By Michael Coughlin Jr.
At the February meeting of the Community Alliance of Mission Hill (CAMH), attendees discussed several items that are impacting or could soon affect the neighborhood.
One of the main topics discussed during the meeting was Squares + Streets, a “planning and zoning initiative focused on adding, supporting, and improving housing, public space, small businesses, and arts and culture in transit-accessible neighborhood centers and along main streets,” as defined on the Planning Department’s website.
Specifically, CAMH hosted Laurie Radwin, coordinator at Roslindale Coalition, who provided her thoughts on the Squares + Streets process since Roslindale Square has been going through this for some time now, and Tremont Street in Mission Hill is listed on the Planning Department’s website as an area that may be set for this initiative.
She raised some issues with the process, such as community engagement not representing the entirety of the area’s demographics, the severity of the proposed up-zoning, and more.
Further, Radwin believed that the proposed zoning in Roslindale could lead to displacement and that a sufficient displacement plan was not in place. She also urged attendees to sign a petition that says, “You can’t rezone anybody until you have funded anti-displacement policies in place.”
As this discussion continued, CAMH’s President Martin Beinborn made a point about residents becoming jaded with the community engagement process and having to write all sorts of letters for different projects and initiatives.
An attendee emphasized the importance of funding anti-displacement measures, and another discussed how a transient population from local institutions impacts Mission Hill’s demographics.
Eventually, City Councilor Sharon Durkan, who attended the meeting, joined the conversation. Durkan, the chair of the City Council Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation, mentioned that hearings on items like displacement and Squares + Streets will be scheduled.
She indicated that the neighborhood plans inherited from previous administrations were prolonged processes that often led to civic leaders’ burnout, and Squares + Streets was partly a response to that.
“The idea was to sort of shorten that period, have everyone at the table, and be able to sort of have this conversation around different density and how sort of a whole community grows in a transit-rich corridor,” said Durkan.
Durkan also mentioned that she thought the city had learned a lot from the first few areas undergoing the Squares + Streets process. For example, she spoke about the timing: The original timeline for these processes was six to nine months, but they have been ongoing for a year.
“What I’d say to like Mission Hill, is I don’t know if the learning that’s taken place will mean that like the future plans for Mission Hill will happen in six to nine months,” said Durkan.
As this portion of the meeting wrapped up, Durkan advocated for zoning initiatives that would lead to predictable development. Beinborn noted that trust was necessary in these processes, and other comments were made.
Another significant topic discussed was Northeastern University’s Institutional Master Plan. One attendee, Richard Giordano, spoke about a Northeastern Institutional Master Plan Joint Task Force Public Meeting on February 12th.
Giordano noted that there had been an “immediate push” to understand what was happening with Matthews Arena.
“The next part of the plan, I think that the task force is being asked to think about and move on, is basically the overarching shell of the whole plan that’s been filed with the BRA,” he said.
“The ask has been to examine the whole plan and to approve the shell of what goes where, the height, the density, the massing, that kind of thing.” However, Giordano noted that some on the task force think this is premature and that they want more specifics about each part of the plan.
He also mentioned that the dorm at 840 Columbus Avenue is larger than initially planned and discussed some enrollment information.
“It looks like they’re building more dorms and the undergraduate enrollment over a 10-year period is not growing that much so that there may be some progress—I think most of us feel not enough,” said Giordano.
“But the graduate student enrollment is projected to go up dramatically, and so people on the task force are basically saying, well, okay, they may not be behavior problems the way the undergrads are, but they will be in the marketplace, and they will continue to drive rents.”
As the conversation continued, community benefits and more were discussed. For more information about the Northeastern Institutional Master Plan process, visit https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/institutional-master-plans/higher-ed/northeastern-university.
Bike lanes were another topic discussed. Specifically, Beinborn discussed a meeting he and a few other CAMH Board Members attended organized through Jay Cashman and Pedal Safe Boston. “The feeling was yes, bike lanes are a good thing to have, but they often have been installed without sufficient consideration and are blocking like other ways of traffic, including like compromising pedestrian safety,” said Beinborn.
He then presented an outline of a multi-neighborhood letter to Mayor Michelle Wu, which supported bike lanes when planned “thoughtfully” but called for a temporary halt on the installation of new bike lanes, the removal of bike lanes that are making streets less safe, and an “appropriate transportation master planning process.”
Beinborn then asked those in attendance if CAMH should co-sign the letter. One resident mentioned that the summary of the letter did not include anything about equity. Others said they liked the bike lanes and were against signing the letter. Beinborn later noted that the CAMH Board would discuss it when a final version of the letter is made.
As the meeting eventually wound down, other subjects were discussed, such as preliminary plans for a project on Fisher Avenue, recaps of approvals for Tipsy’s Market’s license upgrade and 80-100 Smith Street, and more were also addressed.
For more info about CAMH, visit its website at https://www.camh.boston/. According to its website, CAMH’s next meeting is scheduled for March 19th.