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.

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