Porter Square Developments on Hold As Local Activists Win First Round

Cars near Porter Square have been sporting bumper stickers for the past three weeks. They say, "Save Cambridge--Stop Wasserman."

That's Peter Wasserman's Cambridge Development and Investments Associates (CDIA), which sponsors one of two planned mall-like developments near Porter Square in North Cambridge.

The Cambridge Zoning Board of Appeals last week denied movie and liquor licenses to Wasserman and another developer, the Slater Company of Boston.

The Wasserman development has also failed in its application for special permission to raise part of the proposed building above the permitted height for its site. Alleging that the developer misrepresented his intentions in this application, the city commissioner of building and housing revoked the building permit early this month.

According to several City Council members and neighborhood activists, either development would draw unmanageable numbers of people. They say the planned complexes, which would include offices as well as restaurants and theatres, could congest traffic and disrupt neighborhoods over much of North Cambridge, and could back up traffic as far as Harvard Square.

Wasserman and the rival Slater Company have sought permits to build on sites almost across the street from each other--one in the old Sears building at the intersection of Somerville Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, the other on a nearby vacant lot.

Much of the conflict between the townspeople and the developers is over tangled zoning regulations for liquor licenses, cinema licenses, access to parking, and building heights. Such regulations are fraught with technicalities, and neighborhood activists have probed the laws for violations in the plans submitted for approval.

"The city wants to promote competition, but not to the point where the traffic and parking situation get so bad that they throttle activity. That's what we're talking about now," said Councillor David Sullivan, who opposes the development.

City Councillors' Response

The Slater Company is out of the public view at the moment, as its planners try to build a proposal that the community might accept during a 60-day period granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals for this purpose.

According to Councillor Alice Wolf, Wasserman asked that the Zoning Board's decision be made final so that he can appeal it legally without taking the extra 60 days. She said the communities have rebelled against him "in response to a very unresponsive developer who is...not living within the zoning code and now he's being picked up on every point."