  | Newsletter #24 October 31, 2022 http://alewife.org |
Community Meeting to discuss new Alewife Area Development rules
Thursday, November 3, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Zoom: https://cambridgema.zoom.us/j/81253311371
Over the past few months, the City has been holding working group meetings to discuss the future development rules for the Alewife area, from the Alewife T Station to Fresh Pond, from Fresh Pond Mall to close to the Belmont border. Mike Nakagawa has represented the Alewife Study Group in the discussions, but we encourage you to find out how our neighborhood will be affected and let the City know what you think. What is possible: one presentation showed that over 6-1/2 Prudential Towers’ worth of new development can be built, adding to the existing 3 Prudential Towers’ worth.
Challenging issues regarding large-scale development in the area:
- The area is mostly in a flood zone. Cambridge is planning for four feet of flooding at the Alewife T Station.
- Alewife has 3 of the 6 extreme-heat focus areas of the city.
- Stormwater contaminated with raw sewage flows into Alewife Brook from the area.
- Public transit is limited because Alewife Station is the end of the line, and only one outbound bus on each side of the commuter rail tracks reaches the area, with no public transit crossing the tracks.
- Car access is challenging as Fresh Pond Parkway is the second most congested roadway in the state. The traffic light inbound on Route 2 has two of the top 5 worst congested hours in the state, and the only way to cross the tracks in the area is the big bridge near Fresh Pond Mall.
Most of the focus of the group has been on the “Quadrangle,” the area behind Trader Joe’s between the commuter rail tracks and Concord Ave going almost to Belmont. This area is one of the last places in the city with many light industrial businesses, which provide well-paying career jobs for people who don’t want to work in large corporations. These jobs pay about four times as much as a service or retail job. Several large developers would like to replace these businesses with biotech labs.
However, the area currently has a lot of parking lots with few trees, which makes it a heat island. Also, the layout of the roads in the Quadrangle make it difficult to get around.
The City is holding a Community Meeting by Zoom to provide an update of the progress from the Alewife Zoning Working Group and to receive comments from the public about the latest recommendations. This meeting will include a presentation that summarizes the previous detailed discussions of the working group, for people who may not have participated in those discussions.
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