Public Invited to Participate in Innovative Public Benefits Process

Public Invited to Participate in Innovative Public Benefits Process

SOMERVILLE
– All community residents are invited to attend a series of working group
sessions to help create a public benefits strategy for Union Square that will
address a variety of topics including affordable housing, small business
retention, open space, local hiring and job training programs. Residents participating
in the process will have the opportunity to work closely with community
leaders, City officials, nationally recognized development consultants, and
private sector interests to identify the area’s housing and community’s
development priorities that will serve as the foundation of a public benefits
strategy linked to the major private investment activities being planned for
Union Square. Community members interested in making a more intensive
contribution to the process are also encouraged to apply to be among the approximately
30 Strategy Leaders who will take part in all discussions and conduct
additional community outreach.

The
Somerville by Design neighborhood
planning process that began last December will culminate in the creation of a Neighborhood
Plan, a draft of which will be released before the first public benefits
session. Based on the vision and ideas set forth by the community, the
Neighborhood Plan will set the parameters for what could potentially be built
in Union Square.

Based
on those parameters and building upon almost two years of work by the Union
Square Civic Advisory Committee (CAC), this public benefits process facilitated
by LOCUS, a program of Smart Growth America, will help the community explore
the public benefits that could be attained in conjunction with a successful redevelopment
program for the area and identify, prioritize and create a strategic plan for
realizing these benefits. The City and LOCUS have released a list of Frequently Asked Questions available online
(PDF) that provides more
detailed information about the process.

The City announced
in July that it would collaborate with LOCUS to develop an innovative new
model for public benefits agreements. Last year, LOCUS launched the national
Attainable Housing and Social Equity Initiative (AHSEI) to ensure that walkable
communities are affordable and accessible to the full range of a community’s
residents and local businesses. Union Square is the pilot project for this
initiative.

Public meeting schedule

The
working group sessions will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 18, from 1 to 9 p.m. and
Wednesday, Jan. 13, from 1-9 p.m., with both taking place in the Aldermanic
Chambers at City Hall, 93 Highland Ave. Members of the public are invited to
participate in each session for as long as they want.

In
between these in-depth strategy sessions, a community benefits “drop-in”
session will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the
Argenziano School, 290 Washington St. for residents who want to catch up with
the information from the longer meeting and share comments and concerns that
will be reported to the attendees at the second in-depth session. An additional
community benefits drop-in session will be held on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 10
a.m. to 12 p.m., also at the Argenziano School in conjunction with the City’s
SomerViva program with discussions in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and
English.

Strategy Leaders

As
part of the public benefits planning process facilitated by LOCUS, a group of
approximately 30 Strategy Leaders who are representative of the community and
stakeholder groups will be tasked with evaluating a full range of benefits
strategies, funding opportunities and concepts for the implementation of those
agreed-upon objectives. Strategy Leaders will be asked to not only consider the
anticipated short-term contributions of current development projects but to
develop a broad-based strategy that can extend the public benefits program with
later contributions from future development interests. These Strategy Leaders, who
will include members of the CAC and others selected to ensure all community
voices are heard, must be able to commit their organization to the strategy and
the responsibility for actions needed to implement the strategy.

In
addition to committing to the full duration of each strategy session, Strategy
Leaders will be expected to hold one or more stakeholder conversations with the
constituency they represent (e.g., small business owners, makers and artists,
or general area residents) between the two LOCUS strategy sessions. These
stakeholder conversations will provide the assistance and input needed to prioritize
a strategy on behalf of these stakeholders. Strategy Leaders will bring their
stakeholders’ preferred strategy to the second session in January, at which
time Strategy Leaders will collectively develop a consensus strategy for Union
Square. Strategy Leaders will then be asked to develop an action plan for each
item in the strategic plan.

To
recommend a person or group (or yourself) to take part in the process as a
Strategy Leader, fill out this
online nomination form no later than Wednesday, Nov. 11. Those interested in
staying informed but not interested in participating can use this same form to
be added to the email distribution list. A final list of Strategy Leaders will
be announced by early November.

Goal for initiative; funding for LOCUS

The
goal of this process is to create a set of policy expectations and public
benefits standards that will be used in the formation of discrete public
benefit agreements as private development in Union Square moves forward. Union
Square Station Associates (US2), the master developer partner chosen by the
Somerville Redevelopment Authority in June 2014 for the seven redevelopment
parcels identified in the Union Square Revitalization Plan, has already
committed to participating in this process.

LOCUS’s
work in Somerville is being funded by a grant from The Barr Foundation, as an
extension of its commitments related to climate change, and in support of
efforts to make this region become the most livable, sustainable and resilient
in the nation. That grant is supporting LOCUS work in Somerville and in other
Massachusetts cities and towns.

Background on Smart Growth America and
LOCUS

LOCUS:
Responsible Real Estate Developers and
Investors is a program of Smart Growth America and its members have a long
history of implementing a progressive development agenda. Many LOCUS members
were pioneers of the major federal affordable housing programs of the past
generation, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credits and HOPE VI. LOCUS is
the national coalition of real estate developers and investors who advocate for
sustainable, equitable, walkable development in America’s metropolitan areas.
LOCUS is one of the few private sector real estate organizations to actively
integrate social equity with development interests. Through LOCUS’ work on the
WalkUP Wake-Up Call Reports, including the release of the Metro
Boston Report in early 2015, LOCUS has demonstrated the economic and social
equity benefits of creating walkable urban areas that provide a strong
diversity of jobs, housing and recreational opportunities.

For more information visit the newly
released Union Square Public Benefits Process FAQ
and/or contact Amanda Maher, Senior Economic Development Specialist, Mayor’s
Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development by email at amaher@somervillema.gov or by phone:
617-625-6600 x2528.

–
END –