The Somerville City Council was updated on the currently proposed development plans for the Broadway and Temple Street area. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Emilia Wisniewski

The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development provided updates on a renovation project in Winter Hill, including a time for public hearing and expected construction, at a nearly four-hour City Council meeting last Thursday.

The area, on the corner of Broadway and Temple Street, will be transformed into a green space, affordable housing, and mixed-use development after having an abandoned Star Market on the property for over a decade, according to a 2020 City of Somerville press release.

“Throughout the community process so far, we’ve been hearing a lot of excitement around making something happen after 14 years,” said Urban Planner and Designer Rachel Nadkarni.

In an environmental study, the area was found to contain traces of asbestos from an old theater in the 1940s — this made it unachievable to construct underground parking, as the plan had hoped to do. More affordable housing was substituted for parking, coming to a total of 132 affordable housing units out of the 288 units.

The proposed increase in housing raised the deficit significantly to over $13 million that the city is unable to afford and has the team “very worried,” said OSPCD Executive Director Tom Galligani. But the presentation suggested an implementation of the Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing plan, also called UCH-TIF, to eliminate real estate tax from all or part of the improvement of the housing projects.

The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development submitted the site plan to the Zone Board of Appeals in 2022, outlining housing units and community green space.

“The project already aligns really well with the program requirements,” said Alexis Turgeon, OSPCD Housing Development Manager. “It’s also a great financing tool that can help us close the gap in affordable projects that are struggling to get underway due to those rising interest rates and escalating construction costs, which this project is no stranger to.”

The presentation featured a general outline of the project going forward, with public hearings beginning in February of 2023, and construction beginning in the winter of 2023 if the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Department of Housing and Community Development authorize the plans throughout next year.

City Council members asked extensive questions — relating to tax breaks and the UCH-TIF tool — and asked for clarifications on the project, but were ultimately in favor of what the presentation proposed.

“This was really helpful [and] really thought-provoking,” said Vice President Ben Ewen-Campen. “Big picture, I very much support using public resources to make affordable housing happen.”

Another significant discussion at the meeting involved several traffic and parking matters, such as the “very disruptive” traffic detour on Highland Avenue that began on December 12 and the implementation of speed bumps as a traffic calming measure.

The next City Council meeting will take place on January 3, 2023.