The commercial viability of properties such as the long vacant former Star Market site was among the topics of discussion at the Winter Hill Somerville by Design meeting held last week.

By Douglas Yu

Following two open house meetings about redesigning Winter Hill last year, Somerville by Design presented 50 more design ideas to the neighborhood for an open discussion. The design ideas were sourced from Winter Hill residents.

This time, the Somerville by Design meeting was held at the Healey School cafeteria in Winter Hill on Thursday. Selected ideas were presented through pictures, sketches and verbal explanations. Public open space, strategic economic development and traffic safety were highlighted during the meeting.

Brad Rawson, the city’s Project Manager and Senior Planner, explained that the strategy by which Somerville by Design crowd sources ideas from the residents is called “physical planning questions.”

“We can get the best community process and the best strategic plans for the community’s future when we ask people about their experiences,” Rawson said.

Winter Hill is the fifth neighborhood, following Gilman Square, Lowell Street, East Somerville and Davis Square, that Somerville by Design implements the “physical planning questions” methodology, according to the city.

In the last meeting, one resident reported that there is high frequency of truck traffic between Temple Street and Marshall Street on Broadway. Rawson said, “I’ve never realized how loud and noisy this section is. So for those who live in and commute in this neighborhood every day, I’m amazed about the levels of noise that they deal with.”

As the most densely populated city in New England, Somerville is tremendously deficient in open space, according to the city.

“We’ve got some great parks. We fixed up 95 percent of them in the 12 years that Mayor Curtatone has been in office, but we need more,” Rawson said. “The SomerVision plan calls for almost doubling amount of public open spaces for the city.”

The dense population and the increasing demand for more public open space make up a tough challenge for urban planners at Somerville. The city responded that there are a number of tools to enlarge the public areas in the city as much as possible. One of them is to simply create new parkland.

“In the Winter Hill neighborhood down towards Gilman Square on Walnut Street, there is a former industrial property at the corner of Pearl Street. There is no factory along the rail lines. It was a polluted, brown field,” Rawson said. “The factory closed in the 70’s, I believe. And the city automatically bought that land, and used the federal, state and local money to clean up the pollution, went through the community process and designed it as a park. Now it’s known as Edward L. Leathers Community Park, one of the most well loved parks in Somerville.”

On the other hand, the demographics in Somerville is shifting, the baby boomers are moving back to the city, as well as young professionals, Rawson said. “Because they value walkability,” Rawson said. “And back in 2007, when Winter Hill Star Market closed, the conventional wisdom in the community was the neighborhood demographics don’t support grocery store operations. That’s hogwash. Our economic consultant said there is a plenty of purchasing power here.”

In addition, many of the residents from the previous Winter Hill process complained that the highway is a barrier at the corner of Wheatland Street.

“It’s not just trying to cross it. It’s not just the feel, but the dinginess and dripping water,” Rawson said. “Let’s bring that under-highway space back to life.”

Later on, he showed the audience a couple of design ideas with sketches. One of them is using solar-panel installation to shield the highway, and the other is filling that space with several independent workshops.

The open discussion also includes the possible curb design to separate bicycles and cars in order to make the traffic safer. Currently, Somerville by Design is putting curbs on Beacon Street to implement this design idea.

“For lots of potential urban bicyclists, our street lanes will never be good enough, no matter how experienced they are.” Rawson said.

Surveys were handed out to the attendees at the meeting, asking them for further questions and ideas. For those Winter Hill residents who want to learn more about the redesign of Winter Hill and give valuable feedback to the city, please visit Somerville by Design’s website.