meeting tonite re: 1225 Centre St - March 28th at 6pm
37hastings
1225 Centre Street public meeting rescheduled for Wednesday, March 28th at 6:00pm at the E-5 Police Station.
(Former gas station site, adjacent to vernal pool in Allandale Woods.)
"three and four-story
condos going up anywhere
there is a vacant gas station,
parking lot, abandoned
house, or just green space"
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jack Duggan <jack....@boston.gov>
Date: Wed, Mar 21, 2018 at 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: 1225 Centre St public meeting
Hi everyone,
Due to the storm coming, we will be postponing the 1225 Centre Street meeting again. It has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 28th at 6:00pm at the E-5 Police Station.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best, Jack
===
Bulletin newspaper 8mar2018
* 1225 Centre
* 108 Walter St / Roslindale Wetlands
* letter: chicken coop vs. condo developments
"three and four-story
condos going up anywhere
there is a vacant gas station,
parking lot, abandoned
house, or just green space"
[online access to Bulletin contents seems diminished:
now whole-issue-pdfs only;
less than a year of archives]
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_ros_bulletin_pages_1_to__16__8march2k18.pdf
WEST ROXBURY ~ ROSLINDALE BULLETIN
Volume 18, Issue 10 MARCH 8, 2018
Friends to oppose 1231 Centre St. plan
Jeff Sullivan
Staff Reporter
Page 1
The Friends of the Allandale Woods
group - first formed to oppose the 20-
town house development at 64
Allandale St. - said they are now work-
ing to oppose a new development pro-
posal at 1231 Centre St.
The location is directly below the
border of the Allandale Urban Wilds
and, according to Friends member
Tony LaCasse, could endanger one of
two of the city's official vernal pools.
The proposal looks to put eight con-
dominium units in one building on the
site - just one unit away from trigger-
ing the Boston Planning and Devel-
opment Agency's Small Project Re-
view Process - but will face numer-
ous zoning variances. The proponent,
Gary Martell, was also scheduled to
appear before the Conservation Com-
mission on Wednesday after the
Bulletin's deadline.
"There's about less than three-
quarters of an acre and more than 90
percent of the land is conservation
land," said LaCasse, meaning that 90
percent of the land in the proposed
development is within the 100-foot
wetlands buffer required by law for
1231 Centre St. Plan
Continued on page 11
The site is vacant now but is sometimes occupied by ambulances waiting for calls. The location also raises
concerns among residents for increased traffic along an already severely-congested Centie Stieet.
Photo By Jeff Sullivan
1231 Centre St. Plan
continued from page 1
the vernal pool. "I don't know
how he can build something
there."
LaCasse said the Mayor's
Office of Neighborhood Ser-
vices will be hosting a public
abutters meeting at the District
E--- Boston Police Station at
6 p.m. on Wednesday, March
14. The proposal also is asking
for several zoning violation
variances, including excessive
height, excessive floor-to-area
ratio, insufficient lot size for
residential use, insufficient side
yard, insufficient front yard,
insufficient rear yard and for
having the maximum number of
dwelling units per acre.
LaCasse expressed his dis-
appointment with the whole
process, as they are still work-
ing against the 64 Allandale
proposal in a lawsuit against the
developer.
"There's a lot of frustration
on this kind of thing where we
have to deal with this parcel by
parcel development," he said.
"I don't think people would
object to a rezoning if it was part
of a community process and was
transparent, but now we have po-
litically connected developers
who are able to get what they want
and we have to go to court and
spend tens of thousands of dol-
lars to get the city to enforce its
own laws."
LaCasse added that he feels
there is a problem when a devel-
oper can go to the Conservation
Commission without having any
community dialogue.
"Somehow, the developer has
gotten this on the Conservation
Commission agenda this Wednes-
day evening despite not having
conducted a community process,"
he said. "It is a mystery as to what
the road map for this community
process is supposed to be. That the
City of Boston is even willing to
entertain a development proposal
on a lot that is nearly 90 percent
wetlands buffer for one of
Boston's last two vernal pool sites
is a major statement on how little
respect that some developers have
for community-based zoning stan-
dards and the importance of de-
cades old conservation protec-
tions."
===
Roslindale Wetlands under
proposed development again
Residents are once again fearful that a development near the street at 108 Walter St. could overflow into the wetlands behind.
Courtesy Photo
Jeff Sullivan
Staff Reporter
Page 3
The Roslindale Wetlands
Task Force (RWTF) is once
again gearing up to protect the
site at 104-108 Walter St.
Developer Feeney Broth-
ers are again proposing to
place six condo buildings, 12
units and a paved driveway
network at 104-108 Walter St.
along the edge of the
Roslindale Wetlands Urban
Wild. The company originally
proposed an almost identical
plan in 2005, and after many
discussions, an agreement
was reached with Feeney.
residents and then-Mayor
Thomas Menino.
Residents have created a
petition (which can be found
at change.org/p/mayor-marty-
walsh-refuse-development-
abutting-the-roslindale-wet-
lands-to-protect-the-environ-
ment-prevent-floods), citing
the same problems they had
with the proposal before, in
that storm runoff from the site
could damage the wetlands
nearby. RWTF member Jim
Taff said they thought the
agreement would hold up.
"The mayor reported that
there would be no develop-
ment and that was the end of
it on 104 and 108. which is the
land that remains in the
Feeney's position," he said.
"But there was no deed re-
striction. That was a problem
for some of us in the commu-
nity at the time, but the mayor
stated he believed, I think,
that by conveying the large 1-
acre of squishy and saturated
land further out that what was
remaining was too small to
build anything at all."
Taff said they had re-
quested a deed restriction di-
rectly from the city, but there
was no reply at the time.
"We requested a deed re-
striction of some kind after
this 2005 gathering, and actu-
ally we never spoke to the
mayor directly about that, and
the feeling was that there
wasn't enough land or front-
age: it's too close to the wet-
Wetlands Continued on page 6
As the recent storms came through the area, the wetlands behind 104-108 Walter St. flood already, without the added stormwater of a building.
Courtesy Photo
Wetlands continued from page 3
lands and they wouldn't be able to anything if they wanted
to," he said. "It was something that we had to accept and it
certainly made us nervous."
At the time of publication, 845 residents have signed the
online petition at Change.org to be sent to Boston Mayor Marty
Walsh. District 5 City Councilor Tim McCarthy and At-Large
City Councilor (and Roslindale resident) Michaelle Wu. The
petition demands that the city recognize the proposal is "ill-
advised and contrary to the interest of the community and the
City," and that the city honor the previous agreement reached
between Menino and the task force. The problem with Walter
Street is that the developers propose three structures in the
rear of the site which bump up against the wetlands.
The RWTF claims those structures would increase the threat
of flooding, since the wetlands soak up rainwater, present a
danger to the natural resources in the area and increase the
risk of traffic collisions with more vehicles on the road.
The Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association will be
discussing the proposal with Martell on March 12 at the
Longfellow School on 885 South St. at 7 p.m.
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-marty-walsh-refuse-development-abutting-the-roslindale-wetlands-to-protect-the-environment-prevent-floods
Refuse development abutting Roslindale Wetlands to protect environment & prevent floods!
910 have signed. Let’s get to 1,000!
===
Letters to the Editor
Page 4
A LOT OF SQUAWKING
ABOUT THE HEN HOUSE
To the Editor:
I could not let another day
go by without commenting on
your article about the two
hens and chicken coup on
Corey Street.
In West Roxbury, where
there are three and four-story
condos going up anywhere
there is a vacant gas station,
parking lot, abandoned
house, or just green space, the
fuss over two hens seems
laughable.
The contractors and de-
velopers just ask for a vari-
ance from the zoning board
if their buildings do not meet
local codes and are granted
the variance.
I cannot imagine said zon-
ing board refusing to grant a
variance for a chicken coup
when they grant them all the
time for very large condos on
very small lots. All this re-
gardless of what the adjoin-
ing neighbors want.
I wonder if the people
who are complaining are as
worried about traffic, lack of
adequate parking height of
buildings and density of
people from all these condos
as they are about the two
hens.
Mary Kelly
West Roxbury