading capacity for these businesses would be irresponsible
Currently Herbert street is the de facto loading zone for the west side of Davis Square. It’s not atypical to see a tractor trailer truck blocking at least one residential driveway during morning and afternoon deliveries. Due to the narrow turns to get onto the street, it’s also not atypical to see tractor trailer trucks backing up on Herbert or Chester St. Additional pedestrian traffic from retail shops on Herbert would make this activity riskier.
References were made to a shadow study. The link on their website links to a deleted video: https://vimeo.com/539740213 <https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/j1hiC2kQqKFQrwmUnosq8>. Please make them put the study in the public record instead of a non-permanent medium like their website
I do not have access to the shadow study, but I have heard that the shadow study starts at 9am. This is not a useful study to the abutters on Herbert St. The majority of the direct sunlight hitting the front gardens on Herbert St is prior to 9am, and likely in the shadow of the new building. Asana needs to show a shadow study for all sunlight hours across all the seasons so the true impact is known
Direct shadow studies do not account for the loss of ambient light. A 65’ foot building may blot out most of the sky from Herbert St from ground level and presumably a considerable amount of ambient light. I would prefer to see a study of the impact of the building on the sidewalk-level light rather than a direct shadow study
Asana proposes putting retail tenants on Herbert St. Unfortunately they have made no comments on the various issues this creates:
o Sidewalk is too narrow now for the additional foot traffic. Herbert St is a common shortcut to the subway stop and already has significant foot traffic
o There is a telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk further restricting usable walking space without stepping into the street
Asana has made several references to the dumpsters on Herbert St, and their desire to store them inside their buildings in the future. Their comments have been that this will solve the issue the residents have with the dumpsters, but this will actually make them worse. Asana currently has 13 dumpsters, and they are typically emptied between 5:45am - 7 a.m., causing a huge amount of noise pollution. While we understand that noise comes with living in the city, these hours are too early for a property abutting a residential street. Redbones’ dumpsters are directly across from our house and are emptied in the late morning or afternoon. My understanding is that moving the dumpsters into the “garage” they are proposing would require them to wheel the dumpsters into the street to empty them. This will cause two problems:
o Blocking the street while the dumpsters are being emptied. They already do this with several of their dumpsters near the sidewalk already
o Move the noise pollution even closer to the residents of Herbert St
The current proposal from Asana for the Davis Square plaza is to gently slope it up from Herbert St towards Elm St. I have not seen any study that looks at if this will create additional water drainage towards Herbert st. In my first year living on Herbert St the city sewer backed up into my house twice during heavy rains. After speaking with the city engineer I was told that the city did not have a solution to this issue and to install a blackflow valve to prevent the city sewer backup, which I have. It is not clear if the slope proposed for the plaza would increase the volume of water for the city sewer on Herbert, putting additional strain on the limited capacity and further increasing the risk to the residences
To date I do not feel Asana has presented any reason why the zoning needs to be changed from its current zoning of MR4. MR4 allows them to build a 4 story building, as per their desire.
Having spoken to several Somerville residents there is a high desire for a “Bow Market” like two level, small shops approach to the davis square plaza. Such an amenity would seem to serve both Asana’s development goals and the local Somerville residents desires to have smaller locally owned shops by creating additional retail space than a single level larger footprint approach
While I have raised a number of issues, I suspect many have solutions that are already known, or can be determined with community engagement. I seek further engagement from Asana with the community to have their project be part of the community, rather than seen as an undesired development.
-Joe Kislo