Picture
Union Square as it could be: a place where people of all ages window
shop on clean, wide, tree-lined sidewalks. Where neighbors linger at
outdoor cafés and enjoy performers, markets and festivals in lively,
green, open spaces. Where a mix of profitable, independent businesses
thrive-from engaging retail shops to interesting restaurants to
bustling offices-and many residents can walk to new shops and
well-paying jobs near their homes.

Union Square can be all
this but first we must replace outmoded zoning regulations that
discourage this kind of pedestrian-oriented commercial development for
Union Square.

The Board of Union Square Main Streets is
pleased to support the proposal now before the Board of Aldermen to
create new zoning districts and an arts overlay District for Union
Square.

For the past four years, our organization has worked
with business owners, volunteers, citizens and the City of Somerville
to fulfill our vision of a thriving business district in Union Square..

Helping Union Square recapture its status as a thriving
commercial center is vital not just for the Square but for the city as
a whole.

For decades Somerville has failed in many of its
efforts to support business development and this stagnation has left us
without a commercial tax base. Our neighbor of Cambridge has more than
four times the commercial property value per square mile when compared
to Somerville. This allows Cambridge to depend on residential property
taxes for only 37 percent of the city budget. In Somerville, where we
lack sufficient commercial development, residential property taxes make
up 86 percent of the total budget.

Union Square, once our
city's "downtown", is nearly the same size as Davis Square but this gem
is faded, with Union Square's commercial properties worth only 40
percent as much as Davis. For Somerville to maintain quality public
services such as police and fire, education and other services,
Somerville needs significant commercial investment. Replacing outmoded
regulations can achieve this vision, redeveloping Union Square as the
commercial center and bustling neighborhood it once was.

Now,
thanks to extensive efforts by city planners, the arts community led by
the Somerville Arts Council, and numerous other partner organizations
and community members who have worked alongside Union Square Main
Streets, we believe the new zoning will enable much needed development
in Union Square and provide a range of balanced community benefits. We
particularly favor these features of the zoning proposal:

•
Solid Pedestrian-orientation – the new zoning recognizes the dense,
urban fabric of this historic neighborhood by bolstering active first
floor uses, full occupancy of upper floors and mandating structured and
shared parking.

• Historic architecture and In-Fill
Development – Landmark properties that once defined the center of the
Square can be rebuilt back to their former glory and fulfill their
highest potential. Like missing teeth, along our sidewalks empty lots,
inappropriate business types and run-down one story properties can be
replaced with businesses that enliven the streetscape.

•
Advancement of Arts Uses – Requirements for arts uses and incentives
for artist live/work studios build upon our efforts to engage
Somerville's robust arts community for economic development.

•
Open Space – Instead of the wastelands of tarmac mandated by today's
zoning, the new regulations would set aside 20 percent of these parcels
for usable public open space.

• Affordable & Additional
Housing – When built out, the new zoning could increase the city's pool
of inclusionary units ten-fold and generate millions of dollars in
linkage fees for even more affordable housing. Additional new
apartments will alleviate market pressure on current housing and help
create a vibrant urban city center supporting neighborhood businesses
during the day and evening.

• Community Health РMore intense
development is focused on those areas of Union Square presenting the
greatest environmental challenges. The polluted properties of the
Public Safety Building and those along Prospect Street and in Boynton
Yards will require significant investment. This zoning proposal can
spur the clean-up that has languished for decades. Further, the zoning
builds a more sustainable neighborhood through energy-efficient
pedestrian-oriented density and incentives to encourage
environment-friendly green building design.

Over the last four
years Union Square has seen real improvements. Since USMS launched in
February 2005, 12,000 square feet of commercial properties that were
vacant or industrial uses now have cultural and retail uses like a
dance studio, architectural offices, a café, and housewares store..

Because
of outdated, onerous regulation, progress by these small business
owners – most of whom live here — has been unnecessarily slow and
expensive. Bureaucratic red-tape has locked-in poor commercial uses
while parking requirements, based on inappropriate suburban models,
have hobbled efforts to create jobs, to fill vacant buildings and to
improve properties. The barriers to bringing in tenants for upper
stories are so great that these spaces have remained vacant for
decades.

The new zoning proposal will remove these barriers,
allow new businesses to fill vacant spaces, to do the environmental
clean up, and to build the pedestrian-oriented uses that this
neighborhood and the citizens of Somerville love, want and deserve.

While
the proposed zoning strategically focuses the densest development near
the proposed public transit improvements, it does not depend on the
Green Line. Zoning changes are essential, with or without new transit,
and lowering barriers to commercial development is essential for the
fiscal health of our city.

The zoning proposal before the Board
of Aldermen was over three years in the making. It was crafted with
intensive input and evaluation from a working group of neighborhood
stakeholders, review from design and development professionals and the
extensive work of city staff at the Office of Strategic Planning and
Community Development. This significant change is, however, just the
first step for new development in Union Square. The City of Somerville
needs to consider incentives to assist current businesses and
commercial property owners to improve and expand. We need work to
attract development that meets local needs and is compatible with
neighborhood design.

Additional strategies beyond inclusionary
zoning are needed to address affordability concerns such as the
creation of new rental units. As change comes to Union Square we'll all
be called to maintain our participation on this process to review plans
and find appropriate business tenants.

For too long, it's been
as if Union Square has been wearing the wrong shoes. These smelly old
shoes, ill-fitting and giving us blisters with every step, have made it
impossible for us to walk, never mind to run. It's time for the City of
Somerville to do better and to allow this neighborhood to stand up and
move ahead with pride.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors,

Union Square Main Streets