The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 23, via Zoom. Chair Renee Stacey Welch presided over the session. JPNC members in attendance were vice-chair Bernie Doherty, secretary Michael Reiskind, Willie Mitchell, Sarah Freeman, Gert Thorn, David Baron, Purple Reign, Carla-Lisa Caliga, Danielle Sommer-Kieta, Lorenzo Bartoloni, Nick Chaves, and Peter DeCotis.
Also on hand was Melissa Beltran, the Director of Constituent Services for Mayor Wu.
Baron presented the report of the Zoning Committee. He said the committee took up four matters during the month. The first was a request from T-Mobile to install telecommunications equipment on the roof of the Mildred Hailey housing complex at 921-925 Parker St. He said the equipment will be enclosed and will be used for wireless telephone service. T’-Mobile needs to leave its present location because of work being done on that building by the owner.
Two other matters, 29 Aldrich St. (expanding an attic to add a bedroom and a bathroom) and 61 Wyler Rd. (a rear addition including a sunroom), were requests from owner-occupants who are seeking to enlarge their living spaces.
All three of those applications received approval from the Zoning Committee.
The fourth matter pertained to 18-18R Robeson St. There presently is a three-unit building on the lot and the owner is seeking to construct a new, single-family home in the rear of the property. He needs zoning relief in order to have two buildings within one lot.
Baron said that some of the neighbors expressed their opposition to adding another house on the lot and also were concerned about the work that will have to take place because of the need to remove ledge. There also was concern about the removal of a large tree.
The Zoning Committee split 5-5 on the matter. Doherty, who is a member of the Zoning Committee, presented the views of the residents who opposed the application.
Caliga also noted the strong opposition of both the tenants of the existing building and the immediate neighbors. In addition, she added, “Right now, this is a beautiful, wildlife area and it would be nice to keep it that way. Plus, they are planning to build a market-rate single-family home that will not do much for the attainable-housing crisis.”
In view of the 5-5 vote of the Zoning Committee — which effectively neither supported nor opposed the application — a vote by the full JPNC (either to ratify or to reject the vote of the Zoning Committee) was a moot issue, and thus a vote was not taken.
All of the homeowners must now go before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in order to obtain their variances.
Chaves presented the report of the Parks Committee, athough that committee did not meet during the month. Doherty and Thorn once again brought up the longstanding issue of safety along the paths of the bicycle and pedestrian pathways around Jamaica Pond and the lack of adequate signage delineating the pathways. Chaves made note of the improved signage and stenciling that the Boston Parks Dept. has placed along the paths.
The final matter discussed by the committee was the decision to postpone the biennial election that had been scheduled for Saturday, September 20, because of a lack of volunteers to conduct the election. After some discussion, in which Welch highlighted the need for 27-30 volunteers to man the three polling places and count the ballots, the members voted to reschedule the election to the spring of 2026.
The election initially had been set for this past June, but a lack of candidates led the council to set a new date for Saturday, September 20.
The members discussed how they can better reach out to the community in order both to encourage JP residents to run for the council and to help staff the election process.
The JPNC’s by-laws provide that current members may hold over in office until a new election is held.
In addition, new candidates can be chosen by the members to fill vacancies — the JPNC presently has a number of vacant seats — until the next election.