Category: Housing

A Blanket Shadow Law Would Put Transit-Accessible Housing at Risk

Ben Bruno

A petition is circulating calling on the City of Boston and the State Legislature to enact an “ironclad” shadow law for the Arnold Arboretum: a blanket ban on any new shadow falling on the Arboretum’s collection anywhere along its perimeter, modeled on the protections for Boston Common and the Public Garden.

WalkUP Roslindale believes this proposal is misguided and harmful to the public good. A categorical, perimeter‑wide shadow ban is not a reasonable response to any actual threat to the Arboretum’s collection and it would cause serious collateral damage to the city’s ability to add homes in the places where they make the most sense.

Our Position

WalkUP Roslindale supports protections for the Arboretum’s collection (many of us live near its periphery and all of us are regular visitors). These protections should be grounded in project-by-project review using the City’s existing design and permitting processes, which already evaluate shadow impacts, environmental effects, and site-specific conditions.

A perimeter‑wide shadow ban would apply uniformly around the entire boundary regardless of actual impact, scientific relevance, or proximity to sensitive plantings. It would also lock away some of Boston’s most transit‑accessible land at a time when the city urgently needs more homes near reliable transportation.

Boston should not lose future housing opportunities to a rule written to address disputes unfolding elsewhere along the Arboretum’s edge. Thoughtful, evidence‑based review, not categorical prohibition, is the right way to protect the Arboretum while ensuring the city can grow sustainably and equitably.

Building housing in transit‑rich areas should not be made infeasible by fiat

The Arboretum’s southeastern perimeter runs along Washington Street near the Forest Hills Orange Line and Commuter Rail station across the Roslindale/Jamaica Plain boundary. This stretch, home to a working mix of small businesses, light industrial uses, and some vacant and transitional parcels, has real opportunities for a substantial amount of new transit-oriented housing. A blanket rule that treats every parcel along the entire perimeter the same, regardless of a given site’s actual shadow impact, would shut down sensible development before it’s even proposed.

As an example, a proposal for a 165-unit building a short walk from Forest Hills at 3841 Washington Street recently won approval, showing what’s possible here when projects are evaluated on their own merits rather than blocked by a categorical rule. Shadow studies at this location showed minimal early morning shadows only for brief periods of time during the year.

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(Images 1-4 from 3841 Washington St supplemental filing, pp. 49–52.
Zoom in or right click-> open in new tab for maximum readability.)

Shadows from any other proposed developments on this Washington St corridor would also fall on the eastern edge of Bussey Brook Meadow, an urban wild owned by the Arboretum Conservancy that is deliberately managed with minimal intervention. The existing growth in the meadow is either wetlands or trees growing in a steep valley or along the steep slope of the Needham Heights commuter rail tracks. The rail tracks create substantial separation between possible development sites and the Bussey Brook Meadow, limiting shadows to brief early morning periods and only at certain times of year.

Stewardship of public amenities depends on nearby residents

Public amenities benefit from nearby resident stewardship. When a proposed 230-unit development at 18-22 Arboretum Road stalled in 2024, this was not only a significant loss of housing in a transit-rich location, but also a loss of residents who would have cared about the newly opened Arboretum gate and Roslindale Gateway Path. The new gate has been a wonderful addition to the neighborhood, but graffiti, litter, and illegal dumping still persist there, on Arboretum Rd, and on the adjoining Kitson Rd.

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Green spaces can be greatly enhanced and stewarded by the people who live nearby, use them, and care for them. Blocking new housing along this corridor keeps potential stewards from ever moving in, deepening the city’s worsening housing shortage in the process.

Boston needs both a healthy Arboretum and more homes near transit. We urge the City and the Legislature to reject a perimeter-wide ban so Roslindale and Jamaica Plain can keep adding the transit-accessible housing this corridor is so well suited for.

WalkUP Roslindale Urges City Council to Act on Parking Reform

Ben Bruno

Today, WalkUP Roslindale submitted a formal letter to the Boston City Council urging adoption of the proposed zoning amendment to eliminate minimum off‑street parking requirements for residential development.

Our letter explains why parking mandates are an outdated planning tool that force new housing to dedicate scarce land and resources to car storage, regardless of whether future residents need those spaces. Removing these requirements will allow housing to be designed based on actual resident needs and neighborhood context. Developers will still be free to include parking where it makes sense — the amendment simply removes a one‑size‑fits‑all mandate.

Roslindale’s experience under Squares + Streets zoning shows this. Even without required parking, proposed projects continue to include it when appropriate. At 4487 Washington Street, the proposal includes 28 homes and 12 parking spaces. At 4301 Washington Street, the proposal includes 16 homes and 7 spaces. These examples demonstrate that eliminating parking minimums does not eliminate parking — it just allows more thoughtful, context‑sensitive decisions.

You can read our full letter here (PDF): [WalkUP Roslindale Support Letter – Parking Minimums Text Amendment]

The City Council’s Planning, Development & Transportation Committee will hold its hearing on the amendment TOMORROW:

Wednesday, June 4 — 10:00 AM
In person at City Hall or virtually via Zoom.

There are three ways to make your voice heard:

  1. Sign the Better Parking for Boston petition — signatures from every neighborhood strengthen the case, this petition will continue beyond this hearing.
  2. Testify at the hearing — Wednesday June 4, 10 AM, in person or virtually via Zoom. Two minutes, you can read from notes. Not sure what to say? There is a tool to help with that.
  3. Write to your city councilor — a short personal note from a constituent carries real weight. This online tool drafts a letter tailored to your councilor and other key City officials in about 3 minutes.

Comment letter on 3841 Washington Street

Ben Bruno

Yesterday, we submitted our comment letter in support of a proposed development at 3841 Washington Street. We believe that this building will be a positive addition to the Roslindale community and will contribute to the supply of both affordable and market rate housing in the area. We appreciate the thoughtful sustainable design and improvement of Washington Streets’s streetscape through the addition of much needed shade trees and greenery, as well as the expansion of the sidewalk which includes desirable amenities for the public. Taking this large, asphalted area and converting it to a mixed-use building with a pocket park will allow the community to engage with this space in a very different way.

Read our full letter here.

TONIGHT: 3841 Washington St Public Meeting

Ben Bruno

rendering of proposed building at 3841 Washington StreetThis evening there is a public meeting for a proposed seven-story mixed-use development near Forest Hills Station and the Roslindale/Jamaica Plain border 3841 Washington St. The proposed project contains approximately 165 dwelling units, including Inclusionary Zoning units.

📅Join the Public Zoom Meeting — Tonight, Tuesday January 13th at 6:00 PM

✍️ Send a Written Comment by the January 19th deadline

Comment letter on 4487 Washington Street

Ben Bruno

We submitted our comment letter in support of a proposed development at 4487 Washington Street in Roslindale that we believe strongly aligns with the objectives of the Squares + Streets rezoning initiative. Replacing a single-family use with 28 new dwelling units on a transit-served parcel within walking distance of a broad variety of retail and service uses in the immediate vicinity as well as Roslindale Square represents an appropriate and beneficial use of land. This project will help address the city’s housing shortage while welcoming new neighbors who can support nearby small businesses and contribute to the vitality of the nearby square.

Read our full letter here.  Today is the comment deadline to submit your own comments.

10 years in and still at it!

Matt Lawlor

Yes, you read that right. WalkUP Roslindale are now in our eleventh year of pro-housing and pro-walk, -bike, and -transit advocacy. We announced this venture, which started out as the brainchild of Adam Kessel and your correspondent, in the spring of 2015 with the following post:

Welcome to WalkUP Rosindale!

We were simply a group of neighbors who came together to try to make, as Adam indicated, Roslindale “the most walkable neighborhood in all of Boston.” We’ve come quite a way over the last decade, including formally incorporating as a non-profit in the fall of 2021 and availing ourselves of the generous fiscal sponsorship of Roslindale Village Main Street in the process. According to wordpress, we’ve also posted a total of 517 times in those years (this post will be #518). The principal through-lines have, at least from my perspective, been (1) comment letters on new projects in the neighborhood, whether focused on new development or supportive infrastructure for walking, cycling, and transit; (2) support for planning, seeking funding, and implementing the Roslindale Gateway Path with collaborative support from, among many others, the Arnold Arboretum, the Arboretum Park Conservancy, the Solomon Foundation, LivableStreets Alliance, and the City of Boston’s Parks and Transportation Departments; and (3) supporting the fundamental restructuring of the city’s regulatory system to get way from our decades-old, painfully slow development by variance approach to reform-based, pro-housing approaches such as Squares + Streets. Herewith the first or most emblematic post from this website in each of those areas:

Housing Needed!

Rozzie Bike Corral Meeting June 10

First Official WalkUP Roslindale Comment Letter – 100 Weld Street

Boston’s Vision Zero Action Plan and sharing the Arboretum Gateway Path with our friends at LivableStreets’ 10-in-1 Street Talk

WalkUP Comment Letter on Washington Street Bus Lane

Open Letter in Support of Squares + Streets

We’re grateful for all of the support we’ve seen along the way so far and look forward to the next decade of advocating for a better, safer, and more welcoming neighborhood!

 

4487 Washington St Public Meeting Wed 12/17 6pm

Ben Bruno

The Planning Department is hosting a Virtual Public Meeting tomorrow, Wednesday 12/17, 6:00-8:00pm for the proposed project at 4487 Washington Street, a new five-story 28-unit residential building with 12 off-street vehicle parking spaces. The site is on the southern tip of one of the new S2 zones established in Roslindale’s Squares and Streets process.

4259 Washington Street Rendering

Comment letter on 4259-4267 Washington Street (former Bank of America location)

walkup

We’ve submitted a comment letter in support of a proposed affordable housing project at 4259-4267 Washington Street, the old Bank of America location just off the square. As detailed below, it’s great to see the Squares and Streets rezoning effort pay off so quickly with a higher density, pedestrian-oriented development, and look forward to welcoming new residents to our neighborhood.

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4259-4267 Washington Street (Phase 1 of the former BofA site redevelopment) – Public Meeting on Monday, 20 October 2025

Matt Lawlor

Just a quick note for interested and supportive folks in our neighborhood that the Small Project Review public meeting on the BBH proposal has been announced by the Boston Planning Department for Monday, 20 October 2025, at 6 pm. It will be over zoom and you can get information on the meeting and register HERE. Hope to see you there to support this ground-floor commercial and certificated, fast-track all-affordable residential proposal that represents the first phase of B’nai B’rith Housing’s redevelopment of the former Bank of America site and requires no zoning relief.

Boston Climate Action Plan – Draft 2 – Feedback period ends 30 September 2025 (this Tuesday)!

Matt Lawlor

The second draft of the city’s Climate Action Plan 2025 – which will guide the City through the next 5 years of efforts to reduce our collective carbon emissions and keep on track to hit a 50% drop from 2005 levels for community-wide emissions by 2030 (60% for municipal government emissions) and full carbon neutrality at a 100% drop from those levels by 2050 – has been available since the summer and the feedback period closes on this coming Tuesday, 30 September 2025. You can offer feedback by going HERE. The final draft is expected to be released in early 2026 with adoption/effectiveness in the spring. So, check out the plan and offer your feedback on what our city will be doing in the next 5 years to combat what is and remains the environmental challenge on this and at least the next several generations.

Given our twin focuses of being pro-housing and pro-walk, -bike, and -transit, we would direct your attention to the building and transportation sections of the plan.

For example, in the building section, steps such as streamlining permitting for de-carbonization of buildings, supporting housing stability through building upgrades, and support for affordable housing decarbonization are among what the city is considering.

For transportation, the actions include steps such a broad range of transit improvements (including Zone 1A regional rail citywide), encouraging safer walking and biking through infrastructure improvements that improve connections and reducing motor vehicle driving speeding (continuing the city’s mission toward Vision Zero by 2030), and planning for density and zoning for walkability (we have some recent experience on that here in Roslindale). Have at it by Tuesday!