'Imagine having a building the size of Holyoke Center in your back yard'

By adamg on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:45am

The Crimson reports some East Cambridge residents are not taking kindly to the idea of having a 10-story research building built 50 feet from their property lines.

Neighborhoods:

Cambridge

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Development

East Cambridge

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Check Your Zoning Maps

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:24am

Why these people are at all surprised that Harvard or any other institution or corporation would actually buy up land and build it out according to the zoning is beyond me. That's called playing by the rules. It is more than plenty easy to get to Cambridge City Hall and check zoning on various parcels in your neighborhood. You can even get the maps to take home and scribble on.

But getting people together in your neighborhood to systematically assess the area zoing and request rezoning of various places isn't on the radar for some "community" groups like the North Cambridge Stagation Committee. Much easier to wait for somebody to actually dare think that they could ever buy a piece of land nearby and *gasp* build it out according to the zoning!

Why, you just can't throw massive righteous fits, run for city council, tell lies and call names and demand various absurd concessions as blackmail if you do things that way!

this is a proposed zoning change

By Ron Newman
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:27am

according to the Crimson article. Not a build-out of an existing zone.

Zoning variance

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:39am

Zoning change means changing to a different use IMHO. This is a zoning variance for height and setback. If that variance is denied, the developer could still build a laboratory there - just a smaller one. The people in the article didn't seem to realize they were near a commercial zone before that.

Lesson: check the zoning of parcels in your area. If there are issues with conflicting uses and potential future development that isn't desired, work to get that zoning changed. See if there are adequate buffers between housing and commercial/industrial uses and transitions to residential neighborhoods and get the zoning changed if it isn't sensible. (yes, I have checked on this for my home, too - even further out, you might be surprised that that woodland at the end of the street is zoned for heavy industrial)

re-read it please

By Ron Newman
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:54am

The article talks about two different things -- a recent zoning variance that already happened somewhere else nearby, and a zoning *change* that has been proposed. The City Council has to vote on zoning changes, not zoning variances.

This part

By anon
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 11:10am

Currently, commercial buildings in the area—located near the Kendall Square T stop—may not exceed 45 feet tall and must be at least 100 feet from residential property lines.

According to the article, Swirly is right and you are wrong. Commercial buildings are allowed, just not so tall and not so close.

How does that make me wrong?

By Ron Newman
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 12:34pm

And that's why the developer wants to change the zoning -- to allow a taller building. The City Council must approve any change in zoning.

Oops. You're right.

By anon
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 1:26pm

Typically, the difference between a change and a variance is that a variance is to keep the same sort of use, but relax some guidelines (e.g. height and setback).

Variances. A Variance is a legal relief valve by which a property owner may obtain an exemption from the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance. Variances from dimensional, use and parking regulations may be granted by the Board of Zoning Appeal in cases where the requirements of the Ordinance represent a hardship for the petitioner. The petitioner must establish that the hardship is particular only to his lot and is due to the unique conditions of the land for which the variance is being requested. The BZA must find that the variance will not result in substantial detriment to the public good and that it will not significantly derogate from the intent of the Zoning Ordinance.

This is a different procedure from a zoning change.

Zoning Amendment Petition Procedure. The Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map may be amended when existing regulations are no longer appropriate or when the City prepares new plans for an area. Amendments may involve text changes in district or citywide regulations or a change in the district designation for a certain area on the zoning map (called a rezoning). When regulations for an area are made more restrictive, the action is called a downzoning.

Learn more here.

At first reading, a variance appears to be what they're proposing, because it talks about setback and height. However, the Board of Zoning Appeal approves a variance, not the City Council. The City Council approves changes, not variances. It's before the City Council because it's being filed as a change (amendment) rather than a variance. Instead of seeking a variance on the parcel, they're trying to change its zone to a differant usage.

So you're right. Never mind.

Harvard Defense Drones

By EM Painter
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 4:02pm

Harvard Defense Drones Attack Wing, return to Death Star for further instructions.

Harvard?

By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 6:22pm

The building that is proposed for the site is the same size as Holyoke Center.

The Crimson covered the meeting.

However, Harvard is not(yet?) involved in this particular development. Asking the City of Cambridge to essentially eliminate the buffer zone between the high rises and the neighborhoods is the brainchild of Beal Companies, LLP, a Boston-based real estate firm.

Goodbye Kendall Square Cinema?

By Ron Newman
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 6:31pm

Cambridge Chronicle says the proposal is to "construct a building and extended parking garage at the northeast corner of Binney Street and Cardinal Medeiros Way."

That's the current location of Landmark's Kendall Square Cinema. This is an important cultural institution that I'd hate to lose. A lot of what they show plays nowhere else.

Ouch!!

By independentminded
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 7:57pm

Loss of the Landmark's Kendall Square Cinema would be a huge blow, imo. I admittedly don't go there all that often, but I don't believe in depriving people who enjoy that theatre of the right to have something they enjoy.

If the planned construction

By neilv
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 8:36pm

If the planned construction were a small building, it could fit on that corner and merely obscure the cinema (even more) from the street. There could be access to the street, just like there is across the street, on the One Kendall Square block.

Google StreetView

If, on the other hand, the plan would involve the cinema ceasing operations at that location, then why does the Cambridge Chronicle article not mention the cinema at all?

I think the Chronicle should follow up with info on what's currently on the site, and what is known and not known about how those would be affected. With emphasis on the cinema.

Kendall Square Cinema is the cultural gem of Kendall Square, and one of the few things to do there. Shame if it disappeared.

Kendall Square Cinema won't be demolished

By Ron Newman
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 9:15am

After I asked this question, the Cambridge Chronicle edited [url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x2081097... article[/url], adding this sentence:

"The proposed project would maintain the Kendall Square Cinema and extend the existing parking garage, said Robert Doherty of the Beal Companies."

According to resident Isabel

By NotWhitey
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:38am

According to resident Isabel Caseres, the neighborhood has the lowest percentage of people with a high school education anywhere in the city, and the second highest population density.

Lino R. Becerra, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard who lives in the affected neighborhood, presented the council with a study of the shadows that would potentially be cast by the proposed building, which he said would make neighboring homes 3 degrees colder.

Tonio Buonassisi, an MIT professor who runs an interdisciplinary photovoltaic lab, said that he had recently spent $18,000 to install solar panels on his home, which he said would be rendered useless by shadows if the proposed zoning change is passed and the is building constructed.

I assume that MIT faculty have high school educations.

jobs...

By central squared
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 3:16pm

High-paying, well-educated science jobs. Who needs em?

There are enough of 'em as it is.

By independentminded
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 9:10pm

n/t

'Imagine having a building the size of Holyoke Center in your back yard'

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