June 18, 2026

Items Recommended for Full Council

No items were voted out of committee at this meeting. Both public hearing items were kept in committee, with public comment periods left open until Friday, July 10 at noon.

Union Square Zoning Map Amendment – Withdrawn

Union 2 Associates, LLC had requested a zoning map amendment to change 2 and 9 Union Square and 286, 290, and 298 Somerville Avenue from Commercial Core 5 (CC5) to Mid-Rise 6 (MR6). The item was withdrawn at the applicant's request, and no discussion took place.

Items Referred to Committee

Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing (UCH-TIF) Zone for Assembly Square and East Somerville – Public Hearing Held, Kept in Committee

The administration is asking the council to approve a UCH-TIF zone, plan, and form of agreement covering parts of Assembly Square and East Somerville (along East Broadway, McGrath Highway, and Assembly Row, spanning both sides of I-93).

Tom Galligani, Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, and economic development planner Katherine Wiese presented. Key points:

• UCH-TIF is a state program (administered by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities) that lets the city negotiate property tax exemptions with developers on the increased value of a redeveloped property—for up to twenty years—to incentivize housing production on vacant lots and long-vacant commercial spaces.

• The proposed zone is 85% commercial, with 59% of commercial leasable square footage vacant or untenanted (long-vacant spaces like the former Circuit City alone make up 15%, meeting the state minimum). Roughly 10% of the zone is vacant lots.

• Staff emphasized the city intends to use the tool to push affordability above state minimums—as it did at 299 Broadway in Winter Hill—including potentially producing units at deeper affordability levels than the city's inclusionary zoning tiers (50%, 80%, and 110% of area median income).

• Approving the zone does not commit the city to any specific deal. In response to Chair Ewen-Campen's questions, Wiese confirmed each future project would require individual negotiation, third-party review of the developer's financials, and separate approval by both the City Council and the state. She said she did not believe a public hearing would be required for each individual agreement, though council approval would be.

During the public hearing, Crystal Huff (Ward 5) spoke strongly in favor of adding more affordable housing tools. Ben Rogan, an East Somerville property owner of a vacant parcel for over ten years, urged approval, saying it would help kick-start a mixed-income housing development with ground-floor retail on East Broadway.

Homeless Shelter Zoning Amendment (Section 2.1.1) – Joint Public Hearing with Planning Board, Kept in Committee

Councilor Lance Davis is sponsoring an amendment to allow homeless shelters as a permitted principal use in more zoning districts. Davis explained the proposal grew out of confusion surrounding the Somerville Homeless Coalition's move between two churches on College Avenue, which was complicated by an inadvertent removal of the "homeless shelter" definition from the zoning ordinance during MBTA Communities Act changes (since fixed). That situation was ultimately resolved through the state's Dover Amendment protections for religious uses, but Davis said the process showed the zoning should be made "crystal clear" rather than relying on state law.

Key details from the presentation and staff:

• As drafted, shelters would be permitted in Neighborhood Residential, Urban Residential, Mid-Rise 3–6, High-Rise, and two special districts (Powder House School District and Assembly Square Mixed-Use), per Land Use Analyst Samantha Carr. Commercial districts are not included, though the Dover Amendment would still apply there for religious or educational uses.

• Shelters would not be allowed on the ground floor of pedestrian-designated streets.

• Davis flagged that inclusion of the Neighborhood Residential zone is intentionally up for debate—he included it at planning staff's suggestion so the council could decide either way without needing to re-advertise the amendment. He said there are reasonable arguments on both sides.

Committee Discussion

• Ground-floor access concern: Planning Board Vice Chair Amelia Aboff, drawing on personal experience developing shelter space, cautioned that ground-floor space is often critical for shelters—people transitioning from living outside can find stairs or elevators emotionally challenging. She asked the committee to consider this nuance regarding the pedestrian-street ground-floor restriction.

• Dover Amendment clarification: Aboff asked whether the amendment distinguishes shelters affiliated with religious/institutional uses from standalone shelters. Davis said his intent is to remove the need to rely on the Dover Amendment and allow standalone shelters—citing an anecdote of a friend who wanted to donate a house in a Neighborhood Residential district for a family shelter but couldn't under current zoning.

• Peer community comparison: Planning Board Chair Michael Capuano asked staff to research how surrounding communities zone and permit shelters in residential neighborhoods—whether Somerville would be standard, ahead, or behind—before the Planning Board's July meeting. Fiona DiMartino, Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning, agreed to prepare the analysis.

• Domestic violence shelters: Chair Ewen-Campen asked whether domestic violence shelters fall in the same use category. DiMartino said they are classified differently (partly due to privacy considerations) and staff will study whether related use categories should be looped into the amendment.

• Ward-by-ward maps: Councilor Sait requested maps showing where shelters would be allowed under two scenarios—with and without Neighborhood Residential included—broken down by ward. Staff agreed to provide them.

• Public comment: Crystal Huff (Ward 5) spoke strongly in favor, noting their own GIS analysis estimating roughly 38% of Somerville's zoning is Neighborhood Residential, and arguing that district must be included so shelters can be enabled citywide.

Note: A scheduling mix-up meant the UCH-TIF item was initially taken up while the Planning Board was present, though it was not on the board's agenda (it is not a zoning amendment). The chair tabled it, took up the shelter amendment jointly with the board, and returned to the UCH-TIF item afterward.

What's Next

• Both items remain in committee. Public comment on both the UCH-TIF proposal and the homeless shelter amendment is open until Friday, July 10 at noon (email publiccomments@somervillema.gov).

• Planning Board will take up the shelter amendment at its next meeting in July and will provide its report/recommendation to the council.

• Staff follow-ups requested: comparison of shelter zoning in peer communities (Capuano); clarification on domestic violence shelter use categories (Ewen-Campen); ward-by-ward maps of shelter-eligible areas with and without Neighborhood Residential (Sait).

• If the UCH-TIF zone is eventually approved by the council, it would still require final state review and approval; any specific tax agreement would return to the council on a per-project basis.