These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Firm starts school design work
School Building Committee, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday. An architecture firm chosen by the city shares a monthly update about designing a new prekindergarten-to-eighth grade school, including a work plan update, review of existing conditions and a site assessment. Perkins Eastman, a New York firm with a Boston presence, was selected from three finalists and presented for the first time at a Nov. 3 committee meeting. Based on published plans, Perkins Eastman submits a preliminary design proposal by the end of March, the first of two steps before the state’s building authority needs to make its first approval. The school, whether just for Winter Hill students or combined with Benjamin Brown School students, is scheduled to open in 2031. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Rats … enough said
Rodent Issues Special Committee, 6 p.m. Monday. Committee members want an update from Inspectional Services about rodent enforcement efforts, including data on “complaints, inspections, warnings and fines issued for vegetation and trash violations” and on a birth control pilot program being run with Cambridge. The yearlong test to get rats to ingest infertility drugs is “not looking very impressive,” said Sam Lipson, Cambridge’s director of environmental health. The special committee, formed in 2014 during the Curtatone administration, has met roughly three or four times a year since 2023. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Housing on the city line
Neighborhood Meeting, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A developer meets with abutters for his proposed four-story, 10-unit residential building at 1 Washington St., East Somerville, on the Charlestown border. The building would be demolished for one designed by Joe the Architect. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Preserving historical downspouts
Historic Preservation Commission, 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. A condo association wants to replace wood gutters with aluminum ones at 396-398 Broadway, Winter Hill, and the committee considers approving a certificate of appropriateness for the work. “The building currently suffers from extensive water damage to the exterior, which has compromised the integrity of the wooden siding and window trim,” according to filed documents by a condo association representative. The commission wants to make sure that “the gutters seamless[ly] complement and blend in with the overall Second Empire home design” built in 1874. Watchable via videoconferencing.
More trees and green tech jobs
Open Space, Environment and Energy Committee, 6 p.m. Wednesday. Councilor Will Mbah wants to understand the impact climate tech and energy incubator Greentown Labs has on the local economy and community, with data on the number of jobs the Ward 2 organization creates, how it stimulates local economic activity and its positive climate and sustainability contributions in Somerville and globally. He asks public space and urban forestry officials also for a plan to maintain existing trees and plant more along Medford Street and Broadway in Magoun Square. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Clarifying zoning for lot split
Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. Wednesday. A resident seeks the reversal of recently granted permits for residential work at 17 Hudson St., Spring Hill. The lot was divided in two in December, and the developers seek to build two three-unit buildings and at least one accessory dwelling unit. According to the petitioner, Denise Provost, “somebody on city staff is misinterpreting a couple provisions of the zoning pertaining to lot splits” and how accessory dwellings are permitted. Provost is a former state representative whose district covered parts of Somerville. Watchable via videoconferencing.
A stronger
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