~Photo by Bobbie Toner By Jeremy F. van der Heiden The Assembly Square Public Advisory Committee held a meeting this past Tuesday, January 5th at the Federal Realty Investment Trust offices in Somerville. Six out of the ten to fifteen members of the committee were in attendance, including representatives of the Ten Hills, East Somerville and Temple Street neighborhoods and Federal Realty Investment Trust.

This committee was formed to help the City and its contingent neighborhoods to stay on the same page with the development of the massive development at Assembly Square and the accompanying new Orange Line T Station. Thus far, Federal Realty has been spearheading the process of paving the way for the development of this overall area, while the other major player, IKEA, is close to beginning construction of their pivotal portion of the local development.
IKEA's decision to build a location in Somerville is a major factor in the development of the new T station. It will be one of the many amenities that Assembly Square offers. These amenities necessitate the accessibility of the area via public transportation. Making Assembly Square more accessible can give Somerville's economy a shot in the arm by bringing in shoppers from the surrounding neighborhoods such as Boston and Cambridge.

For the most part, the meeting served as an opportunity for those in attendance to ask questions about where each party was in the development process. Some of the topics discussed on Tuesday night included the testing of the land for any potential impurities prior to building, the acquisition of federal stimulus money, upkeep of the development once it is completed and the scheduling of a settlement commitment.

The general concerns of each of these topics were discussed. The developers need to have a certain amount of work done at a certain time to acquire federal stimulus money, which is given on a 'use it or lose it' basis. A major worry was how well those responsible for maintaining the development would do so. A member cited how the City traditionally is efficient at building, but the maintenance of its developments has been shoddy.

The members seemed to be somewhat disheartened at the minimal attendance at this meeting. Even though it was a public meeting that was intended to serve as an opportunity for members of the community to come and observe where the major players were in the development process, not one member of the community showed up. In addition, there was no representation from the City of Somerville itself, which proved to be stifling when questions of where the City stood came up.

The committee believed that the poor attendance was a direct effect of the massive amount of City planning and the like meetings at the same time. A question was raised of how much the raw amount of meetings being held were helping the community, and if they were possibly diluting the effectiveness of what they are held to accomplish. It was indeed surprising to see the small number of attendees at a meeting for a development that could mean so much for the Somerville community.

The committee adjourned and set the next meeting for February 16th with hopes of a more complete turnout. For any more information on this visit the City of Somerville's website, or the Federal Realty Investment Trust's website.