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Dear Neighbors, particularly those in Somerville,

This is from me as a person (yes, I’m not just a senator).  It’s about an issue in Somerville. 

Very few people in Somerville or in the affected area know about the Somernova development proposed on tiny residential streets near Market Basket. Yet many of us can vote Wednesday June 4 on a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). 

If the CBA passes, the City Council is likely to approve this huge development.

That’s why I’ll be voting no.

Can you vote?  Anyone who lives, works, volunteers, or owns a business in the “catchment area” can vote this Wednesday, June 4, from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm at St. Anthony’s School on Somerville Ave.  There’s more here, including details of the benefits, and how you need to identify yourself.  You can vote remotely if you sign up on that site by noon, tomorrow (Tuesday).   

The CBA offers wonderful benefits, and a Project Labor Agreement would be a tremendous achievement.  The Neighborhood Council’s volunteer members have done heroic work, negotiating with a multi-billion dollar developer without adequate resources, power, or information. 

But the benefits are tied to a zoning change that will affect not only this small residential neighborhood but the whole city.   The benefits are great.  But they don’t come close to the harm that would come from the zoning changes. 

I’ll be voting no.  At the very least the public and city council need time to consider new zoning amendments (submitted May 15), the CBA (first released May 21), and new information on traffic (due June 5).  The only way to ensure that happens is to vote against this CBA.  The city would then have to resubmit its new zoning, allow for public information,and public comment.

Here’s a comparison of one aspect of the change, followed by my concerns:  
The image on the left with few cars is from the developer’s images of their proposal.  The Image on the right is current traffic on Park St.
 

This proposal is too big and in the wrong place.  
It is in opposition to the city’s comprehensive master plan and zoning which ensure:

• dense development in transformation districts, 
• preservation and protection of residential neighborhoods, and 
• protection of naturally occurring artist spaces
• increasing open space by 125 acres

Current zoning has led to very dense, high-rise development around T stations and thoroughfares, with over 2000 new housing units and lots of businesses. 
 
I’m talking about Assembly Square, Boynton Yards, Inner Belt and Union Square. Those developments don’t abut residential neighborhoods and they are all close to T stations. Somernova does abut a residential neighborhood and it’s farther from a T station than most of Somerville.  Most people will drive; most of the employees of current Somernova properties drive now.

Somernova abuts a residential neighborhood.  This new development will bring 4000 new workers to already congested streets.

The zoning allows but does not require housing to be built.  The CBA says if it’s built, it has to comply with existing city-wide requirements for affordable units.

Current FAB zoning has protected affordable arts spaces in existing spaces.  This sets a precedent of encouraging developers to buy existing FAB spaces (like those on Vernon Street and Washington Street).  They could pay more with the expectation the city would rezone to allow high-rise, high-profit development.  

The plan has far less green and open space than in other high rise developments.  In Assembly Square, 25% of the lot area must be for open space.  Here, at most 5% of the area must even be permeable, and may be vehicle-accessible pavers with spacing.  

The traffic mitigation plan is “fail-first.”  If existing, untenable traffic queues increase more than 18%, the developer will have to do “mitigation.”  Not until there are three violations will further development be paused.  The enforcement of any limits is fragile and insufficient, largely left to the Neighborhood Council’s overworked volunteers.  Queues on Park Street, for example, often already stretch back to Cambridge.  I waited through 4 red lights on Washington Street last week, and Googlemaps always suggests I cut through Calvin Street because Washington and Beacon are often so crowded.

Abutters are given little to nothing to protect their access or to mitigate the obstruction of sunlight, disruption during construction, and pollution.  The CBA includes only “advance notice” when they can’t get to their homes during construction, which will be most of the time in the next 10 years.  The new zoning allows “The production of offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust or other particulate matter, heat, humidity,  glare, or other objectionable effect.”  Parking on the Somernova site is limited to 750 cars, but many more employees already park on neighborhood streets.  Unlimited parking is permitted in the new Arts and Innovation zone which includes the storage facility.  

The city can and should create and run our own teen and community centers.  The CBA requires Rafi to create a community center (including the Dojo) and allow a nonprofit to run it for 10 years.  The city has run teen centers and community centers in the past, including when we were a much less affluent city in the 1970s.  The one at Lincoln Park, which I volunteered at, was in the school; all our “community schools” were built with that intent.

Financial contributions are minimal for a multi-billion dollar development.  For example, Rafi would contribute less than the cost of one housing unit to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.  

It’s a difficult time to commit a large area to a particular industry.  ⅓ of lab space in greater Boston is empty.  Federal policies are leading to construction problems and reduced investment in green tech. 

There’s a lot of backup information – more than you want or need – here.

Another example of scale: 

As always, always glad to hear your thoughts!  And please consider voting if you can and inform your friends.