Officials: Land Acquisitions for Second Phase of Green Line Extension 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 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 Avenue to be acquired to make room for a station which, according to project manager Katie Fitcher, upset some residents.

A revised version of the plan was unveiled Wednesday night that appeared to limit land aquisition for the proposed Mystic Valley Parkway station to just where the UHaul Center lot stands. The lot is at 600 Mystic Valley Parkway near the Medford/Somerville line.

But aside from the 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, Cambridge, to College Avenue in Medford, with four additional 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 is another possibility should funding become available. The cost of the extention 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. The process 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.