Davis Square neighborhood residents met with representatives of the Somerville Planning Department on Oct. 19 to brainstorm actions that will be explored and addressed in a forthcoming Davis Square Neighborhood Plan.
The meeting, held at the Community Baptist Church in the Davis Square area, was one of a series of gatherings being held by the Planning Division in order to determine what neighborhood residents are most concerned about in regard to further development in the square, according to Daniel Bartman, a senior planner for the city of Somerville.
At the meeting, residents were divided into several groups, each of which spent the two-hour meeting crafting an idea for the Neighborhood Plan.
One group suggested the creation of a city-owned, multi-use community center, while another proposed encouraging more commercial growth in the neighborhood by advertising the square’s potential and identifying areas of potential development.
Multiple groups suggested improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in Davis Square, including adjusting pedestrian crosswalks and signal timing and connecting the bike path through the square.
Residents also supplied possible action steps that the city could take in order to achieve their ideas.
Lance Davis, Alderman of Somerville’s Ward 6, which includes Davis Square, believed that the City Planning Department was improving in its involvement of community members in the planning process.
“This process, particularly in the last few meetings, has done a good job of capturing community input, really putting the process in the hands of the people,” Davis said.
To Bartman, the significant emphasis on the pedestrian experience fits in with Davis Square’s character and what residents expect from the neighborhood.
“There are a lot of places that are fighting to make a place pedestrian-friendly to begin with and everybody here already understands that that’s an asset and that it should be considered gospel,” Bartman said. “We’re a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood. We got the hint and realized that we were going to focus this whole plan on people first.”
Lauren Drago, economic development assistant for the city, who lives near Davis Square and was present at the meeting, mentioned that she was helping to research for and write the plan’s section on economic development.
“It’s not a huge portion of the plan, but we have a lot of [people’s] feelings about forming businesses and maintaining the independent businesses in the square,” Drago said. “It’s our job to take that feedback that other people are saying and thinking about how that will work into the future of Davis Square.”
The Davis Square Neighborhood planning process began in 2013 after a proposal to build a hotel in the parking lot that features Davis Square’s weekly farmers market received extensive pushback, Davis said.
The project stalled after several meetings due to Somerville’s planning staff being redirected to a renovation project in Union Square, according Bartman. In 2015, the Davis Square project was revived.
According to Bartman, the Davis Square Plan, along with a swath of other neighborhood plans in Somerville, had been mandated by SomerVision, a comprehensive plan for the city’s development between 2010 and 2030 that was endorsed by the Somerville Board of Aldermen in 2012 and Somerville Planning Board in 2012.
“Achieving a citywide goal has to be done on the ground somewhere,” Bartman said. “Thinking about how a neighborhood can contribute towards a citywide goal is the first step toward rationally achieving that goal instead of shooting at the dark attempting to achieve something.”
Davis said that the revitalization of Davis Square has been necessary for a long time.
“The development of this plan is long overdue,” Davis said. “We still have the same beautiful brick sidewalks that are popping up and tripping people and [have] really very little city investment in Davis Square, which produces a significant amount of commercial tax revenue to the city.”
Bartman felt that the delay was necessary due to the greater urgency of Union Square’s development needs.
“They were looking at transformational redevelopment [at Union Square] and that’s what SomerVision calls for over there,” Bartman said. “This neighborhood [Davis Square] is going to have smaller scale, more surgical change happening, so it was about to accept sitting back and waiting for Union Square to be finished.”
“Because the process had been so long [since its origin in 2013], there were some things that people didn’t remember us talking about in 2013 or know that we had addressed in the plan pages," he said. "We realized we need to re-explore a lot of those things.”
The Neighborhood Plan is currently in an early draft form, and will be released as a public review draft for the Davis Square community to critique following two more public meetings in November, according to the slideshow featured in the meeting.
The meeting, held at the Community Baptist Church in the Davis Square area, was one of a series of gatherings being held by the Planning Division in order to determine what neighborhood residents are most concerned about in regard to further development in the square, according to Daniel Bartman, a senior planner for the city of Somerville.
At the meeting, residents were divided into several groups, each of which spent the two-hour meeting crafting an idea for the Neighborhood Plan.
One group suggested the creation of a city-owned, multi-use community center, while another proposed encouraging more commercial growth in the neighborhood by advertising the square’s potential and identifying areas of potential development.
Multiple groups suggested improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in Davis Square, including adjusting pedestrian crosswalks and signal timing and connecting the bike path through the square.
Residents also supplied possible action steps that the city could take in order to achieve their ideas.
Lance Davis, Alderman of Somerville’s Ward 6, which includes Davis Square, believed that the City Planning Department was improving in its involvement of community members in the planning process.
“This process, particularly in the last few meetings, has done a good job of capturing community input, really putting the process in the hands of the people,” Davis said.
To Bartman, the significant emphasis on the pedestrian experience fits in with Davis Square’s character and what residents expect from the neighborhood.
“There are a lot of places that are fighting to make a place pedestrian-friendly to begin with and everybody here already understands that that’s an asset and that it should be considered gospel,” Bartman said. “We’re a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood. We got the hint and realized that we were going to focus this whole plan on people first.”
Lauren Drago, economic development assistant for the city, who lives near Davis Square and was present at the meeting, mentioned that she was helping to research for and write the plan’s section on economic development.
“It’s not a huge portion of the plan, but we have a lot of [people’s] feelings about forming businesses and maintaining the independent businesses in the square,” Drago said. “It’s our job to take that feedback that other people are saying and thinking about how that will work into the future of Davis Square.”
The Davis Square Neighborhood planning process began in 2013 after a proposal to build a hotel in the parking lot that features Davis Square’s weekly farmers market received extensive pushback, Davis said.
The project stalled after several meetings due to Somerville’s planning staff being redirected to a renovation project in Union Square, according Bartman. In 2015, the Davis Square project was revived.
According to Bartman, the Davis Square Plan, along with a swath of other neighborhood plans in Somerville, had been mandated by SomerVision, a comprehensive plan for the city’s development between 2010 and 2030 that was endorsed by the Somerville Board of Aldermen in 2012 and Somerville Planning Board in 2012.
“Achieving a citywide goal has to be done on the ground somewhere,” Bartman said. “Thinking about how a neighborhood can contribute towards a citywide goal is the first step toward rationally achieving that goal instead of shooting at the dark attempting to achieve something.”
Davis said that the revitalization of Davis Square has been necessary for a long time.
“The development of this plan is long overdue,” Davis said. “We still have the same beautiful brick sidewalks that are popping up and tripping people and [have] really very little city investment in Davis Square, which produces a significant amount of commercial tax revenue to the city.”
Bartman felt that the delay was necessary due to the greater urgency of Union Square’s development needs.
“They were looking at transformational redevelopment [at Union Square] and that’s what SomerVision calls for over there,” Bartman said. “This neighborhood [Davis Square] is going to have smaller scale, more surgical change happening, so it was about to accept sitting back and waiting for Union Square to be finished.”
Bartman said the meeting helped the planning department understand how community members’ viewed had stayed consistent and differed since the plan was introduced in 2013.
“Because the process had been so long [since its origin in 2013], there were some things that people didn’t remember us talking about in 2013 or know that we had addressed in the plan pages," he said. "We realized we need to re-explore a lot of those things.”
The Neighborhood Plan is currently in an early draft form, and will be released as a public review draft for the Davis Square community to critique following two more public meetings in November, according to the slideshow featured in the meeting.
