As tensions over control of the Cambridge Harbor development have intensified in these last two weeks, state officials are pressing Cambridge city leaders and members of Cambridge Waterfront Development Incorporated to resolve their conflicts.
State Representative Tom Hutchinson said he was on a cruise in the Caribbean when his phone heated up with text messages about the simmering dispute when he returned. He organized a meeting last week with Mayor Steve Rideout, Ward 1 Commissioner Laurel Atkiss and CWDI president Angie Hengst and board member Frank Narr.
“I asked if the city and CWDI, respectively, would mind getting together to talk, and both sides thought that would be a good thing,” Hutchison said. “And so we just scheduled an informal meeting and we sat down with the mayor and Laurel and Angie and Frank and myself, and it gave us a great opportunity to open up some dialogue and figure out how we’re going to move forward with this.”
Hutchinson said Jake Day, secretary of Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development, was particularly concerned about the growing conflict over Cambridge Harbor, which the state has invested with millions of dollars in grants. Hutchinson said Day was pleased the sides had at least come together.
“This is a big project for the state and I had talked to Secretary Day about all of this as well and he was concerned,” Hutchison said. “So it was a good start and probably within the next 30 days you’ll be hearing more great things coming out about the project.”
Hengst said she left the meeting with a positive feeling. She said details of the talks were confidential, but she did acknowledge that CWDI had agreed to put out a request for proposals to master site developers.
That was a requirement of the 2022 property transfer agreement with the city. That agreement also states that CWDI must publicly post for 30 days summaries of all developers’ proposals and must select a master site developer before any of the city’s donated land can be sold or transferred.
CWDI has yet to comply with those covenants, but is preparing to sell city donated land to yacht maintenance company, and to a still unannounced hotel company.
Atkiss said it remains to be seen if CWDI will address those covenants. One thing the mayor agreed to, she said, was to wait before enacting his corporate amendments to CWDI. He originally allowed 10 days for public comment after his April 16th announcement, but Atkiss said he has agreed to allow CWDI to consider accepting them at their May 22nd meeting before he enacts them in his role as the corporate member of CWDI.
“There’s a real push by the state to make sure we come back into alignment and start working together to really make sure that everyone knows what’s going on,” Atkiss said. “The state and the city included just clear up a lot of the disagreements and lacks of clarity. So I can’t say a whole lot about what to expect next because there’s some kind of things that we both have to do moving forward, but it was a positive meeting.
“A lot of discussion was had about expectations and what’s considered reasonable moving forward, and I think we’ve started a dialogue that’s going to be very healthy and very productive, which is something I know we haven’t really seen before, Atkiss said. “There is a requirement from the state that a true RFP be issued for the second phase of this, where outside of yacht maintenance and the hotel, that’s the first phase that they’re still looking at. So for this second phase coming up there is going to have to be a specific RFP process and they are going to have to share that information going forward. So that’s something that I know everybody’s going to feel good about and we should have a sigh of relief that there’s been some clarification there of what is expected there and it’s very defined and that should give us all some insight that we haven’t had before.”
Participants in the meeting said they’re hopeful – but not certain – the ongoing meetings will prevent a court battle between Cambridge and CWDI. Cambridge has set aside $500,000 for the potential court case.
“I can’t predict anything in the future, but that is my objective that we can work together as partners as we all are,” Hutchison said. “It’s a four-way partnership between CWDI, the city, the county, and the state, and that I believe it’s best that the parties speak to each other and we don’t do it through an expensive legal process.”
In the most recent exchange, lawyers for CWDI threatened to take the city to court even before Mayor Steve Rideout announced on April 16th his proposed changes to CDIs charter. His changes would make CWDI give the city access to its documents, assert the city’s right to remove appointees to the board and make CWDI responsive to city leaders Directions.
Responding to C WDI i’s attorneys the city’s special counsel stated that CWDI is already out of compliance with covenants of the city’s 2022 property transfer agreement when it created a holding company and transferred city property to it.
Attorney Timothy Maloney gave CWDI until Friday to produce proof that it had put out a request for proposals, make their summaries public, and selected a developer.
Rideout said the city will not relent on the conditions of its transfer agreements but declined to comment further. Narr did not respond to requests for interviews.
By Jim Brady
WHCP Radio
John Michael Jones says
Thankfully, it appears that the State is now taking a more active interest in the progress (or lack there of) of the harbor project – and hopefully will hold CWDI and the City accountable. It’s regrettable that the controversy resulted in the resignation of the City Manager, who appeared to be to have been justifiably concerned about the lack of progress and direction.
If properly planned and implemented, the development can transform Cambridge and Dorchester into an attraction unto itself.
Opportunities like this are extremely rare. When/if the harbor project is sufficiently planned and completed, the finished project should easily become the biggest boon/attraction/economic element in a generation for Cambridge, and Dorchester County.
Otherwise, we will have wasted one of our best opportunities to transform our community into one with a bright new look and outlook – rather than one mired in the past.
Jay Corvan architect says
It sure seems like the problem here is transparency. There’s a lot of conflict of interest on the board plus the lack of accountability to the public here. The city has not asked its residents what they want there for twenty years and the Cwdi board assumed it knows what’s best ( profit).
When trying to design something that’s benefits the public , not just a developer, you’d think public input would be critical, but that is the farthest from any minds of the Cwdi board and the developer. All this secrecy benefits developers and hurts residents interests. Successful infill development is achieved through public interaction not silence.
In addition, The Richardson museum property should be given their property back from Cwdi having been forced to sell it , and then that sale misrepresented by cwdi Board and attorneys as to its intended use.
Since when is it fair that a non profit ( Cwdi) puts another non profit ( Richardson museum) out of business using state grant money ? This should be taken up at the state level as lawless.
Richardson is one of the only legacy properties on the Cwdi land and should be protected funded and encouraged to grow by any rfp proposal.
Btw this is the third rfp proposal the city has entertained in twenty years , you’d think they might get the picture that this project is 1) too large to be controlled , 2) not attractive because Cambridge itself is a risky bet to place millions of capital into.
Using a master developer is a bad idea without absolute master plans and strict guidelines to show how and what may be built. There may be a master plan but no one has seen it yet !
It is dangerous to approach development this way because Once an rfp Is accepted without strict zoning control this project could easily transform Cambridge into the city it never wanted to be. Creating a new commercial node that far from the downtown business district ( too far from downtown) may well put the old city out of business, and already struggling. As an example , The Hyatt was no success for the city. Did not help the city job base and has had little effect on the downtown efficacy or prosperity.
It would be better to go slowly, not to go into debt installing infrastructure , attracting a big developer which people said they didn’t want, and bring small maritime based businesses and working waterfront to the site.
Tourism and hotel services are an empty promise. They create low paying jobs for unskilled workers. Cambridge needs high paying jobs for high skilled workers otherwise the economics are a race to the bottom. Cambridge cannot afford to make another mistake and its track record with developers ( the parks company as another example of four years wasted) is just another reminder of what didn’t work eight years ago in likely not to work again.
Go slow take your time. Make the developer come to you on your terms not theirs. Thanks. J.