09062017 Meeting Notes

[ian_winterhill]

Below are the notes from our September meeting. Please note that our next meeting will be outside, in the parking lot at 24 Sewall St, on October 4 at 7pm. In case of rain, we’ll just meet at the Brewery.

ABJ Property

• Sold to a developer for $2.7M
• No development plans have been proposed yet, but it is assumed , that it will be a 4 story building (1st floor retail, 3 floor of apartments) as it is proposed in the Gilman Square Plan (see: https://www.somervillebydesign.com/planning/station-areas/gilman-square/)
• The site has a sewer main bisecting it so there is possibility for a land swap with the city and a reconfiguration of the intersection.
• Neighbors are concerned about building height, the possible tenants for the commercial space and green space, among others
• Justin sent a letter requesting to talk with the developer. It was agreed that the WHNA also send a letter and ask to meet with the developer

Star Market Site

• At a meeting about the Art Farm, the Mayor said they are reviewing three possible sites for a new Police Station and the Star Market site is one of those three.
• Stephen hosted a neighborhood gathering in one of the lower Star Market parking lots on Sewall St (the one closer to Temple St.). He’s been working to retake the space as active, outdoor, community space. The Mayor showed up at the event and said that it is possible the City could take just that lot by eminent domain and turn it into a park. Stephen will keep us updated. He’s planning a September movie night in the space. TBC

Climate Action Plan

• Matt, Mary and Ian are all participating in different working groups for the City’s Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Plan. More info here: http://www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville

Zoning Overhaul

• A few folks went to the Zoning Overhaul Open Houses. The Mayor and his administration have put together a revised proposal for an overhaul of zoning for the whole city. This is a big deal and challenging to really engage with it as a resident. No one could report back exactly what it will mean for Winter Hill. There are no more open houses, but it is likely that the Alderman will now take it up in earnest. To find info about past and upcoming Board of Alderman meetings, go here: http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx and for info about the zoning overhaul as proposed by the Administration: https://www.somervillezoning.com (I think Article 14, “Administration” is worth trying to read).

Candidate Forum

• Ian has been in touch with folks from Union United and the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee about jointly hosting a candidate forum for the contested seats on the Board of Alderman (and possibly the Mayor).
• The proposed date is Tuesday, October 10 and the theme will be "neighborhood development and affordable housing." The questionnaire is nearly complete and will be sent to the candidates. The in person event will repeat and follow up on some of those questions. The filled out questionnaires (with responses from candidates) will also be made available.
• Let Ian know if you want to help with organizing the event.

Web Presence

• Mary has been administering our Dreamwidth page: https://whna.dreamwidth.org
• No way of knowing the traffic, but folks have visited it some. Seems like FB is still the dominant platform and people appreciate the reminders via the google group emails.
• So we are still in testing mode. Mary is going to create a “digest” of the dream width page and distribute that via google group.
• A couple other options were suggested: Next Door, and a learning platform (Jen will check on Harvard’s)

Next Meeting

• Vacant Lot Take Over, October 4 @ 7pm, 24 Sewall St. This is one of the back parking lots for the Star Market Site that Stephen has been transforming into community space. If we get rained out, we’ll meet at the Winter Hill Brewing Company
• We also decided to try a social type meet up every other month and the formal, business meeting the other months.
• Jeff also offered to host a future meeting at the Brewery if we scheduled it on a Monday night.

Comments

[mem_winterhill]

Thanks for the notes! It was great to see Matt's new produce place being born too.

The turnout was really good for this one as well. Must have been 15 or so, I think. Glad to see new folks there.

[(Anonymous)]

Glad to have been able to make a meeting. It was nice to meet folks although having come a bit late, I think I could have made a better effort - lol.

I also appreciate the recap notes.

I am still trying to work through this dreamwidth platform and am finding the user experience to be unintuitive. For example, when I clicked on "most recent" I'm sent to the oldest post and then scroll down to the newest. Somewhat on the flipside, when I click on "profile" for the WHNA, I get sent outside the forum rather than seeing a mission statement or list of key goals this group is aspiring for. We'll do some digging on some other potential platforms.

Regardless, thank you for doing this. I'm excited to learn more from you all.

Best,
Scott F
Maple Avenue