Broadway is a road in Somerville, and Medford is across the street. Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
SOMERVILLE and MEDFORD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — On the border of two cities just outside Boston, property owners, developers, and city officials have been caught in between two sets of laws, zoning rules, and municipal procedures.
Along the Broadway corridor, a road which is technically in Somerville, many of the parcels of land along the street are partially in Medford.
“The Broadway corridor is an area on the border of Medford and Somerville and goes essentially from Ball Square down through Magoun Square,” explained Alicia Hunt, director of Medford’s Planning, Development, and Sustainability Office.
“Most of these [properties], their street addresses are in Somerville, but they are legally Medford residents. They vote in Medford.”
For some properties, explained Hunt, the front of the building is in Somerville and the rest is in Medford.
This is because the border runs inside of some properties, which creates a difficult situation for residents and businesses in the area.
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Asked how residents determine which city they are legally a part of, she said, “What city you are a resident of depends on, I kid you not, where your primary bedroom is.”
Where residents lay their heads at night defines what schools they go to, where they vote, and where they pay taxes.
However, Hunt clarified that it doesn’t necessarily affect where people get their emergency services, since that’s based on the street address.
“I cannot tell you why it is that these borders don’t run down the middle of the roads… These cities were incorporated in the 1800s… it’s a long-standing issue.”
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Both Medford and Somerville want to redevelop the Broadway corridor to allow for more shops and housing, but the border issue has complicated the process "because what’s required in one community could, in fact, right now be against the rules in the other community,” said Hunt.
For example, Medford has a parking minimum for new apartment developments, while Somerville has a parking maximum.
The two cities “each have their own policies, procedures, and rules for what you can build and how you build it.”
"Having a border run right through a major business district and neighborhood has made it difficult to get the best use out of this area for our community,” said Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne.
Hunt echoed this statement, saying developers are “not going to do it if the rules are too hard.”
“They go to one community, and they go through the zoning process and the zoning board of appeals and they get variances. And then they go to the other community,” described Hunt.
Somerville Director of Planning Sarah Lewis explained that the border challenges result “in underutilized parcels and missed opportunities for revitalization by hindering coherent development plans and creating uncertainty for investors and developers.”
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To try to address these challenges, the two municipalities have been collaborating to see if they can work around or change the current zoning.
“Somerville applied for and received a Housing Choice Grant as a joint venture with Medford to study the split parcels,” said Lewis.
“While the scope of the grant is to primarily study the zoning conflicts, the two municipalities are expanding the scope to understand the urban design of the area and make recommendations for streetscape and pedestrian improvements too.”
Ballantyne added, “This is a great step forward to have our two cities working together to continue to make Broadway the vibrant corridor it should be. I look forward to the outcomes of this important collaboration.".
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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