City of Somerville and LOCUS, Realizing Public Benefit from Union Square Redevelopment

1. Why do we need a Union Square Public Benefits Process?

Union Square is on the brink of transformation. In 2012, the Union Square Revitalization Plan (“Revitalization Plan”) was approved at both the city‐ and state‐level. The Revitalization Plan identifies 7 disposition parcels, collectively known as the “D‐Blocks”, slated for redevelopment in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 121B or other conventional market transactions. In accordance with the plan, the City, through the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA), assembled land on the “D‐2 Block” in Union Square to allow for the construction of a new Union Square MBTA Station. In 2013, the City issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking a Master Development partner for Union Square. The Master Developer has the opportunity redevelop all seven D‐Blocks as outlined in the Redevelopment Plan. In 2014, after a due diligence process that included the participation of a 20‐member Civic Advisory Committee (CAC), the SRA selected Union Square Station Associates (US2) as its Master Development partner.
Also in 2012, the City completed its city‐wide comprehensive master plan. The plan document, known as “SomerVision,” identified several bold but achievable targets for the future of the city, including:

• 30,000 New Jobs as part of a responsible plan to create opportunity for all Somerville workers and entrepreneurs;
• 125 New Acres of Publicly‐Accessible Open Space as part of our realistic plan to provide high‐ quality and well‐programmed community spaces;
• 6,000 New Housing Units ‐ 1,200 Permanently Affordable as part of a sensitive plan to attract and retain Somerville’s best asset: its people; and
• 50% of New Trips via Transit, Bike, or Walking as part of an equitable plan for access and circulation to and through the City.

SomerVision also calls for 85% of new development to occur in “Transformative Areas,” as part of a predictable land use plan that protects neighborhood character.

After the adoption of SomerVision, the City launched a neighborhood planning process in Union Square (“Somerville by Design”). The neighborhood plan creates a vision not just for the seven D‐ Blocks, but for all of Union Square and Boynton Yards—collectively, approximately 429‐acres. Developed through extensive community input, the neighborhood plan will lay the framework for achieving the larger Union Square/Boynton Yards area’s role in meeting its share of the job, open space, housing and transportation goals as outlined in SomerVision. A draft of the neighborhood plan is expected to be released by the end of October with a public comment period to follow. The neighborhood plan will state development objectives important to the community for each D‐Block, including a realistic mix of uses that aligns with the broader neighborhood plan. Any development in the neighborhood plan area is expected to uphold the objectives and contribute to Union Square/Boynton Yard’s share of the program goals of SomerVision.

Based upon figures in the Revitalization Plan and neighborhood planning process to date, it is expected that Union Square and Boynton Yards can collectively support more than 3 million square feet of new development. Development is likely to occur over many years, perhaps more than a decade, as market conditions dictate.

Development of this scale offers the opportunity to consider the type of public benefits and amenities that the community would like to see included in the redevelopment of these areas. The Union Square Public Benefits Process will help community stakeholders identify, prioritize, and create strategies for realizing these benefits. It is likely that the process will lead to a range of strategies that may include:

• The framework for a community‐shaped Public Benefits Agreement that the SRA, as the legally designated entity and property owner, signs with US2 for the D‐Blocks, and a framework for future Public Benefits Agreements that may stem from other potential large‐ scale projects by private sector developers;
• The potential creation of a place‐based district management organization that implements the strategies identified by Strategy Leaders; and
• A model for identifying and prioritizing the community’s public benefit goals in other transformative districts, such as Inner Belt and Boynton Yards.

The process will help the community look at the range of solutions available, including the phasing and fiscal impacts of such strategies. Doing so will help ensure that all residents in Union Square – and throughout Somerville – benefit from new development; and it will create expectations for any and all developers interested in doing business here in Somerville.

The redevelopment of Union Square and Boynton Yards will result in significant benefits to the community, including jobs, increased revenue to the state and city, and a quality built environment. At the same time, projects of the scale envisioned can also cause periods of disruption, inconvenience, and economic challenges to businesses and residences both during and after the major project activities are complete. A successful public benefits process can help mitigate the stressful impacts of the major development projects and achieve the equitable development goals for the community as outlined in SomerVision. The City of Somerville has asked LOCUS to facilitate these efforts.

Interested in participating in the Union Square Public Benefits Process? Please let us know by filling out the Union Square Public Benefits Process Interest Form.

2. What is LOCUS?
LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors is a program of Smart Growth America (SGA); its members have a long history of implementing a progressive development agenda. Many LOCUS members were pioneers of the major federal affordable housing programs of the past generation, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credits and HOPE VI. LOCUS is the national coalition of real estate developers and investors who advocate for sustainable, equitable, walkable development in America’s metropolitan areas. LOCUS is one of the few private sector real estate organizations to actively integrate social equity with development interests. Through LOCUS’ work on the WalkUP Wake‐Up Call Reports, including the release of the Metro Boston Report in early 2015, LOCUS has demonstrated the economic and social equity benefits of creating walkable urban areas that provide a strong diversity of jobs, housing and recreational opportunities.

3. Why has the City selected LOCUS to facilitate these efforts?
City of Somerville representatives approached LOCUS to facilitate these efforts after reading the WalkUP Wake‐Up Call: Boston report, which shows that the Boston region is poised to lead the nation in the expansion and creation of new walkable places. This approach to development is exactly the type of development we’ve been planning for in Union Square. But as the report also finds, walkable urban places (“WalkUPs”) are becoming so highly desirable that without equitable development strategies in place, housing and commercial cost will increase, which would reduce the accessibility and affordability for current residents and businesses. Benefits such as new publically accessible open space may also be left on the table if thoughtful strategies are not in place as development takes root.

In 2014, LOCUS launched the national Attainable Housing and Social Equity Initiative (AHSEI) to ensure that walkable communities are affordable and accessible to the full range of a community’s residents and local businesses. The AHSEI aims to:

a. Catalyze private sector advocacy for state, local and federal policies that promote affordable, equitable, walkable neighborhoods;
b. Conduct market‐based research and policy analysis to inform implementation of smart growth and equitable development;
c. Develop new private sector‐led, place‐based approaches to address social equity in walkable urban places; and
d. Increase the number of smart growth projects that are ready for private investment.

The City of Somerville has found that AHSEI touches upon many issues that are relevant to Union Square. The rising popularity (and therefore, prices) of walkable neighborhoods is making it more difficult for lower‐income households to gain access to these high‐amenity, low‐transportation‐cost locations. Sometimes, long‐time residents and businesses are displaced entirely. The market cannot solve these issues by itself. Left unaddressed, these neighborhoods will soon lack diversity and fail to provide the many benefits they were intended to achieve (a variety of housing types, jobs for people of all skill‐sets, new open space and a range of transportation alternatives). Both public and private interventions are needed to mitigate these risks. We are fortunate that LOCUS has agreed to select Union Square as the pilot project for the AHSEI and will facilitate conversations this fall with community members, the city and US2 about how the benefits derived from Union Square’s continued transformation can ensure it continues to be a vibrant and desirable neighborhood for everyone.

4. What else do I need to know about AHSEI?
The Union Square AHSEI Pilot will serve as a model for developing sustainable strategies that balance the market demand for great walkable urban places with the need for jobs, housing, open space and transportation that are attainable and accessible to all Somervillians. While Union Square is the first pilot, LOCUS plans to work with a number of cities throughout the U.S. to develop individualized approaches for each community. These approaches will include both public and private sector strategies for ensuring social equity as investment continues to pour in to the nation’s walkable urban places. In each of its AHSEI pilot cities, LOCUS will help address the need for these places to provide affordable housing, job opportunities and workforce training, local business support, and public spaces for the community to enjoy. In Union Square specifically, there will also be a focus on creating new open and green space, providing safe and accessible transportation alternatives and anti‐displacement strategies—among other needs as identified by the CAC and community at large.

5. What is the expected outcome for the Union Square Public Benefits Process?
The City of Somerville expects the LOCUS Public Benefits Process will establish a formal method for developing and implementing effective public benefit programs as large‐scale commercial development occurs around Somerville’s incoming transit nodes—starting with Union Square.
The Union Square process is designed to be shaped and informed by local conditions, local stakeholder participation, and the planning/visioning work completed through the neighborhood planning process prior to the start of the public benefits process. Throughout the public benefits process, LOCUS will work with community stakeholders to articulate the public benefit priorities for the Union Square district as a whole—which extends well beyond the seven “D‐Blocks”.

6. What role will LOCUS’ work play with the other Union Square Neighborhood Planning and Master Developer Efforts?
The Union Square public benefits process is designed to build upon the work of the community‐based Union Square Civic Advisory Committee (CAC), neighborhood planning efforts, and other research, studies and visioning efforts that have occurred to date. The Union Square Urban Revitalization Plan (approved in October 2012), Request for Qualifications for a Union Square Master Developer (released in December 2013), the Master Developer Designation Agreement (as amended September 2015), and the Somerville by Design Union Square Neighborhood Plan draft (to be released in October 2015) will serve as the baseline upon which Strategy Leaders will work to develop an actionable public benefits implementation plan during the LOCUS strategy sessions with input from the full community. This will allow the City of Somerville to articulate a clear set of public benefit priorities and help the community to establish organizational responsibility for the long‐term implementation of those public benefit priorities, ensuring they are met and updated as needed.

7. When will this Public Benefits Process begin?
In many ways, it has already begun. The Union Square Civic Advisory Committee (CAC) has led a number of community meetings in recent months to discuss the important topics of housing, job creation, open space, and transportation/infrastructure. A variety of community and neighborhood groups have begun to formulate their ideas around community benefits. City of Somerville staff has also conducted extensive research about public benefits. Collectively, the community has prepared itself with a wealth of knowledge heading into the formal pilot with LOCUS.

Related to this effort, LOCUS visited Somerville on July 28, 2015 at the invitation of Mayor Curtatone. Chris Leinberger (President of LOCUS), Christopher Coes (Director of LOCUS) and Victoria Maguire (Massachusetts State Director for LOCUS) all attended a Union Square CAC meeting that evening, in which Chris Leinberger – author of the WalkUp Wake‐Up Call Reports – gave an overview of the AHSEI and LOCUS’ plans to work with the Somerville community on the Union Square public benefits process.

Next steps include:

• LOCUS STRATEGY SESSION, DAY 1: Wednesday, November 18, 2015, from 1 to 9 p.m. at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA.
• COMMUNITY MEETING: December 2, 2015, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Argenziano School, located at 290 Washington Street, Somerville, MA
• SOMERVIVA MULTI‐LINGUAL COMMUNITY MEETING: December 5, 2015, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Argenziano School (address above). This meeting will be hosted in conjunction with SomerViva, who will host discussions in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, and English.
• LOCUS STRATEGY SESSION, DAY 2: Wednesday, January 13, 2016, from 1 to 9 p.m. at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA.

In addition, it is expected that the CAC and Strategy Leaders (see below) will hold a series of stakeholder conversations between the LOCUS strategy sessions in order to solicit additional feedback and information from community members citywide.

8. Who is invited to participate in the two LOCUS strategy sessions?
The short answer: everyone. The more robust the community participation, the better outcome we
will achieve. Sign up here to receive periodic updates and information about the process.

Now for the longer answer: Based upon LOCUS’ experience elsewhere, the strategy sessions are most effective when LOCUS engages a group of “Strategy Leaders,” approximately 30 persons, who are representative of the community and who can make decisions on behalf of their stakeholder groups. Strategy Leaders will then be responsible for implementing the strategies developed during the process. These leaders must be able to commit their organization to the strategy and will be expected to take responsibility for specific action items, which could include functional areas such as planning, fundraising, organizing, advocating at the federal / state / local levels, research, etc., depending on the strategies developed by the Strategy Leaders. All meetings of the Strategy Leaders will be open to the public.

The Strategy Leaders will comprise CAC members and additional Leaders selected to ensure that all voices within the community are heard. Other Leaders may include additional members of local advocacy groups, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA), the Somerville Board of Aldermen, City Staff, local property and business owners and prospective developers, and others with special expertise or community insight relative to the process. LOCUS will advise the City as to who must be involved as a Strategy Leader to ensure success; the Mayor will take LOCUS’ recommendations under advisement when he appoints Strategy Leaders. All are encouraged and welcome to apply to be Strategy Leaders.

The City and LOCUS will make it their priority to ensure the group of Strategy Leaders accurately reflects the diverse group of stakeholders and interests in Union Square.

9. How can I be a Strategy Leader?
If you would like to recommend yourself, another individual, or a group to take part in the process as a Strategy Leader, please have them fill out the online form no later than October 27, 2015. The final list of Strategy Leaders will be announced by November 6, 2015, and each Strategy Leader selected will be notified individually by email or phone.

Strategy Leader Online Form:
Union Square Strategy Leader Interest Form

Please note: All Strategy Leaders must be able to participate for the full duration of both LOCUS sessions and, in order to ensure broad community representation and the needed mix of expertise, Strategy Leaders must represent a group or perspective that is not already represented by current CAC membership. Strategy Leaders will also be expected to hold one or more stakeholder conversations with the stakeholders he/she represents between the two LOCUS strategy sessions. One or more community meetings will be held by the City to collect feedback from individuals who are not affiliated with a group represented by a Strategy Leader and multilingual stakeholder conversations and outreach will be conducted as part of this process. All of these conversations will inform the work on the second of the two one‐day strategy sessions.

All Somerville residents and businesses (whether you are a Strategy Leader or not) are invited to attend the strategy sessions and participate in the stakeholder conversations.

10. What will the Union Square AHSEI Pilot entail?
Prior to the first session, LOCUS and City Staff will develop a Background Briefing that summarizes several years’ worth of research, planning, and visioning that has occurred relative to Union Square’s redevelopment. The Briefing Book will be made available to Strategy Leaders before the first strategy session in order to ensure all participants have the relevant information heading into the process. Well‐informed Strategy Leaders are required to develop a realistic and actionable strategy for Union Square.

STRATEGY SESSION DAY 1 (November 18, 2015)
Day 1 will be devoted to understanding the issues relative to Union Square as outlined in the Briefing Book. In addition, a set of “strategy cards” will be provided to each Strategy Leader that outline the elements they may choose to become part of the strategy for Union Square and inform a comprehensive public benefits program. Additional strategy cards may be added if need be.

Interim between meetings
During the weeks between meetings, Strategy Leaders will develop their individual set of strategy cards, with the assistance and input of their relevant stakeholder interests and broader community. Experience shows that 12‐20 cards will be selected, outlining the individual’s recommended strategy on behalf of their stakeholder interests.

STRATEGY SESSION DAY 2 (January 13, 2016)
Day 2 will reconvene Strategy Leaders for a final day to review each Strategy Leaders’ draft strategy. A fiscal impact consultant will be present at the meeting to discuss financial projections related to project costs and return on investment, public revenues and the net tax benefits of development opportunities in Union Square, and other potential sources of revenue including developer contributions that could be dedicated to underwriting the cost of the public benefits strategy. The potential fiscal impact of certain changes to the strategy may be evaluated in real‐time at the meeting.

By the end of Day 2, Strategy Leaders will have collectively developed a consensus strategy for Union Square. Strategy Leaders will then develop an action plan for each strategy item. Some strategies may be given priority ahead of others, but it is expected that a range of strategies will be implemented in the short‐ and longer‐term over at least the next five years. Strategy Leaders will volunteer for specific action item responsibility and will be responsible for reporting back to the committee regularly.

The strategy and action plan crafted by the Strategy Leaders will be summarized by LOCUS within approximately one week for circulation to participants for comment and finalization.

Follow Up
Every 2‐3 months Strategy Leaders will reconvene in a public meeting to report on their individual progress toward various action items, to hear community feedback and to discuss necessary next steps / action items moving forward.

***All Somerville residents and businesses (whether a Strategy Leader or not) are invited to attend both strategy sessions and participate in the stakeholder conversations.***

11. How is the Union Square AHSEI Pilot Funded?
The Union Square AHSEI Pilot is funded through a grant by the Barr Foundation. Local foundations and LOCUS members are funding this effort in other metropolitan areas.

12. How do I stay involved in the Union Square Public Benefits Process?
You can stay updated about the process by visiting the Union Square Public Benefits Process Page on the CAC website or by referring to LOCUS’s blog, Twitter feed, and website. The City, LOCUS, and the Union Square CAC are all working together to ensure information is made available through these channels, as well.

Interested in participating in the Union Square Public Benefits Process? Please let us know by filling out the Union Square Public Benefits Process Interest Form.

For more information, please contact:

Kira Hibbert
LOCUS Program Associate
khibbert [at] locusdevelopers [dot] org

Amanda Maher
Senior Economic Development Specialist
City of Somerville
amaher [at] somervillema [dot] gov
617-625-6600 ex 2528