Attend meetings in Cambridge from July 21-28 about going fossil free and a hotel on McGrath
These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City Calendar and in the city’s Open Meetings Portal.
A six-story hotel iw proposed for 1 McGrath Highway, straddling the Cambridge-Somerville line. (Image: Somerbridge Hotel)
Fossil fuel free demonstration
Fossil fuel free demonstration program, 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday. Cambridge is one of 10 communities in a test of a state program that calls for new construction and major renovations to be free of fossil fuel use. Participants may learn about the test and contribute ideas on how to fulfill the goal.Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Bike lane advisers gather
Cycling Safety Ordinance Advisory Committee Meeting, 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday. These meetings hear feedback from members and comments from the public. The committee meets on the second floor of the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
School parking, McGrath hotel
Board of Zoning Appeal, 6 p.m. Wednesday. The Cambridge Montessori School at 129 Sherman St., Neighborhood 9, wants to drop the offsite parking it was required to secure in 1995 and relocate a drop-off and pickup area to avoid having kids cross traffic at Bellis Circle. This is mildly interesting in that it’s a “request to remove special permit conditions which have come become obsolete or were based on zoning requirements that were subsequently abolished” – namely parking minimums, which were ended by the City Council on Oct. 24.
The board also considers a proposal from Somerbridge Hotel to develop a six-story AC-branded hotel by Marriott at 1 McGrath Highway, spanning the Somerville border on a vacant car wash site just across the road from a Holiday Inn in East Cambridge. The proposal includes 86,765 square feet of commercial space (63,560 of it in Somerville), 199 guest rooms, 13 car parking spaces (all in Cambridge), 18 long-term bicycle parking spaces and nine short-term bicycle parking spaces. A special permit granted for a hotel use with a different footprint in 2017 has lapsed. Watchable by videoconferencing.
