The Southwest Corridor Park (SWCP) will likely be branching out with a new “urban wild” between Forest Hills and McBride Street as the result of a community push and two major housing developments.
Following years of negotiations with developers and the community, the urban wilds between the former Hughes Oil site and Flanagan & Seaton Motor Car Company lot and the Orange Line tracks are being organized by the SWCP Parkland Management and Advisory Committee (PMAC) and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
This is the first step that will eventually lead to a second access route from Forest Hills to McBride Street, on the eastern side of the Orange Line tracks.
“As you can imagine, it is a rather complex, but not impossible, process involving DCR, the MBTA, the community, the developers, and perhaps more actors,” PMAC President Janet Hunkel told the Gazette last week. “For PMAC’s part, we are very interested and will help out however possible.”
In the current plan, DCR will take over the “care and control” of the urban wild from the MBTA, DCR Acting Press Secretary Bill Hickey told the Gazette.
“DCR does not intend to buy the land, but rather is discussing assuming care and control over the maintenance of it,” he said. “This is a process that we are in the early stages of, but we are very optimistic about it. There is a lot of community support.”
The idea for a usable urban wild in that area was first pitched by the community three years ago, when the residential development at Flanagan & Seaton Motor Car Company location at 3521-3529 Washington St. was first proposed.