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Regional planning agency outlines transit, housing and brownfields work for Lowell
Summary
Jennifer Raid and Kelly Linama of the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments told the Lowell City Council on June 30 that the agency is supporting transit planning, a downtown Gallagher Terminal study, a Woburn Street corridor review and a regional housing strategy; they also announced a new EPA brownfields assessment grant and technical-assistance programs.
Jennifer Raid, executive director of the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, and deputy director Kelly Linama presented the agency’s annual report to the Lowell City Council on June 30, outlining work that links regional transportation, housing and environmental programs to local projects.
The presentation said the agency — described in the packet as the regional planning agency serving nine communities including Lowell — helped fund an Urban Land Institute technical-assistance panel around Gallagher Terminal in downtown Lowell and is completing a final report in July. “We were able to organize and fund the urban land institute technical assistance panel around Gallagher terminal,” Linama said during the presentation. The agency also supports bus-stop inventories and is helping the Lowell Regional Transit Authority develop bus-stop design guidelines.
Why it matters: The council was told that three transportation projects tied to the region’s metropolitan planning organization — the Workbridge, the VFW Highway and the L connector — represent more than $330 million in federal transportation funding available to the city. Kelly Linama said the MPO-managed Transportation Improvement Program steers federal dollars to priorities across the region, including projects in Lowell.
The agency described a number of ongoing planning efforts: a Woburn Street corridor study (including a signal-warrant review), a greater Lowell bicycle and pedestrian plan just adopted by the MPO, and work on a regional housing services office that will support monitoring of subsidized housing inventories and other housing-policy tools. “We’ve been piloting a program to monitor existing affordable housing inventories and additional housing policy planning,” Linama said. The speakers said participation in the housing services office carries a cost and that some member communities have not yet signed on, though the agency expects wider uptake as the program begins next month.
The presentation also highlighted an EPA brownfields assessment grant the agency won and said the agency will work with the city on priority sites. Councilors asked about participation levels from partner communities and whether the city’s particular land use or development goals would benefit from the regional work. Councilors also praised the agency’s support for the city’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant work and a proposed TIP design-advancement program that could fund local micromobility and small infrastructure projects.
The council voted to accept the report and to place it on file. The presenters said they would return to answer council questions as projects move toward implementation.
