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.
Multifamily housing options
Housing Committee, 2 p.m. Thursday. This committee run by city councillors Burhan Azeem and Sumbul Siddiqui talks about multifamily housing and gets an update on it from Community Development Department staff. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Envisioning Mass. Ave. of 2040
Massachusetts Avenue Planning Study Working Group, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The group discuss community feedback on plans for the South-of-Porter-Square study area and hears from experts on what improvements are feasible now and in the future. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Improvements at Danehy Park
Danehy Park Improvement Plan Working Group, 6 p.m. Thursday. A look at conditions at the park – opened more than 30 years ago above landfill – and gathering of ideas, information and feedback about how to make it better. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Rally against Walden Square II
Anti-Walden Square II documentary screening, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The design of the 95-apartment Walden Square II, a 100 percent-affordable-housing project in North Cambridge proposed under Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Overlay zoning, remains opposed by some – filmmaker Federico Muchnik says 1,000 people have signed a petition against what he calls a “a slab-and-tunnel” that will take down too many trees, “create an urban canyon and heat island and disrupt the community.” The Saturday event includes a screening of his 30-minute documentary, rally and Q&A at the Cambridge Friends School, 5 Cadbury Road, in the Neighborhood 9 neighborhood. The Sunday event includes a presentation, Q&A and panel at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge.
Adding 151 North Cambridge homes
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. What’s now a parking lot and a two-story retail and office building at 2400 Massachusetts Ave., North Cambridge, could become two six-story buildings with 56 condominiums and 7,161 square feet of retail (half of which is expected to be restaurant and bar space) of a total 94,867 square feet of gross floor area on a 27,786-square-foot lot. Rendered with an industrial corrugated feel – like a series of shipping containers in green – the structures are tallest on Massachusetts Avenue and take a stepped-down, terraced approach backing into a residential area on Cedar Street and Alberta (appropriately) Terrace. In the project by North Cambridge Partners (in 2022, a previous version of the plan was presented by developer Patrick Barrett for Tim Rowe and Dan Sibor), there are 67 below-ground parking spaces; 15 percent of the total will be a blend of private and public greenery or open space, including a green roof. This meeting also brings a design review for the 95-apartment Walden Square II, a 100 percent-affordable-housing project in North Cambridge under Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Overlay zoning, which means the board’s comments function mostly as suggestions. Some resistance remains to the plan regardless, with filmmaker Federico Muchnik arguing “1,000 petitioners demand the board take a close look.” Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
A stronger
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Great to see development moving to West Cambridge!
Oh, wait…
I thought the last revision of the plan I saw for Walden Square was much improved. I’d love to see the “desire line” between Lincoln Way and Walden Square become an official path. Lots of room on the property for more badly needed affordable housing. So long as the public can still readily access the Yerxa underpass, it’s fine with me.
Maybe I should show up at this meeting so it’s not just the highly motivated naysayers.