Somerville seeks to remove public safety building from 90 Washington Street plan, prioritize recouping eminent-domain costs

Somerville planning staff told the joint meeting of the City Council Land Use Committee and the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA) that they are proposing amendments to the 90 Washington Street Demonstration Project Plan to remove the public safety building component and to add an explicit objective to recoup funds the city and SRA paid following litigation over the 2019 eminent-domain taking.

Ben DeMerce, senior planner with the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development and staff liaison to the SRA, said the city and the SRA together paid about $39 million for the property, including roughly $30 million above the initial 2019 acquisition after a court judgment. "This change in the project direction has already been stated publicly by the administration in January," DeMerce said, adding that the planning documents now need to reflect that change so the public can weigh in on the formal amendments.

DeMerce outlined three principal amendments staff are recommending: formally remove the objective to build a combined fire, police and 9-1-1 headquarters on the site; add an objective that the SRA and city pursue recouping funds paid to satisfy the court judgment; and update the project process to reflect current engagement practice (replacing a Technical Advisory Committee with the existing 90 Washington Street Civic Advisory Committee). He also said staff want to change the plans requirement that a selected developer "break ground within three years of transfer" to a requirement that a developer "apply for permits within three years," to provide greater negotiation flexibility.

Staff said next steps would require formal approval of the amendments by both the City Council and the SRA, after which an RFP to solicit development proposals could be issued. DeMerce described priorities that could be included in an RFP: recouping a significant portion of the judgment payments, new housing at a range of sizes and incomes, ground-floor retail, civic nonprofit space, new green space and buffers for adjacent Cobble Hill Apartments, sustainability and compliance with the city stretch energy code, no surface parking, and inclusion goals to involve women- and minority-owned firms in finance and design.

Committee members and councilors asked procedural and neighborhood-focused questions about timing and site design. DeMerce said staff hope the council vote on the document updates could take place in November or December and that an RFP could be released early next year. The chair opened a public hearing; no in-person or remote speakers testified and the chair closed the hearing while keeping written public comment open at publiccomments@somervillema.gov.

No vote was taken at the joint meeting; staff emphasized these are amendments to guidance documents that would enable a future developer selection. The SRA completed its portion of the joint meeting and adjourned. The committee will consider the amendments again when the materials return for formal votes by both bodies.