Nomination applications for candidacy for seats on the board of Somerville’s Union Square Neighborhood Council are being accepted through Monday, April 26. Prospective candidates must complete and return a form contained within the election packet (PDF), where more information about USNC and the election process can be found.

USNC was founded in 2017 to give a voice to people in the Union Square area regarding how development here takes place.  USNC’s founding came about following a series of meetings held at the Public Safety Building (police & fire stations) which were attended by a variety of people living, working, owning property, operating businesses and volunteering in Union Square.  Those who met under the auspices of the Neighborhood Council Working Group (NCWG) met for a couple hours every couple weeks, usually on Saturday mornings, during 2017.  The NCWG formed a few committees, decided on the nature and structure of what would become the USNC and crafting a set of bylaws.  Elections were held at the end of that year for a “founding” board when USNC began its operations, holding meetings at least every few weeks ever since that time.

The main impetus for the creation of USNC derives from an understanding that the Union Square area will inevitably undergo a dramatic transformation as the result of a number of factors, including the siting of a new MBTA Green Line transit station near the intersection of Somerville Avenue and Prospect Street, which will make the area more conveniently accessible to people living outside the area and more attractive to potential Union Square area residents who work in Boston and other cities where the T operates.  Another factor that has led to the development now underway is the use by the City of Somerville of eminent domain law to declare certain regions within the area to be “blighted,” and then seize such property to use for new development purposes after compensating its owners (whether such deals were to the liking of property owners or not).

During its first year of existence, the USNC’s efforts were focused on the plans of Union Square Associates (“US2” – since re-branded as “USQ”) the master developer chosen by the City to undertake development on seven parcels of land, the first of which (known as “D2”) being adjacent to the new Green Line Extension (“GLX”) station at Somerville Avenue and Prospect Street.  Following months of negotiation, USNC agreed on a community benefits agreement (“CBA”) with US2/USQ regarding what benefits, in the form of affordable housing, construction jobs for local workers contribution to the erection of a community center and various other concessions, will be provided.

Since the signing of the CBA, several additional development partnerships have been formed to undertake construction projects at other sites outside the territory being managed by US2.  USNC has been in discussion with each of these developers, who have sought our endorsement of their plans, and have been open to various degrees to modifications to those plans that we have requested.  Among the developments USNC has been considering are major projects

1. in the Boynton Yards area along South Street,
2. on the site of the Glass Stop on Somerville Avenue, across Medford Street from the Target store,
3. near the intersection of Webster Avenue and Columbia Street