Parking lot OK’d by council for $8.3M purchase, affordable housing or DPW uses looking likely
The parking lot at 41 Bellis Circle on Wednesday, after the City Council voted to buy it. (Photo: Marc Levy)
The $8.3 million asked to buy a parking lot in Neighborhood 9 near Fresh Pond was released Wednesday in a special meeting of Cambridge’s City Council with some talk of building affordable housing there and even more focus on the needs of the city’s Department of Public Works.
With the money freed by a 7-0 vote of the council (two members were absent) and another vote taken immediately to remove the possibility of reconsideration, the friendly land-taking of 41 Bellis Circle should be done within the next week, deputy city manager Owen O’Riordan said.
After the purchase will come a community process to determine the best use of the 0.9 acres that until recently belonged to the Cambridge Montessori School but in January was sold to developer William Senne for $6.4 million. The friendly eminent domain process will be negotiated with Senne. That raised suspicions from speakers during a public comment period, along with questions about the timing of a 2 p.m. meeting with little notice and some remarks opposing the site for affordable housing.
“This land could be valuable to many of our goals,” City Manager Yi-An Huang said during the special meeting. “I can hear a lot of uncertainty, but we are committed to a conversation to work through [the options] together.”
There was some chiding from city councillors too about a lack of communication around the deal. The city managers thanked the council for putting together the meeting on short notice, and O’Riordan explained that the city had not known in January that the school was selling. (City councillor Quinton Zondervan added that he knew the school did not think of contacting the city as a buyer.)
The current price is a good one worth acting on before the opportunity is lost, O’Riordan said. “The price we were initially quoted was much higher,” he said. “And if we thought this was unreasonable, we’d walk away.”
The DPW, which O’Riordan once led and still oversees as deputy city manager, has 2.8 acres at 147 Hampshire St., Wellington-Harrington, that is in poor shape and unable to keep up with the city’s needs, he said. As a result, the department has satellite space leased around the city from various property owners, including the state, under arrangements that will expire soon.
The department has been looking for a long-term solution property for years, last proposing in May that $14.4 million be spent on 0.8 acres between Inman and Union squares as a depot for Public Works equipment, only for the council to balk at the price and say the better use in that area was affordable housing. A question was left Wednesday with a city spokesperson on the status of the land.
“Whether we’re talking about affordable housing or the DPW, we’re trying to accumulate land because property is getting more expensive,” councillor Paul Toner said. “If we don’t do something soon, we’ll be bringing in our DPW from Billerica.”
If the city doesn’t buy the land at Bellis Circle, it’s likely to wind up as a private residential development that is even bigger than what the city might build after a public process, Toner said.
It’s also likely to cost the city a chance to use the site for storm water management, which O’Riordan said could be done whether the land was used for Public Works or affordable housing. The area is prone to flooding, and the effects of climate change are expected to make the problem more dire.
There were several public speakers such as Eugene Harris who felt Bellis Circle wasn’t a good site for affordable housing because traffic and parking in the area are “already problematic, and this could be catastrophic.” Others, such as Levi Tofias, welcomed the idea – and Tofias suggested that with Fitchburg line train tracks running alongside, this would be a good spot for a new commuter rail stop.
Sherman is too tight for bike lanes. It can’t take many more cars at rush hour (with no right turn on red clogging the street and the sky with pollution) and its a challenging walk to the T or bus…
I’m baffled at how people are going to get to or from their “affordable” housing if its built there.
A swap for DPW stuff maybe and put housing on DPW sites? But this is all just ridiculous.
Sherman street has street parking, that means it does actually have space for bike lanes if smarter decisions on curb use were made.
There also are various improvements to walkability and bikability coming soon nearby including the Danehy Park Connector and new crossings over the tracks. It is also already less than 20 min walking (5 min biking) from the T and various retail options at both Porter and Alewife and closer to several bus lines. It really isn’t as bad as you are making it out to be.
I’m terrified to bike down Sherman. I’m half terrified to drive down it. Not wide enough for bike lanes in either direction even if you did remove parking. Its a mess. Adding more traffic of either cars or bikes, or taking away parking on a street without a lot of driveways? All dumb ideas. Get the danehy connector and crossings over the tracks done, then look at how to best use the space.
Is that the lot that Jose’s used to use?
“Not wide enough for bike lanes in either direction even if you did remove parking”
Parking spaces are generally 9 feed wide. Minimum width for bike lanes is 4 feet meaning if you remove parking you have enough room for bike lanes in both directions and a 6 inch buffer for each of them. Again there absolutely is room if smarter choices about space were made. It can be shocking how spatially inefficient cars are but that realization opens up so much space to do better things.
The only one with “dumb ideas” are those who see parking spaces as sacrosanct or that more people biking is “adding traffic” rather than literally reducing it. Bikes don’t cause traffic cars do, nor do bikes cause similar pollution, noise, or danger for others.
Also looking at street view almost every single house on the street has off street parking and there are a few parking lots on the street as well you are simply lying or ignorant in claiming this is “a street without a lot of driveways.”Even if it didn’t parking for a single vehicle isn’t a better use of space than a bike lane that can move thousands of people.