Somerville Land Use Committee Meeting - September 4, 2026
Somerville City Council Land Use Committee Meeting - September 4, 2026
The Somerville City Council Land Use Committee met on September 4, 2026, at 6:30 PM via Zoom. The meeting was called to order by Chair Ben Ewen-Campen and adjourned at 7:42 PM. All five committee members were present: Councilors Davis, Clingan, Sait, McLaughlin, and Ewen-Campen. The committee approved two sets of minutes, recommended approval of the Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing (UCH-TIF) Zone, and recommended approval of an amended zoning ordinance regarding homeless shelters.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes of the Land Use Committee Meeting of May 21, 2026 (ID #26-0942) on a 5-0-0 roll call vote.
- Approved the minutes of the Land Use Committee Meeting of June 18, 2026 (ID #26-1147) on a 5-0-0 roll call vote.
Discussion Items
1. Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing (UCH-TIF) Zone (ID #26-0746) Economic Development Planner Katherine Wiese presented the proposal to create a UCH-TIF district covering parts of East Somerville and Assembly Square. She emphasized that the zone would allow development projects to request UCH-TIF agreements as an alternative to reducing inclusionary housing requirements during a period of low housing starts. Councilor Clingan confirmed that the city would not be obligated to use the tool; it merely enables negotiations. Councilor McLaughlin expressed strong support, noting abandoned businesses in East Somerville and advocating for neighborhood revitalization while maintaining the 20% inclusionary requirement. The committee voted 5-0 to recommend approval to the full City Council.
2. Zoning Ordinance Amendment – Homeless Shelters (ID #26-0835) Councilor Davis introduced the item to clarify zoning for homeless shelters citywide. Land Use Analyst Samantha Carr presented research, including maps and peer city comparisons. Key statistics: 74% of all zoned parcels in Somerville are Neighborhood Residence (NR), and 60% of dwelling units are in NR districts. The original proposal would allow homeless shelters by right in NR, Urban Residence, and other districts with a neighborhood meeting. Councilor Davis proposed an amendment to require a special permit (SP) in NR zones instead of by right (P), after discussion about the need for a public process, referencing the Ward 3 warming center's challenges. The committee voted 5-0 to adopt the amendment, changing Table 3.1.16 and Table 9.1.1 accordingly. The committee then voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the ordinance as amended to the full City Council. The item must receive final action by September 16, 2026, per state timeline requirements.
Key Outcomes
- UCH-TIF Zone: Recommended to be approved by the full City Council (5-0). This allows creation of the district and future negotiations for TIF agreements.
- Homeless Shelter Zoning: Recommended to be approved as amended (5-0). Homeless shelters will be allowed by special permit in Neighborhood Residence zones and by right (with neighborhood meeting) in Urban Residence and commercial zones (as originally proposed). Future amendments may address specific shelter types like family stabilization or youth shelters.
- Consent Calendar: Minutes approved unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to this committee meeting of land use. I call this meeting to order. I am Councillor Ben Yuan Campen. Um let me bring up the warning to read at the beginning. Pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting of the City Council's web 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. Yes, I can. Counselor Davis. Here. Counselor Klingon. Counselor Klingon, I do see that you are here. Yeah, sorry. Uh here, present. No worries. Got it. Thank you. Counselor Said. Here. Councilor McLaughlin. Yeah. Chair Young Campen. Here. All right. With that, all members are present. So we do have quorum. Excellent. So we have agenda items one and two are approval of the minutes from May 21st and June 18th. Seeing no discussion on those, let's lay those on the table for approval at the end of the meeting. So, colleagues, I was informed today that there are going to be six amendments coming at our next city council meeting from the administration. So we have a lot of work coming up. And one of our goals is to uh clear the path and take care of business. So that is why we're going to try to have as regular a cadence of meeting as we can all fall. And tonight we have two items on our agenda that we have had public hearings on that we've had a little bit of back and forth on. And I think we're in a good place to deliberate tonight and see if the committee's ready for a vote on one or both of these. So let's read agenda item number three, please, Clerk, and we'll take that up first. Item number three, ID number 26-0746 referred for recommendation, requesting approval of the urban center housing tax increment financing zone. So I see a number of members of economic development are here. Who would like to kick us off? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, my name is Katie Wees. I'm an economic development planner with the economic development team. I'm happy to share more details. I can give a reminder back in um July, I believe, right before the committee and the council took a break for the summer. I gave a presentation about the urban center housing tax increment financing zone that we are proposing for the East Somerville and Assembly Square neighborhoods. Um I'm happy to refresh the committee's mind about the details of that. But tonight, what we are looking to do is um deliberate and move forward the zone itself, which encompasses parts of Assembly Square and parts of East Somerville. Umward, that would allow um projects to come to us, development projects to come to the city and request the use of an urban center housing tax increment financing deal. Uh, but that would be in a future time, it would require a public hearing and it would require deliberation from the finance committee. Tonight would only be to allow for this district to be created. So depending on what the chair prefers, I can um share more information or we can launch into discussion.
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