Dear Ward 3,
There are a number of important and interesting community meetings and events coming up in the next few weeks - please read on! Down at the bottom of this newsletter, I've included a brief update the Real Estate Transfer Fee - I am happy to say that the Board is working incredibly hard to address issues that we have heard from the public, and I believe we are moving in the right direction and taking the time to get this right. Most notably, the Board has moved unanimously to pursue a strategy introduced by Alderman Hirsch in which all owner-occupants (both buyers and sellers) are fully exempt from paying the 1% fee - the fee would only paid by developers, investors, and absentee landlords, and Alderman Hirsch believes the revenue raised would remain approximately the same. More details below, but first:
1) RESCHEDULED: April 25th meeting on 125 Lowell St.
Due to a number of newly-scheduled meetings of the Legislative Matters committee (see below for details), I unfortunately have had to cancel the planned April 25th meeting regarding the development at 125 Lowell St. I will update you all as soon as a new date is set, hopefully in early May.
2) US2's First Design & Site-Plan Review Meeting for the "D-2 Parcel" (aka the big vacant lot at the corner of Prospect and Somerville Ave - see map above).
Thursday, April 19th, 6-8pm, Union Square Police Station (220 Washington St.)
Late last year, the Union Square Developer, US2, obtained a "Coordinated Development Special Permit" from Somerville's Planning Board, clearing the way for them to begin design work on specific parcels within Union Square - the first of which is the so-called "D-2 block" (see map above). This Thursday's meeting (hosted by US2) will be their first presentation of preliminary design work for the buildings and public space planned for D-2. You can read US2's press release for the meeting here; they "will show preliminary schematic plans, and [seek] community input as a first step in the Design and Site Plan Review process for the D2 buildings and civic space."
As you all know, these buildings are part of a large-scale redevelopment of Union Square. To get a general sense of what has been proposed, check out the Special Permit link pasted above. This series of community meetings on the D-2 block are therefore likely to be very important, and I hope many of you are able to come.
3) Somerville Spring Clean-Up!
Sunday, April 22nd, 10am. Ward 3 meet-up is Morse-Kelley playground (corner of Summer St. and Craigie)
Hope you can join me for this year's annual clean-up! It's gonna be great - here's the City's press release, which contains all the information you'll need:
"The annual Spring Clean Up is a city-wide clean up and gardening day spread across 12 different sites throughout Somerville. Come out to get our public spaces ready to be used for the spring and summer ahead! Please RSVP at https://goo.gl/forms/EQVcnxzkJhVCRLpQ2
Schedule for the day:
9am-10am: Kickoff & breakfast provided by Comcast at the Boathouse at the Blessing of the Bay park.
10am-12pm: Cleaning at sites around Somerville (see below)
12pm-2pm: Community BBQ lunch provided by Mayor Joe Curtatone and the City of Somerville at the Boathouse. Includes interactive activities for kids and adults! Enjoy music by Rose and the Wild Edibles!
Come for the entire time, or go straight to any of the cleanup sites to volunteer! If joining for breakfast and/or lunch, volunteers are responsible for their own transportation from the Boathouse to their cleanup site and back."
4) Reminder: Second community meeting on recreational marijuana policy.
Thursday, April 19th, at the Lowell St. VNA (6:30 259 Lowell St.)
The city's Planning Department is hosting this community meeting as part of their policy planning for soon-to-be-legal recreational marijuana facilities. You can read more about this community meeting, and the recent history of this issue in last week's newsletter.
5) Public Hearing to gather data and testimony on housing affordability in Somerville. Monday, April 30th, 6:30p, City Hall.
What data do we currently have on our affordable housing crisis, and what information do we lack? What policies do we have in place, and how well are they meeting the needs of our community? What are the causes of rising rental costs and home prices, and what are the effects - on our school population, on our senior citizens, on our public health, and on the displacement of our neighbors?
On Monday, April 30th, at 6:30p, I have called a Public Hearing in the Housing and Community Development Committee in order to gather data and testimony regarding the affordable housing crisis in Somerville. I am working with Somerville City Staff, housing experts, local non-profits, and others working on the front lines of housing to prepare expert testimony.
In addition, this is a public hearing - meaning that any member of the public is invited to give testimony as well. If you have something to add to this important conversation, or if you'd just like to listen, please join us. The Public Hearing will also be live-streamed and recorded for those who cannot make it.
6) Advocate for increasing the State's Community Preservation Act contribution!
As many of you know, a small portion of Somerville property taxes go to the Community Preservation Act (CPA), a fund which supports projects related to open space, historic preservation, and affordable housing. Somerville's money is "matched" by State funds - but this match is declining! The reason for this decline is that the State's pot of money is split between every city and town that opts into the CPA - which means that as more cities join (such as Boston, which just joined), Somervile's piece of the pie declines precipitously. Projections for next year show an estimated 11% match from the State.
There is currently a proposed amendment in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (House Amendment 466) that would expand the State match up to ~30% again (without raising taxes!). You can read more about this issue here - and if this issue matters to you, I encourage you to reach out to our State Reps and encourage them to support this amendment.
Brief update on the Real Estate Transfer Fee:
The Board has been working incredibly hard to address concerns brought up at the Public Hearing, and I'm happy to say that we are making important progress. At our last meeting, the Board moved unanimously to pursue a strategy introduced by Alderman Hirsch in which all owner-occupants (both buyers and sellers) are fully exempt from paying the 1% fee - the fee would only paid by developers, investors, and absentee landlords. To give a bit more detail, I'm pasting below an update from Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang, who is the Chair of Legislative Matters (the committee where this policy is being debated):
From Mark Niedergang: "Real Estate Transfer Fee Home Rule Petition update -- All owner-occupants, both sellers & buyers, will be exempt from the fee under a new plan developed by Alderman-at-Large Stephanie Hirsch, and supported by the Board of Aldermen in a unanimous vote on April 11th.
Alderman Hirsch figured out a way to do exactly what all of us want, including many opponents of the transfer tax who testified at the Public Hearing on April 4th or wrote to us: make the developers, investors & absentee landlords pay; don't make people who live in Somerville pay.
Her plan sets a 1% fee on both seller & buyer, but anyone who is or will be an owner-occupant doesn't pay anything. So, for example, if someone who has lived in Somerville for 5, or 10 or 30 years sells their home, they don't pay. If a young family who intends to live in Somerville (they will apply for and get the residential tax exemption) buys it, they won't pay. If an owner-occupant sells to a developer or investor, the seller doesn't pay, but the developer or investor pays the 1%. If that developer redevelops the property & sells it to an investor who rents it out, the fee is a total of 2% -- both the seller and buyer pay. Alderman Hirsch believes this plan would still raise between $6-9 million a year for affordable housing. If you want to learn more about her thinking, read her article, "One Affordability Proposal: Can we find a way to unite, not divide, our community?", http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/83035
We've still got a LOT of work to do to flesh out this plan, provide more information to the public about the kinds of affordable housing programs for low-income, working, & middle-income families the funds will support, and nail down a lot of details. As Chair of the Legislative Matters committee, I've scheduled 6 more meetings over the next month, & there will be another Public Hearing in May.
If you want more information about the transfer fee proposal, go to https://www.somervillema.gov/…/proposed-transfer-fee-home-r…. Also worth reading for some historical context is Bill Shelton's column, "Paying for the beloved community," http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/82869"
I will continue to work hard to keep you all updated as we continue to deliberate on this important issue - our next Legislative Matters meeting is April 25th, followed by a number of others in early May. As always, you can follow along with the Board's activities here.
Thanks for reading, and please don't hesitate to reach out with questions/comments anytime.
Sincerely,
Ben
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