By George P. Hassett

The Green Line is coming to Somerville but it may bring with it a 10-acre maintenance facility that could strangle commercial development in a part of the city with great potential for commercial development.

At a Monday meeting, state officials unveiled a plan to run seven Green Line stations through Somerville – with stops by the Brickbottom artist studios, in Gilman Square at Medford Street, on Lowell Street on the eastern side of the MaxPak property — and in Medford by Ball Square, on Boston Avenue and on Medford Hillside.

However, Somerville may also have to host the maintenance facility in the Inner Belt and Brickbottom areas. Chamber of Commerce President Stephen Mackey said the facility would wipe out an opportunity for a station in the area that could spur more significant commercial development than neighborhood stations.

He said Inner Belt and Brickbottom have the potential for millions of square feet of commercial development that could ease the tax burden of residents while also increasing money that could be spent on schools and public safety.

‚ÄúIt’s important that the stops are in places where people live but [the commercial development of Inner Belt and Brickbottom] are of consequence to 78,000 people in Somerville,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúLocating a 10-acre maintenance facility in the middle of the Inner Belt, Brickbottom area takes prime developable land away.‚Äù

Those neighborhoods host another MBTA maintenance facility already – an eight acre parcel for the commuter rail. Mackey said the combination of the two facilities would create a huge wall cutting the Inner Belt area off from the rest of the city. He is advocating that the state’s executive office of transportation find a way to ‚Äúcouple‚Äù the two stations and limit the space they may take up.

However, Ward 5 activist Joe Lynch who lives near the Lowell Street stop, said the industrial grounds of Inner Belt and Brickbottom are an appropriate spot for a maintenance facility.

‚ÄúWhat’s the alternative? [Inner Belt and Brickbottom] land are zoned for industrial use. Everyplace else on the Green Line corridor is residential and none of those neighborhoods can bear the brunt of a maintenance facility. I understand the concern of using up developable land but we can’t have it all,‚Äù he said.