Steve Magoon has seen the transformation of large sections of Watertown, and played a major role in the creation of some of the City’s most important planning documents during his time working for the City. Magoon will retire at the end of January after more than 17 years as director of the Department of Community Development and Planning.
Magoon arrived in Watertown after working for four years in Gloucester, his first job in Massachusetts. His career began in his home state of Maryland, where he rose up to become the planning director in Charles County.
He still remembers his first impression of Watertown.
“I had a couple of interviews in Watertown, and before or after, I forget which, I had some time so I took a walk and went down to the (Charles) River, down the Pleasant Street Corridor. And, you know, there was a lot of dilapidated, vacant buildings,” Magoon said.”(I remember) the Haartz-Mason Building with graffiti and — didn’t know it, but environmental contamination — and busted out windows and I thought, ‘Wow, right here along the river, this is an opportunity.'”
He also strolled around Watertown Square, and saw the old brick yards off of Arsenal Street.
“I said, ‘Wow, this is right here in the heart of the Square,’ or right adjacent to it,” he said. “A raw opportunity there for some redevelopment and some upgrading. On both of those corridors somen 0f those properties that have been redeveloped, and I think have really added something to the community.”
Magoon was hired by long-time Town Manager Michael Driscoll.
“I think he felt like those were opportunities for new growth. And of course being Mike Driscoll, he viewed a lot of it through the fiscal lens,” Magoon said. “He knew what new growth meant to the budget and to the (City’s) finances. Was he certainly eager to see some of that potential get tapped? Yeah. But I wouldn’t say he was that specific: here’s your mandate, or anything. He was pretty good at letting me do the planning and he did the other stuff.”
During his time in town, Magoon helped create Watertown’s second Comprehensive Plan, and other major planning documents, such as the Pleasant Street Corridor Study, and the Watertown Square Area Plan.
The first Comprehensive Plan was created in the 1980s, and had a 20 year horizon, so Magoon saw it as another opportunity. Also, the plan was done under a state grant so it was more focused on the areas covered by the grant, and Magoon said it was not a true Comprehensive Plan. The second Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2015 and revised in 2023.
“I think the (new) plan, in a lot of ways, was what I envisioned. I’m not saying that I envisioned the future of Watertown, and the plan complied with it, more so that what the community came up with in the process I thought, makes sense and fit,” Magoon said.
He also got to see the ideas in the plans come to life.
“One of the things that’s very rewarding about municipal planning is being able to see projects actually happen and see things come to fruition, as long as you hang around long enough,” Magoon said.
Much of what came out of the plan worked well, but Magoon said it wasn’t all perfect.
“I think the one thing maybe that I would have hoped for, or would have envisioned was maybe more of a mix of uses on the Pleasant Street recorder than we originally got,” he said. “And that’s why we went back and rezoned and required (projects) to have more commercial components. It struck me that the River is a great asset for residential uses, but also for commercial ones. And we really haven’t gotten a lot of commercial projects to take advantage of that proximity, at least not in the Pleasant Street Corridor.”
When asked what lay people may not understand about the planning and development process, Magoon said that the City planners or boards cannot just point to a property and say what will go there.
“A lot of people say, well, why’d you put that there? Or why’d you do this? Almost all of that is dependent on property owners and developers to decide that they want to do something that’s consistent with your plan, and that they think it makes sense, and that is viable and profitable,” Magoon said. “So, none of those projects would have happened if we had either come up with a plan that just didn’t make sense at all or if it was the wrong time.”
One example of that is the transformation of the Arsenal Mall. While the area had been highlighted in the Comprehensive Plan to be redeveloped, Magoon said the City didn’t know how it would happen or who would build it.
“The (Comprehensive) Plan envisioned some reinvestment in that area. We didn’t search out Boylston Properties,” Magoon said. “They saw an opportunity there. Once the plan was adopted and they acquired enough properties, they came to us. And then we started talking through, OK, how do we make a project a reality? How can they get it constructed? And spent quite a bit of time talking through different scenarios in terms of an approval process.”
In the end, the decision was made to create a master plan for the whole campus, which became known as the Regional Mixed Use District (RMUD).
“By doing that, giving them an approval of a project early enough in the process that, when they go to get it financed there wasn’t that doubt hanging over it of maybe it won’t get approved, maybe the City won’t like it, which is a huge part of the process,” Magoon said. “We can say there’s conditions, but we really can’t say no, because it’s consistent with the plan that they adopted. So I think it really was something that we worked together on over a long period of time, and it worked.”
Charlie Breitrose
Steve Magoon, in one of his additional responsibilities — Acting Deputy City Manager — was presented a proclamation for National Farmers Market Week in 2022 by John Lebeaux, commissioner of the Department of Agricultural Resources, along with Stephanie Venizelos, the City’s Community Wellness Program Manager.
Over the years, Magoon’s responsibilities grew beyond just planning. Driscoll created two assistant town manager positions, a financial one that was taken on by then Auditor Tom Tracy, and Magoon took on a variety of areas. Sometimes it involved the Department of Public Works, other times it was the Recreation Department.
“I don’t think with either of them I was officially a supervisor of another department, but certainly would have departments I would work directly with,” he said.
The Community Development Department also had programs fall under its umbrella for a time, including the Live Well Watertown program, which oversees health and wellness programs in the City, SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), and runs the Watertown Farmers Market.
Those added responsibilities for the Assistant Managers took some of load off of the Town Manager’s plate, Magoon said. The new Manager, George Proakis, created a new position to encompass much of the Assistant Managers’ responsibilities.
“(Driscoll) had an analysis that said there really should be a Deputy City Manager. I think he kind of just relied on Tom and I to take that role,” Magoon said. “Near the end of it, he decided, well, if there’s going to be a Deputy City Manager he’ll let the next manager take care of that, or decide what to do about that.”
The Department of Community Development and Planning has added staff, as well as responsibilities.
“The energy and climate issues, that was something that’s been added to the Department over the years,” Magoon said. “Back when I started, that wasn’t much of a conversation.”
Under Proakis, the department has grown.
“So from what started as Mike Driscoll took a lot of pride in having a lean municipal government,” Magoon said. “And I think George feels strongly about making sure that there’s adequate resources available to address issues. And so he definitely staffed up a lot more than Mike Driscoll did.”
As he prepares to leave, Magoon said he took another lesson from his time working with Driscoll.
“I think there’s a lot of lessons you learn over life. And Mike Driscoll definitely left a very deep impression on me when he finally decided to retire — and he was somebody who really put all of himself into his position and the work he did — and finally deciding to retire and basically spending his entire retirement fighting cancer,” Magoon said. “I wanted to make sure I had a retirement that I could enjoy and so I wanted to make sure I did it young enough that I could enjoy it.”
As he retires, Magoon said there are a few projects that he wished he could have seen to the end, including the renovations to the Parker Annex — the former school purchased by the City to house some municipal departments including Community Development and Planning. Magoon also served on the School Building Committee, and the construction of the new Watertown High School is another project he would have liked to have seen completed.
The big project on the horizon for the City is the redevelopment of Watertown Square, both the intersection and the municipal parking lots in the area of CVS and the Watertown Free Public Library.
“I think Watertown Square is the best opportunity to really make a significant transformation for Watertown, and I’d love to see that through, but that’s gonna be years in the making,” he said.
The City has started the process of hiring a new Director of Community Development and Planning. When asked if he had any advice for the next director, Magoon said: “I think it’s important that, whoever that is, that they take the time to talk to people and find out the story behind the story, you know, dive into things and get to know who the players are and what some of the issues are.”
Magoon’s successor will be in a good position, he said.
“I think it’s a great community to work in. I think there’s a lot of really big positive things about the City,” Magoon said. “Financially, it’s in better shape than most, almost any community that I can think of in Massachusetts. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to do innovative things, and address the issues that people have. And that’s, really when it comes down to it, I think so much of what planners do as a profession — really responding to the issues of the day and being creative and thoughtful and finding ways to help people.”