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Letter in Support of Clarendon Hill Redevelopment
Letter in Support of Clarendon Hill Redevelopment
Somerville YIMBY
We sent a letter to the Board of Aldermen, as well as to the editors of the Somerville Journal and the Somerville Times, supporting the Clarendon Hill Redevelopment.
,
After some of our members attending a number of meetings on this project (there have been eight so far, with a ninth this evening), we came to feel that this project needed more support, as it is in danger of stalling, and losing its state funding.
We recognize that this project is not perfect, and that significant questions remain, yet those questions will not be answered at this time. We welcome further community input during the ZBA process.
If you can make it, there is another meeting tonight: 6 pm at the West Somerville Neighborhood School cafeteria (177 Powder House Blvd). Please show up and voice your support!
Please see below for the full text of our letter.
Somerville YIMBY is writing to express our support for the Clarendon Hill Redevelopment Project. We believe that there is an urgent need for the project to move forward in the development process to ensure that currently committed state funding is not lost.
The Clarendon Hill Redevelopment Project will be a major benefit to the City of Somerville. Somerville and the Greater Boston Area are in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. This project will help ease this crisis by expanding the stock of both affordable and market-rate housing.
Further, it is clear that the existing Clarendon Hill development is in urgent need of renovation. The proposed redevelopment will be subsidized by the market-rate developer and State and Federal funding sources, easing the burden of this inevitable expense on the City. The plans provide for all of the 216 families residing there to be relocated during construction, and ensures they can all return once it is complete.
Time is of the essence. This project has already undergone significant public discussion (eight meetings and counting), and been adjusted to respond to the community’s concerns. Further delay will endanger State funding for the project, putting the project in jeopardy. There are, without a doubt, questions that the community still needs answered.
However, further details of the project will not be known until a formal ZBA proposal has been completed. There will still be time for community members to have their questions answered and their concerns heard, but it is time for the project to progress to the next phase.
We want to thank the Mayor and Alderman Katjana Ballantyne for their leadership on this project.
We hope the community will reach out to their city representatives to express support for the project.
Sincerely,
Somerville YIMBY