By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

One of the biggest challenges Somerville set for itself in the SomerVision community planning process was the creation of 125 new acres of open space. It’s a vitally important goal. In a densely populated city, people need places where they can gather, play and relax. Open spaces give us patches of sanity in a hectic world. Playgrounds give kids place to climb and run.  Public plazas provide the platform for community events. Amidst the concrete and asphalt, we need bursts of green, places where trees and flowers bloom. They are essential to our quality of life. Yet we are are dealing with some extremely constrained geography.

This is where the overhaul of Somerville’s zoning code becomes critical. I’ve written about how our zoning must be overhauled to bolster our residential neighborhoods and to ensure our artist and maker communities thrive in the future. Zoning also holds the key to a part of our strategy to get those 125 acres of open space squeezed into our densely populated city. It’s as simple as this: if we don’t pass new zoning, many of those 125 acres will never materialize. I keep stressing this point: zoning is how we make our community values official. It’s how we transform the things we say we want to do into the things we actually do.

It’s also imperative that we update our zoning in 2016 because we want new regulations in place before we see a wave of construction in Union Square, Boynton Yards, the Inner Belt and Brickbottom. We want growth that’s in line with our community vision, not haphazard development that falls short of the goals we’ve set for our city. We are running short on time.

The good news is we’ve been able to create roughly 30 acres of new open and public space since 2010. We reclaimed six acres of land along the Mystic River with Baxter Park. The Community Path extension from Cedar to Lowell gave us another 1.5 acres, and we’ll gain even more as the Community Path stretches further along the Green Line extension. Smaller projects like Chuckie Harris Park, Symphony Park, Zero New Washington and North Street Veterans Park also add up. That’s the Somerville way, being smart and realizing the opportunity to turn forgotten lots into neighborhood jewels.

Yet we need a whole lot more of that, and that’s where zoning comes into play. The biggest gains will come from new requirements around the creation of new civic spaces. New developments in our transformative districts will be required to set aside portions of their site for the creation of one of 12 types of civic spaces. Some of these are parks, public commons, public squares, plazas, recreational fields, playgrounds, landmarks and community gardens. We propose that 15% of new development sites be set aside for these civic spaces that give us quality of life. Combined with features like widened public sidewalks that can accommodate passive uses, this will help bring us toward our goal.

We have also proposed requirements to ensure more residents have outdoor access. New residential properties would have to provide a balcony, deck, roof deck, patio, porch or yard for each new unit or a shared space like a roof deck for larger buildings. Even these small private spaces can greatly increase a person’s access to sunlight, fresh air and peace of mind. At the same time, we are also looking to inspire more owners to replace paved areas and put in greenscapes. The key is expanding our existing pervious area ordinance to neighborhood stores, mixed-use buildings and commercial buildings. A pervious surface absorbs water – like a lawn or a garden – rather than causing stormwater to run off into our sewers. An expanded ordinance would encourage more landscaping throughout the city and it would be more environmentally friendly.

One of the great things about open and public space is that our residents are passionate about it. We all recognize how much we need this. The zoning will move us toward our 125-acre goal.  The important thing to remember is it won’t be all one thing. We can’t just build playgrounds or parks. And we also have to make this work inside of something that looks like Somerville. We want to enhance our neighborhoods and dynamic public squares and provide space for outdoor activities. And we want this to be woven throughout the community rather than concentrated in one spot.

More spacious suburbs have the area to sprawl. Somerville has to be a lot more surgical. We have to plan in greater detail and make sure developers recognize that cookie-cutter designs won’t fit here. Also, people come here to get away from suburban sprawl. We need originality to get the mix of jobs, housing and open space we desire. Our zoning will lay out the playing field on which that takes place. So let’s make it happen. We can create 125 acres of the most diverse and engaging open space to be found anywhere.