A Green Line station,
slated to be built in the neighborhood by 2014, is expected to help
revitalize the 160-acre area bordered by McGrath O'Brien Highway. A
soccer stadium for New England Revolution home games could be in the
plans as well.

City officials helped present the study last
week, conducted by CBT, after the Kraft Group, who owns the Revolution
and the Patriots, expressed interest in building a soccer stadium in
Somerville.

"We agreed that something like a sports facility can
really capitalize this area and in fact kick start the identity for
this area," said Kishore Varanasi of CBT.

Alderman-at-Large Bill
White said, "the study didn't go into great detail about the effects of
a soccer stadium" such as the traffic it may generate.

Among
the four site options included in the report, one included using air
rights above a 10-acre Green Line train maintenance facility that has
been proposed by the state for Inner Belt.

White said it is
still not clear if the city can reap the commercial tax benefits of a
stadium if it is built on top of the maintenance facility, property
owned by the state.

Lee Auspitz, a member of the Davis Square
Task Force which advocated for city residents when the Red Line came to
Somerville in the early 1980s, criticized the city's inaction on
addressing the legality of the Kraft Group providing 95 percent of the
study's funding under a charitable loan despite the fact that they
stand to profit from the stadium as its owners.

"I've seen no
action on (the issue), and it's really a disgrace," Auspitz said. "None
of us is elevated by being a party to the abuse of charitable
organizations. Everybody knows the difference between giving to charity
and giving to yourself, and the Kraft Group has given to itself."

Both Varanasi and the city's development director Monica Lamboy refused to discuss that issue.