Officials: Land Acquisitions for Green Line Extension Phase 2 Would Be Minimal

If the Green Line Extension project ever reaches Mystic Valley Parkway, land acquisitions to build a station there would be minimal, officials said Wednesday night.

The second in a series of public meetings was held by he Metropolitan Area Planning Council and MassDOT Wednesday night at on the Tufts campus. Officials reviewed a series of concerns regarding the potential second leg of the line extension project, including: land acquisitions, traffic and quality of life.

An earlier draft version of station plans on Mystic Valley Parkway called for the property at 200 Boston Ave. to be acquired to make room for a station, and that upset some residents, Katie Fitcher, project manager, said.

But planners have come up with a new plan they believe would limit land aquisition for the Mystic Valley Parkway station to only the lot where a UHaul Center at 600 Mystic Valley Parkway near the Medford/Somerville line.

Aside from the UHaul lot, land aquisitions would be extremely minimal, Fichter said. All aquisitions would be limited to small slivers of land to make more room along tracks and bridges. No residental property is planned to be aquired, Fichter said.

"It’s not something we have ever planned to do as part of this project," she said.

The first phase of the project will bring the final stop on the line from Lechmere Station in Cambridge to College Avenue in Medford, with four stops along the way and a separate spur to Union Square. It has already  and planners look to have it finished by 2015.

Continuing the line to a terminal station at Route 16 could possibly happen if funding becomes available. The cost to extend was previously estimated at $130 million, but that number needs to be re-evaluated Fichter said. 

Wednesday's meeting was part of a year-long preliminary planning process focused on the possibility of extending the line beyond College Avenue to Route 16. That will include several more public meetings organized by MAPC, which has been given a $209,000 contract to study the impact of a Route 16 station.