Category: Housing

Arborway Bus Maintenance Meeting – In Person – TOMORROW – 22 June 2023 – 6 pm at English High School

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

We’re boosting the signal on this one kind of late, but better late than never. If you’re able, please do attend and show your support for our beleaguered transit agency and their attempts to move forward with electrification of their bus fleet by, among other things, replacing the Arborway bus garage with a fully modern facility while making significant land available for development of sorely needed new housing for our city. Thanks!

The MBTA is pleased to announce a public meeting to discuss replacement of the Arborway Bus Maintenance Facility.  The in-person meeting is scheduled for:

Thursday, June 22, 2023

6 PM – 8 PM

The English High School – Auditorium

144 McBride Street

Boston

At this meeting, MBTA project staff will provide an overview of the 15% design plans for the new bus maintenance facility and electrification project. The MBTA is designing the facility to support a 100% battery electric bus (BEB) fleet. BEBs will reduce emissions and improve the air quality around the facility and routes served. The new facility will be located next to the existing facility, on the site of 500 Arborway, and will open up 6.5 acres for housing and other development. The new facility will expand the fleet size to serve additional routes in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. This will provide capacity for 60-foot buses that carry greater numbers of riders on busy routes.

The MBTA encourages public participation and invites all to join this meeting. The MBTA will facilitate a Q&A period to respond to inquiries and gather public feedback about this project. 

This meeting will be held in person. Please click here to register so that we can account for attendance and accommodate accessibility needs.

For questions and comments, you can email us at arborwaybus@nullmbta.com.

Accommodations

Haitian Creole and Spanish interpreters, translated materials, and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services will be provided for this meeting. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be provided via Zoom.

Accessibility accommodations and language services will be provided free of charge, upon request, as available. Such services include documents in alternate formats, translated documents, closed captioning, and interpreters.

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation and/or language services, please email publicengagement@nullmbta.com or call tel:  857-327-3282. Requests should be made at least 10 days before a meeting.

Para más información o para pedir arreglos razonables y/o servicios lingüísticos, por favor envíe un e-mail publicengagement@nullmbta.com.

如需进一步了解或要求合理的便利设备和/或语言服务，请电邮 publicengagement@nullmbta.com.

Para mais informações, ou para solicitar serviços de acesso e/ou linguísticos em termos razoáveis, contactar por email publicengagement@nullmbta.com.

Pou plis enfòmasyon oswa pou mande yon aranjman rezonab ak/oswa sèvis lang, tanpri voye yon imèl bay publicengagement@nullmbta.com.

Comment letter on 18-22 Arboretum Road

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Today we sent a comment letter to the BPDA concerning a proposed development at 18-22 Arboretum Road. We support the project overall, and offer comments on affordable units, pedestrian access, and community benefits. Our full letter is below, also available as a PDF.

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Comment Letter on Community Benefits for 18-22 Arboretum Road Development

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Last week, we joined with several community partners to send a letter to the BPDA requesting community benefits to accompany the 18-22 Arboretum Road Development, a proposed 230-apartment development just off Washington Street abutting the Arboretum. Our joint letter focuses on funding for the Gateway Path and food pantry certification for an Archdale food distribution site. The full letter is reproduced below.

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Public Meeting 5 Days Right Ahead – Thursday, 9 March 2023 – Return of 4198 Washington Street

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

As those who follow this weblog know, WalkUP Roslindale followed this project closely through the public process that unfortunately resulted in an effective ZBA denial in the fall of 2021. (See 2 of our posts below). Now, the owners of the property are thankfully back with a renewed push on redevelopment of this 8,982 square foot site at 4198 – 4206 Washington Street in Roslindale Square. Physically, their proposal hasn’t changed: in place of the existing one-story retail structure, it still calls for construction of a new five (5)-story, mixed-use building containing approximately thirty-one (31) residential units, approximately 6,800 square feet of retail/community theater space, and approximately thirty-eight (38) bicycle storage spaces. The sole change, and it is significant, is that the owners have increased the share of income-restricted residential units from 42% to 61%, such that 19 of the 31 units are committed to be affordable to households earning between 60% and 100% of area median income. Not only is this substantively good on its own and makes an already great project that much better, it is also puts the project into the category of affordable residential developments that the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Executive Order of last fall expressly wants to advance more quickly and efficiently in light of the long-standing housing crisis in our city. In other words, this is exactly the kind of project that the Wu Administration wants to see a lot more of. Its time has come.

You can visit the project’s page on the BPDA website for more information. Most importantly, you can find information on the upcoming public meeting over zoom that is scheduled for this coming Thursday, 9 March 2023, at 6:00 pm. We urge supporters of this worthy proposal to attend the meeting and make your voices heard in support. You can register here.

4198 Washington Street Mixed Use and Affordable Housing Project Rejected by Zoning Board of Appeal Due to Lack of Parking

 

WalkUP Roslindale comment letter on 4198 Washington Street

 

361 Belgrade – Supplemental Filing Comment Period Ends Tomorrow – 3 March 2023 – Show your support!

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

WalkUP Roslindale previously indicated our support for this long-time-coming redevelopment of the former Clay Chevrolet property back in the fall – Comment Letter in Support of 361 Belgrade Avenue Housing Proposal – and we’re happy to see that the proposal has improved in the interim, especially including a better design and increased affordability. Complete information on the supplemental filing, including the presentation from a recent community meeting on the filing, can be found at the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s 361 Belgrade Project Page.

The comment period on this supplemental filing expires tomorrow, 3 March 2023. We urge our followers to support this project and its continued progress toward becoming reality by sending a brief support email to the BPDA project manager, Quinn Valcich, at quinn.w.valcich@nullboston.gov.

WalkUP Roslindale – 2022 in Brief

Matt Lawlor Leave a comment

So, 2022 definitely had its share of ups and downs, but in taking stock on the eve of 2023, three posts stand out as particularly worth looking back on and noting (in roughly reverse chronological order):

  • Taking first place, after a long, COVID-impacted process, the Lower South Street Neighborhood Slow Streets project obtained its final municipal approval and heads to installation this spring. The comments from Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge at the conclusion of the hearing were especially encouraging. This post also features a major advancement for us that started in the fall of this year – we have started to translate our posts into Spanish.

The Lower South Street Neighborhood Slow Streets Project and Boston’s Commitment to Street Safety Citywide

  • In second place, we gave significant attention and sought to provide assistance to Roslindale residents in navigating the Orange Line shutdown from late August to late September in two posts that included links to official guidance as well as our own review of available substitute services, especially Needham Line and other commuter rail trains that made additional stops at Forest Hills and Ruggles during that month-long period.

RED ALERT: It’s now official – MBTA to close down Orange Line for 30 day “accelerated” repair effort on tracks and signals

MBTA adds additional service to Forest Hills starting today – 6 September 2022

  • In a 3-way tie for 3rd place, we had Mayor Wu’s inaugural group bike ride into downtown Boston from Roslindale (not officially a WalkUP Roslindale event, but many of us were very involved), plus our support for the successful permitting effort around the redevelopment of the funeral home site at 59-63 Belgrade Avenue, and our Poplar Street Walk Audit report (all from August, though the walk audit itself occurred in May).

Not an official WalkUP Roslindale Event, but very good to see this starting: Group bike ride into City Hall from Roslindale Square with Mayor Wu – 8 am this Thursday, 11 August 2022

Please help support housing at 59-63 Belgrade Avenue

Final Poplar Street Walk Audit Report

Comment Letter in Support of 361 Belgrade Avenue Housing Proposal (UPDATED with Spanish translation)

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Yesterday, we sent a comment letter in support of the proposed housing development at 361 Belgrade Avenue, formerly the proposed site of Roxbury Prep. Our full letter is reproduced below and is also available as a PDF and also in Spanish.

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Last call for comments to ZBA on 59-63 Belgrade

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If you haven’t yet reached out to the Zoning Board of Appeal to support the proposed project for 59-63, please do so by the end of Friday, August 19. See our earlier post for details.

Please help support housing at 59-63 Belgrade Avenue

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Please contact the Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) and your elected officials to show your SUPPORT for badly-needed new housing at 59-63 Belgrade Avenue.

This proposal will replace the Folsom Funeral Home, which is closing, and will provide:

  • 31 new apartments, a mix of one and two-bedroom units
  • 6 income-restricted apartments
  • Ample on-site bicycle storage
  • New transit-oriented housing directly next to the commuter rail and Roslindale Square

Please send a polite, brief support email in your own words to the following individuals with the subject line: “Please Support 59-63 Belgrade Avenue”

This is an important infill proposal that will provide needed new transit-oriented housing, displace no one from the site, and enhance the entrance to Roslindale Square on Belgrade Ave. WalkUP Roslindale previously submitted a comment letter in support of the project to the BPDA.

Please submit your support emails before Friday, August 19th! The ZBA hearing will be held virtually on Tuesday, August 23rd.

Thank you!

WalkUP Roslindale Comment Letter on 59-63 Belgrade Avenue

walkup Leave a comment

Today, we sent a comment letter to the BPDA on a proposed residential project at 59-63 Belgrade Avenue. We generally support this project as it is constant with our goals and mission, and also offer some suggestions for how the proposal could be improved. Our full letter is below, also available as a PDF.

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