Hi,
This project is officially in Roslindale, and the City Councilor is Andrea Campbell. At the last 2 meetings the builder, Charlie Gill, announced that he had made significant changes to the project reducing the number of units from 136 to 106, reducing the height, but also that rather than being condos it would now be a professionally managed (with on-site manager) rental project. This would include indoor and outdoor bike cages, zip cars, and a daily shuttle to Forest Hills. There was also a suggestion that turning right onto Bourne at Canterbury/St. Michaels be restricted during morning hours such as it is for Wachusett Street for the Boston Teachers Union school.
As our neighborhood would truly the neighborhood for this project and not Roslindale, I want to let you all know the present status/non-status. I think the comment period ended in February but we can still reach out to Phil Cohen and/or Andrea Campbell.
My understanding is that Andrea Campbell is not going to support this revised project based on comments that she received.
Members of the Mount Hope neighborhood association expressed concern and many sent versions of Mr. Harold Austin's following comments
I left my comments on BPDA website. Can you get a gist of what I'm saying and do the same. Thanks.
I am highly upset. I attended the meeting for 289 Walk Hill St at the Boston Nature Center today 2/15/17. Although I was a proponent of the project when it was supposedly a condominium project for homeownership - Mr. Charles Gill, his business Partner and development team dropped a bomb on us today. The project, contradicting what the description says above has changed to Rental housing.
This is in stark contrast to what Mr. Gill and the development team has been saying for the past year. They have been invited and presented at neighborhood meetings in Roslindale and they understood the fact we liked the homeownership of his proposal. We wanted new people and families to be part of this neighborhood and add to the fabric of the diversity while setting down roots.
Now the development team is trying to sell us that the transient apartment renters are a better choice and the risk is less for them. My attitude is...if you want to be a developer, risk is part of the game. I'm not faulting them for trying to minimize the risk, but a 360 degree turn from homeownership to rental housing is contrary to everything they came to represent to us.
They have not tried to pre-sell their condominium idea to the public to see what the response could have been nor is rental housing acceptable to the majority of homeowners in this community. We have rental housing at Olmstead Green on American Legion and a proposed 86 units of rental at 980 American Legion Hwy. Although they have compromised with the height and density, the self containment of renters would not contribute significantly to our community. In my opinion it feels like a bait and switch and one I can not support.
Best
Sue Aquino
