Pages
Stay In Touch
More
© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Urgency critical to remain competitive with neighboring communities
Bluntly Speaking by Ross Blouin
There are two sides to every argument and this side needs to be presented. Assembly Row took more than 25 years to launch and many people feel this is too long to wait for a project as immense as Union Square. Union Square is a development project that will affect every citizen of Somerville.
In advance of the upcoming Board of Aldermen public hearing on the Neighborhood Plan zoning, the Somerville Chamber of Commerce along with other local businesses are highlighting a sense of urgency to move this long debated zoning forward. As part of a regional competition for good jobs, housing and increased transportation and infrastructure, delay could mean other towns get ahead while Somerville is left behind.
They agree with the business community and urge the Board of Aldermen to adopt zoning based on the Union Square Neighborhood Plan that was unanimously adopted by the Somerville Planning Board on May 5, 2016 after a lengthy public process.
Supporters agree, “Somerville is poised to reap the benefits of SomerVision and the Union Square Neighborhood Plan. Just as Boston’s waterfront, Watertown, Kendall Square, Newton and others are racing forward with development, luring employers and game changing businesses, so must Somerville. The sense of urgency is real and in order to compete, Somerville must move now!” The signatures will be submitted at the public hearing.
As you may have seen, since the Neighborhood Plan approval, communities around Somerville have been moving at breakneck speed to compete for the same innovative, next generation spaces we hope to develop here. “Hip to be Squared” (Boston Business Journal Cover Story -Sept. 2, 2016) highlights the aggressive action the Newton and Needham Chamber of Commerce is advancing to rebuild and rebrand an area just along the 128 corridor. Somerville is uniquely positioned to capture this same excitement but we must not get mired in process but rather advance our very thoughtful plans into tangible action.
Kendall Square, a hotbed of innovation and talent, has several bio-tech businesses hungry for space – growing companies like Courtagen Life Sciences, Metabolix and another confidential life science business just relocated to Woburn and Bedford, MA. We are driving talent further away from our community because we are not moving fast enough or ready for the opportunities that are right in our backyard. We can harness and capture these jobs right here. Good jobs, with growing companies – but we must be aggressive in our desire to welcome them and keep them here.
Somerville must put some shovels in the ground and solidify their spot as the number one accelerator and growth space for the creative individuals, business and organizations that are seeking the superbly unique urban living and working environment Somerville has to offer.
Text of the petition by the Somerville Chamber of Commerce:
Somerville Board of Aldermen:
We are members of the local business community and we support the City’s efforts to adopt zoning based on the Union Square Neighborhood Plan. The plan was unanimously adopted by the Somerville Planning Board on May 5, 2016 after a lengthy public process.
Somerville is poised to reap the benefits of the community’s plan. Just as Boston’s waterfront, Watertown, Kendall Square, Newton and others are racing forward with development, luring employers and game changing businesses, so must Somerville. The sense of urgency is real and in order to compete, Somerville must move now! Thank you for your consideration.
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it.
Is there a list of businesses that put their name on this petition?
I’d like to know more about who signed this petition. It doesn’t seem particularly responsible to simply reprint a petition in the Times without providing direct information about its signatories. “Members of the business community” or “The Chamber of Commerce” is not very specific.
Moving forward with a sense of crisis or urgency about Somerville being left behind is not going to serve us and is in fact how many bad development decisions get made. For many, the crisis arrives when development is pushed forward without community input and they are displaced. There is a real risk of that happening here.
There were many opportunities for the community to participate during the lengthy 18 month SomerVision process which resulted in the Neighborhood Plan; a plan which calls for jobs, family housing, and lots of open space. It was designed with local residents and businesses in mind, and no local resident or business will be displaced with this plan. The real risk is not moving forward, ensuring a loss of opportunity in our community. Let’s not be too hasty to dismiss new and innovative as bad.
It is right to act with a sense of urgency. This area craves development and the opportunity cost involved with slowing the process is very real. I’m excited about the jobs, housing, and increase in tax income, not only for the benefit to the surrounding neighborhoods but for Somerville as a whole. Replacing old auto shops and scrap yards with the elements of a vibrant city after a long public process isn’t hasty. I genuinely hope the Board of Aldermen act reasonably and move forward with it.
I am the President of the Board of Union Square Main Streets. We did not write and have not yet endorsed the above language. We currently are not circulating any petitions on this or any other topic among our membership.
I ask that the Somerville Times please correct this article accordingly.
-Eric Fellinger
After a long public process leading to the Neighborhood plan, it seems strange to move slowly. This undercuts Somerville’s reputation as a dynamic and innovative town. Tax revenues from bringing business would be a great asset to invest into the schools and other important programs. It is essential to resist an unreflective response of NIMBYism and look at the opportunities to be gained.
One should be skeptical of anyone who says, “quick, pass this zoning amendment. It’s written to reflect community consensus, just trust us.” Are we not allowed to have a couple of public hearings? Ask some questions? What fool takes it on blind faith that it’s written according to our community’s goals? I’ve read the draft Union Square zoning amendment, and I have substantive questions about issues that weren’t addressed in the Neighborhood Plan. So it’s false to suggest we’ve had 18 months to review this, and it would be a disservice to rush something that is frankly still being tweaked my city planners. I’m tired of the City issuing drafts of key decision documents (2015 comprehensive zoning ordinance, Union Square Neighborhood Plan, UnionSquare zoning amendment) in half-baked form (missing sections, missing data, incorrect references) and being asked to comment, and then when a clean draft is finally issued, only getting a couple weeks to review. That’s how mistakes get made. I sense people with strong financial interests don’t want anyone looking under the hood of this zoning amendment–all the more reason for we residents, taxpayers, and voters to tune in.
Personally, I’d rather see the square developed over a longer period of time. Handing huge chunks of it off to a single developer and architect is going to lock in a large, homogeneous collection of mediocre design (what I expect we’ll get) in the square – not unlike the schlock we have at assembly square. It’s silly to take the risk of polluting the square in this way for the sake of quick tax bucks & the pipe dream that biotech is going to jump ship from Kendall square.