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Committee backs two Housing Choice planning grants for Gateway and McGovern‑Merrimack corridor
Summary
The committee voted to forward two planning grant authorizations — a Riviendo/Gateway planning grant and a McGovern Transportation Center/Merrimack Street Corridor planning grant — intended to produce design guidelines, test-fit development scenarios and public‑space concepts for key redevelopment areas.
The Budget & Finance Committee voted March 12 to send two Housing Choice planning grants to the full council with favorable recommendations. The grants — planning awards to the city through EOHLC’s Housing Choice planning program — will fund consultant-led planning and engagement work for: (1) the Riviendo/Gateway district (land around Canal/Prospect/Union and a large municipal parking lot between the hospital and the North Canal) and (2) a McGovern Transportation Center / Merrimack Street corridor planning district.
Why it matters: Both planning projects are designed to create design standards, test‑fit potential development, evaluate infrastructure needs and guide future zoning or overlay districts to enable transit‑oriented development while addressing floodplain, environmental and parking constraints.
Details from staff and consultants - Riviendo/Gateway planning grant (award cited during the meeting): the grant will fund a site analysis, urban design, economic development framework, engagement with property owners and arts/culture stakeholders, and study of possibilities including a solar/renewables option for the Gateway parking lot. - McGovern / Merrimack corridor planning grant (award amount corrected during the meeting to $132,000): the planning scope will create an overlay district, design guidelines, transit and riverfront connections, trails and improved multi‑modal linkages; the plan is being coordinated with MBTA‑communities compliance work.
Committee action - Motion: Untable and consider the two Housing Choice planning grants; send both items to the full council as committee reports with favorable recommendations. - Outcome: The committee voted to forward both planning grants to full council.
Clarifying details - Gateway project: scope includes analysis of environmental constraints, parking utilization (the Gateway parking lot was described as ~850 spaces in discussion), test fits for mixed-use redevelopment, arts and cultural district coordination and possible solar canopies on the municipal lot. - McGovern/Merrimack grant: planning work will produce an MBTA‑communities compliant overlay district intended to enable transit-oriented housing and commercial development; committee discussion stressed design standards and dual street/river frontages.
Ending: Both grants were forwarded to the full council; staff and consultants will continue public engagement and return with draft planning deliverables according to each grant’s schedule.
