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The city is preparing to put into motion steps that will hopefully break the years long stall in getting the Winter Hill area Star Market site moving towards major redevelopment.
By Josie Grove
Somerville city officials announced at the May 12 ResiStat meeting held at the Healey School that the city is preparing to take over the site of the Winter Hill Star Market using eminent domain, a process whereby the city forces property owners to sell land at market value. For the Star Market site, this would come at the end of a long planning process, and approval at the city and state level. “We want to put the policies in place that say ‘this is what we want as a community,’” said Mayor Joseph Curtatone. “This tool is probably the one that’s left in our toolbox to accomplish this.”
Mayor Curtatone has ambitious plans for Somerville’s development. George Proakis, the Director of Planning, has participated in several community development meetings concerning the future of the Winter Hill neighborhood. “The closed Star Market site keeps coming up as a major topic of discussion.”
Proakis showed a sketch of how mixed development at Star Market site might look: a combination of taller residential buildings with retail on the ground floor, and plenty of open park space. “When they see the drawing, people get all excited,” said Proakis. “And they leave and talk to the owner, and he doesn’t want to do this.
Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente is frustrated. “It’s no secret, but the owner of the Star Market just rejected a $12.5 million offer. That is the person we have been working with.”
“Now, we’re going to do something to take control of our own destiny, whether the property owner likes it or not. We’re all going to get what we deserve and what we need.” The crowd in the Healey school cafeteria applauded this sentiment.
“We use eminent domain as a last resort,” Curtatone underlined. “It has to be in furtherance of some community goals.” He said that the city would take eminent domain on the basis of urban revitalization. “It comes to the declaration that the property is a blight of decadence. The city should be able to take the property to revitalize it. He pointed to another example of Somerville’s use of eminent domain. “When we took the parcels of land in Union Square, I don’t think anyone would argue that they weren’t blight,” he said, describing the junkyards the city bought out under eminent domain.
Proakis explained that for the city to exercise eminent domain, the planning department has to create a revitalization plan. Proakis expects this plan to be completed by January 2016.
Curtatone cautions against excessive optimism, explaining the process before eminent domain. “Here’s the catch with revitalization plans: they need the approval of the Aldermen, and they need state approval. But state approval enables us to do a lot of things, including to take land by eminent domain.”
“Revitalization is happening right now,” said Curtatone. “We’re seeing investment right now. Private deals are happening because we’ve set the table for that investment. But if we don’t put a stake in the ground and say this is the kind of community we want to be, it will never happen.”
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Is the City of Somerville actively working this? We haven’t heard anything in almost two years now. The Star market is an eye sore and it is dragging down property values.
What has been happening with this property is that the current administration is waiting for a proposal that they like. Several good proposals have been made, but apparently they’re not ‘good’ enough for Somerville. This is a disgrace, but it’s due to the city, not the owner.
Penny, this is a very difficult topic to have a position on because I think there are both positives and negatives.
Part of urban planning is about determining the shape and feel of a neighborhood and executing on that vision. I for one agree with the vision of a live work play community and want to see a mix of development across the city. I do not want to see a block of condo’s nor do i want to see a box store that doesn’t use the space or serve the community well.
The question is if eminent domain is the right tool for this, honestly I do not like eminent domain and would prefer to see the city put in some very specific zoning to drive the development of the parcel to be inline with the vision for the neighborhood.
My hope is that with the use of eminent domain on the parcel we get something more out of it, perhaps a new commercial square where people want to spend time like we see in davis, union and teel and to some degree magoun.
Actually what we need here is a supermarket. That whole north part of Winter Hill, which is an enormous and heavily populated neighborhood, is a food desert.
I’d settle for anything at this point though. Blight at its finest.