Public Meeting on future of the Powder House School Tuesday

[elements.livejournal.com]

The Powder House School is the no longer in use school building on Broadway near Teele - it's the one with the basketball courts and with the Tufts Administration Building on its same lot (facing Holland). The future of the property is currently under discussion, with proposals running from selling the land to help the struggling city budget, to building a community center, to renovating & relocating city offices there, and all sorts of things in between.

If you live near the school, or care about what may happen in its future, this is an important chance to learn where the city is in its process (they've been working with a real estate consultant on possible sale scenarios), and discuss how to balance the city's needs for green space, play space, community space, and especially in this tough year, revenue.

Tuesday, June 30
5:30-7 pm
Tufts Administration Building (TAB)
167 Holland St.

(Yes, I'm aware the time of day for the meeting isn't great for most folks. I'll be attending, so if you have specific comments you'd like me to try to raise or questions to ask, please let me know. I also have more background information and am happy to share whatever I know with anyone who wants to know more.)

ETA 6/30: NOTES FROM MTG HERE.

Comments

[m00n.livejournal.com]

As a taxpayer in the city of Somerville (well, indirectly--I'm a renter), I'm just going to put out there that I would much rather have my taxes raised by whatever small amount than see the city start selling off perfectly good property into a down market.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

When was the school closed? What happened?

[masswich.livejournal.com]

The timing of the meeting (both time of day and how little before it we are hearing about it) and the lack of much notice both do not seem consistent with the City's interest in public participation.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

It closed around 2006- its just very close to the West Somerville Neighborhood School and the building needs a lot of work. The school age population of Somerville, while large, is smaller than it once was and the school was just not needed.

Having said that, it makes me very nervous to think of the site passing entirely out of the City's hands, since a parcel like that is irreplaceable.

[dent42.livejournal.com]

Oh man I hope Trane was actually honest when he said he was very much against this parcel being sold. I would love to see the city reclaim it and improve services in the area! (Besides, I used to always play on the basketball courts as a kid; I'd hate to watch them go for purely sentimental reasons!)

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Well, I did get an email today about the meeting from the City. Not sure that helps much since its Friday and I am already booked for Wednesday, but I guess it was an effort.

I would assume that they will sell all or much of the parcel unless there is a large public outcry against it. The city just needs the money too badly. Its like the Durrell School and the old police stations - and all the old school sites they sold off going back to the 70's that mostly became condos. Its very tempting to take the one time money when you're looking at layoffs.

[ron_newman]

But the meeting is on Tuesday.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Good point. I meant Tuesday.

[elements.livejournal.com]

I personally agree entirely - especially when the city doesn't own that much land, and it'd cost much more to buy back a parcel like that in the future, nevermind its additional desirability locationwise so close to Davis Square. From what I understand, the consultant really wants the city to sell to a developer of graduate student housing, which seems like something we don't necessarily need as much as we might need other things.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Reportedly Adlerman Trane walked into the middle of the last meeting on this issue, went to the mic, and said "we need this space to be a community center" (paraphrasing), so I do think he is sincere. For all that I've had issues disagreements with him, IMHO Trane is generally good at taking the pulse of his constituency & I think he knows most of us in Ward 7 would much prefer a community center or similar public use to a commercial sale.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Reportedly, even renovating it enough to allow the building to serve as office space would be prohibitively expensive - but AFAIK no figures on that have been made public yet, so it's not clear how seriously the city or its consultant looked into renovation and re-use of the existing building as a possibility. From folks who went to the last meeting on the issue, the city seemed to be saying that nearly any use of the site would need to get rid of the building, with the possible exception of the gym which is apparently in better shape.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

At the last meeting, I got the impression that the consultants were going to decide that the best thing would be to sell the property for a private graduate student apartment building. Trane is definitely pushing for a community center (and has been for quite a while). It is ridiculous that there are no community meeting rooms, and they need to have meetings like this in space that the rent from Tufts (in a building that the city used to own). It also seems very wrong that the city's Recreation Dept doesn't have a gym, and the school department rents space for it's administration offices. Once the space is sold, they'll never get it back, or have the opportunity to buy such a large lot in W. Somerville. I know the meeting time is less than ideal, but if people are concerned about this, please try to attend the meeting.

[ron_newman]

Why is this building in such bad shape? It does not look very old (certainly not compared to the residential housing stock all around it), and it was surely built well after I was born.

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

Did anyone go to the meeting? I really wanted to go, but had other commitments.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Despite the time of day it was well attended. Both Ron and I were there, and I'm working on notes to post shortly.