This joint meeting of the Somerville City Council and the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA) convened at 1:00 PM on November 7, 2025, to discuss amendments regarding the 90 Washington Street project, various zoning ordinance amendments, and strategic upzoning scenarios for Gilman Square. The session included presentations from staff, public testimony, and deliberation on the removal of a public safety building component from the 90 Washington Street plan and potential density increases near transit corridors.
90 Washington Street Demonstration Project Plan Amendments:
Zoning Ordinances Amendments (Item 2.1):
Home-Based Child Daycare Amendment (Item 2.2):
Zoning Map Amendment (Item 2.3 - 363 Highland Ave):
Gilman Square Upzoning Scenarios (Item 3):
I wouldn't guess that we some of us would have received that, SRA members. I do want to point out I think we might have sent this meeting live, so it might be being recorded right now. Okay. Councilor Wilson. Present. There we go. All right. This is a joint meeting with the Summerville Redevelopment Authority. This committee will stand in adjournment or in recess, uh, so they can conduct their business. We're in recess. Councilor Davis. Yes. My name is Phil Eric Lini. I'm chair of the Summable Redevelopment Library, and I call this meeting to order at seward to chapter two of the acts of twenty twenty-three. This public meeting of the SRE is being conducted by a remote participation as well. This session will be recorded, will be a public record. I will now ask the board members to confirm they are in attendance and in alphabetical order. Courtney Brunson. Here. William Gage. I have the same problem. These are all related to 90 Washington Street. After that, uh, we're gonna have a presentation from the city about these items. We'll have questions, public hearing, uh, and then we'll move on to other items. Any uh questions or comments? Uh please read items four, five, six, five, six, seven, and eight, please. Item number five, mayor's request ID number twenty-five-1594. Requesting approval of the amended 90 Washington Street Demonstration Project Plan. Item number six, ID number 25-1595, requesting approval of an amendment to the memorandum of agreement between the city council and redevelopment authority regarding the redevelopment of 90 Washington Street. Item number seven, ID number 25-1596, requesting approval of the development objectives for the redevelopment of 90 Washington Street. Item number eight, ID number 25-1607. Executive director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, conveying a summary of the 90 Washington Process Review and Development Objectives. All right, thank you. So I'm gonna turn it over to the city for a brief presentation about these items. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just give me one second to share screen. And I just want to reiterate thank you, everyone, for the patience this evening with logistics. Okay. I think we're in place. Um hello everyone. Through you, Mr. Chair to the committee and to the redevelopment authority. My name is Ben Demers. I'm a senior planner with the economic development team within the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. Uh and in this capacity, I also serve as the staff support in liaison to the Somerville Redevelopment Authority. Um we're here this evening to discuss changes we are recommending to the 90 Washington Street demonstration project plan, uh, mostly to formally remove the public safety building component of the project, and then to do a few other cleanup items. This change in the project direction has already been stated publicly by the administration in January. We want to make sure that the guiding documents also reflect this change. Um we also want to make sure that people have a chance to weigh in on these changes, and given that a public hearing between the city council and the redevelopment authority, or the SRA, as I'll refer to it this evening, was held when the plan was created.