[DSNC] January Meeting: Monday Jan 26, 6:00pm to 8:00pm

[Davis Square Neighborhood Council]

Meeting: Monday, Jan 26, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm 

(Live Agenda Link)

Hi Neighbors,

Our monthly general meeting will be held at The Rockwell (255 Elm St, Somerville, MA 02144) in order to accommodate expected attendance. This meeting will be focused on matters related to Copper Mill’s development (The Burren to Dragon Pizza) and their application under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40B.

We plan to schedule additional special meetings throughout the month of February to handle additional business and prepare for the next DSNC board election in April.

As always, our regular meetings are hybrid and also held online via Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85220522175?pwd=b92uXx6aRRNXdehZWGFZRQXogheZus.1

Meeting ID: 852 2052 2175

Passcode: 812425

Agenda:

• 6:00 PM - Announcement: Recording Public Meetings

• 6:00 PM - Welcome & Intros (name, pronouns, street and/or connection with Davis Sq.)

• 6:15 PM - Approval of the minutes from our previous meeting (and the November Meeting)

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• 6:20 PM - Motion to delay committee updates and community meeting reports to special meeting #1

• 6:25 PM - Statement from Elaine: Plan to accelerate DSNC formation process to enable CBC negotiation with Copper Mill

• Notice about membership verification in future meetings.

• 6:35 PM - Notification of bylaws amendment to improve election process and streamline DSNC processes (this is a procedural step; the bylaws changes will be taken up in the next general meeting)

• 6:40 PM - Formation of Community Benefits Committee focused on Copper Mill project

• Describe selection process

• Volunteers needed

• 6:50 PM - Update and discussion about Copper Mill’s 40B application

• Soliciting questions

• Soliciting short-term requests to be made of Copper Mill

• Soliciting points for negotiation with Copper Mill for CBA, design changes, or impact mitigation

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• 7:40 PM - Report of findings from DSNC Development Co-Learning Session

• 7:50 PM - Reminder about upcoming DSNC special meetings

• Special Meeting 1 (committee updates, election) TBD

• Special Meeting 2 (bylaws amendment discussion) TBD

• 7:55 PM - Motion to adjourn

• 8:00 PM - Vacate and reset the Room

Post-meeting socializing at The Foundry.

Community Meeting Reports will be pushed to a DSNC special meeting (date TBD, agenda here): Have you attended any recent community meetings that might interest DSNC members? We invite you to share a brief report at our next meeting. To ensure these updates are informative and efficient:

• Please prepare a written summary (2-3 paragraphs) in advance

• Email your summary to the Secretary (zpogre...@gmail.com) for inclusion in the Minutes

• Be ready to present a 2-3 minute overview at the meeting

[Hala Jadallah]

Thanks for letting us know. 

Hala

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Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC
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[Denise Provost]

In light of the storm coming at us, I request a postponement of Monday's meeting.

Zoom alone does not seem like an adequate forum.

Denise

[Hala Jadallah]

I was going to suggest that too.

Hala

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/davissquarenc/498385389.2115597.1769188290539%40mail.yahoo.com.

[kendragph]

Thank you DSNC for holding last night's meeting, particularly making it accessible by Zoom.

For those of us who unfortunately had to join late, could you share the meeting recording?  Thank you. 

There was also mention of the public comment period with the state about the Copper Mill project that ends Feb. 6 but didn't see a link 

shared in the chat - can you please share the link for submitting comments?  Many thanks!

Kendra 

[Meredith Porter]

Hi Kendra and everyone,

Yes, the public comment period is scheduled to end on February 6. There was a motion to ask for an extension, but it's up to MassHousing to decide whether to grant that.

Comments may be sent to "Katherine Miller" <kmi...@masshoussing.com> . The application letter was mailed to the CEO of Mass Housing, Chrystal Kornegay, MassHousing, One Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108-3110, Cc: Katherine Miller, MassHousing, presumably at the same address.

The Chapter 40B Handbook for Zoning Boards of Appeal (https://www.mass.gov/doc/chapter-40b-handbook-for-zoning-boards-of-appeal-march-2017-0/download) advises, "For most cities and towns, the most constructive approach is to focus on matters that clearly fall within the scope of a PE [Project Eligibility] determination. ..."

Below I've listed the findings that MassHousing is required to make in order to determine that a project is eligible.

Many of the concerns that I've heard regarding this project relate to this finding:

(c) that the conceptual project design is generally appropriate for the site on which it is located, taking into consideration factors that may include proposed use, conceptual site plan

and building massing, topography, environmental resources, and integration into existing development patterns

I've heard other concerns too, including financial feasibility.

By the way, the handbook noted above also advises, "The notification letter starts the clock for a 30-day comment period for the city or town. At this point, the Chief Elected Official should post the notice and PE application on the community’s website and seek comments from municipal boards and departments. Making the documents available on the city or town website will ensure that interested residents can have access to the information so they can comment if they wish." MassHousing sent its notification letter to the city on January 5. It has not yet been posted or made available. Elaine found out about the dates from Tom Galligani, and I found out by contacting MassHousing.

Best regards,

Meredith ("Merit," he/him)

Chapter 40B Handbook for Zoning Boards of Appeal (https://www.mass.gov/doc/chapter-40b-handbook-for-zoning-boards-of-appeal-march-2017-0/download)

...

For most cities and towns, the most constructive approach is to focus on matters that clearly fall within the scope of a PE [Project Eligibility] determination. The Subsidizing Agency’s [in this case, MassHousing's] decision criteria are listed in 760 CMR 56.04(4), and they include:

(a) that the proposed project appears generally eligible under the requirements of the housing subsidy program;

(b) that the site of the proposed project is generally appropriate for residential development, taking into consideration information provided by the municipality or other parties regarding municipal actions previously taken to meet affordable housing needs, such as inclusionary zoning, multifamily districts adopted under M.G.L. c. 40A, and overlay districts adopted under M.G.L. c. 40R (such finding, with supporting reasoning, to be set forth in reasonable detail);

(c) that the conceptual project design is generally appropriate for the site on which it is located, taking into consideration factors that may include proposed use, conceptual site plan

and building massing, topography, environmental resources, and integration into existing development patterns (such finding, with supporting reasoning, to be set forth in reasonable detail);

(d) that the proposed project appears financially feasible within the housing market in which it will be situated (based on comparable rentals or sales figures);

(e) that an initial pro forma has been reviewed, including a land valuation determination consistent with the Department’s guidelines, and the Project appears financially feasible and consistent with the Department’s guidelines for Cost Examination and Limitations on Profits and Distributions (if applicable) on the basis of estimated development costs;

(f) that the applicant is a public agency, a non-profit organization, or a Limited Dividend Organization, and it meets the general eligibility standards of the housing program; and

(g) that the applicant controls the site, based on evidence that the applicant or a related entity owns the site, or holds an option or contract to acquire such interest in the site, or has such other interest in the site as is deemed by the subsidizing agency to be sufficient to control the site.

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From: "kendragph" <kend...@gmail.com>
To: "Davis Square Neighborhood Council" <daviss...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 9:50:38 PM
Subject: Re: [DSNC] January Meeting: Monday Jan 26 - recording & public comment link

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Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC
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[Elaine Almquist]

As a reminder to all-- 

Our new recording policy is to only share the recording with individuals upon request, not shared out to the whole group. There were many security and safety concerns about recording, and this is a compromise that we agreed to.

If you would like to request the link to the recording, please address it to dsnc-bo...@googlegroups.com to keep the main message board clear.

Cheers,

Elaine

Elaine F. Almquist

(she/her/hers)

BlueSky @EAlmquist  Instagram: @EFAlmquist
Phone: 978.375.2448

[Elaine Almquist]

Thank you Meredith,

I've updated the 40B Process slide deck to incorporate the list of findings that MassHousing must report on.

 40B Process Timeline & Overview

Best,

Elaine

Elaine F. Almquist

(she/her/hers)

BlueSky @EAlmquist  Instagram: @EFAlmquist
Phone: 978.375.2448

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[Frank Mals]

Elaine and the entire DSNC team, 

Thank you for working so hard to set Monday’s meeting up at the Rockwell. My hats off to the entire team for an extremely well run meeting!

At the risk of sounding insistent, I’d like to follow up on the two motions that passed. 

My chief concern is that we are up against a fast approaching deadline on the comment period, and that the DSNC letter about the comment period must be clear about what is required of the city.  It’s not enough for the city to just update the website to show that we're in the 30-day comment period. The notification letter must be posted too, and the comment period should be extended to 30 days after that's happened.

Also, to ensure follow through from the city, the DSNC should require that Planning send to the Mayor, City Council, OSPCD and the DSNC: 

* all correspondence with MassHousing regarding extension of the comment period, as soon as such correspondence is sent or received

* all correspondence with Copper Mill regarding withdrawal of its application, as soon as such correspondence is sent or received

Also, would it be possible for the DSNC to save all correspondence with the city regarding these requests to the Google drive in the appropriate folder, as soon as such correspondence is sent or received?

Thank you!

Regards,

Frank

[Christopher Beland]

Given that the end of the comment period was coming up so quickly, the Board did a major push over email and actually sent the letter to MassHousing earlier today (with a cc: to the city so they know they need to update their website). You can see that and future letters in the Correspondance folder on the DSNC Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CSv1Gi2iPHliBF_u_HRaRldJK_rhSvnW

I was going to produce a draft of the letter to Copper Mill today or tomorrow if no one else had circulated one by then. If you have specific language you want to see in that one, Frank (or anyone else), feel free to send it to dsnc-bo...@googlegroups.com and we'll pipe that into the group editing process.

I have been hearing on Discord (but not investigated myself) that the Somerville Planning Board has been meeting without posting updates to the city web site as well, so something seems to have gone off the rails somewhere. Between that and not hearing about developments with Copper Mill, I'm going to put information flow from the city on the agenda for the next Board meeting. I would include the things you mentioned, Frank, and also status changes for any development project in our jurisdiction. If any of the DSNC volunteers who have been monitoring the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals have any insight on what's been happening, that would be welcome.

-B.

[Meredith Porter]

Thanks, Board members, for that letter to MassHousing. It looks excellent to me, and I appreciate that you'll be archiving all of the correspondence for us to see. I have one suggestion: also send the letter to Katherine Miller <kmi...@masshousing.com> . She was Cc’d on the application, and I understand that she’ll be dealing with comments on it.

Regarding this:

I have been hearing on Discord (but not investigated myself) that the Somerville Planning Board has been meeting without posting updates to the city web site as well, so something seems to have gone off the rails somewhere.

I wonder whether there could be confusion here, in the use of the term Planning, between the Planning Board and the Planning, Preservation, and Zoning (PPZ) Division of OSPCD. The planning part of that has been informally called Planning.

The Planning Board is subject to the Open Meeting Law, and I believe their meetings have been posted to the website. Until recently, it was taking up to a month for videos to be posted, but now it looks like they’re being posted much more quickly, as Jake promised. Minutes aren’t posted until after they’re approved, and that can take much longer.

As far as I know, Copper Mill wouldn’t go to the Planning Board but to the ZBA, and that would only be after Project Eligibility and a complete application were received.

Perhaps someone was commenting on discussions within the Planning part of PPZ that weren’t being revealed to the public.

Best regards,

Meredith Porter ("Merit," he/him)

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Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC
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[Frank Mals]

Chris and all Board Members, thank you for taking quick action on this and your quick reply. The letter to Mass Housing looks excellent.

Regards,

Frank