Open Space, Environment and Energy Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the committee on open space environment and energy. We're meeting today. It's Wednesday, December 3 at 6PM on the dot. First one to chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting of the city council committee will be conducted via remote participation.

We will also post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of Somerville website and local cable access channel. Individuals with disability who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative format, or reasonable modification in policy and procedures in order to access the programs and activities of the city of the city of Somerville or to attend meetings should contact Andrea Pomero in advance at (617) 625-6600 2059. And so we'll start by ex you know, with the roll call for to establish a quorum.

It's a roll call. Councilor Klingon.

Present. Sorry.

Council Wilson.

No. Present. Council Burnley.

Present. Councilor Syed. Councilor Mabah.

Present.

Mister chair, four members are present. One is absent. We have a quorum.

Thank you, you know, clerk for. I think the record should reflect that councilor is, you know, stepping in in you know, is being appointed by councilor Davis who could not be here and, you know, councilor Syed. It also has a prior commitment. So I think we will also begin by the first item on the agenda is to approve, you know, the minutes of the last, you know, committee meeting.

On approval of the minutes, councilor Klingon?

Yes. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Councilor Burnley?

Aye.

Councilor Saeed? Councilor Barr?

Yes.

Mister chair, four members have voted to approve the minutes. One is absent. The minutes are approved.

Thank you, clerk for. I also see, know, one of our newest, you know, counselor is in attendance. You know? Hi, counselor Hart. We see you.

So we will begin by moving things around as we are also assisted this evening by, you know, members from the administration. We have legislative liaison, Radasi. So thank you, Yasmeen, for helping us as well. So we will take item a few item out of of order. We'll take agenda item number five.

I think. No. Which which says that they no. No. No. That's not five.

Mister chair, if if I may, director Ned Carney is having some issues, some technical difficulties logging on. So maybe we could table the out of order ones just until she's able to join the meeting.

Absolutely.

My apologies.

No. No worries. So should we take doctor Oliveira's items also out of now, or should we wait

I think director Oliveira is also having some technical difficulties, so maybe we could, do one that isn't directed towards public safe, public space and urban forestry. Apologies.

No. I think we can just you know, like, since we since we already had two items that you wanted us to take out of order, we can just, you know, revert to the regular odd you know, items on the agenda, and then whenever

Oh, and, mister chair, I just see director Ned Carney has just joined the meeting. So

Oh, beautiful. So welcome, Doctor. Nakanish. So the item, you know, in question is, you know, item number five. You know, I submitted that item that the that the director of economic development provide re a report to this council on the impact of GreenTown Labs, including job creation, local economic activity, community engagement initiatives, climate and sustainability contributions, and equity and inclusion outcomes.

And just to put some context here, you know, or to introduce this item as the maker of the motion. You know? For fifteen years, Green Town Labs in Somerville has carried out operations of shared facility location with mentoring, business support, and financial backing of incubator stage small enterprises in the clean energy sector. The city of Somerville has tried to encourage these activities and has expected to share in the benefits of their future growth. We have anticipated that Green Town and its fellow organization of Somanova and the engine at MIT will provide the following, opportunities for local entrepreneurs and graduates to launch new companies and prove their ideas, growing numbers of jobs for professionals and technical support workers, attraction of more young and talented people into the city and the region, attraction of venture capital, grants, and other funding, a large amount of which clean energy companies will in turn, spend on wages and local services.

Finally, having a hub of innovative activity in the sector in some of it will help to inspire and educate our public and especially our school children about clean energy. These expected economic development benefits have been in substantiating reasons given by city leadership for a variety of regulatory actions, zoning changes and approvals, grants and financial support, and tax exemption, which the city and the Commonwealth have provided for Greentown over the years. Up to the end of 2024, it appeared that the expected growth and progress of clean energy technologies as well underway. But in 2025, changes in federal policies and funding for research may be disrupting the sector or changing the direction of its methods and goals. So, therefore, it seems appropriate at this time to look at where the work of Green Town stands and whether the city's strategies and contribution may need to be adjusted.

My hope is that this committee can look closely at the results of our cooperation during the past ten years and consider what changes in the city's plans or strategies of clean energy may be best help to keep Greentown and the sector active and prospering in the city. I'm hoping that tonight's discussion can frame the question and suggest a methodology by which Greentown and the city agencies can report on results and define what changes may be needed. So this is like you know, I'm sure I director Nakane and I, we've actually had this conversation. It's not new. I'm just trying to bring it home and put it on record.

You know? And so you probably know also, actually, like I mentioned, you know, to doctor Nakani, I also you know, I'm fortunate to actually know the CEO of Greentown Lab, which I consider also a friend. So this is just, you know, in that, you know, big picture of how do we, you know, build a better relationship and think out the gaps and opportunities. So take it away, director Nakani.

Hi, everyone. Good evening. Clark, is it best if I share slides? I I know I sent it right at the end of the day. I can share screen now if that's the easiest way.

If you can, that'd be great.

You got it.

Yeah. Amazing. I did not I I I I promise you, I did not see the slide.

Sorry. It was right at the end of the day.

I don't know where where you sent it.

But to the clerk, is it possible to, have screen sharing ability?

Rachel, y'all gonna do it. Right?

Yeah.

Is that an alarm at my house or somebody else's?

It might be at yours. It's not going here.

It might be at mine.

Okay. I'm gonna make you a cohost. It should take care of it.

Thank you. I see

alright. Is that looking? Yep.

What I'm seeing? Alright. Excellent. Okay. So with this question in mind, we I reached out. I've been spoke spoken with the folks over at Greenhound a couple of times in the last few days and put together just a little bit of a snapshot of where we've been in the history and where we are today in our relationship and our engagement with them and their impacts that we're seeing in the city. So first, just a couple of background pieces. They Greentown Labs continues to be the largest cleantech incubator in North America. Very proud of that fact. And we really see them as a technical assistance provider in the same way that we do our main streets organizations.

They are currently serving over a 140 companies at their Summerville location. The main thing that they are offering member companies is access to the shared facilities and equipment. Greentown Labs operates several labs within the facility, an electronics lab, a wet lab, dry labs, all kinds of important shared equipment that really makes it possible for these small startups to prototype their products and test things out. Beyond the access to the equipment, they run tons of collaboration events, and they provide business development support at different stages in the early start up phases for these companies. It is a very busy place.

What they are reporting right now is that there are approximately at least 200 people there every single day. That's 200 folks who are out buying coffee, getting lunch, acting you know, operating within the central several lab area. And their average right now is 10,000 plus visitors every year. Almost all of the events that they run are free and open to the public, So they are welcoming in the the broader clean tech ecosystem. Anything from building decarbonization, industrial process efficiencies, water supply, resiliency.

They are bringing folks in in a variety of targeted conversations. And as the city, we are always welcome to participate as well. Their only ticketed event right now is the showcase, which they do every November. They do always invite city staff and a cohort of some of the high school students to participate in that event as well. Little on the history of this, they were founded in 2011, and it was founded as a little a collaborative of different startups who wanted to share space.

They relocated to Boston in 2012, moved to Somerville in their current home, 2013. So they've been there now a good long time. The main expansion to the building that we all kind of recognize as the heart of Greentown was in 2017. And then their expansion to Houston happened in 2020. They are a partner there with Rice University and really embedded in with Rice down in Houston.

On the organizational front, think this is also an important part of the story of Greentown. Again, they were founded as a as a collaborative of startups who wanted to share space and get cheap rent together. That really turned in they they realized recognized this sort of special sauce of that as as more folks wanted to participate in the early days and sort of transformed into the incubator that we know today in that twenty twelve to twenty thirteen phase. When as they've grown in Somerville, they did two major steps on organizational front. In 2017, they became a b corp.

That's a public benefit corporation. And then in 2023, right at the peak of COVID, they transitioned to being a nonprofit corporation. Really, that is to cement their role as a business support entity. They are not themselves that big of a business. The Greentown staff in is, you know, twenty, thirty folks, but their their role is to support their member companies.

And so their staff is really technical support staff that are helping boost this industry and support the companies that are housed there. How have we engaged with them over over these these years? We were actually a big part the city itself was a big part of recruiting them to Somerville back in 2013. It was an active recruitment. There was support that we gave at that moment.

And then over the years that they've been here, we've been a financial supporter at when they've had key growth moments where they've needed access to capital to be able to to leverage grants and other things to keep things growing. And then we also have been a partner with GreenTown member companies too. So two initiatives that happened just before COVID, there was a form to factory grant that was a partnership between the city, GreenTown, and the state to focus on manufacturing. And then the Urban Lab Initiative, which was more of a which is really a city focused program, and that was to work with GreenTown companies and others to bring their innovation to city streets. The one that I personally got to touch with Sufa.

Sufa brought signs and benches with plugs around in city infrastructure. So it was really an opportunity for those companies to use Somerville as as a sandbox, And that program ran 2019 through 2021. Big picture, again, GreenTowne is really all about the startups that are there. The overall, they've had 575 companies that they've incubated between the two locations. Most of those are Somerville.

There are currently 200 member companies. Again, a 140 of the 200 are at the Somerville site. They have an extremely strong survival rate. If you think about we always talk about this, like, can you make it to year one? Can you make it to year two or year five?

They have an 89% survival rate by their own tracking, and that's really impressive to, again, to get those companies through to the point where they're operating independently and and out in the world. By their measure in 2022, Greentown companies had had a $9,800,000,000 economic impact in the world. They had raised 8,200,000,000.0 in investment capital. There were 560 patents that had come out of Greentown and over 13,000 jobs that were created. So this is all coming from their impact reports as a non especially now that they're a nonprofit.

Those impact reports are really important to them, but they've been producing those as well. So there's one impact report that covers their 2011 through twenty nineteen years. Again, with the b corp, they had impact reports from there out basically every year since and now as a nonprofit as well. Technical assistance is where we see them as a strong partner. Again, one of the things that they are really, doing well to to support the industry's growth here locally is hosting events.

So they host over 300 events annually, career fairs with over 500 employee attendees in the last few years. They are boosting jobs for all their member companies and nonprofits that are located at Somerville. So they're posting and amplifying those jobs on their website on a regular basis, over a thousand jobs amplified and counting. The one of the questions in the item was about their commitments to and what we were seeing in terms of diversity and equity and inclusion. Two things we wanted to highlight.

One is the Excel program. That is a specific accelerator focused on startups that are led by BIPOC individuals. That is a partnership with a organization called Browning the Green Space. Again, that's really trying to find diverse entrepreneurs across the world. They actually bring them to GreenTown.

Those entrepreneurs in the Excel program are not necessarily located here in Somerville. They can be globally located, but they are brought to Somerville and I think sometimes to Houston as well for cohort events. It's a cohort program, mentorship program, and we've been seeing a lot of strength in Excel members then locating at GreenTown as they grow and staying engaged with the organization. So that is in its third cohort this year for the Excel program, and it's been a really exciting set of folks to see present. They often are presenting at the showcase and in other pitch events talking about what their products are and the importance of the program.

Another metric that we have been able to track, we, as part of our latest financial with them, we have a technical assistance loan that's active right now with them. And as part of that, Greenland had did have to do some reporting for micro enterprises that were participating in the program and receiving their technical assistance support. So there are 20 companies that were reporting under that, and we asked some questions about their demographics. So from that set of 28 that we do have demographic information on, 14% have company founders that are Seminole residents, 50% have diverse chip, and 372 employees across that set of 28. It is a big group of folks, so we don't have full data.

And, again, on everything that's been going on in terms of all the different companies that have been there and have grown out of there, but we do know a good amount. And as we think about the economic impacts, I think one thing that really the word that stands out is sticky, which is a nice technical term in our in our sphere. But it what it means is that there's there's an attachment to the place. Greentown itself, Somerville, and Massachusetts are are sticky when it comes to climate tech industry. A lot of that comes in our state's support for the for climate tech growth.

Even in phases where there isn't federal support, we have a lot of local support here in for the climate tech industry. That's part of the Mass Leads Act currently, but this is data from from the pre COVID years. So in the pre COVID years, 89% of startups at GreenTown had received some sort of support from the Mass Clean Energy Center. 71% had employees that had were from our local university pool. 66% of companies grew within Greater Boston during that eight year period.

That that's stickiness. That is companies that are staying and growing because this is where the talent is. This is where the the supports are. One thing that we couple other things related to the stickiness. We know that many of our companies, even the most successful ones, will retain a membership at Greentown and even a desk or two so that they can stay engaged with the community and all the community programming that Greentown puts on.

So, again, that that's that's pulling that ecosystem together. Greentown really is a hub for this industry because of those program those programs and the the network of partners who are coming together there. Another one that adds to the stickiness is a Greentown member that I wanted to highlight. That's Forge Impact. Forge Impact is a really interesting little nonprofit.

They their basic operations is actually at GreenTown Labs, but they do now have a Western Mass location as well. And their role is to assist start ups with supply chain and manufacturing connections. So if you're developing a new something or rather at Greentown and you wanna produce that thing at the next scale, how are you gonna do that? How are you gonna find the suppliers suppliers that that you you need need or the locations that can do the manufacturing for you? And so their role is to really help make those connections to Springfield, to Connecticut, to Rhode Island, to Vermont, wherever the the thing might be.

So if you need timber, they're probably connecting you with Maine or Vermont. If you need access to precision manufacturing, it's probably something in Western Mass. And so, again, that they're really trying to help localize the growth of these companies so that they are able to stay in Massachusetts as they scale up. I did wanna highlight a few stories of companies that have grown out of Greentown to be really big players in our local economy. So the first one, of course, is FarmEnergy.

FarmEnergy is unicorn on the global stage. They are producing iron air grid scale batteries, really making a dent in energy reliability for clean energy, and they started with five people at GreenTown Labs. They have grown a ton. They still have 350 people now located at their base of operations over on Innerbelt Road. So they've expanded substantially.

What you see in these pictures here on the left, the first one, that's their very first little battery when there were five people trying to put something together. In the middle, you see Neritt Ballantyne with Ted Wiley on the left. Tammy, whose last name is escaping me at the moment, and the last person is also her name is has run out of my head. But this was a tour of their facility when they were still primarily based at the Somerinoa campus. And then what you see on the bottom, this is their this is their large plant.

They are producing their iron their batteries now at scale in West Virginia. They need to be where the iron is. So their production facility is now in West Virginia, but their base of operations for all their research continues to be here in Somerville. This is where the talent is. This is where the CEO lives.

Know, we're really they're really proud to be a a strong partner here in Somerville. One other sort of, like it's an a tan a really tangible aspect of the partnerships that they have here locally is that they've been a key partner in getting the connection between the Eastern Railroad Green Line station to Innerbelt Road open. Tammy, who you see in that picture next to the mayor, she as an individual has been pounding the pavement, making sure that that at great connection happened even while we're working on a longer term solution. So they're really embedded here in the city. We love that for them, and are thrilled that they are have grown with us.

Another one I wanted to highlight is Sublime Systems. Sublime Systems, similar kind of story. They started five years ago, actually. They started in 2020, which is not very long at all and have grown substantially. They grew out of Greentown, stayed right at Somanova campus, and so their headquarters is now on Park Street. They are producing a low carbon concrete product. They have pilot scale concrete production happening at Summer Nova's campus. It is nice and quiet, I have to say. I have been next to those machines within two feet, and it is not loud at all. And it's a really great quality product that's more consistent quality than your typical concrete as well as being a lot lower carbon footprint.

We've been starting to explore if there's a partner if there are partnerships we can have with them to to utilize their product here on SunRoad projects. They have grown a lot as well. Their base of their research base is gonna probably stay here in SunRoad as long as we can keep them. But, again, they're you're not gonna be producing concrete at scale in any of our facilities most likely. They have actually expanded to Holyoke, Holyoke, Massachusetts for their production facility.

Again, that's some stickiness, though, because if their main production facility is in Massachusetts, that makes it a lot easier for them to keep their research center here as well. The other one I wanted to highlight that's grown a ton and is really probably set for more growth coming up is Transera. Transera is a again, they have not moved far from Greentown. They're at Kent Street, but they are producing next generation cooling systems. They actually just had a really successful launch of their cooling system.

They did a first install in Florida earlier this earlier this fall. It's poised to be a really great innovation for the HVAC industry. Again, they've been they've grown a ton and and continue to stay and build on their workforce that's here in Somerville. Obviously, that's not all. It's a very long list.

We didn't have time to really do a a too deep dive. We don't have a a good record, and I spoke to you. You know, this is a project that we could continue to research if if that's of importance, But we did pull together a list of, you know, some of the bigger players. So other alumni from GreenTown that are are still active really locally, Rise Robotics, they expanded into Union Square. Civil, they're on School Street.

Reframe Systems has grown a lot locally. They actually built their first product. They built a triple decker on Gilman Street, Phoenix Tailing, Bevy, the water producer, Spark Charge, and Tender, which I didn't actually manage to add to the list, got a photo of. Tender is producing a a chicken like product that's vegan and it is, you know, also in use and direct to consumers at the market at Sauce. So it's you know, Greentown is really embedded, I think, throughout the Somerville ecosystem, and it's in a variety of of industries.

Right? Verizon Robotics is not your typical climate tech company. Neither really is Bevy, but they but they are also. Right? They are still have their their root and their their ethos is tied to climate tech goals.

So where are we now, and how do we keep the growth going? I think that's, counselor, little bit of the question you were aiming for too. I wanted to highlight a a couple of things that we've been engaged on. So the most recent thing that we have been engaged with them on is we hosted a regional meeting between GreenTown Labs, the engine. The engine also has space at the Summer Nova campus as well as city staff from Cambridge, Somerville, and Watertown to think about how we can promote and coordinate around issues in the climate tech sector.

And so what we did is we gathered actually all of the regulatory bodies that engage with climate tech companies to talk about how do you how do you talk to a innovation company that's doing something that you've never heard of before and is not in the code books. What does that process look like? What could we be doing? How do we be synchronized on this between the three communities where this industry cluster is really growing at its strongest right now? Really productive series of conversations.

We had, you know, building inspector talking to building inspector, fire chief talking to fire chief. Again, really productive set of conversations. There's more to more to do in that space, but it's something that we are trying to keep engaged on at a regional level. Some of our public schools continues to be engaged closely with GreenTown as well. Again, there's always back and forth for speakers, collaborations.

We've been trying to figure out STEM week programming. OSE is really tightly involved in making sure we're we're pulling this all together along with the innovation team over at Sunerville public schools. And then the main thing I just wanted to report back, what you sort of heard out of this these conversations from and what we've been hearing in a variety of places from from the member companies. Greentown is always focused on how we keep those member companies growing, and that's our goal too. And what they what they want out of a municipal partnership.

Typically, what they're looking for is permitting support and expertise. Right? If you're a company that wants to do something that has to you know, would make a I'm trying to come up with there's one that I met with. They do residential energy performance monitoring. They need what they're looking for is some guidance on how would the an electrical inspector view their product.

What kind of documentation would they need to be able to produce their product in Massachusetts and get it approved? That's the kind of interaction that some of these companies in the at these early stages are looking for our help on, understanding what they would need to do to launch their product on the market and make a difference in reducing the carbon footprint of of everything in our world. They're looking for pilot opportunities. Again, companies that might want to have something in public space often are looking to the city and saying, hey. Could we do this thing?

What would it take for us to pilot in Somerville? The thing about reframe systems, again, they just built a triple decker. They needed to get through all of this. Right? They're looking for that opportunity to collaborate with with anybody and everyone to see if they can pull that off.

And then as they're building their products, the collaboration with the fire department, police department, inspectional services are key. At Greentown Labs and most of those member companies will tell you, Somerville Fire Department is one of the best you'll ever meet, and they really do appreciate the the work of the fire inspection and prevention teams in collaborating with them and being really sensitive to the innovative nature of their work. These companies are dealing with a lot of sensitive data that they don't want to share, but, obviously, the fire department needs to know what chemicals they're using in order to keep everybody safe. So they've really appreciated that our fire department, our police department, our inspectional services teams are all ready to jump in and have these conversations about things that no one's ever dealt with before, and it's just something that is sort of front of mind for them at at all times. So I hope that's a helpful start to the conversation.

Wanted to get at some some data points to you all.

Well, thank you, doctor McKenny. This is great. You know? It's, like, really along the lines of what I expected to get out of this conversation. You know? There's a lot we can get into, but this is you know, for I think most of some of the companies you mentioned, we were there when they launched Sublime. We were all there. And then Rise Robotics, I think I also went, you know, saw some of my colleagues as well there. You know, they I think Rise Robotics even won, like, book of record for, like, strength test. You know?

I think, and so Wilson was there. It was it it it is good. It is good. I think one key thing I wanna see and underscore, which is what I talked to you and I talked to the CEO of Green Town Lab, was that the gap that I saw that was visible was that collaboration between Green Town Lab and Somavia High School. I met the superintendent.

Everybody is just nobody is you know, everybody's clueless. I I it's just there's there's some there's some collaboration. It's already it's it's from people who have, like, some connection or somebody knows someone, and then they bring somebody. It is good that we establish a formal relationship so that kids from the high school can benefit. They wanna get in involved in Green Tech.

It's so I told Georgia that, and she was also excited about the idea. And so I will want us to you know, as especially when somebody's excited about something like that and said they were not even sure what was going on, you know, and that they just know that some of their colleagues know somebody, you know, in the school. And then they so I feel like that was you know? If if you can ex if the city can establish that, it will be huge, you know, to be able to, like, really, you know, get in get this this create a pretty robust collaboration between the main, you know, not main green tech in North America, like and having a footprint, you know, weave into our community.

There's if I if I may, there's there's a program where that the schools are trying to start related to the STEM week and trying to establish a more formalized program. They did a really interesting pilot working with a group out of Tufts to to test it last last year. Establishing a full program for for the schools takes actually multiple school years to just to just to launch because they need to bring in so many teachers and administrators and make sure it's gonna really function within the, you know, the standard requirements that they need to be meeting throughout the school year. And there's just so little time to get the everybody engaged. So we were hoping to launch something this for this year.

It didn't quite come together after the the pilot happened in June. We were trying to pull it off STEMI happens in October, and June to October was a little bit too tight. But that IT is very much alive and well within the school school depart the school department, and the administrative staff and the science departments as well. So, definitely, the energy is there. It's a matter of, getting everybody aligned so that it it has that robustness that you're you're hoping to see.

Amazing. Thank you. And I would love to be part of those those evolution as you know, for something like this that, you know, I'm pressing on. And then in fact, like, the the data also that you gave was really big. You know? It's, big picture. It's great. I I mean, like, you I I found most of those also, like, on their website itself, you know, so which is great. I guess one of the things that was cute about, like, just, like, how many jobs have they created in some of it, you know, and and and, you know, and have been made available to qualify, you know, city residents. That is also, like you know, maybe even just, like, through their activities.

You know, it could be, like, do we, you know, like, do we have any of that data?

We don't actually have any of that data. That is not something that we're actively tracking. We this is something as we again, our workforce development team is is sort of in a rebuilding moment, but we are we have it on our goals for when we have a new senior planner for workforce development that their role, their one of their main tasks is gonna be engaging with our employers around what their employment looks like and, you know, what the what's the skill sets are that they're searching for. So we have on our goal list for that person. That seat will probably be filled in January, we expect, that they'll be engaging with our top 10 our top employers first.

Those are generally not folks in the client tech sphere, but a form might be actually in that top list or close to it. Mhmm. And then start to work our way through and and get a good sense of, you know, what are the hiring practices and and needs of of those companies. But, no, we don't we I will say we don't have a a local job board that is sort of tracking us on on the local level.

Yeah. No. That's fine. You know, it's just to kinda like, I wanna frame, like, the big picture so that as we start to evolve in this conversation, this is the kind of things that we need. You know? Also, like, what level and volume of wage wages does Greentown, you know, and the climate sector provide, and how significant is this volume as part of the total payroll for all city workers? It's like, it's just those kind of data that you know, it's like, it just built into, like, the I a big picture of what we are looking to get.

Yeah. And that's that's a good question. It's it's a tricky data point. It's gonna be a tricky data point to get, to

be honest, because it's GreenTown is their own workforce is small. Their own workforce is, you know, 20 some people right now. The member companies, that that's where the inform where the employment is. Most of those companies are start out really, really small. You're often talking and this has been one of the challenges that we see in the workforce development conversations we've had is that, typically, their their next hire, when they're ready to grow beyond GreenTown, their next hire is business director.

Like, you're going from scientist who's now CEO and needs to fill out their c suite of, you know, of business director level folks. It's the the next, like, the next, like, several tiers of jobs might be technicians and and folks who may have a variety of of skill sets. But, typically, the in the early days of hiring, you're go when you're going from the five person to the 10 person, you're going from, like, Inventor to Inventor plus C suite. And so it's this has been a debate that we've been having too. What's our what is our role and our goal as a municipal support partner at that stage?

Finding a business development, you know, partner is is maybe not the thing that we are most skilled at supporting in, nor is it something that we need to track as as closely. Where where we really care about from the workforce side is how are we getting our our folks who don't necessarily have a PhD into these companies.

Yep. No. No. Thank you. And, also, when a member mentioned, member company, you know, I was wondering, like, how much investment capital has GreenTown, you know, and the climate sector brought into Somerville is on behalf of their member companies. You know?

Yeah. That's that 9,000,000,000 that's that 9,000,000,000 number. It's not a small number.

You know, they brought that to some of them?

Yeah.

You know? And and, yeah, no, I I think I will probably, you know, pause for now and just open it to my to committee members so that I don't you know? Do any committee members have something to you know, any any question?

Mister chair, thank you putting in the item here and thank the director for the presentation. Always good to be looking at what are we getting back for what are we for what we're putting in for these sorts of things. Right? You know, we're out there trying to do some stuff, stir things up, see what we can get going. You know, we just did the the recent, TIF. Looking to bring someone in. So I just think it you know, as we go around giving out benefits, you know, to to private companies looking to, looking to make things happen, these are the sorts of discussions we should be having. So thank you both.

Thank you, council Wilson. So any other members, you know, any committee member have any more question? You know? And and so, no, director Nakane, thank you. I'm so glad that we even just you know, it's, like, just like how, like, sometime when we put this thing you know, it's just because sometime like, I remember I told you, like, I actually it's because somebody introduced me to, you know, like, the CEO, and this is, like we actually had a mutual friend. And they say, oh, and then I'm like, oh, Green Town Lab. Okay. Let me see. So I was excited to meet the CEO, but I was so excited to understand, like, what the industry is all about. Like, we we hear all this big stuff.

You know? How do we, like like, you know, get some get some benefit and also talk about it?

If I may, I forgot to mention also. So in my conversations with them over the last couple of days, they definitely said happy to host city councilors for a tour come spring. I know we've got three city councilors who are joining new. They're, you know, definitely willing to put together a specific City Of Somerville tour that could be for, you know, for city staff, for councils, for and we could do an open ad. They were saying we could do an open advertisement, you know, tour for community members.

They do have tours for the high school all the time with science classes. So they're definitely then they especially under their new nonprofit status, you know, really diving deep into the mission and and embedding. So we we can pull that together in the New Year as well for sure.

Absolutely. No. I appreciate that. Thank you. At yeah. I forgot to even mention that as well. I I maybe maybe this just the last, just a curious card here. Like, I'm I'm just curious in terms of, like, the changes in federal policy, you know, in federal funding. Like, is it any way it's affecting Greentown Greentown Lab and its member companies?

It is absolutely affecting Greentown and its member companies for sure. Sublime had a contract had a a grant that I mean, for sure, the grants Sublime had there's an article on their website about the one of the grants that they they lost. But, you know, there's been a lot of pullback in in grants that are focused on this sector. Now that said, there's a lot of need for this sector. The AI boom is coming actually at a not bad time because there is a need to be more efficient with our energies, and we need every energy source if we're going to be able to supply the AI boom.

And so there's a lot more renewed focus on the technologies coming out of GreenTown and its ability to support the energy needs of of the country. Country. That is a big part of the Houston story with GreenTown too. Being embedded in Houston gives them gives member companies a a different it's a different sector, right, in some ways. But a lot of the technologies that might be more oriented towards improvements to the traditional energy sectors, the greening of the traditional energy sectors, they find a lot of partnership in the Houston office versus if you're at the Massage Inn Somerville, you're likely to be more involved in a whole variety of things.

I think one of the coolest ones I've ever met is somebody who came out of biotech, and she's developing a more energy and a more material efficient bead production using tech like, using equipment that you typically use for three d produce like, three d printing in the biotech sector. She adapted it to make three d printed beaded fabrics for high end fashion houses, and she's doing that out of about 30 square feet in GreenTown Labs. And that's not something that you would think of as an energy saving technology, but it is. And so there's a lot of those really unique niche things that are coming out of GreenTown, and that cross sector collaboration that we see at our Summerville location is just phenomenal.

Amazing. And you're talking about that. I just remember we've not even gotten into data centers, you know, which has been been, like, a huge proliferation of data centers, you know, when you talk about AI. I'm sure Greentown Live is already is building something, you know, somewhere in the city or down the street. You know?

But it's I think this is, you know, it will be nice to really you know, as we continue to see how we can support, you know, and grow together, you know, and start to you know, that symbiosy, you know, between the city and Green Town Lab, I think it'll be huge. Thank you, doctor Nakani. It's it's as always, I appreciate your work. And I think since we have a lot to, you know, like, to discuss down the road, I'll be inclined to keep this, you know, for future conversation so that we can continue to kinda, like, examine, you know, what opportunity is there and what and how we can continue to support GreenTownLab as well. Okay.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Is there any member of the committee that has any last minute, you know, any last thought that wanna chime in and ask, yes, your chance or forever hold your peace. Thank you, doctor Nakani, for your time. Appreciate it.

So, liaison, Radasi, is do we have is it okay if we take the other item out of order?

Through the chair, yes. Director Oliveira is here so she can speak to the pollinator action plan and the open space and recreation items.

Amazing. Thank you. Wow. I I didn't I didn't know that this it's like listen. That's it. Now I see why, you know, like, I I could not believe, you know, that this took us almost forty five minutes. So, Doctor. Olivera, good to see you.

Good to see you.

And thank thank you. So we have the next item, you know, that we'll take is ten and eleven. Is that correct? Are you gonna present both together? Or okay.

If it's possible, I am going to do eleven and then ten?

Absolutely. You know? So and eleven is that the director of public space in urban forestry conveying the summer be open space and recreation plan twenty twenty five to twenty to twenty thirty five. And then 10, it's that the director of public space and urban forestry conveying the Somerville pollinator action plan related updates. Take it away, director Oliveira.

Thank you, through the chair. Is it possible for me to share screen? Or I know I I sent the slides very late. It's been a week.

You have authorization to do that. You should be able to.

Okay. Can everyone see the slides and hear me?

Yes. If you can magnify a little bit so we can like, presentation mode or something like that.

Does that help at

all? Yeah. Little bit.

Okay. Great. Through the chair, my name is Louisa Oliveira. I'm the director of public space and urban forestry for the city of Summerville, and I'm going to speak to you about two things that our division just completed. Both of these are available online on the summer voice page, which many of you may know is where most project information and plan information lives.

And I'm just going to give you a glimpse into these two plan documents, but I encourage you all and welcome you all to please go to the Summer Voice page and have a look. These are, both things that took years to put together and I think are very useful in terms of setting the course for the next ten years and what, is going to happen in our open space with our network of open spaces. So if you'll allow me, I'll just, go through. I will stop after every slide if anyone has any questions, or shall I wait till the end?

I mean, your preference. I think it's, like, we we we have some pretty modest people on this. So I think Okay.

Why don't I

What you think what about you?

Through the chair. Think I'll go through, and

then if there are any questions. Again, I'm really just giving you a taste of this. So the open space and recreation plan is a is a, document that's required to receive state funding. Many of our parks, most of our parks receive, funding from the parkland and acquisition parkland acquisition and recreation something. It's P A R C, for communities, I believe.

And P A R C is a grant that gives usually about a half million dollars for us to build parks. And one of the requirements is that you have an updated open space and recreation plan. Most cities have a have one that meets all the requirements, but ours kind of goes above and beyond because we actually use it for, setting policy and doing projects in open space and recreation. One of the this is a a plan that has a lot of elements to it, but one thing that I, am particularly happy about is that we have highlighted some of our success stories. So you can see on the left, for example, it's about our policy, from for public privately owned public space.

You may know this at Luann David Park, the CALA Building. All of those spaces are in the middle are also publicly accessible open spaces. And this is a photograph of those. It also talks about our, privately owned public space policy, also found on Summer Voice. And the acreage as of 2025 that we've added is 6.37 through privately owned public spaces.

Another example is our proactive maintenance for trees. So, we early on realized that we were, planting 350 trees a year, but they weren't really getting any kind of maintenance. They get maintenance at the end of their lives kind of, when they're large and someone asks. So we put in a couple of proactive programs. One is for young tree training.

So after doctor Bukili plants them, they are under warranty for two years. And at about the third year, they are assessed for health and given any kind of pruning that helps them to grow in a more structurally sound way. And then we also have a Parks Tree Health Program, which is all all of we have this year completed a cycle of all of our parks to have the same type of treatment for each park, each tree in each park. Couple of other ones, the Miyawaki Forest, as many of you may know, behind the high school. This was a great example of, volunteers and some of them who continue to volunteer today.

Volunteer planting with, 34 different native species and 410, plants that are planted. It's a micro forest. It's planted in in enriched soil, and it's supposed to create biomass quickly. So that is also another success story. And then the fields plan, which for those of us who have been around for a while, we know this fields plan that that people spent many hours on is, was completed, and we now have, renovated six fields, created three new synthetic turf fields, and one at DCR as well as the rehabilitation of two, natural grass fields, one of which is the Dilbara Stadium, which is still being renovated right now.

So throughout the plan, there are some highlighted stories like that. The other thing that this plan has is a lot of data. So it's very, for example, this is a chart that shows what all of our open space, who they're owned by, and what protections they have. This is very useful for all of us to know, you know, does this have, this and this is a requirement. So some of these things feel a little weird to say whether it's active or passive, but it's a requirement of the, park of the, for the park grant.

So they give us this chart. We fill it out. But important for this is also, the con the protections. So are they protected in perpetuity? What other protection do they have? So this is just one page of that chart. All of it can be found in the plan itself. Moving on to more, data. We also, at the end, have the accomplishments of what we've done since the last open space plan. And you can see the schoolyards that we've finished, and all of the different renovations and additional open space that we've completed.

This is one of, I think, six pages. There's also, sections about the geology and the history of Somerville as well as census data information and how it has changed since the last open space plan. All of these, if you like data, are very much worth, having a look at. And if you have a question, you can always refer to this because all it it is all there. Another, part another thing that we have these are, oh, more accomplishments.

And you can see we're we're doing pretty well in terms of getting these things done that we said in the last open space plan that we would do. Part of this plan was having a very, robust community process where we had different public meetings at different parts of the city as well as one online to engage residents about the open space network and trying to understand what goals and objectives they would like to see. And you can see some of these are ones that we had before. Always people want us to add more open space. We're trying our best to do that.

But then there is also some trying to keep some of the parks that we are, but just make upgrades instead of doing full renovations and making our parks more inclusive, which we're also working towards, and, resilient landscape practices. Most of our parks are not only parks, but, working landscapes. So many of them have storm water storage features. The plantings provide habitat and shade. So people want to continue doing that, and we are really have to because of climate change.

And then recreational programming. We did, have more people talk about parks and recreation or the recreation programming and continuing to improve and have more equitable programming. So, again, these are, five goals. And then at the end of the plan, at the very end of them, we have those goals put in and have an action plan. So this is just one page of the things that goal one is to acquire new ones, and here are the steps that we would like to take within the next ten years to try to get, to that goal.

Oh, sorry. So that is the last one, and I will take any questions.

No. Director Rivera, thank you so much. No. This is very rich information. I'm looking at this on just I mean, this is terrific. Thank you. I think you are doing an amazing job. It's like all this private pry privately owned public space. It's a public space, and then one is privately owned. Like so it means it's not accessible to the public? Like, what like oh, like, why do we like, the the Martha Perry Louie Park, new construction. It says privately owned public space. Just remind me again what is it like.

So through the chair, privately owned public space is space, for example, that is pub it's new open space that's generated through development. So, for example, there are spaces in Assembly Square. There are spaces in Boynton Yards. There's a park in Boynton Yards. There's Martha Perry Low Park and a number of other ones that are built by developers, but they have agreements with us that the public are allowed

into that. Yeah. And and it's so funny. You know, honestly, I have some friends that don't even know that that is, a a public space. That's why I asked that question. Like, is there, like, a sign that's you know, I think they should. Maybe they actually do have it. A sign that she says public space so that nobody feels weird, you know, like, that they are encroaching. Do I make sense?

Yes. So, as you through the chair, as you know, I've been here for fifteen years. And quite early on in my time here, we started to realize that there were, spaces that don't read this way. There's been a considerable amount of research that's been done on how these spaces are

Oh, you're muted.

Oh, I'm sorry. And, we tried in our policy to try to address some of the problems. So each of these spaces does have a sign, and it says this is public space. All are welcomed. Now sometimes there are some spaces. For example, there's one near where I live that was sold because the developers will then sell sell them later on. And I noticed that they have a sign up that says only the people this is Millbrook or I think it has a different name now. But only people who live here can use this sign. The that is not allowed. So we do require them to put up signs that say these are welcome to the public.

It is a problem because things get sold, and then, those, agreements, you know, nobody sees those. They're part of the the deed. So we've been working to both make them more readable to encourage developers to put more active, elements in it because they often wanna build something that's going to be for their workforce, but we also want the parks to be used when there's nobody in the building because they're in communities, and we have so little open space that we really need that open space. So I can't tell you how many times I've had beef with developers about putting in a basketball hoop.

You will see

some around the city. But but, yes, they are the opposite of what you were describing. They're privately owned, but they are in perpetuity public open space, and we try our best to make sure that they read that way.

Gotcha. I can see councilor Wilson is anxious to ask this question. But just one last one that I have is, like so, again, this which neighborhood do you think that, you know, face the largest open space deficit in the city? You know? And and any do you have any kinda, like, creative, you know, like, space use opportunity that you can you know, it could be yeah. You know what I'm you know what I'm getting at.

Through the chair. I do. The neighborhood that has the least amount of open space is brick bottom. Unfortunately, that's a transformed neighborhood, so it is getting more open space. But, also, one thing that we have with being only four square miles is that our walk shed, which is a measurement of a half mile, ten minutes walking to a park, is very high, and we're at about very close to a 100%.

So even if there's not a park in front of your house, you can you have access to one within, ten minutes or so. There are a couple the walk shed analysis is also in the plan. There are a couple of small deserts, but, again, either just outside that walk shed. And, unfortunately, doing analysis like that is great because we know where those areas are, but we can't necessarily make the parks appear or even the parcels to to purchase. But we are lucky because we're kind of like the kitchen at a party in that, everything is pretty close.

Like, everyone is pretty close to a park. Does it have exactly the amenity that you're looking for? Sometimes not. But, it's much better than most municipalities because of our density, because of the neighborhood parks.

Gotcha. No. Thank you. And and do we have any any consideration again? I think we talked about it, like, in the past. Like, for rooftops, you know, like, are they, you know, pocket packs, like, all this you know, are they, like, under consideration also for in your chat?

Absolutely. Whenever we are able to make a park, you know, we just finished Ken Kelly Park. That's a pocket park. Quincy Street Park, also a pocket park. I'd call Martha Perry Lowe a pocket park.

So even if they're small, we're trying to, there's another one that a developer made in East Somerville on Tough Street. Leonard Grimes Park, also a pocket park. So even small spaces, are considering. With roof gardens, there is a an ordinance, I believe, that was passed that development has to have green roofs or roof gardens. And those are gray in many, many ways, but I do have a concern that green roofs and roof gardens are not accessible to the general public and that not everyone feels welcome going through, you know, a lab building to get on top of the roof.

So I would like to continue to encourage, you know, earth level development that everybody feels, welcome to go into. And there are a lot of, barriers sometimes to these parks, and there's a lot of pushback on certain people being in parks. But in the end, they are public spaces, and it we all feel very strongly that they should remain public.

Gotcha. Thank you. Councilor Wilson, see you've been waiting. I appreciate your patience, and Councilor O'Clinton and Councilor Burnley. You guys have the floor now.

Yeah. Chair, I'd thanks. Didn't didn't wasn't trying to rush it. Was just waiting my turn, but, appreciate you calling on me. Through you, I'd I wanna really praise our city staff for producing a really excellent report here. I've heard from a lot of committee members who really appreciated this. I'll just say this goes way above and beyond what one might expect for a required report to get grant eligibility, so I am here for that. A thing worth doing is worth doing well. So, and great to hear the shout out for the Milwaukee Forest. I partially tore my rotator cuff digging holes for that planting.

So Yeah. Makes me feel good to see it. It it it feels like I, it wasn't all for not. So, in the summary of community needs portion that it talks about the desire, for unprogrammed passive open spaces. This is something I see a lot.

There's a huge appetite from our community for things, like spaces for pickup soccer games, a place to play catch. You know? I'll I'll tell you. Coaching soccer, one of my maybe I'll say my least favorite thing is having to show up and kick someone off of a field that's in their community that they were just trying to go use because we have a field permit. I I feel like garbage every time doing that.

And every time, it makes me really wanna try to figure out a way to to do, community hours on on our on our fields. Is that one of the things that that that came through loud and clear is the community's, desire for something like community hours specifically on our turf athletic fields that can sustain that kind of activity?

Through the chair, honestly, no. That wasn't a conversation that was had. And I think we are very honest about the folks who showed up to the meetings and are acknowledging that they were, for the for the most part, a very similar demographic and that we don't hear from all voices, so that the field's conversation wasn't so much of a discussion. There was a lot of and I think this is a post COVID thing. Like, people really want to walk and be closer and in nature, and we all want that, but it does require some larger parks.

I think we will have that, with some of our upcoming parks like the Art Farm. But I do want to acknowledge that our outreach, as always, is not represented representational of who is on the fields. And I know that there are many, many people who want to use athletic fields and nonathletic fields all the time and that, yes, they get kicked off because of the permitting. I, myself, am not a fan of the only permitted uses, because, again, it's public space, and the reason to make all these very expensive turf fields is so that we can get more uses out of it. So I think, we certainly could do community hours or find some other way.

The recreation division really does the permitting for the fields. We don't have anything to do with that. But they're public fields, and they're they should be people should be able to go and play on them whether they are playing a pickup soccer game or they wanna play Quidditch or whatever people wanna play.

Absolutely. Through the chair, you you'd mentioned the recreation, Parks and Recreation Department that handles the the permitting of our outdoor athletic facilities. I'm guessing the the scope of this didn't include, looking into the the permanent hours of of those facilities or the hours requested. That's that was something I remember during the the athletic fields master plan process. That definitely was something we heard a lot about. You and I engaged a lot on that specific thing as I recall, but that wasn't within the scope of this.

Through the chair, no. And I am not sad about it because I spent many hours of my life pouring through that data. There is a system, and I think that data could be looked at, but we didn't specifically at that. That's not in the scope here. We did hear, you know, people want a rec center.

They want indoor recreation. There are, there was a lot of conversation about having a community center or youth center, something like that. And we do we are you know, for example, when we have pops, the developers want to be able to use the space as if it is their own, and I have insisted that they need to go into the permitting system just like anybody else because they're public spaces. So, you know, you can get a permit to have a a birthday party or a party or any kind of thing like that through the permitting system. So rec, I think, would be able to gather that data if that was needed.

Yeah. Through the chair. Yeah. Totally totally understandable. I wanna ask about, community gardens. Talks about in the community garden program improvements, long wait times to to get a plotter mentioned. I know we got a I think this got an email from Yes.

Because I wasn't is that part of it was that part of, like, the, sorry. I wanted to make sure that I'm glad you mentioned that because I actually thought it was, like, another item on but this is probably just in line with this this agenda item. So thank you for sorry for I I almost wanted to I thought we were gonna get to that item,

but this is actually on point. Oh, yeah. Chair, you know, through you, yeah, this is, this is what that email was about. Right? You know, in a city where space is really constrained, we're always looking at, you know, how can we create more. Are are we that there were a number of very creative solutions proposed in that email. I won't go into detail on them. Maybe we should encourage that email to be forwarded to public comments. And and I'll I'll just ask, you know, do you see any creative solutions out there for creating more of these community gardens?

Through the chair, there will be some community gardens as part of the programming at the Art Farm, and, we are always looking for places to expand. Just a little asterisk on the 600 number. The community gardens are governed by the conservation commission, and the conservation commission has recently done some they've had a subcommittee, and they've been looking at their community gardening program. They there's the community gardens themselves are self self governed, and they've always really resisted our involvement because we know, for example, that they're the the plots are not equitably sized and that some of them are not visually accessible, etcetera, etcetera. But folks have been very clear that they don't want our help on this.

But we do know from the subcommittee that the 600 number is a little bit misleading because oftentimes people will put their name on it, and then they you know, maybe they're a student or young or they're moving out of Summerville. And when they go to call, they have to go down, like, eight different people before they get someone who is actually still on that list. So there there is an absolute need for it. We also had conversations with them about limiting the time because once people get a garden, they can stay for life. And it turns out that the those lifetime gardeners are the people who kind of hold these gardens together.

So for example, if you go over to Lincoln Park, which that one we piloted having a three year limit on, and people are not, you know, I think a lot of people want to garden, but they don't realize you actually have to do it and do it frequently if you want to get something out of it. So we've piloted a number of different things, not having fences, having fences, having open gardens, having having, wait lists. And I think our thinking has changed a bit on that because those stalwart gardens are really the people who hold that community together. We've also realized that most people are not going to be able to feed their families by a community garden plot. And what it really

Sorry, director. You're muted. Sorry.

I don't know how I apologize. Through the chair. What it does is build community more than anything else. So and that is very important. There are others in the city who feel that we should abolish the the community garden programs altogether because it's a privatization of that space.

So, you know, we have 81,000 clients. There's a a lot of different, opinions, but we are always looking to add more community gardens and to really work with the garden committee to be more efficient on the turnover and and activating them. We have some community gardens that are that I think could be better used. For example, the ones at Chuckie Harris Park. And there, you know, there's some issues with the the design there.

But if there are people that wanted to garden flowers, that's a perfect place for them. I believe the project soup may have been using them for a little bit. But, yes, we're absolutely aware of the community gardens. We absolutely want more into our system, because there is a need even though some people are vehemently against them. So, again, as with everything, we want more open space for everything.

Absolutely. I appreciate that. Question about Art Farm. It's come up here a couple times. I see a couple different statuses listed in there. It's one says it's on on hold because of the work at the Publix Shoot pump station. Another says design being finalized. We get asked about that a lot. Here we are, you know, in front of the public. I'll ask, what is what where are we? What's where's where's Art Farm at right now?

Councilor Wilson, I think the director Rich actually sent a memo about specifically for that. But I'm glad you're asking that because maybe director Rivera also has an answer. So or the you know, I I already call you director. Liaison Radasi. Like, can you comment to that?

Yes. Through the chair, I know there's another item on this on the agenda. So, director Rage did submit a memo providing the most up to date, information for Art Farm.

That's what I will just you know? So Happy to wait and have

that discussion when we take that up. It's just Art Farm had come up, and I wanted to ask about that. Yeah. Sure. One last question I had, and and that is to do to do with the Fields Master Plan stuff. Very excited for doing by auxiliary field coming online next year. Thank you, CPA funds. I have to ask, though, about Lincoln Park, specifically the soccer field. It's just it's not able to support the full programmed use it was intended to have just because of our inability to to have a, you know, healthy grass surface on it. How important is that, in the director's view, for us to get that field surface issue solved?

Through the chair, I have not been really involved in Lincoln Park soccer field for quite some time. I know that there's the grass was struggling. I thought that there had been some improvements made, and it was doing much better. I think that at this point, we do have enough synthetic turf fields to support at least what we have now in some growth. I I you know, maintenance of our assets is always a continual, thing that we work very hard with DPW on. But I I really don't know what where what status the Lincoln Soccer Field is at this moment.

Well, Cherry, I'll just say this about the Lincoln Park Soccer Field. It's, you know, really should be a gem. We've really struggled for a few reasons I won't get into here. We've struggled to to maintain that anywhere near the quality it should be at given the amount of money we put into that, and its importance. Yeah. We we absolutely we have a lot of turf fields in the city. We need more grass athletic fields. That's why that field is so important. So I, you know, I that's gonna it it's I'm just gonna name that. That's a problem we have to be working on. We have to get serious about, about making that surface work. That's all I had. Thanks, chair. And thanks, director.

Sure. Through the chair,

just one word on that. You will see when we open Dill Boy, it will be perfect. Just like when we opened the lawn at Prospect Hill Park, it was perfect. And I took a picture because I said to myself, it will never look like this again. And the truth is these are heavily used public spaces with dogs, rain, trampling after rainstorms, all the stuff that comes with heavy usage.

It is a challenge to maintain them. We don't have enough fields to let them rest while others recuperate. So, yeah, unfortunately, this is always a challenge with any municipality, but most especially with ours because we just don't have the space to be able to rotate things around. And, also, we would have to, you know, cordon off a large part of the park, which we've done for quite some time at Lincoln. So

Thank you, director. Counselor, appreciate your patience.

No problem. Thank you, mister chair. Yeah. Through you. Just a couple of quick questions. One, I noticed that and maybe it's I don't I I think we acquired it officially, but I noticed I didn't see the Sewell Street lot in this line. I know it's not named or anything like that, but it is officially ours, I believe. I didn't see that on there. I guess my question is is do you know how many, like, square feet of open space that that adds? Because that isn't gonna be a pop. It's not gonna be a privately owned public space. We were able to negotiate it to be, city city land.

Through the chair, Sybil Street wasn't, part of the inventory because the inventory was finished before it was, negotiated. But, yes, I I imagine it's it's less than a half of an acre, if that, because it's quite small. But, you know, we'll take every square inch. We have succeeded in getting, you know, in the last ten year, I think about 16, acres, which maybe 16? I don't know if that's right. Which doesn't sound like a lot given our goal was a 154 or something, but it actually is a lot because of how densely populated we are.

Yeah. No no problem. I just figured that, you know, you would I thought it would have been added just because, of course, you know, we we wanna look as good as possible here on paper. To the

chair, it's true. We do wanna look as good as possible, but we actually only add things after a ribbon cutting. That's kind of our standard.

Okay. Well, that was my question. I didn't that that's exactly what I was getting at. I just although I I didn't see whatever. Okay. But that's exciting. And then the other question was around, as far as well, this is kind of on the pollinator garden thing. But have you been in touch with Mystic River Watershed Association around the MROS project and, like, the kinda, I guess, the I think it's gonna kinda decimate the pollinator garden that's over currently on the Shore Drive area, which the pipe is gonna go right through that pollinator garden. Have you been in touch with them about what the plans might look like?

Through the chair.

Councilor Klingon, that's that's the that's the I think the other item is about pollinator.

Oh, okay.

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Through the chair. The other item is about the pollinator plan. Councilor Klingon is act is asking about a project that has the potential to destroy the pollinator garden that was, that's on the Mystic Banks. Yeah.

Yeah. I am aware of that, and I have made an appropriate amount of noise as has everyone on my staff. But there are infrastructure needs, and I don't think it can be avoided. It's it's also a particular shame because that pollinator garden, people always think that meadows are very easy to establish, and that pollinator garden was a perfect example of why we've always been saying it's really not like that because I believe DCR has put more than a $150,000 into it and many, like, many iterations over years to get it to finally be doing what it's supposed to do. And, yes, this project threatens to go right through it, and it's very unfortunate.

Yep. I just brought up a bit in the context of, you you know, blessing of the Bay Park is on there, which this is that's technically part of the whole the whole park. And then the last question would be as far as and this may fall. You know? Hopefully, this the new administration will really kind of reexplore the possibility of getting an MOU with the state from Foss Park.

I just you know, I get a lot of a lot of the people on Fellsway West, you know, that at this point, it seems like there's a few. They just redid all of these softball fields, the furthest ones down towards Mystic Ave, and they don't really get any use. And I just feel like there's so much possibility there with, you know, potentially because the state doesn't really wanna get involved with dog parks, it seems like. You know, that's kinda like they they kinda resist that's not something that they seem interested in doing, but it seems like if we were able to get an MOU with the state and could take control of FOSS, potentially, we could get a dog park there. And then other and maybe even more garden space.

You know? There's, you know, multiple potential uses where it's currently not being used right now, though those softball fields included. Do you have any thoughts on that? I'm just curious, like, in terms of FOS and, you know, what that would look add to our, stock

of various stock. DCR made a pretty substantial investment by putting the field there that is heavily, heavily used, and does provide a lot of that. There's always people on it. It provides a lot of the informal games that are not permitted. And they we have had numerous processes where we've spoken to people about what they'd like to see at FOSS.

But, you know, DCR is a huge real estate holder, and they have investments all over the state. I don't we've not really they have planted trees there, additional trees, but it's very hard to get them, to commit to changing things or to get them to agree to let us change things. So, really, that's, like, something that needs to be worked through, to the state delegation Okay. Which has been very involved.

I mean, honestly, I personally, through you, mister chair, I don't know that I would wanna see us take on another pool per se. So I I think maybe and they love their soccer fields, so maybe, you know, everything from the new soccer field on, they they maintain, and we work out a deal where we can develop in some way, you know, repurpose the rest of the of the open space that doesn't get a lot of use. And the one of the softball fields does, but the other two way down, they're not seeing any use at all. They've gotten all weeded over even after they spent a bunch of money to to to redo them. So, anyway, I just like to have that conversation as far as, you know, Foscos and as part of our open space amenities and stuff like that.

Hopefully, that's something we can work towards. That's all, mister Cheah. Thank you. Great presentation, by the way.

Thank you, councilor Klingen. I guess, doctor Oliveira, you can see that you have you continue to have, like, an, you know, all star, you know, tonight. But I wanna go back to this, you know, email that we got that I'm not sure you got it. One of our constituent, you know, really I I I literally had to print this email because I guess one thing I I was trying to know is that so community gardens, are they under your purview?

No. The community gardens are managed within themselves, and they're under the purview of the conservation commission. Commission.

Yeah. I know you mentioned that. So but do you have thank you. And so but how do we because you also mentioned about trying to add community gardens. So it seems that you guys overlap. Is that correct?

To the chair. So Pisoft designs and constructs the amenity, and then it is managed by, Conscom. Perfect. Also, I believe that this I don't know if this email is one of the items, another in another item. I wasn't sure if it had to do with that. There's another let's see.

I don't I don't know if it came to to us. I don't I think it was directed just just to just to members of the committee, but it's pretty

substantial. Very to the chair, it's very similar to the ones about policy for the use of open space on municipal property around city buildings for community gardens. 1427. So we I we could take that up now, or we can keep going.

Okay. I see. Okay. So that's why I see when when counselor Wilson mentioned it, and then I was like, okay. I thought it was an yeah. No. I think we should, I don't know.

I think maybe we should is that okay if

we just take it? Because you're still gonna be here for that one. Correct?

Through the chair. Today is the Louisa show, so I am here

all night.

My cat is now joining me.

Okay. So so what is what is the item number for that one?

That one is 14 27, but we were go we were moving towards, I think we were on

Oh, yes. Yes. Okay. Let me let me hold off. Let me just, yeah, take okay. Do the

pollinator option plan.

Yes. I got distracted because of once cancer, we started asking this question, I was like, okay. This is like I got it it it threw me off. Okay. I'll I'll wait. So pollinator garden.

Through the chair. Yes. So next slide is something that we, oh, you again, for those of you who have been around for a while, the pollinator, we've had a lot of, activism on pollinator action and also on native species. This really was something that was championed by mayor Ballantyne and started with a native species ordinance where we were able to set percentages for types different types of landscape for native plantings that also allowed us some flexibility to respond to climate change because nativity is always changing and plant ranges are actually changing with climate change. But as a second part to that, we were able to, the council voted unanimously, thank you, for the funds to create the Summerville pollinator action plan.

This is the first of its kind in The United States, and, you can find it on Summer Voice. Here's the QR if you want to zap that, or, again, it's on the Summer Voice page, and we're constantly adding information. The Summer Voice page has the methodology of it. It has videos, of different pollinators. It has presentations that the scientist gave us on it, and it is really a wealth of information that is a benefit to being open source because many, many other cities in the region have used it, and we are constantly getting feedback on it, very positive feedback.

So, again, it's worth reading. I know we have two New York's time New York Time bestsellers, but this plan is very, very good. And it is really an overlay of our city with the science, pollinator science, on top of it and then the plants that go with it. So let me just give you a couple of, highlights. So this is the there was an 11 person advisory committee, citizen advisory committee.

This may be a this is the when we finished the plan. And there were a number of people who spent a year and a half coming to meetings and writing them as well as Allison Mauer, who's in the left corner, who's the project manager from Public Space and Urban Forestry. This plan had a lot of you know, they the committee was involved in hiring the team that wrote it and in reviewing their work and arguing different points. And I think what we came up with is a is something that is very, very good, very, very hyperlocal, but also very usable to others and user friendly. We hope there are some parts that are for example, there is a database where you can search plants to figure out if there are particular pollinators you are trying to support, or if you're looking for a particular color to use in your garden.

That is a very detailed Excel spreadsheet. And then we also have a resident's guide that is about 10 pages long so that you can just, get a a glimpse of it. So it's from, you know, gardeners to horticulturalists. We had a in addition to the advisory committee, there was a lot of outreach that was done. Part of the, picking the advisory committee was people that had networks of others that we could really share this work with.

So we had scientists on the advisory committee, people from the growing center, the garden club, people from the, agencies that are working on pollinator stuff statewide. So we had really a lot of expertise. As always, we have a lot of, very smart people in Somerville. And we had a we had youth as well. They're also smart, but we also allowed some young folks and ex officio members of, for example, conservation commission or other adjacent committees.

This is the kind of science that was involved in making this plan. So just as a a quick, the the first step, we had a brilliant scientist, doctor Nicholas Dorian, who had also started the Tufts pollinator initiative. And the first step was to say, well, which pollinators are in Somerville? Because people often will get a plant that says, this supports 52 pollinators. But if only two of them are in your area, it's not really that useful of a plant.

So this is a chart that maps the interaction of pollinators to plants. So on the bottom is your plants. On the top are your pollinators. And when you see the bigger, bands, it means more insects have visited those more times, and those are, like, the high value pollinator plants. So there are a number of metrics that were done this way, and this was done through citizen science by combing not only local data that, one scientist had had here information from the Tufts Pollinator Institute, but also a program called iNatural, where people are able to take a photograph of something and geolocate it so we know which insects are actually here.

We found over, close to 300 species of insects and pollinator, which which is really goes far to let us know that cities really can be part of the answer to the biodiversity crisis. So heavy on science, really fascinating. And then from the plan, we we had a number of different things. So we, put in front of City Hall. We don't see them anymore because we're at the TAB Building, but three pollinator gardens that were built according to these recipe cards that are in the plan.

So for people who don't really know what what plant design they want, they can pick a recipe card and say, I want a purple garden or a garden that supports butterflies. And we had three of them installed in front of city hall. People now I see getting married in front and taking photos in front of it, which is super cute. And then we also the iNaturalist program is runs. There's a Somerville pollinator action account where you can, identify pollinators, and we would like to encourage everyone to do it because adding more habitat and then being able to measure the difference is what really tells us if the plan is working.

We also, this year, as part of the implementation, we're able to add more habitat to five different gardens in the city. The on the right is the wedding nook at Prospect Hill. It's one of the ones that received it. We also put plants in Conway Park, Hoyt Sullivan, Chuckie Harris Park, and there's one more, but I can't remember. But, anyway, you know, part of the the whole point is to add habitat, to know who who is here and then to add more places for them to overwinter, for them to breed, for them to eat.

We also have there's a section in the plan about landscape practices and about leaving leaves, not using pesticides, trying to buy, plants that are neonic free. We had a whole discussion about that last night. All very important things. And I'm really happy to say that we this plan has been really highly regarded. We won both, an award from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and an and a national award, actually, from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

And we presented it at the conference and had, just really glowing people were really, really happy to have this information. And these things are important also because not just because our team is landscape architects, but because landscape architects are the ones choosing the plants for most public spaces in the area. So that's, like, a big network of people who now is realizing, okay. Here is this plan. This information is relative to us in the Metro Boston area, but also could be replicated in other cities, and here's the methodology for doing it.

So very proud of this work. We had a you know, we had the same conversations that we have all the time with some people being more purist, some people being less, and then trying to hunt down the science because this is a science based plan. But in the end, I think there is something for everyone in this plan, and, I'm really, proud of the work that we've done. I think that's oh, yes. That is the last slide. So here is a a bee getting some pollen.

Amazing. Wow. Excellent presentation. When I saw this, the garden, like, I always think about my friend, Tori, you know, Antonino. Like, she's always, you know, like, trying to create this this, you know, plans that you know, I whenever I see, like, a bee or, like, you know, in some of those gardens, I just think about just how much we are so rich with community members that are so that invest in, like, building this kind of, like, native, you know, gardens that we are aspiring.

No. But I I appreciate that. This is this is excellent. You actually I was you took words from my mouth because I wanted to build up the new needs conversation into this, but you can't, like, just went right in. No. It's it's good. I appreciate it. Any member have any question? Thank you, director. This is in excellence. So, we will mark, ten and eleven work complete.

So if I may, through the chair, just to add a couple of things. There is a discussion about neonics here and, you know, to increase awareness of what the damage it does to pollinators. And then also, Tori was actually on the committee issues in the photograph that you saw and is also you know, the whole committee is on the award. So, you know, we're really excited about the collaboration and the work that was done, on this plan, and it really was, I think, a super active, very engaged advisory committee that enabled us to get such a good product.

Excellent. Wow. I did not I couldn't believe I did not recognize Tori in that picture. But

She's right next to me.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I see how those those those glasses. I yeah. I know. I've seen I I saw that one. Yeah. Anyway, thank you, director.

I think we should we could we can quickly move. You can I think maybe, Liaison Radasi can pick the different items for you because you you seem to occupy a bunch of the agenda? So I don't know which one do you wanna want us to pick up. Maybe maybe maybe nine since we're talking about, you know, that the director of public space and urban forestry discussed with his council a policy for use of open space on municipal property around city building for community gardens. Yes.

Oh my god. This is this is the one that you know, if you did not get this memo, like, I gotta make sure that the clerk sends it so it should be attached to it because this is, like, from a a resident, very thoughtful. You know? It's really explains even, like, the potential spaces to create, you know, like, community gardens even if it's just for temporary use. And they even mentioned, like, 45 College Ave, even describing, you know, like, how convenient the location is, 24 Cross Street, you know, 19 Walnut Street, 9 Allen Street.

I mean, like, they did their homework. And so I just wanna hear your thinking because I just think it makes so much sense. I could not believe that, you know, when I read this thing and then realizing that people like, the wait list is just like, it seems like 600 people. It's just too much. You know?

And and and, I mean and they actually even have suggestion about, like, how to kinda, like, really create these things so that it can be fair and equitable. You know? I mean, of course, the only thing I didn't really appreciate is you know? I mean, the last part I mean, the last paragraph says, like, oh, if this on the used basis cannot be used for community allotment, can they at least be made into temporary pollinator gardens in a city as dense as some of it underutilizing municipal owned space is positively criminal? I don't I think that was, like, a little bit of a stretch right there, but I I I guess, you know, yes, it's something that we should pay attention, you know, to be able to, like I I mean, I got the idea, but, I mean, I would not have used that that last that last word.

You know? So can you just, you know, speak to this item and how you can, you know, help our residents kinda, like, really feel included into some of this underutilized municipal spaces?

Yes. Through the chair. Thank you. I have, I have read the email that was sent I have. And I've actually met with Eilish before to discuss some of these things.

So, yes, I and this is actually not the first time that these ideas have come up. They come up quite frequently, but there are, unfortunately, a number of problems. The the first one being that we are in an urban environment, and a lot of the land on properties can be contaminated. And if we, if we test the property, we then need to remediate it, and there's no way around that. So we could go around and test the soil on every single city asset, and then we would need to remediate it.

Normally, the, when there is a real estate transaction, the developer is the one who remediates the soil when they're building something. So the first thing is that there's soil can be contaminated, and we do not want people gardening in contaminated soil. We know that all of the community gardens presently have clean soil because we built them.

Mhmm.

There is also an issue with, you know, sometimes some of these areas so there's a number of categories of areas that she mentioned them. Some of them are, like, city property. And, again, there's the contamination issue. 90 Washington is a perfect example. We are trying to dispose of that lot.

But we in order to let people garden there and this is really about vegetables, but could also be about even gardening flowers depending on the contaminants. And then if we let people garden there, we don't if we test it, we're liable for it. If we don't test it and something happens to someone, we're then liable for that. So there is a big issue with contamination. You know, we just have been through Conway Park. We know what kind of, stuff that that leaves. So that that is a big problem. There are and I have said this to Eilish. There are a number of places that I think are gardenable now. For example, Chuckie Harris Park doesn't have anyone gardening there.

We are also have been awarded through participatory budgeting money to create pollinator gardens, which will be we will be doing. It's also part of the implementation of the pollinator plan. But those have to be in spaces that we know are, one, safe and, two, are being cared for. And it it is there are volunteers who are very committed, they care for things and do things, but volunteering is not is not a sure thing to assure the maintenance of spaces. So, there is that as well because people are very committed, and then they move away or they have other things happen to them or and they just can't be committed anymore.

So there are some some other things. I think that there are a number of opportunities for residents to be involved, be it through the growing center, the garden club, through various pollinator plantings that are gonna be coming up through the community gardens, for example, and find, like, underutilized ones, where they're planting plants. But the you know, there's also other things that are when people are planting, on city land sometimes, for example, in areas of high traffic, there isn't any thought to sight lines or things like that. So, you know, there's there it seems like such a simple idea, and why don't we just do it? But, unfortunately, in the land of liability, it is not a simple idea, and there's a number of different things to consider.

Are there parcels that belong to the city where that could happen? Frankly, I don't know because I don't know what all of our assets are, and I think some of the things that she mentioned were potentially private properties. I don't know. No.

I think one thing I'm glad to hear is that, you know, you're meeting with her, which is for me, that's it's super helpful. You know? So, yeah, hopefully, you know, we'll continue this conversation and, you know, figure out a better way, you know, because it's like every community problem, you know, has a community based solution. So and how like, it's all about what is that that process looks like. No.

But thank you for engaging with her, and it's yeah. I don't know, you know, what to say. I think I'm not sure how to dispose of this item. And I think I don't know. Does what do you think? You know, I'm asking members of the committee, like, right now. Like, you know, councilor Wilson, you know, I know you started this conversation as well. You know? So this is now we are now on the sauce.

Yeah. Mister chair, since you asked, you know, probably our last meeting of the year. Right? So these items are all gonna expire at the end of the year. So I'd if we if it was set for discussion, we discussed it, just one man's opinion, but I'd mark it we're completed.

Yeah. I thought so too. And, also, we can resubmit something in the year if this conversation doesn't really pan out. You know? So thank you. So, you know, Claire, for the series, we're gonna mark this as well complete as well. Are we gonna go back to the I I just feel like we're just going backwards for some reason. We started from nine from eleven. We went to ten. We went to ninth.

Maybe we should just return the regular order of business. Can we go to it? No? Maybe maybe no. No. That's all. We we we wanna get rid of you now. Like so I gotta look at what what what item applies to you so you can we can let you go.

Through the chair. I think there are a

couple more. Because I haven't had as long of a city council meeting since the fields debate. So

Okay. So so are you also, you know, the one for dog parks?

Yes.

Okay. So nice, so we're gonna move to three that that the director of public space and urban forestry discussed with this council opportunities to create a dog park in West Somerville. So, wow, you're you're gonna this is gonna be a good time, you know, with you and you and the committee to actually, you know, have fun before the end of the year. So councilor Davis sent an an email that wanted me to read this into the record, so bear with me. Mister chair, as we discussed, I won't be able to attend the open space meeting this evening due to preexisting conflict.

However, I'm providing this message for the benefit of the committee to provide some historical context on the topic. Please read this into the record if you would be so kind. I think I am kind. In June 2022, I raised the question of an off leash area in the western part of the city to the administration and suggested perhaps Nathan Tufts Park might be an option. Director Oliveira noted that it is an historic district which would necessitate going through the historic preservation committee.

I also reached out to a few folks in the ward and heard some resistance to the idea, which led me to conclude that it will be an uphill battle, and effort will be better focused elsewhere. At the time, director Oliveira also noted that the city was working with the state to potentially open an off leash area somewhere in the vicinity of Joe Boyfield. I don't know where the effort stands, but I maintain that that will be an ideal location in many ways if it were possible. Another parcel that would seem to be an obvious location is the Eversource property on Willow Ave. It is currently zoned as civic space, which will allow this use.

If the city were able to work out an arrangement with Eversource, it will be an opportunity to turn a significantly underused parcel into a public open space. I've also long suggested that that parcel will make an excellent location for an eventual replacement for the Brown School, and this will be a beneficial use of the space that will not foreclose that opportunity. Doctor Oliveira, you get the point. So take it away.

Yes. Thank you. Through the chair. So, this a lot of this conversation comes from a feasibility study that was funded by the Community Preservation Act, I believe, in 2019. And it identified that there are no, off leash recreational areas for dogs in West Summerville.

The study had some flaws in it, but, in fact, there is not an off leash recreational area in Summerville that is owned by the by the city. I know there were people that used to run their dogs at Tufts University. I don't know if that one still exists or not. The problem with as with everything is, not having the open space to meet everyone's needs. And there were some places suggested in the study, but they were not feasible.

For example, when you go and look into them like the Nathan Tufts Park and you see it is historical and, you know, as as many people want a dog park, there are people against it. So there's a couple of things when sighting a dog park that I think we need to remember. One is that it's it is, able to be fenced so that dogs can run freely but not interfere with other people that may be outside that area and that it is not adjacent to residential properties. I know that Nunziato is, but that one was done before, really, there was any real thought to it. And we also get a lot of complaints from neighbors about Nunziotto Field.

So that said, I know there is a need for this, And I we there was some conversation about DCR, but I don't believe that DCR allows dogs off leash in their properties anywhere. There's also a playground there near Dilbois, so it would have to be fenced off. And, again, that's something that DCR would need to do because it is not our property. As to the Eversource property, people bring this this property up to me a numb for many things because it's filled with invasives, because it could be something else, but it is owned by Eversource. So our ability to tell anyone what to do with private properties is really, very difficult.

I mean and a little bit you know, we I don't really know what to say because I you know, it's a private property. I don't know that we have any influence over what they can and cannot do with it. I acknowledge the need, and I wish I had a better solution, but there really aren't parcels that we own in West Somerville for the purpose of this.

Thank you, director. Any members of the committee have any question? Councilor Wilson.

Thanks, chair. Yeah. Appreciate that update. I will note there have been cases where folks have gotten DCR to basically be okay with off lease recreation areas. Sheepfold is one of them. I don't know that we have enough space to the the big thing about Sheepfold has a ton of space, and that's why they can get away with it there. I'm not sure that's gonna work well in Somerville, but, hey, always worth the conversation. The Tufts area would ride on Powderhouse, Boulevard that has been sort of a de facto dog park for a while. Tufts had cracked down on that at one point. I'll just say I've spoken to, our main contact at Tufts about formalizing something.

Tufts is always looking for ways to to demonstrate value to the community. I think that would be a really good community benefit. We're Tufts to figure out a way to to provide a dog park, to a really, to an area of the city that is underserved by dog parks. So that's just all that's all I wanted to say. Thanks, chair.

Thank you, chair. I agree.

Yeah. Thank you, chair. I also 100% agree that turf should actually, you know, like, create us a dog pack, you know, as part of their community benefit agreement so that I can actually go and, you know, maybe kinda, like, look through the window view. Because if you're if you're aware of somebody from Cameroon, you know, we're not, like, into dark. But, hey.

Again, I wanna I like to see it through the fence. You know? No leashing in an open space, but through the fence, I can, like, just see the dogs run around, jump, and do their their, you know, performance. You know, there are some of these dogs. I just love this, you know, the ad that actually see how smart they are, like, in pulling stuff. But, yeah, we definitely need something And, you know, with our own you know, like, real estate is it's so scarce. But thank you for, you know, thinking in that direction. Councilor O'Klingon?

Yeah. Thank you, mister. So just to kinda what I was saying earlier just to director Olvera, is it a policy, or is it no. As far as, say, Dilboy is concerned. Right? Like, I heard you say, you know, the state doesn't allow dogs off leash. Right. But are they sort of just adverse to creating dog parks, I guess, was sort of my question earlier. Is that something that you know to be, you know, I don't know about fact if they have it as down in writing, but or do you know that? I don't know.

Through the chair. I I don't know that. What you know, in that Dilbois area, there is a playground, so there's that factor. So it would need to be fenced. I don't know if they would be amenable to doing it.

Personally, I am completely in favor of having a dog park because what's gonna happen is that the field that we just invested almost $3,000,000 in is going to become a dog park. And, you know, at short of having someone there telling people not to put their dogs on it, we can't really prevent that. So, and the dogs the dogs, you know, on in a dog park, they're not damaging anything. But on an athletic field, they are because they dig and their urine burns the grass. So, yes, I would love to be able to solve this problem.

I don't know if DCR when we the interactions we have with DCR are really at the staff level of, like, other people that are doing the design work or going through green docket review. I'm not sure, and I can try to reach out to one of those contacts to see. I'm not sure if they have a pal policy. I don't know if they would be amenable to it there because it's near playground.

Yeah. Well, I definitely yeah. I mean, again, I'm not saying Del Boy near the playground per se. I guess I'm I I mentioned Del Boy because it's state land, but I'm more curious. And I'll be great if you could ask that just because I know a lot of dog parks.

I have a dog, and I know all the different I I don't think I know of one off leash, like, dedicated dog park that's on state property. And it's my it's been my understanding that especially since they know about the situation at FOSS, where it's basically becoming unofficial off leash dog park, which, you know, in the summertime, I get complaints because there's the tennis camp and everything. They're aware of that situation, and I tell people I don't think that the state, because of whatever, you know, reasons, I don't think that they're you know, whether it'd be having to go do the main you know, pick up the the the bags or whatever. Know? Any of those reasons, it just seems like there is an either unspoken policy or there is a policy somewhere that we just never asked.

But, because I think about places like if we were to talk to Medford, I think it's Medford's land, but, you know, near the corner of Danger of Boston Ave and thing that there's, like, these odd open spaces where there's no children's parks around nearby, but but really could, satisfy the need for, say, a dog park or something like that. So, anyway, that's just kinda my my dog thoughts on dog parks and the state and whether or not because they have the most abundance of sort of free open land in our area. So

Yes. Through the chair,

I I imagine it's also a question of resources. You know, they already have so much land that they need to maintain and renovate, and maybe they have decided that's just something they don't wanna get into. I don't know. I can, ask with DCR. They're not the best communicators, but I can certainly see if there's a reason.

Yeah. Thank you, Councilor Tengue. I think it's all about capacity, you know, as well in all this agency. Councilor Wilson?

Yeah, mister Choi. I just wanna highlight something we just heard, which is that the ward four counselor is getting questions about Foss Park because we all know Foss Park should be in Ward 4. Thank

Thank you. So, you know, we're all in agreement that we want a dog park, but how to get it, it's remains the million dollar question. So we'll mark this as well complete. Thank you, director, for those comment. So the next one is item number four that the director of public space and urban forestry plant new trees and maintain existing trees in Magoon Square on Medford Street and on Broadway. I think, if I'm not mistaken, I remember okay. Yeah.

Through the chair, on Medford Street and on Broadway. Yes. So that's a little bit of a broad request. Recently, the urban forestry division has planted various trees on Broadway, and they'll be planting new trees along Central Broadway as part of the Central Broadway project, which is on, the Summer Voice page Broadway corridor. So that that, those trees, There have been trees planted there.

They've also we have a routine pruning program for medium to large street trees and are cycling through the all the streets. And it was so far, we've completed Wards 1 And 2 and are currently working in Ward 3. So we'll probably be working, through the pruning cycle for Magoon within one or two years. Again, we just don't have the resources to do it all at once. The other thing, I don't know if people know, but anytime there is a place to put a tree, they can submit a three one one.

Or any tree issues, that they would like to speak to the arborists about, they can send to trees@sommervillema.gov, and that goes to the tree amigos as we call them, the two arborists in public space, and the, tree warden in DPW. So, you know, they're they're we plant 350 street trees a year, and, we try to spread them out through wards. But many of them are people that are asking for a tree. And, you know, every single one of those trees, doctor Bakhili goes out, finds the location, finds the appropriate species, checks for gas lines to see if the sidewalk can be built. So we welcome people telling us where there are spaces for trees because it's pretty labor intensive.

And then she goes out and make sure that they have all been planted as well. So we we really do rely on the community to give us information about trees if they are, able to.

Thank you, director. Yeah. No. That makes sense. I guess when I hear, like, 350 trees a year, that's, like, a significant amount. So how many of them survive? Because, I mean, we still seem to be, like, temporary, like, you know, the the area. Like, we're still at the lowest with trees. So how can you you know, how do we like, how many, like, how many of them survive? And since when have we been planting 250 trees a year? I think we should we should have been, like, the number one tree city.

Through the chair, so we've been planting 350 trees a year, probably two years after doctor Bukili got here. If you wanna read a third New York Times bestseller, the urban forestry master plan has all the data on the Summerville tree canopy. We we have probably around, 16,000 trees right now. And, yes, we have less than a lot of other cities because we are more densely populated. We also know that we trees are lost a lot to, private property, and we cannot control that.

We have a tree protection ordinance, which we also enforce, but, we're not losing our canopy in our public spaces. We're losing our canopy in the private spaces. There is a loss, of street trees. It's about a one percent death rate. Those get replaced within those two years.

And street trees, if you look at what they're growing in, they gotta be really tough. They're in a three by three pit. People trample all over them. Dogs pee in them. Like, we have a lot of real survivors that are doing very well despite those odds, but we do, we every year, I'm amazed that she can still find a place to put 350 trees, but she's doing a spring and fall planting.

All of those tree locations are up on our website in GIS, so anybody can look at those. And if there's one I mean, there's many things that doctor Bukile does well, but the she has all the data on the urban forest and knows exactly where she has planted and what year she planted them in. It's all in a huge database. So, yes, we would love to plant more trees everywhere, but if there's specific locations, please tell us where, and we can, you know, put it in the spring planting.

Yeah. No. Thank you. Thank you. No. I appreciate it. And I'm also a big fan of Doctor. Bokile. I guess, you know, one of the things I was curious about is just not a big deal, but just to kinda, like, how to, you know, tell which maybe locations, you know, of priority that will have, like, the greatest environmental health benefit. You know? Like, what is like that? Do you like, are you doing that kind of, like, you know, I see you nodding.

So that analysis is in the urban forestry management plan, and we know that the the neighborhood that needs it the most because they are environmental justice communities and because they are so densely populated and have the least amount of trees is, of course, East Summerville and into Winter Hill. But we've actually had a lot of efforts made a lot of efforts to plant in those two neighborhoods because they are, the most vulnerable. And, you know, the trees also create a substantial benefit for climate change. They're very important, and they are the one asset that appreciate as they get older. Right?

So when we plant a tree, it's worth a lot more in ten years than it is when we first plant it. So, yes, we're aware of where there is a need, and we are trying to work with residents to get as many trees as possible.

Amazing. Amazing. Thank you, director. So we'll mark this as well complete, and then I think we'll we'll have to, like, move. Jeez. This is what happened. I I thought this was gonna be, like, a thirty minute, you know, like, committee meeting. So the next one is I think maybe you're gonna help me with this one too. It said well, it says parks and recs. But this is just me. You know? Like, we go at the pool. This is, like, item number six, but we've really done number five. And the director of Parks and Recs, you know, install a clock on top of the pool building. You know?

I think I see wants to take this one. I thought I thought doctor Olivera is gonna, like, just knock off knock off this knock herself off tonight. Yes.

Thank you, mister chair. Yes. Any additional context on this item would be really helpful. We have shared this request broadly with parks and recreation staff, and I can follow-up once a new director is onboarded. But in the meantime, any context would be helpful.

Oh, no. Thank you, liaison. That's it. No. I mean, this is just straightforward.

I mean, there was you know, like, during the summer, like, people come there, and I just overheard, like, everybody just saying, like I mean, like, it may also feel that it would be nice, you know, to kinda and not just put a clock. We can even do, like, some solar panel, you know, like, you know, like, adaptive kind of innovation because people come use that swimming pool just by seeing the clock on top of, like, the buildings. You can if you even visit here, you will see what I'm talking about. But it's just a nice aesthetic to show that, hey. This is, like like, our own way to kinda, like, show that community spirit of like, it's something just something that's small, but it's also very symbolic that people, you know, like, they come to, like, the pool because some a bunch of them don't swim with their with their watches.

You know? It's like they and then they can see the clock. They see the time. It's just it wasn't, it was just a lot of folks have been asking, and then I just thought, okay. Maybe I should just put in, you know, a request. But this is something that, traditionally, I would probably just talk to the director or something and just say like, hey. Yeah. Don't you think it would be nice? And then, you know, I I wasn't, like, a fan of board orders, honestly, but, again, it feels like it was like the the the the way to go when we got on the council. So it's like, oh, you know, you just said something, and then maybe somebody has to, like, send a policy. Yeah. No. It's just as direct as you read it like that. So unless they say, oh, there's no money or there's nothing. You know?

But I think it's just a clock because it's a public pool. So and the building, if you go there, you'll see the need. So I don't know if

I can

Through the chair. I think that would need to also go through DCR because they own that pool, don't they? Oh. Yeah. I think that is a DCR pool.

Uh-oh.

Somebody's making some comment behind. Is is that is that doctor, you you do you have any comment? I hear somebody's speaking behind a mic.

Through the chair. No. No comments. I'm just taking notes on your comments so that I can share them once we have a new, director at Parks and

Rec. Sure. And, doctor Oliver, thank you for that interest. I see I see is back.

Just, I I know we operate the Dilboy Pool. I believe it's owned by DCR, though. So whatever whatever that means, for the clock, that's the situation.

I see. Thank you. Yeah. No. I mean and and, you know, there's no that's it. No matter the outcome, we just wanna see that if this if it's not possible, that's fine. You know? But, again, this is just a need that community members have expressed, and then we're like, okay. Let me just bring it and see how we can, you know, fix it. Usually, again, like I said, if I had a good rapport with the director, I don't need to send.

You know? I think I probably call doctor Olibera, like, a 100 times without sending, like, a board order because it's it's because of the relationship. So so we'll mark this as work complete. And then moving on, I think we should be wrapping this thing up. Oh, I love this one.

That that I think, director, Olivera, unless you just do you have I think oh, you have one more stuff about it says urban space and urban forestry. Okay. So we'll skip this. We'll skip seven and go to eight so that we can, you know, let the director go and rest. It's been a long day, and then we can wrap bring it home pretty quickly.

So it says that the director of infrastructure and asset management and the director of public space and urban forestry update this council on the status of Ad Farm and the funding for the project. Okay. I know Leonardo Dassi sent a memo through I think director Rich sent a memo as well. I I don't know if members of the committee had a chance to read it. You know?

It's it still had some you know? Maybe it would have been nice to I don't know. Like, I'll open it to here. Like, if there's any that Lizona, does it do you have any comment for that memo first?

Through the chair, no. Those are all the most up to date, updates for Art Farm. And I'll just mention it's it's in the memo as well, but it's tied to the CIP.

So, Castle Winston, did you get a chance to read that memo? I know you you asked about the. You know? So I guess my one question is, I have been hearing about Art Farm for almost my entire time that I've been in some of it. So it's it's I guess, like, I just yeah.

What is, like, that current status of capital funding for AdFarm? Like, you know, this is, like, still the the whole thing is still kinda, like, missing, including any gaps between plan cost and secure funding. I know the director mentioned that, but I just wanna, know, understand, like, the revised timeline in of construction and programming because we've been hearing this. Is it even gonna happen? That's the first thing I wanna even know because just so that we can just move on to something else because I just I just don't know what is happening around the, honestly. Can somebody, like, just, you know, share more more light?

Through the chair, my understanding is that we're still moving forward this project. In the memo, Rich does say that the there needs to be a funding strategy, which they think will be figured out early next year. So there'll be more details then. And, again, I just wanna highlight again that it's tied to the capital investment plan, the CIP. So those kinda go hand in hand as well. Yeah.

I'm looking for for counselor Wilson because he jumped in with the ask some questions. Now allow me to kinda, like

I think I have, like, some yeah. Well, I mean,

I think the memo is it's yeah. Like you said, it shows that the conversation is still ongoing. But then, also, honestly, like, I'm just tired of seeing this Ad Farm stuff. I'll mark this as work complete, and then we can have this conversation, you know, in the New Year if there's something else that is, yeah, that is missing. Does that make sense?

Council Wilson, do you agree? Yes? Okay. Next. So so, doctor Oliveira, I think you can literally space out, honestly. I don't see anything that requires you here except you wanna sit for the there's the the second to the last item is number seven. That says the director of health and human services create a summer job in the mayor's jobs program by which youth can travel by bike to water, public trees, all around the city.

Through the chair, this one is also an item that I will respond to if that's okay.

Yeah. Absolutely.

So the administration has started to have some internal conversations about this proposal. When I raised it with DPW, they had some initial concerns about existing crews and contractors that are in charge of watering right now. So there are some collective bargaining and contract considerations that would need to be taken into account, but this is something that IJA is planning to flag for the new administration to see if there's any way to implement this.

Excellent. Well complete. Thank you. That is that is that is succinct. It makes sense to me unless, you know, any member of the community, you know, feels differently.

And I think we we should we probably have the last item now, you know, on the because I just went, like, in reverse order. I'm checking. I don't see. I think the only one that we have is item number two. The director of sustainability, you know, and environment convey an overview of Commonwealth's clean energy goals, electric sector modernization plan, demand growth in some of it, and capital projects underway or plan.

Yeah. I think this is a big one. We had a such a, you know, like, a preliminary, but also, like, detailed conversation on this in the past. And I guess one of the thing that I I I was curious just for this is just to know where things are, especially given the projected demand, you know, growth in some of it, like, what are the most significant risk, you know, to grid reliability over the next decade? Like, there's a all this and what capital projects are already, you know, funded or pending to address, like, all this vulnerability if there are any of this stuff?

Because it was such a detailed conversation, but I know because of the timing, like you said in your memo, you know, we couldn't have Eversource here, which, you know, understandable. But I'm happy to hear, you know, your thinking and and the direction that you want us to go.

Thank you, mister Cher. Yes. So this is an item that was an office communication from 2024. So it was discussed in December 2024 and earlier this year. And at both of those meetings, Eversource and director Blaise presented to the committee on the item. And I know that part of the discussion, at least for earlier this year, I'm not sure because I wasn't here in December 2024. But, part of the conversation for earlier this year was talking about some of the, long term strategies over the next decade. So in terms of there's no further updates to provide on this item. And, yeah, if there's any specific questions, but I think most of them were addressed at the last committee meeting, earlier this year.

Did I just mute myself, or did somebody mute me? So, no, I think it it's I think this is, again, yeah, this is not I don't think we have yeah. I mean I mean, we can we can this this one is a little tricky, but I'm happy to I'm inclined to leave it just so that, you know, like, the the following year, if because this is, like, a whole long term stuff that is gonna be happening, you know, in case peep EverSell has, like, an updated, you know, like, plan, we we are happy to

Through the chair, since it's an officer's communication, if there was an update to the plan, it would be submitted again as an officer's communication.

Yep. That makes sense. Okay. So we'll mark this again. We're complete. Thank you, Alexander. That's you see, we we we're we're a team here. Sometimes, we're not sure how to dispose of an item. So I guess, you know, we'll probably come to the end of our agenda. Let's pray for.

Yes. And

happy birthday. Thank you for making it to the end of this agenda item. You know? I I was saying I was saying, wow. When when they say you and you say you were the clerk, I was excited because it was your birthday week. So happy happy birthday to

Thank you.

Our great clerk for always being there for us. I think we'll take every item. You know? We probably have just maybe completed every item on on except one that we kept. I don't remember which.

Yes. I have item five as captain committee. Everything else is work completed.

Perfect. Perfect. Sounds good. And so, with that, we can, you know, make the motion to adjoin and then work complete for those items, and then we're the one to keep in committing.

On adjournment. Councilor Klingon? Yes. Councilor Wilson?

I wanna vote no, but I'll vote yes, please.

Councilor Burnley, councilor Syed, and councilor Bah.

Yes. And thank you so much, everybody.

Mister Chair, three members have voted to adjourn to our absent, and we are adjourned.

Happy birthday, Peter. Thank you.

Happy birthday, Peter.

Thank you.