Guiding Principals Document for St Margaret's Redevelopment - Concerned Abutters and Neighbors of Highland Park Neighborhood Working Group

[Rodney Singleton]

Guiding Principles for Concerned Abutters and Neighbors of St. Margaret’s

A group of concerned abutters and neighbors of St. Margaret’s Convent have put together a list of significant concerns regard­ing the proposed sale of the facility to the Bridge Boston Charter School. We’ve outlined our concerns in the form of questions and our principled positions around them below:

What do we view as fundamental for any potential owner of St. Margaret’s Convent to expedite a mutually-amenable sale?

·         The purchaser needs to ensure that the current level of tranquility now enjoyed by the neighborhood is not substantially diminished. That very tranquility was one of the primary value propositions posed by the Convent over 20 years ago when the facility was expanded and transitioned from St. Monica’s Nursing home, and it can­­­not be abrogated.

·         The purchaser must demonstrate a “community-valued” contribution. For example, the right to have a monthly Fort Hill Civic Association meeting is not a sufficient level of demonstrated community value. The Bridge Boston Charter School is not a neighborhood school, and would serve the entire city of Boston through a lottery system. There would be no guarantee that a significant portion of students (if any) would be from the Highland Park neighborhood and, thus, the value to community would be diluted.

·         The purchaser must maintain a residential setting that respects the historical character of the neighborhood, having no negative impact on key neighborhood features such as the William Lloyd Garrison House (situated in the compound) and the nearby Olmstead-designed Highland Park and Cochituate Standpipe.

What do we believe to be the negative consequences of having the Bridge Boston Charter School housed at the Convent site?

·         The Highland Park neighborhood (along with the adjacent Mission Hill and Tommy’s Rock neighborhoods) currently has ten schools within a half mile radius of St. Margaret’s Convent. Those schools are:

1.      Nathan Hale Elementary School – Highland Park

2.      Paige Academy – Highland Park

3.      Timilty Middle School – Highland Park

4.      Madison Park High School – Roxbury Crossing

5.      Malik Academy Elementary School – Roxbury Crossing

6.      Roxbury Community College – Highland Park/Roxbury Crossing

7.      O’Bryant High School – Roxbury Crossing

8.      Mission Hill Elementary School (K-8) – Mission Hill

9.      New Mission High School – Mission Hill

10.  City on a Hill Charter School – Tommy’s Rock

One thing is clear from this list; we don’t need another school, particularly one that won’t directly serve our neighborhood. Furthermore, Nathan Hale Elementary School, one of the highest performing elementary schools in Boston, is literally around the corner from the St. Margaret’s. In fact, its Principal – Sandra Mitchell-Woods – won a Massachusetts Elementary Principal of the Year award in 2009. It is a neighborhood Boston Public School and has 175 students from K-5.

·         Highland Park already suffers from a high density of bus traffic during the school day, particularly in the environs of the Timilty and the Nathan Hale Schools, resulting in significant congestion. For a number of weeks in January and February of this year, for example, Cedar Street was effectively reduced to one lane during bus drop-offs and pick-ups at Nathan Hale (due to the snowfall) and this created very bad traffic congestion on Cedar and the surrounding streets. Timilty School has a large number of buses as well, often lined up side-by-side in Eliot Square and creating significant traffic congestion on Centre Street. Please refer to the photo of buses outside of the Timilty School, below.

An Example of Current Neighborhood Bus Congestion

Buses lined-up in front of the Timilty Middle School, Highland Park, John Elliott Square, Roxbury 2/14/2011

·         The addition of the numerous school buses that the Bridge Boston Charter School would introduce to Highland Street would greatly exacerbate the situation. A 335 student elementary school is a large school, and the fact that it would serve a city-wide population would only increase the number of buses at the site, not to mention the parents who would inevitably choose to drive their children to school. This neighborhood is very old, has narrow streets, and already has a well-documented traffic problem. Bridge Boston Charter School would put us over the “tipping point.”

·         Bridge Boston Charter School has already indicated that it expects its programming to run from 7:30 AM – 6:00 PM, Monday – Friday, during the school year. And, it has indicated that it plans to have an “extended school year.” That schedule would preclude any reasonable expectation for the maintenance of neighborhood tranquility.

·         St. Margaret’s Convent occupies a 66,668 square foot parcel (according to City of Boston records), of which only about 20% is flat space. Given that curb cuts would need to be made on Highland Street to create an entrance for buses to drop off children (removing precious street parking) and for a parking lot to be created for teachers, no reasonable amount of space would be left as an outdoor play area for the children at the school. And, for a school with 335 students, teachers and visitors would quickly fill any remaining parking spaces on the surrounding streets in the neighborhood. The end result would be reduced parking and the inevitable need to find space for the children to play. The logical conclusion would be that Highland Park would become a school playground. The Bridge Boston Charter School has not addressed this key issue. We have no idea how it plans to accommodate the necessary outdoor square footage per student.

·         St. Margaret’s site has a 30–40 foot high ledge of Roxbury Puddingstone on the Highland Street side extending for almost half the length of the facility. Other than the 20% of the total site, discussed above, the remainder of the Highland Street side is filled with terraces leading up to the building. It is not unreasonable to suggest that such a site is unsuitable as an elementary school and would potentially endanger child safety.

What would we like to see happen to St. Margaret’s Convent?

·         Members of our group are well aware that the sisters have every right to sell the property and move on with their mission in Duxbury. We understand that the sisters cannot manufacture interested buyers who would appeal to everyone; however, the Bridge Boston Charter School is a potential buyer that appeals to few abutter and neighbors for the reasons laid out in this document.

We believe that – given the central role the convent plays in the character of the neighborhood – the Society of St. Margaret has an obligation to include the neighborhood in its plans. To date, that has not happened, and a preliminary purchase and sales agreement was formed with Bridge Boston Charter School before anyone in the neighborhood was notified of either party’s plans.

·         On February 10^th, the Concerned Neighbors sent a document to the Society of St. Margaret outlining a proposal for a Highland Park Resident Board of Transitional Oversight, which would partner with the Convent, as follows:

1.      Provide regular neighborhood resident assessment and suggestions for future use

2.      Track and participate in all City of Boston Zoning meetings and hearings as it relates to the transfer of use and confirmation of new use, and

3.      Where possible, help identify and establish a line of communication with potential buyers who are likely to satisfy the financial needs of the Society of St. Margaret, while also offering the Highland Park neighborhood the least disruptive and most beneficial change of use

To date, we have received no feedback on the proposal, but remain open to helping the sisters transition the property to new owners.

·         Neighbors are already developing the following ideas for potential use and we are happy to share these (and other potential uses) with the Convent:

·         Library or research Center – A suggestion includes “The William Lloyd Garrison Abolitionist Museum–Library and Study Center.”

·         Condominiums, including a mix of residential and office space

·         Independent Living or Assisted Living Facility

·         The Museum of African America Art, an extension of the MFA, etc.

 

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