Dear Ward 3,

Last night, the Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to pass the Real Estate Transfer Fee home rule petition - it now goes up to the State House for approval. This vote marks a major step forward in a community process tracing back to 1998, when a transfer fee was proposed by the Affordable Housing Task Force as a way to help balance out the negative effects of gentrification. If our home rule petition ultimately passes, the Transfer Fee will raise millions of dollars to create, preserve, and support affordable housing in our community. The Fee will harness some of the incredible wealth being generated by our real estate market in order to directly help those who are being displaced by rising rents and home prices. This is why the transfer fee was the top recommendation of the 2015 Sustainable Neighborhoods Working Group, and is why I support it. The 1% Transfer Fee fully exempts all owner-occupants (both buyers and sellers) - if passed, it will only be paid by developers, investors, and non-resident landlords. Although this is only the first step, I am proud that Somerville has moved forward in our efforts to address our housing crisis. You can read more about the background and rationale for the proposal, as well as the final language, here. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this process, including the many residents who spoke on both sides of the issue - I believe that this input dramatically improved the home rule petition, and was essential for winning the unanimous support of the Board. 

News and updates:

1) Ward 3 Resistat Meeting - Tuesday, June 5, Somerville High School Library, 81 Highland Ave. (enter through the Field House doors). 6:30-8pm (Pizza at 6p).
Resistat meetings are a chance for residents to hear directly from City staff and the Mayor's office about city-wide and ward-specific issues. If you've never attended a Resistat meeting, I highly recommend coming - they are very interesting, and a great opportunity to ask questions and get answers. You can sign up for Resistat emails here - their newsletters also provide a wealth of local information. 

2) Update on 125 Lowell St. development proposal. 
On Monday, May 14th, I hosted a second neighborhood meeting for a proposed development at 125 Lowell St - thank you to everyone who attended. The developers presented a plan to turn the existing seven-story structure (site of the former nursing college, shown in the photo above) into 24 residential units, of which 5 will be affordable. This proposal was far better than their initial one, but there were a number of remaining concerns from neighbors - including a desire for contributions to local traffic calming (including perhaps paying for raised crosswalks at nearby intersections), additional green space, public community meeting space within the building, as well as questions about whether 24 units is appropriate for the site. The next step in this process is that the developers will now formally submit a variance request to the Zoning Board of Appeals (without which they could only build ~12 apartments, each of which would be enormous), which will then schedule a public hearing that will be announced via mail to abutters within 300 feet (and which I will advertise widely, of course). The ZBA will then listen to all public comment (both written and delivered in person, whenever a hearing is scheduled), so I very much encourage residents to work together to identify top priority concerns and present them to the ZBA. Together, I believe we may be able to get additional community benefits from this development. 

3) Prospect Hill Park renovation delayed until the Fall (at least). 
Last week, the Parks department announced that the renovation of Prospect Hill Park that had been scheduled to begin in June will be delayed while they continue to search for a contractor - until the Fall at the earliest. Though I'm disappointed by the delay, I'll admit I'm also a bit relieved that the park will remain open this summer. You can read their official statement here. 

4) Site of new Police & Fire Station chosen: Cobble Hill. 
With strong support from Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin, the Mayor's office has officially filed a request to turn the Cobble Hill Shopping Plaza into the site of the new Fire and Police station (and possibly more uses as well - it's a nearly 2-acre lot.) This is good news for many reasons - for one, our Fire & Police Departments have both been asking for a badly-needed new station for a long time. What's more, I've heard from many residents who were worried that the new stations would share a parcel with the ArtFarm project - thankfully, we now know this won't be the case, and both projects can proceed. 

5) Union Square Redevelopment: Transferring Land to US2 
In order for the redevelopment of Union Square by US2 to move forward, the Aldermen must vote on whether or not to officially transfer the land at the corner of Prospect and Somerville Ave. Now is therefore a critical time for the Board to consider whether the development project is where we need it to be in order to ensure a successful outcome. While I was pleased to hear that the developer has continued to gather investors and commercial partners who recognize the immense value of being in Somerville (US2 told the Board that they have obtained a large and reputable investment partner, USAA, and are in the final stages of negotiations with a business tenant for the proposed life-sciences office building), there are a number of critical items that I need to see addressed before I would consider supporting the land transfer. First, it is essential to me that US2 makes real progress towards negotiating a Community Benefits Agreement with the Union Square Neighborhood Council, as they agreed to in writing last year - I will need to see demonstrable progress on this front, to evidence good faith on both sides. Second, I have heard from many, many residents that they are concerned about the location and quality of new green space in Union Square. While this issue does not technically relate to the land parcel in question, I believe it is critical to get real commitments on this important issue before moving forward - we need as much high quality park space as we can get. Finally, I want to see a commitment to publicly accessible field space on top of the proposed parking garage abutting Allen St. US2 currently plans to use this space as an exclusive "amenity space" to residents of the new sky-scraper, including private swimming pools. Given that this land was taken by eminent domain for public benefit, and given the absolutely critical need our community has for field space, I think this would be an enormous benefit to the community that the developer should provide. I know that others have additional concerns which I very much intend to see addressed, and I am optimistic that we will see progress on all of these issues before moving forward. 

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend. June is Budget Month, and the Board will be focused almost exclusively on Budget Hearings - please reach out anytime with questions about this process, or about any other issues or concerns. 

Sincerely,
Ben Ewen-Campen

P.S. As we continue to deliberate the Zoning Overhaul (any possible vote is still many months out), the Planning Staff has been putting together incredibly in-depth analyses of building types and density in Somerville. I very much encourage you to check them out if this interests you - they can be found here, connected with our meetings on May 15th and May 23rd.