Ikea did not return calls by press time, but in a released statement,Michael McDonald, the company's spokesperson, said, "The three proposalswould significantly impede our ability to develop our own property forthe purpose of constructing an Ikea store in Somerville." Ikea hasalready spent millions of dollars to purchase and clean up the site andthe company accuses the city of changing the rules for building. MayorDorothy Kelly Gay recently rejected Ikea's plans for its site becauseits plan did not contain enough mixed-use development and the footprintof the store was too large.

At 145 acres, Assembly Square is considered the last site for commercialconstruction here. The zoning proposals attempt to give the city morecontrol over development of the site by imposing design guidelines forbuildings, designating some open space and limiting block sizes. Butbecause Ikea owns more than 20% of the property at Assembly Square, thecompany can lodge a formal protest so that for any of the zoningproposals to become law, at least nine of the 11 aldermen have toapprove it.

Meanwhile, the city's planning board recently granted Taurus New Englanda permit to tear down and rebuild a portion of the Assembly Square Mall,enabling the development company to erect a Home Depot store on thesite. The aldermen will not vote on this plan because Taurus sought apermit, which is approved by the Planning Board.

Several conditions were attached to the approval that includesconcealment of trash, the color of the store's doors, its hours ofoperations and the construction of local streets. The existing HomeDepot must close within 90 days of the new store's opening and thecity's planning staff has to inspect the store before it opens.

Appeals to this decision have to be filed within 20 days. The onlyparties that can appeal are the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Board ofAldermen or any citizen that lives within 300 feet of the site. Therehas been intense opposition against granting Taurus this permit but itis unclear whether the decision will be appealed.

Instant Insights /

Ikea Files Formal Protest Over Zoning Proposals for Assembly Square

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