Stop & Shop Revises Lumber Site Plans

SOMERVILLE, MA-As several aldermen here are still trying to rezone Stop & Shop out of the former lumber site here, Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay insists that she is working with the Quincy-based supermarket chain to get the most community benefits for the area and the best possible mixed-use plan for the site. According to Kelly Gay’s spokesperson Sean Fitzgerald, the mayor had a meeting with Stop & Shop in which their revised plans, he tells GlobeSt.com “demonstrated mixed use, overall landscape design and a traffic mitigation plan.”

The mixed-use portion of the proposal includes a 25,000-sf office building, as well as a 70,000-sf store that includes an additional 13,000 sf for a mezzanine. “They want this to be a new store prototype,” says Fitzgerald. “It will have a newer urban design, with a canopied entrance, a greenhouse and a working clock tower. Mayor Gay insisted the store incorporate the highest design criteria to revitalize the lumber site.”

Nevertheless, the mayor still faces stiff opposition from local groups such as the East Somerville Neighborhood Association and at-large alderman Denise Provost. Reportedly, Provost is still trying to get the site rezoned from industrial to a residential because of the private homes that abut the property. The city’s traffic and planning director, Bill Lyons, recently met with ESNA to hear their concerns and describe the traffic plan that will keep commercial traffic on commercial streets if the supermarket does move in.