Not in My Yard 8: Neighbors against state plan to put train shed next door
By Auditi Guha
Fri Sep 05, 2008, 10:49 AM EDT
Somerville -
Brickbottom residents and local activists are strongly opposing a state plan to build a large Green Line maintenance facility smack against their home.
?I am very much opposed to it,? said Brickbottom artist and resident Heather Van Aelst. ?The specific location will wall off Brickbottom and the Inner Belt area even more than they are now. It will do a lot of harm to the area and the economic development of the city.?
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation recently proposed an 11-acre maintenance facility and storage for 80 train cars in Inner Belt next to the Brickbottom Artists Building, raising local hackles.
The location they are recommending is at the MBTA?s Yard 8 and adjacent land permitted for commercial development where they will do inspections; perform maintenance and repair cars; and maintain and repair track, power and signal systems.
?I live only yards from the proposed structure. I am on the ground floor at level with Yard 8 that literally backs up into us? in Brickbottom, said artist Polly Pook, who has been living at Brickbottom for the past 11 years. ?I have been very much in favor of the Green Line extension, but putting this facility here shows no respect for the residents.?
The Brickbottom Artists Studios are home to 200 full-time residents who strongly oppose the proposal as a development that was not part of the original ?Beyond Lechmere? plan for the Green Line expansion, but was added later in the planning process. They believe that such a large facility would subject residents to constant noise, light and vibration. The facility and storage yard would block future pedestrian and road connections between the Brickbottom and Inner Belt districts and from McGrath Highway and Washington Street, which would discourage opportunities for much-needed economic development. Taking this highly developable land for tax-free use will deprive the city and its residents of millions of dollars of potential tax income, according to the group.
?This is a very serious situation,? said Cynthia Maurice, a founding member of Brickbottom. ?Having a maintenance facility right next to our buildings would be disastrous to our well-being, let alone real estate devaluation and Somerville tax revenues. The area happens to be a beautiful, quiet open space, which would be ruined.?
The proposed project has also been evaluated as a pollutant with toxic waste run-off that would affect 11-plus acres sitting above the Old Miller River and could have drainage consequences for the Charles River, Maurice wrote in a recent letter to EOT officials.
With Somerville already the most densely populated city in New England and burdened by substantial untaxed public infrastructure, including seven commuter rail lines and the 30-acre Boston Engine Terminal, this additional burden is considered a big deal.
Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership members also oppose the proposal and suggest shifting maintenance of commuter rail trains to where they operate, especially with an expansion to south of Boston. This would open space in existing Maintenance Facility for Green Line trains, and the planned greater capacity building would not be needed.
STEP President Ellin Reisner said they are waiting for an analysis from the EOT that explains why the only solution is to place the facility at Yard 8. We don?t know what criteria they are using, but there are about 23 unused acres in Yard 7 (Somerville) and also about 30 acres in the existing Boston Engine Terminal complex that they could use instead, she said.
?Somerville is not opposed to having a maintenance facility for the Green Line, but its size and impact on our community should mirror the extension?s proportion to the full Green Line. The agreement to mitigate the Central Artery and Tunnel project did not require that Somerville absorb any more regional infrastructure,? Reisner wrote in a letter last month.
The Innerbelt Business Association and Somerville Chamber of Commerce are also opposing the proposed location.
Stephen Mackey, president/CEO, Somerville Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that Somerville already provides all the maintenance needed for North Station and support for South Station without getting any advantages of the commuter rail service.
?The city already hosts a 43-acre commuter rail facility. There is ample space there to host a Green Line facility,? he said. ?This area is a major commercially viable parcel in Somerville. There?s tremendous opportunity to bring tons of commercial development and millions of housing to tie (BrickBottom and Inner Belt) areas together. This facility would further increase the gulf between them.?
EOT officials have offered no answers yet to the letters and petitions sent, but the Green Line Extension Project will host a Project Advisory Group meeting next week, as part of the project?s ongoing public participation process. It will be held at the parish hall of St. Clements High School, 579 Boston Ave., Medford, on Thursday, Sept. 25, from 6:30- 8:30 p.m.
?EOT has performed a thorough review of at least a dozen potential locations up and down the extension corridor to determine those sites that can accommodate a facility with the required size and configuration. Of all of the locations reviewed, the Yard 8 site meets all of the operational needs,? said Wendy Stern, Undersecretary of Transportation. ?We understand local concerns and are committed to working with both the city and the neighborhood to maximize the compatibility of the facility with local uses both current and future.?
She also said that without building this facility, the green Line extension would not be possible. But no new updates are available yet, according to EOT spokesman Klark Jessen.
The city is working with EOT and other officials to determine the best possible location for the maintenance facility, which involves a study of the entire area, and consideration of the best use of the space for residents, businesses and development partners, said Somerville?s Public Information Officer Jaclyn Rossetti on Tuesday. No final decision will be made until all studies have been completed.
?Mayor Curtatone has made it very clear that the EOT must justify any proposed location and design with data that shows it is the only possible location for such a facility, and that other proposed sites are undesirable,? she said.
In addition to EOT?s monthly Citizen Advisory Group meetings, state officials will be presenting the revised recommendations in upcoming meetings. The first meeting is Thursday, Sept. 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Somerville High School, 81 Highland Avenue. It will include an overview of the project, featuring station recommendations and preliminary environmental analysis.
The second meeting is Thursday, Oct. 2, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Brooks School, Medford. The third is on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at the Kennedy-Longfellow School, Cambridge.
Meanwhile, concerned residents are anxiously awaiting answers.
?I hope we can find a location for the facility that will not harm our neighborhood or Somerville,? said Van Aelst, who is also a member of Board of Trustees at Brickbottom and on the city?s extended Green Line Advisory group.
?What is needed is imaginative and resourceful thinking about how the site can beneficially serve regional transportation needs without overburdening Somerville and preventing the much-needed economic benefits that development of Inner Belt can provide,? Reisner said.
