Planning Board Sends Volpe Park Design Back, Divided Over Retail Pavilion

CAMBRIDGE — March 25, 2024 — Cambridge Planning Board deadlocks over retail pavilion in Volpe's Third Street Park, continuing design review. The board voted 6-0 at its March 19 meeting to send the applicant, Matimco, back for further work on the Third Street Park design after members split sharply over whether a proposed 1,800-square-foot retail pavilion has any place in the limited open space. Board member Ted Cohen called for eliminating the pavilion entirely, saying "this is supposed to be open space — it's supposed to be green," while member Ashley Tan argued activation is needed in a neighborhood she described as "very dead" after 5 p.m. Member Catherine Preston Connolly warned that without a firm programming commitment, the pavilion risked sitting vacant. Chair Mary Flynn directed the applicant to return with a fully developed pavilion-free design alternative and to engage current neighborhood residents in support of any pavilion concept before the next hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. The board also unanimously approved withdrawal requests for two other special permit cases and granted a two-year building permit extension to Cabot Cabot and Forbes for a lab building in the Alewife Quadrangle, with a new deadline of May 5, 2026.