These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Overdose Recovery Month events
Somerville Cares About Prevention, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday. Officials, staff and activists bring awareness to the issue of drug overdoses with a flag-planting ceremony at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill, kicking off a nationally recognized month of recovery. Later, pick up free naloxone – also known as Narcan, a drug capable of reversing overdoses – in Davis Square.
Gym in Davis Square ex-Rite Aid
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 a half-decade and is in flux: Discussion began July 18 on a request to change the ground-floor use at a project called Alta Xmbly planned for 290 Revolution Drive – an eight-story building with 324 multifamily units and five townhouse units with a 188-space garage. The request is to have 4,543 square feet of offices at the base instead of retail.
Union Leaf, a pot store at 71-72 Union Square, appeals a board rule for an appointment-only business model forced on Somerville dispensaries in 2021; and a special permit is asked to open and run a Republic Fitness gym near Davis Square at 393 Highland Ave. for a January opening. There’s a Republic Fitness in Boston; the same owners run the Healthworks women’s gym in Cambridge’s Porter Square. The street-level site, which sold for almost $5 million in 2011, has been vacant since a Rite-Aid pharmacy closed there in early 2020. The council will also discuss recommendations for the City Council about a major expansion of the Somernova multiuse complex. Watchable by videoconferencing.
Resistance to six-story projects
City Council Land Use Committee, 6:30 p.m. Thursday. A group of residents oppose efforts to turn Pearl Street in Winter Hill – previously at a four-story maximum – into a six-story zone, arguing in letters that such a proposal by prospective owner Barros Properties would cast shade on neighbors and change the neighborhood’s character. Proponents argue that the rezoning would enable construction of much-needed housing next to public transportation in Gilman Square. Watchable by videoconferencing.
Possible energy cost increase
Department of Public Utilities, 2 p.m. Monday. Residents would see a 2.5 percent increase in monthly Eversource bills if the power utility gets its requested increase of $16.1 million in its income-eligible buildings program. The 33 percent rise in its original contracted amount with the city is spurred by an increase in heat pump use and the “removal of healthy and safety barriers” in its housing stock that created a backlog of projects, the company says. Comment can be given at the public hearing. Watchable by videoconferencing.
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