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Elizabeth Maroney, Chair
Somerville Planning Board

Re: 299 Broadway (Ocean State Job Lot tenancy)

Dear Ms Maroney:

This note is to urge you to recommend against the proposed change of use from Grocery to Large Format Retail at 299 Broadway to allow the proposed Ocean State Job Lot store.

In February 2010, the Aldermen passed a major update to the Somerville zoning ordinance (ORDINANCE NO. 2010-05) to modify the corridor commercial district (CCD) and transit oriented districts (TOD) and map those districts on or near Broadway in Winter Hill and East Somerville. The overall purpose of the zoning change was to:

“1. Encourage active mid-rise commercial and residential uses that contribute to a multimodal-friendly street;
2. Increase commercial investment in high-profile, accessible areas including retail that islargely neighborhood-serving in multi-tenant, mixed use buildings;
3. Preserve and complement historic structures;
4. Discourage inappropriate auto-oriented, significant trip-generating uses along transit corridors; and,
5. Promote pedestrian and bicycle activity.”

Part of the preamble also states that “a significant number of Winter Hill and East Somerville residents have expressed the need for more fresh food retailers in the area after a large grocery store closed” and “the City desires to ensure that the impacts of large floorplate retail stores be addressed to ensure that such uses serve the neighborhood and minimize neighborhood impacts”.

According to table 7.13, every Large Retail and Service use (more than 10,000 net s.f. per establishment) requires a Special Permit. The proposed use is 27,000 s.f.

The Ocean State Job Lot use is manifestly not consistent with the purpose of the new zoning, which was to encourage mid-rise commercial and residential uses and neighborhood-serving mixed use.

1. The proposed Ocean State Job Lot store does not supply fresh food. At best it supplies preserved food on a catch-as-catch-can basis.
2. The Job Lot store is not a neighborhood store, but an auto-oriented store that draws many of its customers from outside the neighborhood. There is no other such store nearby, which means that people who want to visit a Job Lots store will come to Somerville.
3. The proposed location is not near a superhighway exit, nor in an out-of-the-way corner of the neighborhood. It is in the center of a major commercial corridor. I do not know what an appropriate location would be, but I strongly recommend against putting such a use in Assembly Square. We already have enough big box stores in Assembly Square, and more such uses will interfere with our ongoing transformation of that area.
4. The site, 299 Broadway, is near a well-known civic center, the Elizabeth Peabody House at 277 Broadway, and is surrounded by designated historic structures at 257, 333, 359-361, 363-365, 392, 394, 396, 398, 400, 404, 419, and 438 Broadway. Such a street environment suggests that a higher, not a lower, use be established at the 299 Broadway site.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

David Dahlbacka
25 Hancock Street
Somerville MA 02144
http://www.whyisthisimportant.net

cc:
Ald. John Connolly (AldermanConnolly@gmail.com)
Ald. Bruce Desmond (BruceMDesmond@yahoo.com)
Ald. Rebekah Gewirtz (rebekah@RCN.com)
Ald. Maryann Heuston (mheuston@hotmail.com)
Ald. Sean O’Donovan (sean@odonovanlaw.com)
Ald. Walter Pero (wpero@comcast.net)
Ald. William Roche (aldermanroche@comcast.net)
Ald. Dennis Sullivan (AldermanSullivan@aol.com)
Ald. Thomas Taylor (TFTAld32@aol.com)
Ald. Robert Trane (RobertTrane@aol.com)
Ald. William White (william.a.white@verizon.net)

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