By George P. Hassett

Peace has broken out in Assembly Square and two longtime combatants, the Mystic View Task Force (MVTF) and the administration of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, are looking forward to putting a contentious past behind them.

“Now that we’re not fighting, I hope we can roll up our sleeves and work together for the best development possible at Assembly Square,” said Wig Zamore, a member of MVTF, a grassroots group of citizen activists.

MVTF, developer Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT), Swedish retailer IKEA and the city finally settled a decade of disputes and legal battles Oct. 17 when they reached an accord allowing construction of a grand mixed-use project consisting of office space, a hotel and more than 3,000,000 square feet of residential space in Assembly Square. Previously, MVTF and city officials like Curtatone had spent years trading barbs and criticism in the press and opposed one another in several lawsuits.

But today, the grassroots group of activists and city officials share a common goal of a transit oriented development at Assembly Square, Curtatone said.  ‚ÄúInstead of bumping shoulders, we‚Äôre rubbing shoulders and moving forward in a unified way,‚Äù he said.

Curtatone credited MVTF with raising the level of debate.  ‚ÄúMystic View was the first group to raise the question of what Assembly Square can look like 10, 20 and 30 years from now,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúThey put Assembly Square on the radar screen and raised the expectations for what it can be.‚Äù

Anne Tate, a Somerville resident and Director of the Urban Design Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design said MVTF changed Somerville planning and development forever. She said the group’s emphasis on public discourse and citizen involvement helped pave the way for others, such as The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) which advocates for a Green Line extension to Somerville, to get involved in community planning and development.

“STEP is a direct descendant of Mystic View,” she said. “And the CVS in Magoun Square was a better development because neighbors organized and expressed their concerns collectively the way Mystic View had done in Assembly Square.”

MVTF has 200 dues-paying members but a core group of about a dozen who do most of the work, said William C. Shelton, a past president who helped negotiate the settlement. Shelton said in its first years, MVTF sponsored public meetings, lectures and presentations on development. Shelton estimated MVTF members had spent “tens of thousands of hours” working on the Assembly Square development.

‚ÄúWe‚Äôre trying to decide what we want to become now. We‚Äôre asking if we should re-start educational events and community-building seminars?‚Äù he said. 

Zamore said there are still a lot of decisions to be made in Assembly Square. Concerns over open space and the location and quantity of office and retail space must still be answered, he said. Because MVTF gave up its right to sue the developers and the city in the settlement, its main outlet for any criticism of the development is the Assembly Square Public Advisory Committee, Shelton said.

The committee will be made up of seven members. Two members will be appointed by MVTF, one appointed by the Board of Aldermen, two appointed by Curtatone and one member each from the East Somerville and Ten Hills neighborhoods. 

The two appointees of Mystic View will be Shelton and Zamore, Shelton said.  The committee will review and comment on all phases of the development,  focusing on issues such as environmental impact, attracting an MBTA stop, conducting economic outreach to possible investors and coordinating pedestrian and bike connections between Assembly Square and surrounding neighborhoods, Zamore said.

Shelton said the committee will have to carve its own niche in the development process.  ‚ÄúPower is not bestowed, it often has to be taken. And it‚Äôs up to the Public Advisory Committee to decide what that power will be,‚Äù he said. 

Zamore said he hoped one of the outcomes of the almost decade-long Assembly Square saga is more involvement from citizens.

‚ÄúA community never stands still, we need the richness of contribution in order to fashion a better city,‚Äù he said.  Even if there are no lawsuits and less contention at Assembly Square, the debate is far from over, according to Curtatone.

“There will always be debate. Even when we agree, we’ll still be debating with each other,” he said.