SOMERVISION NEXT STEPS: REVAMPED RESIDENTIAL ZONING AND NEW DESIGN PROJECTS FOR: MCGRATH HIGHWAY AREA; BRICKBOTTOM; COMMUNITY PATH EXTENSION

SOMERVILLE – With the final version of the City’s SomerVision

Comprehensive Plan now published through the City’s web site, Mayor Joseph A.

Curtatone and Strategic Planning and Community Development Director Michael F.

Glavin announced today that the twenty-year plan, approved last month by the

Somerville Board of Aldermen and City Planning Board would serve as the basis

for a new round of initiatives across the city. 

 The first of these will kick off

in June with a release of a study of the RA and RB zoning districts that

encompass the majority of Somerville's residential neighborhoods.  The study will highlight the ways in which

current zoning supports, or undermines, residents’ stated preferences for preserving

neighborhoods while encouraging economic growth.  The RA-RB study will also provide recommendations

for change to be presented to the Board of Aldermen.  Throughout the summer and into the fall, city

officials expect to roll out additional SomerVision-based proposals to guide

planning around future Green Line stations, as well as proposals to encourage

urban agriculture and multimodal transportation.

“Developing changes to the City’s Zoning Ordinance has

got to be a collaborative process with the Board of Aldermen – that’s as it

should be,” said Curtatone. “But SomerVision gives us a shared yardstick to

measure proposed changes and come up with new approaches.   The SomerVision plan is a strategic roadmap that

reflects a broad consensus among Somerville residents, business owners and

elected officials on issues related to economic growth, transportation,

housing, and quality of life.”

“The reason so many people across Somerville poured

time and energy into SomerVision was to have a shared frame of reference when

we took on big challenges like changes to our zoning or district development

plans,” said Alderman at Large Jack Connolly. 

“This is where the hard work of the past three years really starts to

pay off.”

“SomerVision is already helping the City move forward

on new initiatives like the rollout of the regional Hubway bicycle program,

urban agriculture and the vitally important Broadway Streetscape Project in

East Somerville,” said Glavin.  “It’s

informing our ongoing planning initiatives around the future of McGrath Highway,

the evolution of

the Brickbottom neighborhood and Innerbelt industrial district, and the

long-awaited extension of the Community Path toward Somerville’s eastern

border.  Next up, the City will launch an

effort to ensure that the Commonwealth’s transit investment in the

transformational neighborhood around Union Square will generate the new jobs

and housing opportunities called for in the plan.  In the fall, the City will begin a series of

neighborhood planning efforts to implement SomerVision goals around the future

MBTA Green Line stations at Gilman, Ball and Magoun Squares.  And, as new rounds of funding become available,

we will also be moving forward on streetscape upgrades to the Beacon Street

corridor and Davis Square.”

SomerVision was prepared over

the course of three years, with more than sixty public meetings and hundreds of

community volunteers participating.  In

2009, a Steering Committee of sixty residents, businesspersons, community

advocates and elected officials was convened to lead the Comprehensive Plan process.  The Steering Committee held monthly meetings

that were advertised to the public, held in accessible locations and broadcast

on public access television.  The plan

was endorsed by the Somerville Board of Aldermen on April 12th, and adopted by

the Somerville Planning Board on April 19th.

The Comprehensive Plan is

available for download from the City’s website at www.somervillema.gov/spotlights/comp-plan.