By Douglas Yu

The city presented an executive summary of the 10 master development proposals last Wednesday to the members of the Union Square Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) at the Argenziano School.

The master developer partner will work with the city, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority, current property owners and community members to design and implement the first phase of the Union Square Revitalization Plan, which includes the redevelopment of seven key parcels identified in the plan.

“The relocation of Lechmere Station will be happening between 2016 and 2017,” Director of Economic Development for the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) Edward O’Donnell said. “So much of what we’ve done here is through the SomerVision process, which identifies the goals we hope to attain in 20 years.”

SomerVision was created in 2009 as a future vision for the city. The community planning process involves Somerville residents and the city’s planning staff. Among its key goals, the plan calls for 30,000 new jobs for Somerville workers and entrepreneurs and 6,000 new housing units.

“The public needs to be informed of what’s been happening in the past and where to go in the future,” O’Donnell said. “We are looking for planners with financial capacity and multiple project experience.”

Public transportation is part of the infrastructure in the city. O’Donnell said that master developers need to work with the MBTA, and they need to embrace all the goals outlined in SomerVision.

Master developers cannot start redeveloping certain areas in Somerville until the infrastructure has been built, according to CAC Chairman Wig Zamore. Inner Belt is one of the areas to be redeveloped.

“Some areas undergo large transformation. Brick Bottom and Inner Belt will also be part of the transforming areas,” Zamore said. “Nobody has really started redevelopment [at Inner Belt] until you’ve lined up the infrastructure. It includes transportation infrastructure, water, sewer and so on.”

Zamore also said the committee would not hire the master developer. The first step for the committee is to come up with a recommendation to the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA) as to which master developer is the most appropriate for Union Square.

“It’s up to the city,” Zamore said. “The city and SRA will legally select the developers. We are just advisory. When the developers are selected, we as a committee will go over the developers’ proposals.”

During the question-and-answer period with the committee last Wednesday, Mimi Graney, Union Square Main Streets’ executive director, asked about the roles of the CAC and LDA (land disposition agreement) when master developers make a deal with property owners separately.

O’Donnell clarified that the SRA would be responsible for shaping the terms of the LDA.

“The LDA is an important document because it specifies what the developer’s plan would be within an individual block,” he said. “If it is a private-sale transaction, the LDA will simply decide what will be built.”

When it comes to the criteria of choosing a master developer, Zamore said there is a requirement regarding their contribution to affordable housing.
“Boston has this kind of requirement, too, but it hasn’t been enforcing it yet,” he said.

The increasingly expensive housing has driven a lot of long-term Somerville residents out of their neighborhoods, raising concerns about maintaining the city’s eclectic population.

CAC member Joe Beckmann said the committee is concerned about keeping Somerville’s diversity.

“It’s very rare for developers to focus on maintaining the diversity of a city,” he said. “If we can show that it’s possible to redevelop and still preserve the diversity of the community, it’s a big lesson for the world.”

According to Beckmann, of the 10 proposals, three to five proposals reinforce diversity. Each proposal has a number of team members. Besides master developers, they include architects, transportation engineers and landscapers.

CAC will allow the master developer applicants to present their proposals over the course of three upcoming meetings. The public will have a chance to get involved in the discussions.