CITY’S SOMERVISION PLAN TO BE HONORED BY AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION, MASS. CHAPTER

SOMERVILLE - The City's 20-year

Comprehensive Plan, SomerVision, is set to be honored by the American Planning

Association's Massachusetts Chapter on December 14^th as part of its

Annual Awards Program, honoring innovative planning efforts across the

Commonwealth.  Somerville is one of

thirteen communities to be honored in 2012, and will receive the Comprehensive

Planning Award for a municipality with a population of over 50,000.  The Comprehensive Planning Award honors a

plan, program, or process of unusually high merit.  Somerville will share the distinction with

the Westford Strategic Planning Retreats, given to the Town of Westford, MA for

the community with a population of under 50,000.  Awards will be presented during an Annual

Holiday Awards Luncheon on December 14^th.

 "In Somerville, we are proud to be on the

cutting edge of public policy issues.  Unlike many states, the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not require municipal governments to prepare

comprehensive plans for the future, but Somerville's residents and elected

officials stepped up and demanded one," said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone.  "The

SomerVision plan reflects our shared values of making Somerville a great place

to live, work, play and raise a family, and it lays out an ambitious yet

realistic policy framework for achieving our goals."

"We are honored to be recognized

by the Massachusetts chapter of the American Planning Association.  One of

the elements that plans were judged on was readability," said Planning Director

George Proakis.  "SomerVision is the result of the input of so many

residents and stakeholders, and it really shows what can happen when a diverse group

works together and makes compromises to achieve a larger goal.  The resident volunteers who spent three years

working on SomerVision really wanted the final document to be accessible and

fun to read, and to tell interesting stories about the great things happening

in our city.  We've gotten a lot of positive feedback so far - pick up a

copy at City Hall or download it from the City's website and let us know what

you think."

SomerVision is the City's 20-year

Comprehensive Plan, which serves as a blueprint for a sustainable, equitable development

future.  SomerVision is based on three

years of extensive community input from residents, businesses and other

community stakeholder, and incorporates a series of research reports in areas such

as demographics, economics, housing, and transportation and land use.