Somerville Land Use Committee Meeting: UCH-TIF and Homeless Shelter Zoning (June 19, 2026)
Somerville City Council Land Use Committee & Planning Board Joint Meeting – June 19, 2026
Note: The meeting minutes and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 6:31 PM. The date provided for this summary is June 19, 2026, per the instruction. This discrepancy is noted. The meeting was held via Zoom and adjourned at 7:14 PM.
Consent Calendar
- Agenda item 2 (Union 2 Associates, LLC request for a zoning map amendment to change 2 and 9 Union Square, 286, 290, and 298 Somerville Avenue from Commercial Core 5 to Mid-Rise 6) was withdrawn at the request of the applicant.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 1.1: UCH-TIF Zone – Crystal Huff and Ben Rogan expressed strong support for the tool, emphasizing its potential to create affordable housing. Huff stated, “Let's have more affordable housing tools. Let's do everything we can.” Ben Rogan, a property owner in East Somerville, noted he owns a vacant parcel and urged approval to help kickstart development, providing affordable and market-rate housing and activating East Broadway.
- Item 1.2: Homeless Shelter Zoning Amendment – Crystal Huff shared a personal analysis showing 38% of the city is zoned Neighborhood Residential (NR) and urged inclusion of NR in the amendment to enable shelters citywide. They expressed strong support for the amendment and for domestic violence shelters as well.
Discussion Items
- Item 1.1: Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing (UCH-TIF) Zone, Plan, and Form of Agreement for Assembly Square and East Somerville – Tom Galligani (Executive Director, OSPCD) and Katie Wiese (Economic Development Planner) presented the proposal. The tool provides property tax relief for up to 20 years to incentivize housing development on vacant lots and underutilized commercial spaces, targeting a zone with 59% commercial vacancy and 10% vacant lots. The zone would not automatically approve any project; each would require negotiation with OSPCD and City Council approval. Public hearings are not required for individual projects. Chair Ewen-Campen clarified that approving the zone does not commit the city to future agreements. The item was kept in committee.
- Item 1.2: Zoning Amendment to Section 2.1.1 Regarding Homeless Shelters – Councillor Davis introduced the amendment to expand where homeless shelters can be located as a principal use, removing reliance on the Dover Amendment. The amendment initially includes Neighborhood Residential, Urban Residential, Mid-Rise (3-6), High-Rise, and certain special districts, but excludes Commercial Core zones. Councilor Sait requested maps showing the impact with and without Neighborhood Residential. Planning Board Member Aboff noted the importance of ground-floor access for shelter users. Planning Board Chair Capuano requested a staff analysis of how surrounding communities zone shelters in residential areas. Deputy Director DiMartino confirmed staff can prepare this. The item was kept in committee.
Key Outcomes
- Both items (1.1 and 1.2) were kept in committee with no votes taken. Public comment periods were opened and closed at the meeting; written comments will be accepted until Friday, July 10, 2026, at 12:00 PM via publiccomments@somervillema.gov.
- Staff was directed to prepare additional information for the next meeting: (1) an analysis of surrounding community zoning for shelters in residential areas, (2) maps showing the amendment’s effect with and without Neighborhood Residential, and (3) investigation into whether domestic violence shelters should be included in the same use category.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome everyone. I call this meeting of the land use committee to order. It is Thursday, June 18th, the 631. Pursuant to chapter two of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the land use committee will be conducted via remote participation, and we will post an audio video recording and comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Will the clerk please call the roll? This is roll call, Counselor Davis. Here. Councillor Klingon. Present. Counselor Say. Councilor McLaughlin. Yeah. Counselor Ewan Campman. Here. With four counselors present, we have four. Excellent. This is a joint meeting with the planning board. So in just a moment, we're going to recess so that they can start their meeting. Before we do that, um, I want to mention uh agenda item number two. Um, clerk, will you please read this into the record? Yes. Agenda item two. From commercial core five to mid-rise six. All right. This item has been withdrawn at the request of the applicant. Um, so clerk, do we place this item on file? So what is the or is it just withdrawn? And that's we can just mark it as withdrawn. Okay. That item has been withdrawn. And with that, we will go into recess so the planning board can convene their meeting. Just show it camp in uh for the record day I'm here. Excellent. Welcome. Good evening, everybody. It's 6 33 p.m. The planning board has joined the land use committee for this joint hearing. I'm Mike Capuano. I am chairman of the planning board. With me tonight are our vice chair Emilia Abolf, our clerk John Habib, our members Lynn Richards, Coralie Cooper, Luke Schuster, and Michael McNeely. The planning board has a quorum. What I'd like to do is please have our clerk read into the record the notice of public hearing for this agenda item for the land use committee uh joint hearing. Absolutely, Mr. Chair.14 zoning ordinance ID 26-0835 by Councillor Davis proposing an amendment to section 2.1.1 of the zoning ordinance regarding homeless shelters. Thank you so much, John. What I would love to do is invite uh Chairman Ewan Campan and the rest of the land use committee to reconvene and join uh join us. Excellent. Can we please call the role to establish quorum? This is roll call. Counselor Davis.
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