Somerville’s long-discussed ArtFarm is finally shifting from rough concept to detailed blueprints, as designers and city staff lock in plans for a park perched on top of a massive new stormwater pump station in the Brickbottom neighborhood. At a Feb. 9 community meeting, planners said the design is entering its final phase and that work on the park’s surface is slated to start in 2027, once the underground infrastructure is finished. The current vision layers public art, community gardens, a looping path and a flexible performance lawn over a multi-million-gallon storage tank built to ease years of flooding in Union Square and surrounding areas.
Park Over a Working Pump Station
According to the City of Somerville, the ArtFarm will share a 2.1-acre site at 10 Poplar Street with the Poplar Street Pump Station, which includes a large underground stormwater storage tank that has been under construction since 2023. City officials say the pump station and tank are designed to cut flooding in Wards 2 and 3 and to make it possible to separate stormwater from sanitary sewer flows. The reworked site ties into the Brickbottom Neighborhood Plan as well as recent community-driven design efforts.
Engineers Say Sewer Separation Will Curb Overflows
At the Feb. 9 meeting, Somerville’s director of engineering walked residents through how the Poplar Street systems fit into a broader sewer-separation push intended to keep stormwater out of the city’s treatment facilities. “We’re going to have a separated sewer where the storm water goes where storms go,” Brian Postlewaite told The Tufts Daily. City staff say redirecting stormwater away from the treatment plant is expected to reduce neighborhood flooding and cut the odds of polluted overflows into the Mystic and Charles rivers.
Design Tries To Turn Utility Into Art
Designers told neighbors they want the heavy infrastructure to double as part of the park’s visual and cultural language, using access points and maintenance entries as opportunities for public art and gathering. “Those are effectively access points with a manhole cover,” Eden Dutcher of architect group Groundview said, adding that the team is exploring custom castings and portable galleries to bring the grounds to life, according to The Tufts Daily. The working design calls for a loop path, space for temporary installations, new trees and a stage with a covered canopy that can seat about 100 people close in and up to 350 with lawn seating.
Long Road, Big Price Tag, And Next Steps
The ArtFarm idea has been on the table since 2014 and was ultimately folded into a larger multi-million-dollar stormwater initiative that officials have said could reach $80–$92 million, with earlier federal support reported for the effort. The Boston Globe covered the project’s early budget estimates and federal backing, while contractor P. Gioioso & Sons documents large-scale excavation at the Poplar Street site for the underground tank. City staff say current funding is focused on finishing the park’s design so crews can move straight into building the surface once the pump station work wraps up.
