The City of Watertown completed the Watertown Square Area Plan in the summer of 2024 after it was unanimously endorsed by the City Council. You can read the plan here.

Since then, the City has began their process of implementing the plan’s vision. The first step in implementation was to pass new zoning in the Watertown Square Area. This new zoning met and exceeded the zoning requirements as part of the Commonwealth’s MBTA Communities Act. This new zoning map was ultimately passed by the Watertown City Council in November 2024.

Now the City is taking the next steps of implementing the Area Plan by completing a Revitalization Plan and an engineering design project.

An urban revitalization plan is undertaken by cities and towns to prepare for revitalization that addresses community driven goals like housing, economic development, and the environment. The revitalization planning process is regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, so there is a template that must be followed in order for the State to accept it. The overall outcomes of these plans are a set of strategies of how and where to invest public funds in order to promote the private development and growth envisioned by the town or city through the planning process.

This phrase is used interchangeably with “Urban Renewal Plan”, which is the legal phrase for these type of projects.

Urban Renewal is a legal term that is defined by Massachusetts state law as ”a strategy for redeveloping and revitalizing substandard, decadent and blighted open areas for residential, commercial, industrial, business, governmental, recreational, educational, hospital or other uses.  Under M.G.L. Chapter 121B, urban renewal agencies are authorized to take a range of actions to address disinvested and underutilized neighborhoods and substandard, decadent and blighted conditions in order to create the environment needed to promote sound growth and attract and support private investment in designated urban renewal areas.”   

“Urban Renewals” are a legal process that are governed and regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These laws outline the structure these plans need to follow, and defines the rules under which this work can occur in Massachusetts that ensures clear standard for planning, documentation of conditions, and fair treatment of property and business owners. The goal of contemporary urban renewal plans is to leverage public resources to advance a community vision and set up an effective framework for public private partnerships. To this end, the City of Watertown prefers to call this an Urban Revitalization Plan, though it utilizes the State’s “Urban Renewal” tools.

You can learn more from the state FAQs here:  https://www.mass.gov/doc/updated-what-is-urban-renewal/download

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An urban renewal plan is a document that lays out the decisions and investments a community can make to support revitalization and redevelopment of a target area.  Massachusetts State laws (M.G.L. Ch121B) and Regulations (760 CMR12.00) specify the process of creating one, what needs to be included, and what the thresholds are for any actual redevelopment to be done.  After it is completed and approved by the State, the plan allows the City and the redevelopment authority the opportunity to undertake pre-development activities within the parameters of that plan.   Learn more.

A redevelopment authority is a public or quasi-public agency that is empowered to undertake urban renewal projects, such as revitalizing “blighted” areas (also a legal term) and redeveloping it for private use. These agencies can also have powers to acquire property, issue bonds, and manage funding for various development activities. They are authorized this authority from the municipality, but the laws governing how they operate stem from state statutes. The City of Watertown’s redevelopment authority is the City Council.

You can learn more from the state FAQs here:  https://www.mass.gov/doc/updated-what-is-urban-renewal/download

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A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions. Typically, it involves a private entity financing government projects and services up-front, and then drawing revenues from public sources and/or users for profit over the course of the PPP contract.  There are many reasons for these arrangements and the terms vary project by project depending on the goals and needs of each participant.  For example, it may be cheaper for a developer to build a segment of public infrastructure as part of their larger project development.  In that case, the city contributes the land and in return, gets upgrades to its infrastructure in order to unlock development.   

In Fall 2024, the City passed new transit-oriented development” (TOD) zoning for Watertown Square according to the recommendations in the Watertown Square Area Plan.  The Watertown Square is listed as §5.08 “Watertown Square/Neighborhood Mixed Use Districts (WSQ1, WSQ2, WSQ3, NMU) and the new WSQ Use table is listed in §5.01 C):  You can view the full zoning code at: https://ecode360.com/36825722

This zoning accomplished a number of objectives: 

• Compliance with state MBTA Communities requirements.

• Increased height that concentrates in the core of the district and gets progressively less dense and lower heights as it moves further away from the immediate downtown.

• Reduced parking requirements.

• Increased sustainability and affordable housing requirements.

• Improvements to the site plan review process.

• Introduction of “as-of-right” zones where projects do not require a special permit, only site plan review, if they are compliant with zoning.

• Required ground floor retail in key areas

• Increased sidewalk widths and reduced side setback requirements to reflect the small lots and need for walkable zones. 

Introduction of new uses including artist’s live-work space and creative/maker spaces as well as craft food or beverage production with retail.

The concept created in the Watertown Square Area Plan process simplified the street network into a “four corners” plan which created a four way intersection in Watertown Square.  The result of that reduces pavement for vehicles and more open space and sidewalk area for pedestrians and bicyclists.  The four way intersection also creates opportunities for safer crosswalks and the plan shows the extension of the Watertown Community Path for cyclists as an alternative to biking through the square and along Main Street.  View the plan here.

The design and engineering process involves several steps that will end with a construction plan set for the City to begin work.  The steps include:

Phase 1:  Field Research, Survey, and Data Collection - Complete survey work to locate underground utilities, identify legal right of way boundaries, confirm elevations, and collect traffic information.

Phase 2:  Traffic Analysis – analyze the traffic data and build computer models of future conditions to be used to test traffic impacts of the proposed design.

Phase 3:  Preliminary 25% Design – also called “design development” this is the stage where the engineering team begin to work out the details of how the conceptual design shown in the Watertown Square Area Plan will function.

Phase 4:  90% Design – this is the “final draft” stage.  At this stage, most of the construction details are completed and once the City approves the 90% design, the engineers can finalize the construction drawings.

Phase 5:  Final Design – this phase involves preparation of a “bid set” which will be advertised for construction and used to undertake the work. 

There will be public outreach and public information at key points throughout the process, Please sign up for email updates to stay involved.

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The engineering process for the roads is just getting started so construction is still several years away.  It will be a complicated construction project and make take several years in order to maintain function in the square throughout construction.

During Construction, the City will work with the MBTA to ensure minimal interruptions to service and clear communications about disruptions. 

After completion, the plan is to accommodating existing bus stops and provide safe access to transit stations. The City and the T are also discussing the potential to consolidate Watertown Square bus operations at the Watertown Yard. 

The MBTA is also working on improving bus service system-wide.  You can learn more about the Better Bus Project.

A redevelopment authority has more authority to function as a developer but their authority is derived from the municipality and they function within the boundaries of an accepted vision.  The redevelopment authority is responsible for preparing the urban renewal plan and recommending it to the City Council.  The City Council reviews the plan and formally accepts it.  The City Council then forwards it to the EOHLC and MEPA within its legal relationship with the State for review and approval.   

Who has this role is different in every community, and in Watertown the Redevelopment Authority powers were granted to the then “Town Council,” now the City Council, through an act at the State Legislature a few decades ago.  As this process progresses, the Council will be explicit about when they are acting as the Council versus when they are acting with the authority of the Redevelopment Authority. 

The State’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is charged with implementing the urban renewal laws and regulations (MGL Ch. 121B) and they created regulations for Urban Renewal Plans and Redevelopment Authorities to clarify how the law will be enacted.  These regulations are found in 760 CMR12.00 which specifies what is required to be included in the content of a plan and what findings the plan must show in order to have the plan qualify for approval.  An urban revitalization plan must include the following findings and report components:

FINDINGS: In order to be approved, an urban renewal plan must have specific components and the following findings: 

·       The project area would not be developed by private enterprise alone and without either government subsidy or the exercise of governmental powers be made available for urban renewal.

·       The proposed land uses and building requirements in the project area will afford maximum opportunity to privately financed urban renewal consistent with the needs of the locality as a whole.

·       The financial plan is sound.

·       The project area is a decadent, substandard or blighted open area. (See M.G.L. Chapter 121B, Section 1 Definitions.)

·       The urban renewal plan is sufficiently complete, as required by M.G.L. Chapter 121B, Section 1.

·       The relocation plan has been approved under M.G.L. Chapter 79A.

COMPONENTS

An urban renewal plan includes the following components:

·       Executive Summary

·       Characteristics

·       Eligibility

·       Objectives

·       Acquisitions

·       Relocation

·       Site Preparation

·       Public Improvements

·       Disposition

·       Redeveloper’s Obligation

·       Time Frame

·       Financial Plan

·       Citizen Participation

·       Requisite Municipal Approvals

·       MEPA

·       Plan Changes

·       Land Acquisition

·       Land Disposition

·       Reports

 Learn more.

In addition to plan guidance and approval, the state’s Environmental Agency (MEPA) must review the plan to ensure nothing proposed would violate state or federal environmental regulations. 

Finally, there are state grants available for infrastructure to support housing and economic development and for planning and site preparation activities for projects that align with state priorities. 

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To learn more about the process, you can look through the meetings and documents on the Plan site.  For upcoming info ou can sign up for email updates at https://watertownsquareimprovements.com/stay-in-touch.