Somerville City Councilors One and All,

I have been alerted by my former longterm Board of Aldermen (now City Council) colleague Bill White to tonight’s joint meeting of the Land Use Committee and the Planning Board of the above captioned item submitted by the Mayor.

Please take no action on this item tonight, as there is widespread concern throughout the Somerville community of the effect this will have on the availability of rental units in Somerville.

Former Alderman (now known as  Councilor) and land use attorney White has pointed out ” Since the implementation of the new backyard cottage zoning in 2022, the City has lost 470 rental units in two and three family buildings. This policy has been a disaster for renters. There are now more luxury condominiums in the City than there are total rental units in all of our three-family buildings. Should the new zoning submitted by the Mayor pass, then it will further incentivize the continuation of the current trend.”

Councilors and Planning board members should hit the pause button on this submission by the Mayor , and  NOT take any action on this matter due to the  likely extreme reduction in available rental units as developers will likely convert former apartments into luxury condos as a result of this amendment.

As a former elected official (Ward Six and City Councilor at Large) I echo Mr. White’s warning not to further the elimination of rental units here in Somerville.

Please vote to leave this item in the Land   Use  Committee, and leave the record OPEN at least two weeks for additional testimony to be submitted by community members  who are just being made aware of this  potentially disastrous amendment.

Time to go back to the drawing board on this matter.

As Ever,