These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Winter Hill and Brown schools
School Building Committee, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday. A catch-up on plans for a new school to meet the needs of families from the Winter Hill Community Innovation School, which served 400 kids, and potentially the Benjamin G. Brown School, a K-5 institution with 225 kids. The Winter Hill, at 115 Sycamore St., closed unexpectedly June 2, 2023, over safety concerns: It was discovered that a chunk of concrete had fallen from stairwell ceiling. Somerville Public Schools has been moving since toward a new building to house the Winter Hill prekindergarten-to-eighth-grade community, which got split between the Edgerly Education Center and Capuano Early Childhood Center. The Brown School is aging too – Winter Hill and Brown are the city’s oldest schools – but the city got approval only for a new Winter Hill and an invitation to consider a project combining the two. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Student athletics; school funds
School Committee, 7 p.m. Monday. Superintendent Rubén Carmona presents on the district’s athletics department; and improvement plans for the West Somerville Neighborhood School and East Somerville Community Schools. At Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill, and televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
New school construction overview
School building project community forum, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Community members are invited to come learn more about the building of a school at 115 Sycamore St., the site of the Winter Hill Community Innovation School that closed unexpectedly June 2, 2023, over safety concerns. Mayor Jake Wilson, schools superintendent Rubén Carmona, staff and project architects give a project overview, share preliminary design options and describe what happens next, followed by public comment and questions. At Somerville High School, 81 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
Update on 90 Washington plans
Somerville Redevelopment Authority, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday. Members give updates on a Demonstration Project Plan for 90 Washington St., where the city hopes to put commercial uses such as retail and restaurants, public green space and places for community organizations as well as dense, transit-oriented housing that is affordable to a range of incomes. The city seized the land in 2019 for a new public safety building, paying $8.7 million for 4 acres, but in October 2024 was told by an appeals court that the owners of the former Cobble Hill Shopping Center land were owed nearly $30 million more. One of the goals of the new project is to recoup those costs. Also on the agenda: An update on Union Square Revitalization Plan implementation from Union Square Station Associates, also known as US2. The developer is spending $2 billion over 20 acres of commercial and residential space near the MBTA green line station, which opened in March 2022 to serve the square. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Armory tenant gets a hearing
City Council Housing, Community Development and Equity Committee, 6 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councilor Kristen Strezo hears a citizen petition to keep the Out of the Blue arts gallery – including as a live-work space for its principal, Parama Chattopadhyay, at the 27,000-square-foot Armory building at 191 Highland Ave. It opened in 2008 as an arts building under private ownership but underwent a $5 million eminent domain land seizure in May 2021 after the owners considered incorporating a business use. The city was slow to pull together a plan for its continued use for the arts, leaving tenants such the gallery and event programmer Arts at the Armory worried about their future. The city’s relationship with Chattopadhyay, known as Parma Chai, has been particularly contentious.
Walk of school for families
New school building project site walk, 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday. The Winter Hill and Brown School communities are invited to meet with architects to tour the former Winter Hill Community Innovation School building and share preferences and concerns to help shape the design of Somerville’s next new school building. Items of discussion might include outdoor spaces, traffic patterns and student pickup and drop-off points; historic uses of the space to retain; and environmental and sustainability priorities. Meet outside Brianna’s Cafe, 393 Medford St., Winter Hill.
Walk of school for neighbors
New school building project site walk, 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday. Community members who live in the neighborhood around the former Winter Hill Community Innovation School building are invited to walk the site and share preferences and concerns to help shape the design of Somerville’s next new school building. Items of discussion might include outdoor spaces, traffic patterns and student pickup and drop-off points; historic uses of the space to retain; and environmental and sustainability priorities. Meet outside Brianna’s Cafe, 393 Medford St., Winter Hill.
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