Assembly Square
If you care about affordable housing, please write to the Somerville Planning Board at [email protected] or if you can, come to the Planning Board meeting tomorrow, Thursday, April 6, 6 PM at City Hall and tell the Planning Board NOT TO GRANT A WAIVER to Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT) for its proposed 500 unit apartment building on Block 8 in Assembly Square.
FRIT, the developer of Assembly Row, is seeking a waiver so that they only need to provide 12 1/2% affordable units rather than the 20% that is required everywhere else in Somerville for big projects. If FRIT gets the waiver, the City loses 37 affordable units in that building. This is a HUGE amount of affordable housing in Somerville!!
FRIT will present the project to the Planning Board and the public tomorrow and then there will be a public hearing where anyone can express their opinions about any aspect of the project. If you can't attend the meeting or don't want to speak, you can email the Planning Board at [email protected]. They will not be making a decision on the application until at least April 20th, so you can send your email anytime before then, but sooner is better.
Sincerely,
Mark Niedergang
Ward 5 Alderman
617-629-8033
