According to Beal Co. Senior Vice President and General Council Peter Spelios, the company filed a formal withdrawal of their zoning petition yesterday.

The petition, filed with the City on March 5, 2009, generated almost unanimous opposition from neighbors living nearby. The Company sought to relax zoning on their property surrounded by Binney St, Cardinal Medeiros Ave., the Grand Junction rail line and residential property on Cornelius Way (Linden Park subdivision). This is the block that contains the Kendall Cinema. Under the proposal, the maximum buildable square feet of commercial space would have been increased to that allowable for residential use as laid out in the Eastern Cambridge Housing Overlay district (ECHO). This represented an increase in height from 45 to 85 feet I believe. The intended use of this expansion was for lease to biotech research companies. This usage usually requires rooftop ventilation equipment that adds 20 or so feet to the building. These "penthouses" are generally excluded from the limits imposed by zoning. They are there but not counted, making discussion of them difficult. Another feature of the petition that displeased neighbors was a provision to reduce the maximum height setback from 100 to 50 feet.

Wellington-Harrington Neighborhood Association members met repeatedly with Beal Co. representatives over the last several months, and from what I can gather, little support was gained. Some of the objections raised by neighbors were the lack of a buffer between commercial heights and residences and shadowing of gardens, solar collectors and homes (raising heating costs and increasing gloom).

As mitigation, Beal offered to build "up to" 1200 linear feet of the Grand Junction Community Path. Beal owns a strip of land about 15 feet wide abutting the railroad tracks on the west side running from Binney St. north to the Saint Anthony's church property.

The Grand Junction Community Path is a combined use bicycle and pedestrian path that is to run along the Grand Junction tracks from the Cottage Farm (BU) bridge to the Somerville line at Medford St. near the Twin Cities shopping center. According to a source at the Community Development Department, there are some sections of this pathway that have had funding dedicated.

The question to ask in this context is whether or not this kind of donation is an appropriate exchange for a private company to be able write legislation that directly benefits them.

Below are links to three pieces published in the Cambridge Chronicle in order of appearance.

E. Cambridge residents decry biolab tower

Guest commentary: A clarification on proposed E. Cambridge biolab tower

Guest commentary: Kendall Square abutter’s rebuttal