The fate of three City-owned lots on Dalrymple and Boylston streets in Jamaica Plain are up for debate.
Egleston Community Orchard (ECO) currently occupies one of the lots. ECO has grown an orchard and garden there that boasts tomatoes, a composting area, basil, flowers, chard, kale, a path, an arbor for grapes, blueberries, raspberries, currants and apple trees. JP resident Richard Heath, in an email to the Gazette, wrote that affordable housing should be built at the sites.
The Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) planned to hold a community meeting to discuss proposals for the site on June 21, after the Gazette deadline.
Evelyn Friedman, director of DND, said the agency placed flyers in the neighborhoods and mailed abutters of the properties informing them of the meeting, but did not do general media publicity. She said if the DND did not let the Gazette know, “That’s bad on us.”
“We should have publicized it better,” said Friedman.
Friedman said that the DND will seek a general consensus of what the community wants for the sites and then will issue request for proposals (RFPs).