By Josie Grove

Last Tuesday evening, Winter Hill residents used colorful markers and Post-its to shape their neighborhood’s future.

That evening at the Somerville By Design meeting at the Healey School, the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development presented concept sketches of a possible future for Winter Hill. Residents asked questions, and provided feedback by writing and drawing directly on the sketches. This was the final step in Somerville By Design’s three-part process to create a plan for the neighborhood’s development.

In the fall and winter of 2014, Winter Hill residents worked with city planners to create a vision, and over the past few months, consultants have translated that vision into something … well, visual. George Proakis, Somerville’s Director of Planning, stressed that the sketches were to help residents imagine possibilities. “These are just ideas,” he said. “There’s no developer, there’s no one building these buildings. These drawings were created by consultants, creating something to react to.” The meeting Tuesday was a chance for Winter Hill residents to give their feedback. “We can use the neighborhood planning process to check in on what we did right and what we didn’t,” said Proakis

The ideas presented ranged from the mundane to innovative. A sketch showing new crosswalks was displayed alongside a drawing of a new public space under Interstate 93. The residents and the city agree that Winter Hill lacks a sense of place as a neighborhood. The city proposed public art projects and a “signature event” in the vein of the Union Square farmer’s market as sources of neighborhood identity.

The vision of development and infrastructure that the city presented in the sketches is very similar to its vision for other neighborhoods: a dense mix of commercial and residential development, with an emphasis on walking and cycling.

Proakis was clear that creating a walkable neighborhood would require altering the neighborhood character of Winter Hill, which is dominated by single-family homes and single-story shops. “If we don’t allow things to develop beyond the single story, getting the foot traffic that will develop the area will be difficult,” he said.

Another key element in making Winter Hill a walkable neighborhood is a grocery store. “I’ve heard so many people say something about grocery, wanting to walk to a grocery store. That’s what makes it your neighborhood,” Proakis said. Resident Melissa Suderman agreed. “Some sort of grocery store would be an anchor.”

Several residents at the meeting suggested that the empty Star Market could be redeveloped as a grocery store, but Proakis said the site is less than ideal for that purpose. “They’re building bigger or they’re building smaller,” said Proakis of grocery store developers. “No one is doing 20,000 square foot grocery stores. People are turning those into dollar sores and discount stores, and we’ve wanted to avoid that.

Another challenge to redevelopment as a grocery store is the location. An economic development consultant hired by the city found that an ideal location for a grocery store would be further west on Broadway. “But I don’t think that’s the final answer,” said Proakis, “Especially if there is new investment involved. If you put 1000 people living above it, there might be an interest” in developing a grocery store on the Star Market site.

Proakis said that the closed Star Market impacts everything around it. “That site hurts or helps this area being allowed to succeed.”

The mood of the residents with post-its and markers was optimistic. “The whole process and the thoughtfulness overall seems really encouraging,” said Christopher Scott, a Winter Hill resident. Erika Tarlin has lived in Winter Hill for over 20 years. “Between these ideas and the T coming, it is going to be terrific,” she said. She also noted that the meeting was full of newer Somerville residents. “I just wish there was more input from people who have lived here for a long time.”

Proakis encouraged the liberal use of Post-its, so that his office could collect residents’ opinions. “Once this is done, this gives us a blueprint for how we spend our time, how our transport team spends their time, and our economic development team spends their time,” he said. “It gives us a way forward.”