By Keith Howard

After almost two decades of delays the Green Line is coming to Somerville, but pedestrians, patrons and business people have yet to reach a consensus on where it may stop.

Engineering consultants and delegates from the city’s transportation department met at the Somerville High School library last week to hear feedback from roughly 100 residents and commuters about potential MBTA stops in the city.

The proposal is to extend the Green Line from Lechmere through Somerville and into Medford. Possible locations for stations include the Inner Belt and Brickbottom area, Washington Street, Gilman Square, Lowell Street or Union Square. 

The state agreed to extend the Green Line to Somerville in 1990 as part of a Big Dig-related agreement. Today four sets of train tracks carry eight different rail lines through Somerville neighborhoods yet the city has only a single train station, in Davis Square.

According to city officials, the Green Line extension is roughly six months into an 18-month planning stage.

In the meantime, representatives from the firm chosen to lead the planning stages of the project by the state, said they want to learn about the city from its residents.

‚ÄúWe want to understand to access issues. We want to hear from you and make sure we’re not misunderstanding things. We want to understand all the neighborhood features such as school and neighborhood facilities,‚Äù said Michael S. McArdle, director of transit and rail for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., during a slide show presentation.

Residents are most concerned about how new transit stops will effect parking, said Kristine Wickham Zimmerman, senior project manager for the firm.

People are worried that additional commuters could exacerbate parking problems, she said. ‚ÄúPeople are going to drive to stations from other cities. It’s in the early stages and we will be working with the cities.‚Äù

But parking isn’t the only issue that was raised.

‚ÄúPart of the design includes the design for the community path and we want to make sure that’s well integrated,‚Äù said Alan Moore, chairman of the Somerville Bike Committee. ‚ÄúThey haven’t made the kind of decisions that we’d say that’s great or that’s bad.‚Äù

Moore said the community path is his biggest concern because of its effect on the biking population. ‚ÄúI’m just so concentrated on that. Just to make sure that Green Line gets built [and it’s] the best in all circumstances.‚Äù

And the best of all circumstances includes making plans for people so their neighborhood can still be considered affordable, said Lisa Lepore, director of transportation and infrastructure for the city.

‚ÄúWe’re very concerned that this doesn’t gentrify Somerville. We’re building for people that don’t have cars. And people that do [have cars] that want to transfer to using the T,‚Äù she said.

According to community organizers, one important aspect of preparing for the Green Line’s arrival is examining its financial impact on residents.

“I think we need to look at the demographics so we can understand who the station will serve,” said Meredith Levy, director of community organizing for the Somerville Community Corporation.

“Hopefully that next step will be to take some of that information and then make a decision that best reflects the needs and wants of the community,” she said.

In spite of the possible problems of gentrification, Tom Gilbert said things are coming together nicely. As a legally blind resident of Somerville, Gilbert takes the Red and Green Lines, in addition to the 87, 88, 89 and 84 bus routes.

Gilbert said he’s looking forward to the Green Line extension to help him travel to the Perkins School For the Blind, where he works as a sound recorder, as well as his personal care attendant jobs.

“It will help to get me to get to jobs [and] social events-[the extension benefits] people of all abilities to get from A to B to C. Lets have a local transit system that connects everybody and not have everything spread out like an urban wasteland,” he said.

Further meetings on the Green Line are scheduled for Feb. 6 in the South Medford Fire Station Community Room and Feb. 19 in the Cummings School Gymnasium to focus on proposed stations in the Mystic Valley Parkway area and Union Square.