I am writing to support two Community Preservation Act proposals that will be submitted to the CPA Committee of the City of Somerville for the FY16 funding cycle. They are described in the summaries below.

Because there is so little public space in Somerville, and because residents generally have so little of their own space, it is important to increase everyone's access to spaces of different types. I support the approaches outlined in these proposals, such as development of unused spaces, improvement of walkability to current spaces, research on possible tools to secure new spaces, and exploration of better ways to share existing open spaces.

Project Summaries:

REMNANT, RIGHT-OF-WAY, and UNCLAIMED SPACE INVENTORY WITH CORBETT-MCKENNA PATH PILOT: In this project, the City of Somerville will work on two efforts:

1. Contract with a consultant who will study historical and current maps, deeds, assessors’ data, current open space uses, and neighborhood demographics to identify locations and legal mechanisms by which the City can:

• reclaim and find uses for remnant spaces for purposes such as pedestrian paths across blocks, picnic areas, tot-lots, community gardens, off-leash dog areas, and other public uses; and/or
• permit private property owners to develop their land as permanently public and accessible open space.

2. Test the feasibility of repurposing remnant spaces by completing an engineering and schematic design for the development of pedestrian paths through the wooded area below Corbett McKenna playground.

ALLEN STREET MIXED USE RENOVATION: In this project, the City of Somerville will contract with a landscape architect to develop a schematic design to rebuild the Allen Street Open Space as an innovative shared area that maintains or expands the number and quality of community garden plots, while providing enough space to permit outdoor play for one classroom of 19 Head Start students and/or neighborhood children.