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Somerville board launches master-plan reexamination, asks stakeholders for input by Nov. 1
Summary
The Somerville Planning Board opened a multi-committee reexamination of the borough master plan on Aug. 27, asking historic, environmental and other groups to review sections and return comments by Nov. 1; council also asked the board to re-evaluate floor-area-ratio (FAR) rules.
The Somerville Planning Board on Aug. 27 began a structured reexamination of the borough master plan and related redevelopment plans, asking neighborhood committees and advisory groups to review specific elements and return track‑change feedback by Nov. 1.
Planner Mike Cole told the board the last full master plan update was completed in 2019 and explained the process: the plan will be broken into elements, circulated to committees (historic, environmental, parks and recreation and others), and the committees will redline sections and return comments to the planning board for consolidated review. "The master plan was last prepared in 2019," Cole said, framing the update as a 30,000-foot review that will guide future ordinances and redevelopment decisions.
Chairperson Warner said the board is reversing the typical order of review — giving stakeholders the first look at individual elements rather than drafting changes internally first — and urged groups to use tracked changes so the board can maintain a clear record of edits. The board requested completed reviews by Nov. 1 to keep the schedule and indicated staff would distribute sections electronically where possible.
Council asked the planning board specifically to revisit floor-area-ratio (FAR) rules as part of the reexamination. "The council believes that it might be time to address FAR and see if it is still warranted as part of our zoning," a board member reported, flagging an item likely to generate more discussion in coming months.
Board members said the update aims to balance a readable, strategic master plan with ordinance-level detail in later steps. The process will inform updates to Gaston Avenue, East Main and West Main redevelopment plans and other redevelopment areas, and will be coordinated with subsequent zoning and ordinance changes.
Next steps: staff will distribute plan sections to committees; stakeholders should return tracks and comments by Nov. 1 so the board can consolidate input and proceed to subsequent ordinance-level work.
