The developer of the Olmsted Place apartments will donate $150,000 to local organizations as the final part of a lawsuit settlement with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC).
The JPNC will decide which institutions will receive the money, according to JPNC Chair Kevin Moloney.
The money stems from a lawsuit settlement between JPNC and the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals and the Boston Residential Group (BRG), the developer of the 196-unit Olmsted Place at 161 S. Huntington Ave. JPNC sued the developer and the City in 2012, claiming that zoning variances were improperly granted. The suit was settled in 2013.
As part of the settlement, BRG agreed to attempt to build a public pathway from S. Huntington Avenue to the Jamaicaway. But the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board recently decided not to grant a variance for the pathway, said in Moloney. He said he suspects that was because of the slope of the path would have required stairs and that the project would run into problems with handicapped accessibility.
Moloney said the agreement stipulated that if the pathway was not feasible, BRG would donate $150,000 to institutions of the JPNC choosing. He said the council will discuss what institutions to pick during its next meeting, slated for Feb. 3.
“We want to do this expeditiously,” he said.