Summary of June 19, 2019 Meeting
The City appreciates the big turnout (over 90 people!) to talk about the vacant Star Market site at our June 19th meeting. Tom Galligani and Lauren Drago from the Economic Development Division presented on three different paths forward for the 299 Broadway site, and then took questions and comments from the audience. You can download the slides here. At the end of the meeting, participants were invited to vote on their preferred strategy and post any additional comments they wanted to share.
Option 1: Wait and See - This strategy is essentially what we've been doing, waiting for a developer to figure out how to make a project work on the site. 4 votes.
Option 2: Urban Renewal - This strategy would involve writing an urban renewal plan, possibly including additional sites in the neighborhood, and receiving state approval. 21 votes.
Option 3: Demonstration Project - This strategy would involve writing a demonstration project plan, which would focus only on this block and not require state approval. 54 votes.
Five additional voters wanted either Option 2 or Option 3.
Next Steps
Additional Outreach: We will be talking to Portuguese-speaking neighbors through online channels and blockwalking to businesses to share what we've learned so far and gather additional input. In addition, we have already shared the results of this meeting with the Somerville Redevelopment Authority and will continue to talk with City Council, the SRA, and City staff to determine appropriate next steps.
Further Communication: We are working to build a website about this project to provide more information. As additional meetings and discussions are scheduled, we will promote them to this list.
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