Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Select Board hears Center Street lots study proposing mixed-use side-lot concept; committee asks to issue RFI
Summary
A yearlong study recommended a "side-lot" concept for the Center Street East and West lots in Coolidge Corner — preserving existing parking via a new garage, adding 80–100 housing units, retail and a public plaza for the farmers market. The committee asked the Select Board to authorize a Request for Information to test developer interest; several board members said they needed more information before voting.
The Center Street Lots Study Committee presented its final report and recommended that the Select Board endorse a "side-lot" design concept and authorize staff to issue a Request for Information (RFI) to developers.
Committee chair Mike Sandman and co-chair Shauna Giroir Goffin outlined the concept: preserve the current public parking supply by building a parking structure, create a public plaza that retains space for the Coolidge Corner Farmers Market, and add housing (the study projected roughly 80–100 units across the two Center Street lots, with potential additional units if the adjacent Babcock Street lot is included). Consultant Chris Dempsey said preliminary cost estimates for the public elements (parking structure and plaza) were about $29 million, to be borne largely by a developer under a long-term lease rather than by the town.
The committee recommended issuing a non-binding RFI to both for-profit and nonprofit developers to gather financing, zoning and delivery options and asked that wayfinding and parking-demand data be developed in parallel. Town planner Jessica Desroy said a wayfinding plan would inform how much on-site parking is actually needed and that a county/state planning grant option ("one-stop for growth") could provide up to $30,000 for a Coolidge Corner plan; townwide planning would cost more.
Board members and public commenters raised multiple concerns. Select Board member John (Vanscoyak) pressed for clearer figures on how much the town would spend and what it would retain; several members — including John and Paul Warren — asked that the RFI request explicit priorities (preserve merchant parking, include middle-income and deed-restricted affordable units, prioritize accessible design) and requested a short estimate of staff and consultant costs to run an RFI (staff estimated $30,000–$40,000). Public commenters and minority-report authors warned against prematurely committing to a multilevel garage, urged increased outreach, and asked for mitigation plans for parking impacts during construction.
No final vote was taken to issue an RFI that night. Several board members supported moving forward with an RFI as a low-risk information-gathering step; others asked for more time to review minority reports, the survey results, and a short budget for RFI preparation. Staff offered to circulate an RFI outline and a written summary of the committee's recommendations and the concerns raised at the meeting.
If the board authorizes the RFI in a later meeting, staff said the RFI could be issued in May with developer responses due over the summer and a potential RFP and development agreement phase in 2027. Any actual development would require additional public hearings, zoning changes and likely town-meeting approval.
