Land Use committee recommends Urban Center Housing TIF zone for Assembly Square and East Somerville

The Somerville City Land Use Committee voted unanimously to recommend creating an Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district that would cover parts of Assembly Square and East Somerville. The district, if approved by the state and later by the council, would allow future development projects to request a TIF agreement; it would not automatically commit the city to any particular deal.

“Housing starts are really, really, really down,” Chair Ben Ewen Kampen said during discussion of the proposal, arguing the TIF tool could help unlock projects without eliminating the city's 20% inclusionary affordable-housing requirement. Economic development planner Katie Wiese told the committee the zone would “provide the opportunity to launch negotiations to see what kind of projects we can try to move forward,” but said any individual project would require a future public hearing and Finance Committee review.

Ward Councilor McLaughlin, whose ward includes much of the mapped area, said he had pushed to include East Somerville in addition to Assembly Square and stressed negotiable safeguards to avoid giving an unnecessary long-term windfall to developers if market conditions change. After discussion, McLaughlin moved to recommend approval; the clerk called the roll and recorded unanimous affirmative votes.

The action before the committee was to create the district; no specific project or TIF agreement was approved. City staff noted that any developer later seeking TIF support would still need state approval and further local hearings. Committee members said they expect the zoning and TIF process to return to the council and Finance Committee before any agreement is finalized.