The Southwest Corridor Park (SWCP) is getting ready to expand between Forest Hills and McBride Street thanks to over three years’ worth of work by a dedicated group of neighbors.
But the project is at a crucial junction, needing to move into a community-wide committee before work can begin in earnest.
Besides providing a walking path between those streets, the space could include an urban wild, community gardens and other amenities.
Frederick Vetterlein, a member of the Stonybrook Neighborhood Association (SNA) who has been involved with the project since it was just an idea, told the Gazette that the SNA “wanted to connect our neighborhood with the JP whole.”
Because the Stonybrook neighborhood—roughly bounded by the Arborway and Forest Hills, Williams and Amory streets—borders on most of JP’s history with light industrial space, they feel “isolated,” Vetterlein said.
“This commercial landscape feels isolated from the whole JP community and the experience of walking down Washington Street suffers because of it,” he said. “Building fronts are bricked over, lots are fenced in, and the active areas are fronted by asphalt to facilitate the towing, repairing, storing or washing of cars. Walking in any direction makes you aware that it is a decaying use of valuable urban land.”
And when two major development projects were proposed on the 3500-3600 blocks of Washington Street, right next to each other and bordering on the SWCP, SNA members saw an opportunity: a quarter-mile long section of unused green space located behind the current occupants, on the east side of the MBTA train tracks and abutting the SWCP at either end.
The SNA approached the developers on the projects. John M. Corcoran and Company and The Brennan Group are developing the Commons at Forest Hills at 3593-3615 Washington St. and New Boston Ventures and SSG Development are developing the former Flanagan & Seaton Motor Car Company at 3521-3529 Washington St.
It took some persuading, but both teams agreed to community benefits packages that include cash and resources for developing the SWCP Greenway Extension, as it is now known, as well as design choices to enlarge and connect the new grounds to pedestrian traffic on Washington Street.
“We knew that the MBTA would like to give up the land if paths and lighting could be established for safety. And we understood that DCR might be able to assume maintenance if the project could be built out,” Vetterlein said. “We had to convince developers that the Greenway would benefit their projects and try to get them to chip in funds.”
“But more importantly, we needed to establish pathways through their projects from Washington Street to the proposed Extension. We wanted to connect the neighborhoods and not build an isolated path along the railroad tracks,” Vetterlein said.
And the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) supported the community push by coordinating between the projects.
BRA spokesperson Nick Martin told the Gazette, “As part of the community benefits for the neighborhood, it made sense for them to come together since it abuts their projects. We helped facilitate the community process as we normally would, and we’re pleased that they are able to partner for the benefit of the neighborhood.”
Gazette calls and emails to spokespeople for developers John M. Corcoran and Company, The Brennan Group, New Boston Ventures and SSG Development were not returned.
Currently, the developers have committed over $200,000 in cash and other benefits to the project, Vetterlein said, which include a 15,000-square foot land donation from SSG Development to create a community garden, meeting area and pedestrian walkthrough to Burnett Street.
Vetterlein said he hopes the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) will take over the future garden, much like they did the Minton Stable Community Garden.
But the project now needs wider community participation to get off the ground, Vetterlein said.
According to DCR and MBTA spokesperson Bill Hickey and MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, DCR has not yet taken control of the land from the T.
“It is still a work in progress,” Hickey said.
And the SWCP Parkland Management Advisory Committee (PMAC) has created an ad-hoc committee for the new addition, but according to PMAC President Janet Hunkel, that committee has not yet taken any action.
Vetterlein and the SNA neighbors are presently trying to get paperwork in order for the community land donation moving ahead, since SSG development wants to work on a portion of it and “he needs to get planning going on his project and we need to nail down his contribution.”
After that, it comes down to getting all the organizations and people involved on the same page, and that takes effort and a lot of meetings, he said.
“It’s uncoordinated. Everyone is doing a different thing,” Vetterlein said.
Vetterlein can be contacted through the SNA’s website at sna-jp.org. SWCP PMAC’s website is swcpc.org.
The proposed Greenway extension, as it looked this summer. (Photo Courtesy Fred Vetterlein)
An illustration showing the proposed community garden land donation between Burnett Street and the SWCP. (Courtesy image)