Round Table Meeting Minutes #1
In City Council November 14, 2011

ROUNDTABLE MEETING: Update by Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) on plans for the East Cambridge Courthouse site.

DATE: November 14, 2011, 5:39pm

PRESIDING OFFICER: Mayor Maher

PRESENT: Mayor Maher, Councillors Cheung, Kelley, Reeves, Seidel, Simmons and Toomey; Margaret Drury, City Clerk; Donna Lopez, Deputy City Clerk; Brian Murphy, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Sandra Albano, Executive Assistant to the City Council; Lee Gianetti, Chief of Staff, Mayor's Office.

Present from the Division of Capital Asset Management were Carole Cornelison, Commissioner; Dana Harrell, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Real Estate Transactions; Nicholas Tsaparles, Real Estate Transactions Manager; and Thatiana Gibson, Project Manager.

See attached hard copy of DCAM power point presentation and summary of discussion.

ADJOURNMENT: 6:53pm

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE MEETING
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
SUMMARY OF MATTERS DISCUSSED

Mayor Maher convened the meeting at 5:39pm and explained the purpose. He invited Carole Cornelison, Commission of DCAM to begin the discussion. She introduced the DCAM team working on the East Cambridge site planning, Mr. Harrell, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Real Estate Transactions, Nicholas Tsaparles, Real Estate Transactions Manager and Thatiana J. Gibson, Project Manager. Commissioner Cornelison emphasized the desire of DCAM to keep Cambridge in the information loop regarding the progress of this project. Cambridge is an important stakeholder. Ms. Cornelison then introduced Mr. Harrell to provide the power point presentation (Attached).

Mr. Harrell cited the state legislation authorizing the disposition process for this property, Section 20 of Chapter 204 of the Acts of 2008. DCAM sees this building as very good development opportunity, most of all because of its location, also because it is a much larger building than could be built new on this site. The building is 22 stories high, 595,000 sq. ft. on 1.37 acres. He emphasized that all information about this project is available online to anyone who cares to look at it. There are two concurrent pieces of this project. One is the relocation of the jail, for which a new addition to the Billerica House of Correction is planned. The projected timeline for the new jail shows the construction through occupancy period as 10/12/2011-1/31/14. The other part is the sale of the courthouse. The request for proposals has been released. Proposals are due the first week in February with the expectation of selecting a developer June 2012. Although the state-mandated public process does not begin until after DCAM has selected a developer, they have already begun making contact with elected representatives and developing the lists of community organizations to begin contacting the larger community. He noted two transactional issues: currently there are 50 parking spaces allowed for the building, and that will be an issue for developers. The other is that DCAM has written the RFP to require any institutional (and therefore exempt from property taxes) developer to agree to make payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Cambridge, so that there will be a level playing field for private and institutional bidders.

All of the City Councillors present expressed concern about Cambridge's limited ability to ensure that the new development is a good fit for the neighborhood, particularly in light of past experience of developers who look at the zoning requirements with an overly optimistic view of what amount of development will be allowed. Councillor Kelley noted that the property description supplied by DCAM states that laboratory use is an allowed use under the zoning, but actually in that district laboratory use is not allowed within 50 ft. of residentially zoned lots. Commissioner Cornelison and Deputy Harrell noted that the designated developer will have to comply with all local laws and regulations. Members of the City Council encouraged DCAM to act quickly to contact community groups as soon as possible and to be sure that there are meetings with abutters before construction starts. They also cautioned the DCAM team that hard feeling by Cambridge residents about this building go way back. The meeting was adjourned at 6:53pm on motion of Councillor Simmons. With regard to concerns about the fit of the project with the neighborhood, Mr. Harrell stated that DCAM has no obligation to take the highest bid; they will be looking to select the most appropriate bid for this location, taking into account the community, city and commonwealth.