Newsletter #12, February 13, 2022

Cambridge is hiring a new City Manager!

Town Hall: Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 6:00pm, on Zoom

Our current City Manager, Louis A. DePasquale, is retiring in June 2022.  The City of Cambridge will hire a new City Manager, with the decision scheduled for May. The City Manager controls the budget and implements the city’s policies and ordinances. Their daily decisions impact all who live, work, and spend time in Cambridge.

It is important that residents and stakeholders who will be affected by the City Manager’s decisions have a say in this process. Your feedback will help the City Council develop the City Manager job description, find ideal candidates for the role, and help guide the City Council to their final decision in May!

What can you do?

• Provide feedback, ask questions and interact with other residents by visiting the dedicated feedback website here!

• Communicate with the Executive Search Firm the City has hired to guide the search and hiring process by emailing them directly at: cambridge@randifrank.com

• Attend a Town Hall for residents on Wednesday, February 16th at 6:00 p.m. Register here!

The City Manager is not elected, but oversees all of the city functions, with very limited ability by the City Council to affect these decisions. This makes the City Manager very powerful in how the city works.  ASG encourages all Cambridge residents to be involved in the selection process, including by suggesting good candidates to the search firm.

Planning Board Hearing on IQHQ’s Special Permit Application

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 6:30pm, on Zoom

The next key event in the development of the IQHQ site in North Cambridge will be the City of Cambridge Planning Board (PB) meeting on March 1.  ASG encourages residents to attend the zoom meeting, even if you don’t want to speak, to show that there is strong community interest in this development that will bring big changes to North Cambridge and the Alewife Area.

March 1 will be the first of probably two or more PB meetings on IQHQ’s Special Permit application.  This first meeting is the best time to express your views, so the PB can consider them before they officially require or recommend any changes to IQHQ’s plans for their buildings and nearby spaces.

The PB will assess whether IQHQ’s proposal meets the City of Cambridge Zoning Ordinance, as well as other city regulations that apply to large developments, such as the Parking and Transportation Demand Management (PTDM) Ordinance.  Community benefits such as improvements at Jerry’s Pond, the MBTA plaza, and the 83 bus turnaround, plus adding a community garden near Russell Field and a tree nursery on the parking garage, are not under the jurisdiction of the PB.

At the March 1 meeting, IQHQ will make a presentation on their development plans, the PB will ask questions and discuss, and there will be time for public comment.

Here is the link to the Planning Board webpage for the IQHQ special permit.  It includes IQHQ’s application:

• Application Narrative: provides a written overview

• Application Graphics-1: building locations and features

• Application Graphics-2: community benefits

• Application Graphics-3: trees and shading

• Application Graphics-4: transportation

• Green Building Report: sustainability

• Appendices provide more details on various parts of IQHQ’s plan

PB387 Notice provides information about the March 1 meeting, including how to get the Zoom link (not available yet).

Traffic, Parking, and Transportation (TPT) Updates & Next Steps

ASG and other community groups have been discussing TPT issues with IQHQ, and Joe Barr, Director of Cambridge TPT, since last summer.  IQHQ has made many TPT commitments to encourage site employees to use public transportation or car pools, and to reduce negative impacts to the nearby community.

Attending the upcoming Planning Board hearings on IQHQ’s Special Permit (see article above) will be the next, and in some cases, last opportunity for community input on IQHQ’s TPT commitments.

 IQHQ will present their updated TPT commitments at the March 1 PB meeting,   Some of those commitments are already documented in their Special Permit application (see link in PB article above).

Sometime after March 1, probably before the PB’s second meeting on IQHQ plans, the City of Cambridge Department of TPT will issue a memo on issues in their jurisdiction.  Once this memo is finalized and included in the Special Permit, it will be binding on IQHQ.

IQHQ’s transportation commitments include Alewife MBTA plaza improvements, participation in Alewife Transportation Management Association (TMA) shuttles, preferential parking for carpooling, an on-site transportation coordinator, and a police detail to help afternoon traffic exit Whittemore onto Alewife Brook Pkwy.

ASG is hopeful that IQHQ’s leases will require tenants to provide subsidized transit passes for their employees up to the federal limit (currently $270/month).  ASG also hopes that IQHQ will arrange shuttles, perhaps through the Alewife TMA, to and from nearby inbound commuter rails stops, if there is sufficient demand.

On overall site access, IQHQ plans extensive pedestrian and bike access across the site, BlueBikes stations, bike parking, a bike repair station, and limiting vehicle access at the Harvey and Whittemore/Madison gated entrances to emergency vehicles only (except as needed for construction equipment during the construction of those entrances).

On parking, IQHQ has committed to allowing neighborhood access to the surface parking lots and garage during a snow emergency, and access to the lots and EV charging stations from 6pm to 8am, plus all weekend. IQHQ will add some trees and greenery to the edges of the lots, along with underground stormwater detention tanks to limit stormwater runoff. They have conducted soil testing for asbestos and other harmful substances, and have committed to taking proper precautions (e.g. tenting and venting) on the lots during construction.

There are still a few key areas for continued discussion, which include:

• How to improve bike and pedestrian access via the arched tunnel under Alewife Brook Parkway, in order to improve connectivity between paths to the east and west of the site

• How to apply the City’s desire for market-rate parking (to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips) without penalizing lower income employees who do not live near good access to public transportation or need car transportation for other reasons.

• How to encourage Cambridge resident commuters to park on the lots and not on neighborhood streets.

• How IQHQ will participate in a study on adding a commuter rail stop at Alewife commuter.  IQHQ has already committed to help fund the study.

Protecting the Neighborhood from Hazardous Waste

In October 2021, Haley & Aldrich, IQHQ’s hazardous waste consultant, issued a 4,600- page DRAFT Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan outlining the safe handling of contaminated and potentially contaminated soil for site preparation and construction. For the public comment period, ASG studied the plan and wrote Haley & Aldrich (H&A) about three areas of concern:

1) Incomplete industrial history

2) That the entire site be tented-and-vented whenever the top 6 inches, or “Protective Cover,” is disturbed

3) Stricter Air Monitoring and Reporting standards

ASG met with H&A several times in November and December of 2021 to address those three concerns. We are happy to report that H&A’s Final RAM Report shows improvement in all three areas listed above. We are still negotiating for even stricter Air Monitoring and Reporting standards. Stay tuned!

IQHQ’s Environmental Notice Form (ENF)

IQHQ’s ENF was certified by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office (MEPA) on December 22, 2021.The ENF process is required because of the estimated traffic generated by IQHQ’s project. This certification was expected, and includes a wealth of information on strategies to reduce impacts on the environment, which ASG will use to continue our efforts to protect the community through the City of Cambridge permitting process. The full approval document and all comments that were received can be accessed by clicking here: Environmental Notification Form, DEC 22, 2021

Conservation Committee Approves IQHQ’s first Notice of Intent

To show that their development project meets the requirements of the state’s Wetlands Protection Act, IQHQ filed the first of two Notices of Intent (NOI) with the City’s Conservation Commission (ConComm) last fall.

 IQHQ presented plans and revisions at three well-attended public hearings. Strong community attendance and comments had a significant positive influence on IQHQ’s final NOI.  The ConComm approved IQHQ’s revised NOI at the Dec 20 meeting. For more information on the previous two meetings, see ASG Newsletters 7, 9, 10 and 11.

In summary, after development, the site will store more water from overland flooding when Alewife Brook is overtopped.  Neighbors worked with IQHQ to carefully reconsider how the flood storage was provided, resulting in large reductions in the amount of contaminated soil that will be disturbed during construction. Also, over 100 mature trees (and many less mature) were saved, while reducing IQHQ’s costs for handling about 3 acre-feet of hazardous soil.

During the discussion process, the planned slopes of the soil were  changed to allow more stormwater to be retained on site. IQHQ is adding green/purple roofs and rain storage tanks to hold rainwater that drains into City stormwater sewers, so that the City’s “25:2” stormwater reduction standard for new projects will be met.  Overall, stormwater that drains into ponds without using the city sewers will be reduced.

The ConComm is writing an Order of Conditions that formally lists the requirements to meet the Wetlands Protection Act.  This Order of Conditions will only address the development of the buildings. IQHQ will file another NOI later this year for most of the work around Jerry’s Pond.  ASG will continue to provide updates in our Newsletter.

ASG would like to thank the many attendees at the ConComm meetings.  The ConComm appreciated our strong participation and supported our community interests.  This further encouraged IQHQ to devote additional time and resources to improve their NOI plans.

ASG Community Meeting held on December 5, 2021

The Alewife Study Group held a community meeting on December 5 about the IQHQ development in North Cambridge. About 60 people attended, with good questions, ideas, and conversations. This was ASG’s fourth large community meeting of the year, in addition to many small group community meetings.

ASG shared updates on key issues (including next steps for community participation), answered questions, and held small group discussions with report backs to the whole group.

The video, slides, and notes (from Q & A and small group discussions) are now posted in the Meetings section of the ASG website: ASG Community Meeting – December 5, 2021.

ASG Newsletter

ASG will send email updates about once a month during this busy time in the development of the IQHQ site.

Click here for previous ASG Newsletters

Anyone can sign up for this newsletter by completing the Contact Form at the bottom of the ASG home page: alewife.org  We also welcome your questions, comments, ideas, and offers of help!