Council discusses North Point plans
By Mary Hurley, The Boston Globe, July 22, 2001, Sunday, CITY WEEKLY, Pg. 6.
Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
Shaping a new residential community at North Point is a major focus of the proposed rezoning of eastern Cambridge. Last week, the City Council's Ordinance Committee sponsored a meeting to discuss the "overview" of two rezoning petitions for the area. What to do at North Point - that huge swath of industrial land across from Msgr. O'Brien Highway - dominated the discussion.
The petition sponsored by the Planning Board, the result of a yearlong study process of the Eastern Cambridge Planning Study Committee, calls for a mix of 65 percent residential and 35 commercial at North Point. Stuart Dash, of the city's Community Development Department, in response to a question by City Councilor Michael Sullivan, said between 3,000 and 4,000 units of new housing could be constructed there over a 20-year period if the new zoning emphasized housing and limited retail to 75,000 square feet.
Sullivan wondered if the zoning would allow for sufficient commercial and retail development to sustain the approximately 10,000 people who would be living there.
"It's astounding to me how many people it takes to sustain retail," replied David Dixon, of Goody, Clancy & Associates, the consultants to the study committee. It was also noted that the zoning would be flexible enough to allow the Planning Board to increase commercial space. The goal is to encourage small neighborhood retail and deter "big box" retailers.
But a second rezoning petition filed by the Association of Cambridge Neighborhood, a group of activists concerned about development, is more restrictive. It seeks a higher percentage of housing, 75 percent housing to 25 percent residential. The petition would also mandate that least 10 percent of the land be earmarked for community facilities. Stash Horowitz, vice president of the neigborhood group, said the Planning Board proposal allows for too much density and height and does not adequately address traffic problems.
Spaulding & Slye/Colliers and Guilford Transportation Industries, which is proposing a major mixed-used development at North Point, is seeking adjustments to the Planning Board petition to allow for more density and nonresidential development. The current proposal "severely limits our ability to finance public improvements," said David Hirzel of Sasaki Associates, who is also a member of the study committee. Preliminary estimates of infrastructure costs are $150 million, he said.
The Ordinance Committee has scheduled two hearings on the petitions, Sept. 5, to focus on North Point, and Sept. 12, on the rest of the petition. The City Council is expected to vote on the rezoning in October.