The City Council's Land Use Committee meet on Tuesday, July 9 with multiple public hearings on hugely significant and consequential items, including:

• two zoning map changes for the Somernova proposal in Ward 2
• a zoning map change to upzone for the Somerville YMCA's proposed new facility on Highland Ave
• a zoning map amendment to upzone most of a block in Gilman Square
• an amendment to the zoning ordinance to create an Interim Planning Overlay District (IPOD) in Brickbottom
• a zoning map amendment to upzone a parcel in Union Square

Over 200 people were in attendance to comment publicly on these items. A number of members of the public commented on how unfortunate it was that these items were all stacked together on one agenda. I think it's safe to say every member of the Land Use Committee agreed with them as the meeting stretched nearly to the five-hour mark. Needless to say, it wasn't our preference to stack up public hearings like that.

A number of the members of the public spoke about the virtual meeting format, expressing a preference for in-person meetings. I certainly understand the desire to be physically present with other people rather than sitting in front of our computers staring into a screen. And I get why members of the public feel like their comments might carry more weight if they can be seen when speaking. But doing a hybrid meeting raises questions about equity and giving more weight to those with the privilege of being able to attend meetings in person, since not everyone can do that. So I don't love the virtual format, but it might be the most equitable for public comment.

All of these items were kept in committee for discussion and potential votes on recommendation by the Land Use Committee in September, after the summer recess. Here's my view on what we heard and my current thoughts on the requests before us:

Somernova
The items that featured the most public comment were the two petitions for zoning map changes for the revised and resubmitted Somernova proposal. It was unfortunate that the public hearing on this took place prior to a community benefits agreement (CBA) being formalized and signed between the developer, Rafi Properties, and the Union Square Neighborhood Council (USNC) -- and while the Art Stays Here group has outstanding concerns about benefits for the arts community. As a result we heard repeated calls from the community to not approve the these petitions until there was as signed CBA with USNC, so a lot of the public comment felt very conditional. I can't imagine any scenario where I would vote in favor of these zoning map changes without a CBA being in place here, so I stand with the folks who made this demand.

We also heard from labor representatives about the desire for a project labor agreement (PLA). I'm so resigned to hearing excuses from developers as to why going with union labor for the construction of these developments, it would be great for us to actually see this happen for once here in Somerville. So a signed PLA would certainly go a long way to casting this project in a favorable light when it comes time for votes on these requests.

The next couple of months look to be crucial as far as movement on these fronts, so I'll be paying very close attention to see where things go.

New YMCA facility
Public comment on the zoning map change to enable the new, dense YMCA facility on Highland Ave was almost universally supportive, which meshes with the constituent feedback I've gotten over email and in person. I'm very excited to see the Somerville Y create a new chapter with a spectacular new space for the community. The current Y is outdated and struggling to serve the needs of the community, so this project is badly needed in the city.

One question I'm going to have when the Land Use Committee discusses this after the summer recess is going to be around parking. There's a terrible parking crunch on Central Hill, and with the Y hosting swim meets on evening and weekends, there will be a real need for on-site parking to accommodate out-of-town visitors. This could dovetail nicely with the demand for parking on weekday mornings and afternoons for City Hall and high school staff, so I'd be curious what might be done in collaboration between the City and the Y to address this with underground parking. But I definitely support upzoning these parcels to help make an amazing project a reality.

Pearl Street upzoning
I attended the neighborhood meeting earlier this year about the original petition for upzoning most of that block in the Gilman Square neighborhood, and have been following this one closely. A CBA between the developer and the Gilman Square Neighborhood Council was a must, and it sounds like that is either a done deal according to GSNC. I support density around transit stations like this, so I think going up to Mid-Rise 6 (MR6) makes a lot of sense, especially given the six-story building right next door. I appreciate the developer's willingness to work with the neighborhood to modify the design to lessen impacts on abutters, and I'm supportive of this request.

Brickbottom IPOD
The long-awaited draft of the updated Brickbottom Neighborhood Plan finally arrived this week, with a community meeting on Monday. It's been frustrating waiting for these strategic plans for Brickbottom and other areas of the city while Planning has dealt with a heavy volume of permitting due to all the development happening here and while short-staffed. So it's great to see movement here, at least in Brickbottom. But we also want to make sure no developments no in keeping with this plan are slipped in before the adoption of the finalized Brickbottom Neighborhood Plan. Enter the Interim Planning Overlay District, or IPOD.

The Brickbottom IPOD would require special permits for developments in the area in the time (up to 18 months) during which the neighborhood plan is finalized and approved. While I have questions and some concerns about the specifics of the IPOD, the ward councilor for Brickbottom (Ward 2 Councilor JT Scott) has publicly expressed an interest in introducing amendments to the IPOD request and I'm very interested in what we can do to tweak this for an optimal (interim) outcome.

Share your feedback!
If you have comments on any of these items, you can email [email protected] by noon on Friday, July 26 (Friday, August 30 for the Somernova requests).