Question
Mary NORCROSS
I thought development projects were on hold until a comprehensive review of Davis development was completed.
Christopher Beland
On Tue, 2026-02-17 at 21:03 -0500, 'Mary NORCROSS' wrote:
I thought development projects were on hold until a comprehensive review of Davis development was completed.
This is incorrect; no city agency has agreed to halt any development project in Davis Square. The DSNC asked that one project at the Copper Mill site at the corner of Elm and Grove be suspended until the Davis Square Neighborhood Plan is completed. We have not received any agreement from Copper Mill, the city, nor the state to do that. The state agency MassHousing is pausing its review while it waits for Copper Mill to answer questions about their application.
The project depicted in the photograph at 371 Highland Ave was granted a Special Permit with Conditions by the Planning Board on November 18, 2021. You can see a bunch of documents, including renderings and floor plans here:
https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/ospcd/planning-and-zoning/reports-and-decisions
...if you enter "Highland" for street name and "371" for street number. At least one community meeting was held, but the links to those notes are broken (I reported that to the city IT Department).
This parcel is zoned MR4 (four-story maximum) and is on a legally designated Pedestrian Street, which means that Planning Board approval was needed to put residential uses on the upper floors. The permit says that it can have 22 (not 23) residential units, and there is ground-floor retail. It's planned with 13 underground parking spaces, which is less than the one per unit maximum allowed in a transit district.
The documents say the residential units are intended for rental, not as condos. The "for sale" sign means that the current owner (J&C Realty Trust) wants to sell the land, not individual units. A buyer could then immediately get a building permit and construct the pre-planned building. Or, they could decide to build something different on this site, which may or may not need to come back to the Planning Board or City Council for permission, depending on what it is. For example, they could build a zero-housing office building by right, with no need to get planning permission.
-B.
Mary NORCROSS
On Feb 17, 2026, at 10:43 PM, 'Christopher Beland' via Davis Square Neighborhood Council <daviss...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
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Christopher Beland
On Wed, 2026-02-18 at 17:41 -0500, Mary NORCROSS wrote:
I assume all of those environmental issues were addressed by the Planning Board when they permitted building on the site.
It's not the Planning Board's responsibility to ensure that underground storage tanks are removed safely and there's no dangerous soil contamination, or to enforce environmental regulations generally. The owner wouldn't have even come before the Planning Board at all if they had wanted to put in a zero-housing office building, for example. It's the Somerville Fire Department that issues permits for large underground tank removal, and I know the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has its own regulations and inspections. Getting the actual building permit would also trigger review by the Somerville Inspectional Services Division. And those are the agencies I'd expect to show up on the ground from personal experience with an asbestos demolition fiasco. (There are also of course federal environmental regulations and the EPA to consider, depending on what is happening on the site.)
-B.
Elaine Almquist
I saw this signage on the fence of the property that used to be Chris’s Garage on Highland Ave. Did I miss something? Does this sign mean this project has been approved and they are ready to sell units?
I thought development projects were on hold until a comprehensive review of Davis development was completed.
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Mary Norcross
76 Willow Ave.
Somerville, MA 02144
617-666-2719
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Jeff Byrnes
I remember when a similar project was planned in Union, on Bow St right where it meets Somerville Ave, and the remediation needed for that land was very expensive. 299 Broadway (old Star Market in Winter Hill) had a similar discovery, and the builder opted to not do underground parking as a result, which created some real challenges for them & the City. Thankfully, they found the way forward with both of those projects!
I’ll be curious what happens to this spot, especially with the parcel nearby (where Recorded Future is or was) slated for redevelopment soon-ish.
Jeff Byrnes
he/him
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