But will it bring jobs?

By George P. Hassett

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has received the necessary permits to begin building one of their stores in Assembly Square. The permits were issued 10 years after the company first expressed interest in coming to Somerville. 

On Thursday, the planning board approved construction of a new IKEA and a realignment of Assembly Square Drive which will be “the backbone” of the new Assembly Square, according to developers.

Construction of the new IKEA is set to begin in the summer of 2008, according to city officials. It will mark the first phase of the long-awaited redevelopment of Assembly Square.

At a Sept. 4 public hearing, residents urged the planning board to require IKEA to give preference to East Somerville residents when hiring for the new store, revise traffic patterns and increase the open space in the project. Yet the board did not take all of the public‚Äôs advice into account and failed to require IKEA to give preference to city residents when hiring for the new store.   

Activists from East Somerville Neighbors for Change have lobbied the developers and city officials to pledge that local residents will get first crack at the 510 jobs IKEA said it will create. The activists want East Somerville residents to be given first priority in hiring, followed by Somerville residents and then the general public.

At last week’s East Somerville Summit, community members ranked securing job guarantees at IKEA as the most important goal for the neighborhood. They said good jobs will allow many longtime Somerville residents to remain in the city despite rising housing costs.

However, when the planning board gave IKEA permission to start construction, the jobs issue was not one of the 68 conditions of approval it required of the retailer. The board said the issue was outside of its power. City spokesman Thomas P. Champion said the city continues to negotiate with IKEA and he is confident the store will agree to giving locals first priority when hiring. 

Traffic patterns have also been a concern for residents who live in the neighborhoods surrounding Assembly Square, particularly Ten Hills and East Somerville.

The first IKEA to open in Massachusetts, a Stoughton store, generated traffic gridlock throughout its business district and prompted many nearby companies to complain about the Swedish retailer. Somerville residents fear a repeat in Assembly Square.

“What happens if there is so much traffic [from IKEA] that people avoid the entire area on Saturdays? What happens to the city’s tax base then? Will the city be paralyzed? Will the existing merchants be victims of this traffic?” said Don Stiehl at the initial public hearing.

Patrick Dunford, a traffic engineer who conducted a study of IKEA’s impact, said the store will generate most of its traffic during off-peak hours on the weekend. He said that is a benefit because it does not add to the normal weekday commuting flow.

However, at the first public hearing, Ellen Reisner, of East Somerville, said the weekends are one of the few times when her neighborhood is given a reprieve from constant traffic jams and gridlock.

“Weekends are our only relief from air pollution in our neighborhood,” she said. “As it is now, we can’t open our windows facing Route 93 or spend too much time outside.”

A lack of open space in the development was also raised by city residents at the first public hearing and IKEA responded by revising its plans to include more trees and landscaped medians. 

As part of their community benefits plan, IKEA will also donate $1 million to the city.