Agenda Text
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Burak Gokmen submitting comments re: #210364, to re-zone six parcels along Medford Street between School Street and Marshall Street.
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Official Text
To the Honorable City Council:
I am the owner of the property on the corner of Pearl Street and Marshall Street in Gilman Square and I felt that it was important for you to know the following information during your evaluation of the petition for the map change in Gilman Square:
1. The owner of the Malta Building raised the need for setbacks around his building. I wanted to share with you that there is an empty lot between Malta Building and my property owned by the owner of the Malta building as you can see in the assessors map I have attached (Lot 11 on Site Plan Assessors Map - My property is Lot 10 and Malta Building is Lot 12). This lot is 19.6 ft wide and provides a permanent setback regardless of any development on my property since it is owned by the owner of Malta Building. I believe his comments during the public hearing were misleading. Also, as far as I know, the development on the other side of his building has already provided a setback in the final plans submitted to the Planning Department and Zoning Board.
2. Regardless of my comment above, I also question the need for a 20-25 ft setback in an urban transportation hub. This wasn’t the case even 150 years ago. I am attaching 2 historical pictures from the late 1800s where you can clearly see that there isn’t much setback (if any) between the Malta Building and the building on my site at the time. As far as I can tell from these pictures and other pictures I was able to find, the building on my site was also occupying the driveway of Malta Building (empty lot 11) at that time.
3. The Aerial View I have attached shows the scale of the buildings around Gilman Square. The high school complex is such a massive structure compared to anything that can be developed in the square and the potential impact of any development on the Malta Building. Sun and shade studies we have done also confirmed that.
I hope this information helps.
Thank you for your time and best regards,
Burak Gokmen