The developer of the proposed Copper Mill project in Davis Square will present “new building shapes” at Monday’s meeting of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council (DSNC), according to Christopher Beland, DSNC’s vice president. The design updates come more than a month after a state agency paused the permitting process for what was to be a 26-story development.
The DSNC meeting agenda will give 10 minutes for Copper Mill to “make the announcement and tell folks how they can give feedback,” Beland said.
Copper Mill’s changes come in response to feedback from both the state and the community after Davis Square Elm Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of the developer, in December submitted an application for the project to state agency MassHousing. Those plans provided for 502 residential units, including 126 affordable units, on top of 13,000 feet of ground floor retail space at the corner of Elm and Grove streets. The building would tower over the others on the block, which is zoned for up to four stories.
Since then, MassHousing has asked developers to reduce the project’s height and density in order to use state permitting processes, an agency representative told Cambridge Day. Under a state law known as Chapter 40B, MassHousing is one of several agencies responsible for reviewing developer applications before greenlighting projects for permitting through the state.
To developers, Chapter 40B can present an advantage: the law “allows developers to bypass typical local zoning laws such as height or density,” the City of Somerville’s website reads. In a community meeting held by Copper Mill in March, the developer said that building taller was financially necessary to achieve project goals. These include affordable housing, union jobs, arts space in the building, and keeping the Burren, a beloved Irish pub, the operators of which reached a deal with Copper Mill in January to stay in the future development.
To build big, Chapter 40B requires that 20 to 25 percent of units in a development be made affordable. Somerville already requires 20 percent affordability for buildings with at least 4 units.
In order for MassHousing to greenlight a project, though, the agency needs to make certain findings, including that the project is financially feasible and “generally appropriate” for its site.
MassHousing doesn’t request that developers adhere to any specific height or density limits, a representative said, and increased density isn’t a dealbreaker. But, a development’s height and design should be considered in the context of its surrounding environment, according to design rules used by the agency.
Those rules echo concerns expressed by some residents at the March meeting, where extant design plans were criticized as out of step with the character of the square.
That character is something that the DSNC has emphasized to Copper Mill, Beland told Cambridge Day. “We have advised them that another one of the major asks of the community was different materials,” Beland said.
“People want a building that looks more like the red brick of Davis Square than modern Assembly or Seaport or something like that,” he continued.
The DSNC’s meeting will be held virtually and in-person at the Crystal Ballroom beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday.
Copper Mill did not respond to requests for comment.
The DSNC has not taken a position on the project as of Tuesday. As a next step, the DSNC will form a Community Benefits Committee, which will hold a public meeting for community input before beginning to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement with Copper Mill. The agreement, like one executed for Somernova last summer, will set various rules governing the development’s engagement with the community.
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