Somerville Head Planner Announces Retirement

SOMERVILLE, MA – The executive director of the Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development is retiring, city officials announced Thursday. Michael Glavin will leave after seven years at the helm of OSPCD.

Mayor Curtatone has named Director of Planning George Proakis the new executive director of OSPCD and Senior Planner Sarah Lewis the new director planning. The transition will take place in November.

Glavin, who has also served as deputy director of Institutional Development for the Boston Redevelopment Authority and director of Community Development for the city of Chelsea, took over as head of OSPCD in 2011 as the city was entering a period of significant growth.

During his tenure, he worked with Curtatone to realize the first phase of the community’s ambitious goals set forth in SomerVision, the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan. In pursuit of the plan’s core goals for job creation, housing, open space, and more, he provided steady leadership as the department advanced complex and transformational projects including Assembly Row, Union Square, the Green Line Expansion, zoning overhaul, and more, according to a city press release.

He introduced strategic staff additions, departmental reorganization, and long-range planning initiatives that enabled the department’s continued progress, including new staff in the areas of parks, open space, urban forestry, bicycle infrastructure, and economic development, as well as the development of neighborhood plans, long-range open space and field master plans and the recent establishment of the Office of Housing Stability.

"It’s been a great privilege to work under a Mayor with such tremendous vision and understanding of the community’s needs and potential, as well as the ability to inspire the best in all of us," Glavin said in a statement. "I also appreciate the opportunity I’ve had here to work with so many colleagues in city government dedicated to the needs of the community."

"It has been an honor for me, and a tremendous benefit to our city, to have a talent of Michael’s stature steering OSPCD’s efforts so thoughtfully and deftly these past seven years," Curtatone added.

Glavin will be succeeded by the city’s current Director of Planning George Proakis, an award-winning planner with 16 years of public sector planning experience. Proakis brought a wide breadth of experience to the City when he joined the staff in 2010. Previously, over his seven years as Associate Planner, Chief Planner, and then Planning and Permitting Director for the City of Lowell, he led groundbreaking work that balanced conservation and historic preservation with needed investment and strategic development in the urban core. In Lowell, he also oversaw many of the key areas contained within OSPCD in Somerville, including plan review, conservation, transportation, community development block grants, finance and administration, long-term planning, and urban design.

In Somerville, Proakis worked side-by-side with Mayor Curtatone and other departments to usher in a new era of community-based planning. The City’s SomerVision, Somerville by Design, Neighborhood Planning, and Station Area Planning initiatives are a direct result of his ability to attract top talent, inspire creative and community-driven approaches, and deliver responsive results that weave together state-of-the-art practices and technical requirements with community goals. He also led his staff in ongoing and ground-breaking work to establish a new zoning code for Somerville through intensive community process. His accomplishments and leading-edge efforts led to his recent recruitment to serve as a Lecturer for Planning and Design at Harvard University and as a member of the Board of the prestigious Boston Society of Architects.

"My confidence in George has given me great comfort knowing OSPCD will be in the hands of someone so qualified and capable and as alert to community needs," Glavin said. "I have no doubt that he will build on OSPCD’s current efforts and work with Mayor Curtatone and the community to take the department’s work to a new level."

Somerville Senior Planner Sarah Lewis, who has worked with municipalities nationwide on community-based planning, land use, and zoning, will assume the role of director of planning. She has not only led numerous intensive community engagement processes but has taught other planners how to do so at both the highly regarded National Charrette Institute and the University of Maryland. Her previous work includes projects for Ayers Saint Gross, Torti Gallas and Partners, and work alongside her mentor, internationally renowned new urbanist Dhiru Thadani.

In Somerville, alongside the Planning Department team, Lewis has facilitated progress on the largest transformation development areas in the city including taking the lead in moving community goals for Boynton Yards from a Neighborhood Plan with significant infrastructure challenges to a live project with its first two buildings permitted and moving forward. She also facilitated the Xmbly project in the outer area of Assembly Row, including 1 million square feet of office space and 500 new housing units including 100 affordable units. She played a key role with her colleagues in working with constituents on the Zoning Overhaul drafts to bring forward a version that intricately incorporates extensive community input.

"Sarah has played a critical role on a daily level in ensuring that when a project comes in that it’s consistent with our neighborhood vision," Proakis said. "She has skillfully maintained high standards for improving design proposals from developers and working collaboratively to adjust plans as needed to address both community input and planning best practices. Meanwhile, her experience and commitment to in-depth public process is a perfect fit for Somerville."

Portions of Somerville press release used in this story. Image via Shutterstock