Somerville blasts Green Line delay

The resolution is the latest maneuver from a municipality that has embraced the extension as a cornerstone of a development plan that, if brought to fruition, would in time remake large, underdeveloped swaths of East Somerville. Aldermen said that area is underserved by public transit and plagued by noise and air pollution from adjacent Interstate 93.

But those development plans looked to be partially derailed last month, when the state announced in an annual report that trolley service to the extension would likely start no sooner than 2018 and as late as 2020. They attributed the delay to concerns over the acquisition of 19 parcels of real estate required to build the line, previously slated for completion by 2014.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville, an outspoken proponent of the extension who promised last month to hold the state accountable, has been in talks with the Conservation Law Foundation, a nonprofit that in 2006 sued the state to legally require the extension to be built to offset increased pollution caused by the Big Dig.

Curtatone may now renew that legal fight, city officials confirmed yesterday.

No state officials attended last night’s meeting.

The nonbinding resolution, which will be sent to Governor Deval Patrick, incoming State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, and state environmental authorities, is largely symbolic but contains some of the strongest calls yet for action.

“Our only hope to be self-sustaining was this Green Line,’’ said Alderman at Large William A. White Jr. “They’ve basically given us the middle finger.’’

White, who also sponsored the resolution, effectively accused the state of stringing along residents who live in East Somerville nearest I-93 and who have been forced to bear the brunt of air and noise pollution from the busy roadway.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours have been expended planning for the line, said board president Rebekah Gewirtz. Under the pretense of propelling transit-oriented development, the city also underwent a lengthy process to rezone the Union Square area, which would receive a station under the extension, said Maryann Heuston, a board member.

Matt Byrne can be reached at mbyrne.globe@gmail.com