These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Insurance offices and pot change
Planning Board, 6 p.m. Thursday. Liberty Mutual Insurance is set to open offices on the periphery of Assembly Square, a process that’s now taken more than half a decade to complete and is in flux: Discussion began July 18 on its request to change the ground-floor use at a project called Alta Xmbly planned for 290 Revolution Drive – its eight-story building with 324 multi-family units and five townhouse units with a 188-parking-space garage. The request is to have 4,543 square feet of office at the base instead of retail.
Union Leaf, aptly a pot store at 71-72 Union Square, is appealing a stipulation of the board, arguing against the need for the appointment-only business model forced upon all Somerville dispensaries in 2021. Another cannabis vendor, Seed, operated by Core Empowerment LLC makes the case for a special retail sales permit to allow it to replace a former liquor store at 500 Medford St., Magoun Square. Seed has a Boston location and wants to expand.
The board, as an adviser to the City Council, will also discuss changes to zoning asked by residents and landlords and give input on the development of Brickbottom, home to several businesses nestled between McGrath Highway and train lines. City staff have targeted Brickbottom as an area for “extensive change” and are aiming to finalize a development plan this summer, paving the way for street renovations and new building designs. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Demolition of historic home
Historic Preservation Commission, 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. Hear updates on the proposed multibillion-dollar expansion of the Somernova business and tech campus in Ward 2 between Union and Porter squares and the first step in the demolition of a small home for redevelopment of 80 Curtis St., West Somerville. The home is more than a century old and its owner needs commission permission to tear it down. Owner Anthony Seretakis, who owns at least a half-dozen other homes in Somerville, has not said publicly what will take the place of the cottage bungalow-style structure with its huge front yard. Watchable via videoconferencing.
A stronger
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A few changes to MA marijuana laws are really needed. Namely it shouldn’t be harder to set up a dispensary than a liquor store, nor should there be more restrictions placed on them. The restrictions of having any product visible from the windows, and the continued lack of social consumption in particular really limit the social integration of these spaces and create dead areas. No reason these spaces still need to be treated like pariahs.