TheCambridge Record
Agenda ItemsPolicy Orders

POR 2019-144

City Council go on record in opposition to the site owned by Eversource on Fulkerson Street to have a substation and that the City Manager be and herby is requested to urge Eversource to reconsider its acquisition of the property

How it started
Apr 22, 2019 · Proposed by Councillor Toomey, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor McGovern, and Mayor Siddiqui: a formal request from the Council to the administration.
What happened
Apr 22, 2019 · Amendment failed Mover not named in the minutes; failed 4–5.
to strike out paragraph four
The clerk's words, from the minutes of Apr 22, 2019, p. 32.
View the roll call on the amendment

Voted yes (4)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • Quinton Zondervan

Voted no (5)

  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Marc McGovern
Apr 22, 2019 · Amendment failed Mover not named in the minutes; failed 4–5.
to strike out the words after $12,929,000.00
The clerk's words, from the minutes of Apr 22, 2019, p. 32.
View the roll call on the amendment

Voted yes (4)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • Quinton Zondervan

Voted no (5)

  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Marc McGovern
Apr 22, 2019 · Amendment carried Moved by Councillor Quinton Zondervan; carried 9–0.
the aforementioned order by inserting after the word “owner” the words “Scarborough Realty Trust” and after the word “developer” the words “MWPQ, LLC”
The clerk's words, from the minutes of Apr 22, 2019, p. 32.
View the roll call on the amendment

Voted yes (9)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • Marc McGovern
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Quinton Zondervan
Apr 22, 2019 · Amendment failed Mover not named in the minutes; failed 4–5.The minutes of Apr 22, 2019 record this vote but not the wording of the amendment.
View the roll call on the amendment

Voted yes (4)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • Quinton Zondervan

Voted no (5)

  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Marc McGovern
Apr 22, 2019 · Amendment carried Mover not named in the minutes; carried 9–0.The minutes of Apr 22, 2019 record this vote but not the wording of the amendment.
View the roll call on the amendment

Voted yes (9)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • Marc McGovern
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Quinton Zondervan
Apr 22, 2019 · ✅ Order adopted as amended. The Council's request went to the City Manager.
View the roll call

Present and voting at this meeting (9)

  • Dennis Carlone
  • Jan Devereux
  • Craig A. Kelley
  • Alanna Mallon
  • Marc McGovern
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Timothy J. Toomey
  • Quinton Zondervan
Adopted by voice vote. A voice vote records the outcome, not individual positions. No member's yes or no is on the record (though a member can ask to be recorded in the negative in the minutes). Showing the members who cast recorded votes at this meeting. Rule 6 requires a roll call for spending over $50 or on any member's request; state law requires one for every vote when a member participates remotely. · photos: City of Cambridge
What’s next
No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.
The document Agenda item attachment · 2 pages

In May 2016, representatives of 135 Cambridge Street LLC appeared before the East

Cambridge Planning Team (ECPT) to present a proposal for a three story 40-unit residential building at 135 Fulkerson; and In June 2016, Jay Doherty, Chief Executive Officer of Cabot, Cabot and Forbes filed a special permit application with the Planning Board seeking approval to construct the residential project at 135 Fulkerson; and After a series of public hearings attended by the East Cambridge residents in the summer of 2016, the Planning Board approved the special permit in September 2016; and In less than four months later, without providing any notice to ECPT or the City of Cambridge that it did not intend to develop the residential project it had spent six months advancing through the special permit process, the developer sold the property to NSTAR Electric Company; and According to the deeds on record at the Middlesex Registry of Deeds, the property was sold to NSTAR on January 17, 2017 for $12,929,000.00, less than two hours after it was sold by the longtime owner for $6,635,000.00 to the developer; and Nearly a year after acquiring the property representatives from Eversource appeared before ECPT for the first time only after being requested by ECPT President to meet with neighbors and inform them of their plans; and Eversource representatives indicated at that time that the company was unable to share any plans or discuss the scope of its project because it had not yet determined what, if anything, it intended to build at the property and that anything that was planned for the property would not be constructed for several years; and Siting an electrical substation in a residential neighborhood across the street from an elementary school and a public park is completely inappropriate and could present a serious health and safety risk to the residents of East Cambridge and the Wellington- Harrington neighborhood; now therefore be it RESOLVED: That this City Council go on record opposing this site for a substation; and be it further RESOLVED: That the City Council go on record urging Eversource to reconsider its acquisition of the property and to offer it for sale; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to make such a request to Eversource on behalf of the entire City Council.

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Apr 22, 2019