By Gazette Staff
The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) held a community meeting this past Monday evening regarding the proposed development for 3430 & 3440 Washington St.
Ebony DaRosa, a Project Manager with the BPDA, chaired the session that was held via Zoom. This was the second community meeting for the project under the auspices of the BPDA, the first having been held last October.
The developers also have been making the rounds to meet with various JP neighborhood associations in recent months.
The proposed project will consist of two buildings that will sit across from each other on Rockvale Circle. Together they will contain 236 rental units and approximately 6340 sq. ft. of ground floor commercial space with 100 garage parking spaces. There will be 234 resident bicycle parking spaces and 54 visitor bicycle spaces.
The two sites presently are the locations of Acme Auto Body (3430 Wash. St.) and Hatoff’s gasoline station (3440 Wash St.). The new building at 3430 Washington St. will be six stories high and the one at 3440 will be five stories high. The plan includes townhouse-style units in the rear of both buildings facing the neighbors.
A three-story condominium complex on Rockvale Ave. abuts the rear of the Hatoff’s site. The remainder of the neighborhood on Rockvale Circle and Kenton Rd. consists primarily of single and two-family homes.
Joe Hassell, the project’s developer, and architect Marc Sullivan presented the details of the project with slides.
“There originally were 262 units in the project, but after meeting with community members, the number was reduced to 236,” said Sullivan, who noted that 23.48 percent of the apartments — 54 of the 236 — will be affordable per the City of Boston’s JP/ROX inclusionary guidelines which were developed in 2017 and that allows for higher-density.
Of the 54 affordable units,16 will have rents at 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), 30 will be at 70 percent of AMI, and eight will be at 110 percent of AMI. There will be 25 multi-bedroom, family-intended-use units.
Sullivan noted that changes to the proposal since its inception in response to residents’ concerns and suggestions have included the reduction in the number of apartment units, an increase in the amount of open space, an increase in the rear setbacks, and changes in aesthetic and design concepts, including a “step-back” design for the upper floors.
Sullivan emphasized that the height of the proposed buildings is consistent with the height of both existing and future buildings along the Washington St. corridor.
The comments from the residents in attendance generally fell into three camps: Those who completely support the project (and who would have wanted to see an even-larger building with more units); those who support the project, but who expressed their dismay with at the lack of “deeply affordable” units (30% of area median income, also known as AMI); and those who generally support the project, but who lamented its size and what they perceive will be its adverse effects on the neighborhood.
Eric Herot spoke in favor of the project, citing the dire need for housing, and advocated for more units and a taller building.
Chris Vaughan also spoke in favor of the project, favorably noting the high percentage of affordable units, which will exceed the usual 15-20% of most new construction in the area.
Chaton Green, a Roxbury resident who is the Business Agent for the Boston Trade Unions, asked whether the developer would commit to using union labor and ensuring that the workers will receive family-sustaining wages and benefits.
“We are committed to exploring the possibility of the union bidding out and pricing this. Our goal is to work with you and hopefully work together,” said Hassell.
Cathryn Stein asked about the number of family units, to which Hassell responded that many of the apartments will be family-size units with rents at the lower AMI (50%) figure.
Lucas Gruner also lauded the project, advocating for roadway and sidewalk improvements to improve safety, especially on Rockvale Circle.
Long-time resident Jan Wampler, who lives on Kenton Rd., said, “This will be a big, big change to our neighborhood. I am happy to see that you have reduced the number of units, but the size of this project essentially creates six streets-worth of new housing in our neighborhood. This is terrifying to many of us.
“But generally this is a better project than it was before,” Wampler continued. “However, the building will create parking problems in the neighborhood and has no play space for children.
“We’re not only building housing, but we are also building a community, and we need much more retail space than what we have here,” Wampler added.
“We have been supporting this project, but we have been inundated with development in this part of JP,” said Caliga, echoing Wampler’s views. “We have traffic issues. Have there been any traffic studies? What about shadow studies, because you’re doing taller buildings? And wind tunnel studies? We do not want to become the Fenway, which is glass and steel towers and has become a ‘wind-tunnel city’. Our quality of life is being impacted.”
Hassel suggested that traffic will be reduced by 90% compared to the present uses of the sites. He also said wind and shadow studies have been performed per the city’s guidelines and have been peer-reviewed by the city. He also noted that his buildings are not anywhere near as large as the buildings in the Fenway area.
Alcurtis Clark, who lives a block away on Gartland St., thanked Hassell for the changes he has made to the project. However, Clark lamented the loss of the quality of life that has been occurring in JP in recent years. “I agree with this project, but I don’t agree with how this will be affecting my life,” Clark said. “JP no longer is the place I had thought I would be living in.”
“It is really important to get a breakdown on the AMIs,” said Benji Mauer. “I appreciate the number of 50% AMI units — that is a real accomplishment — but some also have to be at 30% AMI. People need to be able to afford to live here and live here now and we need the breakdown of the number of AMI units if we are to give our input to the city.”
Kathy Brown emphasized that, “We need deeply affordable housing in JP, especially family-units.”
“Affordability and the family-size units are terribly important to me,” said Weezy Waldstein. “It really matters that these are deeply affordable as we rebuild JP.
“Parking is going to be really rough and I think we need to be creative about what this means,” Waldstein added.
George Lee also said that there should be units at 30% of AMI, which he said is mandated by the JP/ROX plan.
Helen Matthews spoke of “the displacement of our neighbors on the Washington St. corridor in recent years. We need to stick to the affordable hooding standards that our community has supported in the JP/Rox guidelines.”
Maria Christina Blanco noted that her daughter and son-in-law and their new baby are living with her because of the lack of affordable housing in JP.
Joy Silverstein, who has lived on Kenton Rd. for 30 years, said, “Even though it is really going to change our neighborhood, I’m generally supportive of the project.” She also questioned the number of cars that will be brought into the neighborhood by the new residents.
Danielle Sommer-Kieta applauded the increase in family-size units, but said that the JP community needs units that are 30% of AMI. She also said that the units priced at 110% of AMI vastly exceed what many people earn.
“I understand your points, but is the alternative to build nothing?” Hassell queried. “Construction and interest costs have soared since JP/ROX was instituted in 2017. What was possible then is not necessarily possible now.”
The meeting concluded with DaRosa noting, in response to a question, that the BPDA presently does not have the project on its agenda for a vote.