These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Nonunionized salary study update
Municipal Compensation Advisory Board, 1 p.m. Thursday. The board, established to find ways to hire and retain experienced city workers, presents a second update to a nonunion compensation study. The study compares the compensation of Somerville’s nonunion municipal employees to that of similar cities such as Cambridge, Arlington and Brookline. The Mayor’s Office recently announced a new contract with unionized workers of the Somerville Municipal Employees Union, ending a nearly three-year stretch without one. Watchable via videoconferencing.
New housing and lab space
Planning Board, 6 p.m. Thursday. The board hears developers hoping to continue work on a nine-story lab building next to McGrath Highway approved two years ago, and from DiCamillo Associates on plans to build 30 apartments, including six affordable units, atop Lyndell’s Bakery, an iconic establishment at 720 Broadway, Ball Square.
Greystar, a global real estate company, asks a special permit for a 1.3 million-square-foot lab, office, hospitality and park development at 20-23 Cummings St., Assembly Square. Greystar – also putting up a 16-story lab building a few blocks away at 74 Middlesex Ave. – says this project would go on the site of the La Quinta hotel and 99 restaurant.
Parking and bus improvements
Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee Meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday. The committee reviews a June proposal on parking regulation on Davis Square’s Elm Street, aiming to reduce illegal parking and increase pedestrian safety. The committee also discusses soon-to-be instated zoning changes ending off-street parking space minimums for new construction and shares the timeline for planned bus stop improvements, a winning project from a resident-voted participatory budgeting process. At the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., Central Hill, and watchable via videoconferencing.
MLK Day ‘Good Trouble’ panel
Somerville Martin Luther King Jr. Day panel discussion and donation drive, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday. Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, the Department of Racial and Social Justice and Somerville Public Schools’ Department of Equity and Excellence invite community members to celebrate the life and legacy of King by joining a community panel including Somerville students, activists and others discussing themes from “Good Trouble,” the 2020 documentary chronicling U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ 60-plus years of extraordinary activism. The film streams for free until Feb. 6. Items for donation are accepted at the event. at the auditorium of the East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross St., East Somerville. Free, but register. Information is here.
Update on sewer improvements
Combined Sewer Overflow control planning update, 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. Heavy rainfall can still cause sewer systems to overflow and pollute our rivers, but Cambridge, Somerville and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority are working on plans for sewer improvements that will reduce the pollution. Plans will be discussed via Zoom videoconferencing.
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