According to Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America by Richard Brewer
The idea for the Trustee was broached by famed landscaper Charles Eliot in a letter to Garden and Forest in February, 1890. An association was needed, he suggested, to choose and acquire reservations- that is, land reserved from development. “Within ten miles of the State House there still remain several bits of scenery which possesses uncommon beauty and more than usual refreshing power. Moreover, each of these scenes is, in its way, characteristic of the primitive wilderness of New England, of which, indeed, they are surviving fragments.”
Elliot then made his proposal.
“As Boston’s lover of art united to form the Art Museum, so her lovers of Nature should now rally to preserve for themselves and all the people as many as possible of these scenes of natural beauty which, by great fortune, still exists near their doors.”
Walk a little further into these woods and you may come across a bronze plaque embedded into a granite outcropping memorializing that day in 1891 when Mrs. Frances Foster , the widow of the one time world famous “Ice King”, conveyed this land to the Trust for $1.00 and in the memory of her late daughter, killed twenty years earlier in a horse riding accident. You are in Virginia Woods, a parcel within the Middlesex Fells Reservation.
Under Elliot’s direction the trustees set out doing two things.
First, acquire land. The first acquisition was Virginia Woods, a gift that primed the engine to raise the money to purchase surrounding land.
Second, form a commission so land near Boston could be bought and protected for the masses without interference from local ordinances and politics. In 1892 the state legislature, after creating the first private land trust a year earlier, again at Elliot’s urging created the Metropolitan District Commission. That’s right girls and boys, the ole M.D.C.
Using privately raised money the new MDC began acquiring land around Virginia Woods for the trust. Virginia Woods was actually an old village, Haywardville, abandoned and destroyed more then 20 years prior. It was made up of various mills built along a gorge running down from the elevated Spot Pond. Electricity did Haywardville in. Did you notice the remnants of the damns and mills? (This piece of land has an interesting past but I’ll save that for another time.)
After Haywardville was deserted Spot Pond was taken by the state to provide much needed water to the growing population. Spot Pond becoming a reservoir resulted in the many summer cottages surrounding the pond and owned by wealthy Bostonians to fall vacant and in disrepair. The same was true for the hotel that stood where the hospital now stands; on the hill overlooking the pond. Olmstead design of Spot Pond area is still as we know it today.
Now start walking south. You should come to a narrow two line lightly traveled picturesque road meandering through the woods under the towering trees. This is called Ravine Road. Do you see why? Exactly. It looks like it’s build over a ravine.
Across the street you’ll see what appear to be more woods. Take a walk through there and you will find acre upon acre of maintained conservation land with hiking, walking,, and mountain biking terrain. You will find a picturesque body of water surrounded by forest. and some of the many species of birds, animals, water life, flora and fauna not easily found so close to Boston.
This was land bought up by the MDC in the late 1890s.
Now that you have done this I want you to do one very important thing. Stop. Stay still. And listen. What do hear? What’s that? I can’t hear you with all this quiet going on. This unique urban quiet is making it difficult for me to hear all this nature?
Make sure you check out the views of Boston, The Blue Hills, Revere, Nahant, Boston Harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean. Did you see the waterfall? Did you hear it? There’s one in there. Well, you can’t see it all in one day. Next time you will see the waterfall.
Now, after you’ve just blown your mind and thought, “Geez, I never knew this was here’ start walking west. As you walk west what change in the landscape do you come across Galileo? That’s right, the rear of the New England Memorial Hospital. This was the where the dilapidated hotel was, remember. Unfortunately the land trust could not afford the asking price for this was a primo site at the center of this remarkable piece landscape and beauty less than ten miles from the State House.
But the Trustees had a back up plan. Charles Elliot and other powerful Brahmins sought out a hospital to locate their. This would be a benign and quiet use. Also a hospital serves the greater public good. It was the second best choice for the land.
At that time many hospitals believed it was better for patients to be away from dirty city air. That’s why you see many hospitals on top of hills. Somerville Hospital, Quincy, Whidden in Everett, New England Baptist. The hill overlooking the Spot Pond and the surrounding natural beauty was perfect. In 1908 the Seventh Day Adventists opened the New England Sanatorium.
Before you head back to your car walk south again to the hospital property line. Do you see another change in the landscape? Right. Back to the pristine urban conservation area you see everywhere but on the hospital property.
Here’s how Frederick Olmstead described the area when he undertook the Spot Pond project;
On account of the exceedingly interesting scenery of the Fells and the fact that they were as yet wild and unoccupied while close to a large population, nearly all of the private lands of the region (amounting to eighteen hundred acres) were purchased in 1894 by the Metropolitan Park Commission, for the benefit of much the same district as that served by the Metropolitan Water Works, and the care and control of the lands held by the local water boards on the margins of the reservoirs were then turned over to the Park Commission..
OK. You can go back to your car now. As you are walking look across the pond and you will notice Rt. 93 cutting through the otherwise virgin landscape. Can you hear it? Not really, right?
Lift your glance a tad and you will see more conservation land glaring down on the highway like a fortress. Look around in all directions. Do a complete three-sixty. No trucks, right? Right.
Now, put your club and ball back in the trunk. (You should be ashamed of yourself for using that Mulligan.)
Drive back the way you came. When you get back to the 93 on ramp you will notice that you are at “Roosevelt Circle”. Do you know for whom this traffic rotary running above 93 and linking North Medford to the rest of Charley and Mayor Bloomberg’s fair city is named for? Wrong! Not Franklin Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt of course. The original icon of the land conservation movement in this country.
Now don’t get on the highway. Go across 93 to South Border Road. Pull over in one of the many small, convenient, and accessible parking areas along the road. Get out and walk, and walk, and walk. This time you are on your own. No help from me.
What do you see? Damn right it’s amazing! Who knew? Tell me what you heard. More importantly tell me what you didn’t hear.
Now go to your car and head back to Roosevelt Circle. Hop on 93 North. As you drive along look to your right. Again, what do you see? Spot pond and on the other side of it the New England Memorial Hospital where you parked you car, right? Right.
Do you see how it makes sense they named the traffic circle after T.R.? Pass under it heading north on 93 you enter an area like no other in our Metropolitan Park system. These huge swatches of land have been protected by the Commonwealth’s citizens from developers and land speculators for over a hundred years. The city skyline shining in the rear view mirror is quick
reminder how special this place is.
So Ernie, why are you telling us this?
Well folks, it seems that those Seventh Day Adventists, the ones that started the hospital, well, they just couldn’t make it work. After nearly 100 years of trying they had to face reality and close their doors. And they sold the property. To a developer/land speculator. Now, like any speculator I assume the new buyers checked out the history of this land and learned that it was really an exception to rules regarding the surrounding land. Being a good land speculator they must have expected there would be some push back to development plans. What effect would a development have on the surrounding area so important and necessary to the quality of life of metro Boston’s urban dwellers.
The land is governed by the Town of Stoneham zoning laws. The new owners have hired the commercial developer The Guiterrez Company to build an office and residential community on the hospital site. The number of office workers, residents, supply trucks, and visitors expected will drawf that which came with the hospital. Governors Cellucci, Swift, and Romney have blocked the development through enviormental means. Recently Governor Patrick’s environmental chief recently said the project can go forward without an environmental review. WTF.
Who supports the commercial development of this land?
1. Governor Patrick
2. Ian Bowles
3. Stoneham Elected Officials
4. The land speculators
5. Gutierrez Company
6. Nobody else.
The town of Stoneham approved the non-conforming use thus allowing the development.
Stoneham says it needs the taxes and that is why it supports the development. A BMG blogger, jcsinclair, is a member of the Stoneham Finance Committee and defended Stoneham by saying this in a recent BMG thread
it’s not Stoneham’s fault that the state didn’t want to come up with the money to seize that property when they first created the fells.
I guess Stoneham needs the money more than every other city and town. Besides, we have polar bears to worry about and the rain forest too.
Catherine Clark and Jason Lewis should be ashamed of themselves. Clark thinks she should be running for US Senate and Jason, as we all know, is clueless. Incidentally, both of these new blood Dems didn’t grow up here. Do they really care about the importance of our Metropolitan Park System? I doubt it.. It’s not their fault I guess. They just don’t get it.
On the other hand Paul Donato, the local boy, low key, hard working Medford rep, has been sounding the alarm. But with zero support from Lewis and Clarke, the other two reps in the Fells, he is standing there with his you-know-what in his hand. Lewis and Clark – how funny is that – these progressives would rather see this precedent in backward thinking on land conservation so the Town of Stoneham can continue sending fire engines to medical calls and afford whatever demands the teachers unions make.
I’ll have more on this soon. There is so much to discuss
Can someone just summarize and tell me what is going on?
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p>I gather that there is public conservation land near the Middlesex Fells that developers want to buy up and profit from. Am I correct?
There is an abandoned hospital on a plot of land in Stoneham that is adjacent to the Middlesex Fells. Stoneham wants to redevelop the old hospital property into commercial space and housing (read-revenue). Ernie wants the parcel to be added to the Fells reservation.
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p>Sounds to me like there is a decent case to be made for both sides.
to the Reservation; it’s an island of ugly inside the borders of the Reservation.
That past GOP Governors Cellucci, Swift, and Romney blocked on environmental grounds. Rep Paul Donato is resisting this. Reps. Lewis and Clark are doing nothing. All according to Ernie.
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p>Personally, I think this development is a scandal. It’s subverting public investment in perhaps the best park in the Commonwealth — the Central Park of metropolitan Boston — to enrich a group of developers. Bad enough that the powers that be blasted I-93 through the Middlesex Fells — that was a decision that should send a lot of people straight to hell … maybe former Secretary Aloisi can visit them as he continues on his trip through our Divine Comedy, as discussed with David, Charley and me in our interview a few months ago, but I digress.
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p>After Kelo the state can do pretty much whatever it wants with this property. We should pay the Gutierrez Company the value of the land as assessed for tax purposes at the time of their purchase and add it to the Fells. If the state has $60 million to pay to UBS for swaptions deals, no doubt it can find the money for this infinitely more useful purpose.
…how does the state park system work? It sounds like this is protected, but if this idea were proposed for a National Park it would be a non-starter. Is this as ad hoc, at the whim of the current leadership, as it sounds or am I missing something? Yes, the “Lewis and Clark” reference is quite ironic:)
trying to address the economic slowdown caused by the recession. It seems antithetical that our “Green” governor would allow the degradation of the amazing park system that is the Lynn Fells Reservation. I think he was advised to grease the skids and get the Gutierrez project on line. What he didn’t understand was the historical significance of this park system which is accessible to those who are poor and live in the city. He greased the skids by allowing his Environmental Secretary Ian Knowles to remove environmental impediments to the project.
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p>Here is a link to an amazing presentation made by Charles Eliot in 1893 in support of the creation of a municipal park system. I encourage everyone to read the report and see how advanced was Eliot’s thinking. He was an advocate for the poor and an advocate of the environment and we get to recreate in the nature that he preserved for us. I consider it a sin that the present administration and Reps Lewis and Clark will allow this project to go forward and undo much of the good that Eliot was able to achieve over one hundred years ago. I also include a link to a wonderful biography written by Eliot’s father, President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University as well as a synopsis of the incredibly detailed (770 pages)biography.
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p>We should not squander what this man preserved for us. I hope that Governor Patrick has someone whispering in his ear who understands this issue. I think that if he understood it fully he would never have allowed his Environmental Secretary to remove environmental impediments to this project. The people who love the Fells, there are thousands of them by the way, will not forget that the damage to the park was done on Governor Patrick’s watch.
I am a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, was born in Melrose and raised in Stoneham and Woburn. Until this time I could not understand the silence from Reps Lewis and Clark and Governor Patrick regarding the rape of the Fells by the Town of Stoneham and the Gutierrez Company, but EB3 showed me the light. Reps Lewis and Clark and Governor Patrick don’t care because they don’t understand the historic and cultural significance of the Fells Reservation. The new PBS special on the National Parks has highlighted the career of Charles Eliot, perhaps the strongest proponent of the Fells and Blue Hills Reservations. His efforts made over 100 years ago allow us to enjoy these beautiful parks today. Now we are about to witness the demise of the park due to the ignorance of our elected officials.
Virginia Wood, as EB3 correctly states, was the first gifted piece of land made for purposes of providing municipal parkland to the masses. Within a short period of time beautiful parks were created at the Fells and in the Blue Hills. The success of Charles Eliot’s plans are manifested in the writings of Ellen White, one of the early movers and shakers in the Seventh Day Adventist Church who saw in the park all that Eliot had accomplished:
The hospital was a good fit for the park, its patients got to enjoy the clean air, quiet and the wonders of nature and the park was little burdened by the good works being performed on the hospital grounds. The Gutierrez project changes in a fundamental way the Lynn Fells Reservation. It would cause Woodland Road, a restricted parkway, to become clogged with traffic and overrun by trucks. Reps Lewis and Clark and Governor Patrick have no memories of hiking in these woods, slipping past the MDC cops to swim in the reservoirs, have no idea what Jerry Jingle was. They just have no clue about what they are causing to happen and it is not right.
Ernie’s history lesson is fairly accurate. Key points are:
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p>
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p>So to be clear, the developer didn’t buy up park land in order to develop it, he bought private land that through a potentially short sighted decision 100 years ago sits in the middle of a park. I don’t know anybody who thinks that’s an ideal situation, buts its the reality that we have to deal with.
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p>The Town of Stoneham collected property taxes from the church when it operated the site as a hospital, and has continued to collect from Gutierrez while the debate over what to do with the property has dragged on. If some form of development proceeds yes we will see an increase in revenue. If the state were to take over the site the town loses revenue. I have no idea where Ernie got the idea that I feel we are somehow more entitled than any other community, but his refusal to acknowledge the impact that the loss of revenue would have on a town that is already struggling financially is not helpful.
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p>Ernie states that the traffic generated by the new development would ‘dwarf’ that generated by the hospital. Its been a while since I read any of the traffic studies that have been generated, but I don’t recall any conclusions to which the word ‘dwarf’ would be fair. Perhaps he can provide a reference. My own personal recollection is that the hospital was a fairly busy place, with doctors, patients, visitors, emergency vehicles, and delivery trucks coming in and out 24/7.
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p>In an earlier comment on this thread Bob suggests that the state should just buy the land and make it part of the reservation. My guess is that if a reasonable offer was made Gutierrez would probably take it just to be done with the whole issue. Given the current fiscal climate, however I doubt that such an offer is possible. One of the things I’ve learned watching the Ken Burns National Parks specials has been the incredible contributions that men like John D. Rockefeller made to the park system by buying up land and donating it. Perhaps Ernie could impose on his namesake to make a similar gesture.
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p>My own personal hope is that somewhere between Gutierrez’s original plans and Ernie’s apparent desire to to erase 100 years of history on the site there is a middle ground that reasonable people on both sides can live with. During our earlier back and forth on this topic, Ernie suggested that he had ‘a better idea’ for the site. I was sincerely interested to hear his suggestion, but all I got for my efforts to drag it out of him was questions about my identity intended to expose my supposedly ulterior motives. I found this particularly surprising given Ernie’s insistence that the BMG community accept the wisdom of his comments without any knowledge of his true identity. At any rate, I’m still waiting for the ‘better idea’. Maybe its coming in ‘Part II’.
How about a car dealership. Come on down!
The better idea is to preserve the Fells.
You live in Stoneham so I guess you must appreciate the The hundred year history of the former hotel site is very clear. It was used as a hospital and over time vehicles would travel there to visit the infirm or work at the hospital. You also know the gem that is the Lynn Fells Reservation. Gutierrez wants to bring a dense apartment cluster and massive corporate and industrial office space complex on the site. You know that this will forever change Woodland Road, the Lynn Fells Parkway and the other historic parkways in the area. Truck traffic, residential traffic, employee and invitee traffic will swamp those roads. In the beginning of this project the developer indicated that significant changes needed to be made to the Woodland Road layout and the layouts of connecting roads. Now those plans have been dumped. Reps Lewis and Clark and the Governor are doing nothing and this plan is going to be rammed through. I think this stinks.
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p>I like Stoneham, I like the Thai place across from Andrea’s pizza. I like Georgie D’s. The theater in the center is great as are the shots of Stoneham center in the movie “The Brinks Job”. I used to play baseball at Rec Field behind the Boy’s Club and play in the woods that ran from Stevens Street all the way to Melrose. All of these things make Stoneham a great place to visit. Another thing that makes Stoneham special is the Fells Reservation. The Gutierrez project will not be one of the things that make Stoneham special.
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p>In full disclosure, I live in Melrose and as you know you guys and we guys have been fighting about this for a long time. I was glad to see that we have sort of buried the hatchet. On the other hand, I don’t like that Stoneham is willing to damage the legacy that was left to us in the 1890’s in return for some increased tax revenue. I understand that the town needs money and that times are tough, but times weren’t tough when this plan was first floated, we were fat and happy back then. I think it is disingenuous to now claim that this project needs to go forward because Stoneham needs the revenue. Times will get better and your revenues will rise. You don’t need to do this.
Ernie, I still can’t say I agree with you on the matter at hand … but this is a beautiful little essay. Thanks.
the environmental review is being waived?
… the procedural question. I don’t know.
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p>I do know that the spot has evidently been used for “business” purposes before, and I don’t see why apartments would be substantively that different from a hospital, as far as traffic and impact on the Fells is concerned. Just saying that has not been demonstrated to me so far. I’m willing to be convinced.
they do nothing small. Check out their website link provided by EB3 in his initial post. This is not going to be an apartment complex. It is a dense apartment cluster AND a huge business/industrial facility. They want to plunk a Route 128 like office/residential development in the middle of the Fells. You must have known this because you are a smart fellow.
at least not that I can tell. A “128 like office/residential development”? Proof please? And is the footprint bigger or the same as the hospital?
Here’s what’s been proposed
I find this promotional site particularly lame in the context of Kirth’s above link to the Google satellite view.
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p>The latter provides far more information about the truth of what’s going on here, regardless of how that truth is rationalized.
doesn’t show the 250,000 square feet of office space that they intend to develop. Since you failed to provide the true information Here’s what has been proposed.
If you carefully read the article you cited, the plan is to “redevelop the vacant 250,000 (sq. ft.) hospital building for commercial office use”. So we’re not talking about a new building, but rather reuse of the existing structure. That structure appears on the site plan I linked to.
was a PR tool. I know that they are using the old building. They are also building the giant 40B so the burden on the reservation and its roads will be significantly magnified. They just want to do the biggest thing they can, the public be damned. The Stoneham government is waiting by the trough salivating about all the extra slop coming their way. Governor Romney would not have stood for this nor would his Environmental Secretary accept the phony traffic numbers the speculators submit in their proposals.
The hospital building space will be used for commercial office space, retail etc . . . On top of that they will be doing a dense 40B development on land that is now open space. I have provided a link below on a news report of the latest permutation of this assault on the Fells. As you can see, Gutierrez plans a residential and office developmentcontaining over 400 apartments and a 250,000 square foot office complex in the middle of the reservation.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church did not sell the property. When the hospital corporation went bankrupt, the property fell under the control of the unsecured creditors committee, who petitioned the federal bankruptcy court to sell it by bid. There was one bidder, who now owns the property. By the way, the unsecured creditors took a bath, and received only pennies on the dollar for their debts. The buyer paid millions, but it was not nearly as much as the hospital’s debts.
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p>The land (50 acres, I think) once held a hospital, medical office condos, a power plant, a church, a school and worker housing. I believe only the office condos are active now. along with a nursing home/assisted living facility that is tucked into a corner of the property.
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p>I used to visit the hospital once and a while. It was a very busy site, with lots of traffic in and out. There were hundreds of employees on site at any one time. The property is not a park. If it once was a park, it hasn’t been one for a very very long time.
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p>I sail on Spot Pond, and hike around it once in a while. You can sit in a DCR sail boat and see the old hospital. Development of the property will not spoil the pond, or the hiking trails around it.
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p>If the state wants to take it by eminient domain, the state will have to pay the owner fair market value. That’s the law, I think is somewhere in the parts of the Constitution that we haven’t repealed yet.
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p>Since buying the land would cost money, some folks want to paper the developer to death with appeals, litigation and the like, and try to get the park for free. I don’t think it will work.
and the degree of traffic was not even close to what the new facility will produce. This was a small hospital with less than 200 beds. There were lots of people working there but not nearly as many as you imply.
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p>No one wants to paper anyone to death. We want our government to preserve what others, through their foresight, have provided to us. The developer is a speculator and wants to make a profit, a big profit and that is great. Its the American way. However, our government is not the developer and is not speculating. It should preserve OUR park. It isn’t Stoneham’s park and it isn’t Gutierrez’s park, it is ours. Maybe you should get out there more and see what is at stake. I could show you places that would take your breath away.
I’ve been there many times. Its not a park. There is a park near it. There will still be a park near it. I’ve also hiked the Fells. Which, by the way, will still be there.
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p>A 200 bed hospital need hundreds of employees. I didn’t imply that. I said that.
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p>Nobody provided this land to you. You would like to take it away from its owner. That’s fine. We will have to pay for it. How?
then I don’t know what definition you are using. As far as your representation that hundreds of employees worked at the New England Sanitorium every shift then you were inflating the numbers. I grew up here, was hospitalized at the New England Sanitorium, visited the emergency room countless times and I can tell you that there were fewer employees and patients than there will be residents at the Langwood Commons. Add to the over 1000 new residents all of the people who will be working in the 250,000 square foot commercial space and then add all of the business invitees who will be coming and going and the burden on the PARK roadways will be quadrupled. This will have a ripple effect on the connecting roads and before you know it Stoneham will attempt to change the parkways’ configurations to assuage the impact on the surrounding communities. This is a disaster. Governor Patrick’s green hue is fading fast.
Celluci, Swift and Romney administrations blocked this development. What has changed? Oh right, now we have an environmentalist in the corner office.
Hey Ernie
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p>Didn’t Rep. Donato file a bill to prohibit alterations to the state-controlled roadways in the area a few years back? (This would have prevented the developer from changing the historic roadways to handle the increased traffic.) Whatever happened to the bill? Has Donato reintroduced the bill? It’s hard to imagine that Clark and Lewis would fail to sign on as sponsors on a refile. It’s a no-brainer for Clark since Stoneham isn’t in her district (at least her state rep disrtict). Perhaps the issue did not come up around the bocce court.
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p>Dave Wedge Bocce Results
I don’t mind the project proposal as I’ve seen it. It’s a little bigger than I’d like, but IIRC I loved what was to be done with the roads and pathways — narrowing and slowing down auto traffic, bike lanes, walking paths, the works.
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p>Here’s what I’d like: I’d like MA to make it a boarding magnet school. Choose any of:
* math and science
* performance arts
* fine arts
* history & linguistics
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p>Then create a high school with grades 11 & 12 (and 10? 9?) which is public and free, boarding, competitive entrance with guarantees of minimums across geography, rural & urban, and poor.
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p>The school would have a lower impact than housing in terms of transportation, stress on the land, etc. It’s possible that there could be less building mass added. It’s possible that the existing building could be used with internal cosmetic changes, since a hospital can be converted to dorm rooms.
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p>I don’t know if this idea was even considered, or if it’s even feasible. What I do know is that I attended NC State which gets about 91% in-state kids… and many of the best students all came from NC School of Science & Math, a public magnet boarding school. Why not replicate that kind of success in MA?
and will not provide the profit sought by the speculators, nor will it provide the revenue source sought by Stoneham officials. Your proposal has great merit though. As I walk through these woods I often think of what a great educational asset we have here.
that is, the current buildings may not work for a school. Still, it might. I wonder if it was considered. What I’d like to see is that there be minimal change to the structure that exists. I don’t mind re-using existing buildings, even if they’re in less-then-preferable locations. I don’t want to see major building mass added to the site though, particularly because it’s so close to Boston and isn’t served by good public transit — let’s preserve green space away from transit and improve existing housing and office space near transit.
1–There seems to be a lack of money to buy the land from the developer.
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p>2–If acquired, wouldn’t it cost more to build and maintain a school on the property than to use it as park/reservation space? Even if you could retrofit the building instead of building new, it’s more money, right?
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p>3–Is there money lying around to start a magnet school? With dorms and the staff needed to keep kids that age out of too much trouble!?!? And even if there was, is that the right location for it? Surely land/buildings can be had in other areas at a much more affordable price. And locations that could use that type of development more than there.
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p>All this aside, I love the idea of a public academy magnet school for the state, with boarding and all.
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p>2. Sure, but we also need schools, and the needs aren’t entirely incompatible, just as the sanitarium wasn’t entirely incompatible.
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p>3. Money? See (1). Right location? Dunno. I like that it’s close enough to Boston that people can arrive via automobile highway or via public transit (the school would have to shuttle kids during travel periods), but far enough away that kids can’t easily get themselves in trouble getting off grounds AWOL.
that does not mean that this project should go forward. This developer has been stopped in the past by pro-business Republican administrations. It could easily be stopped again but our governor is just letting it get pushed down our throats.
I wonder: if Stoneham had 10% affordable housing, would this development be possible? After all, the “joy” of 40B is that if you’re building affordable housing in a community without 10% affordable housing, you get to cut through many local restrictions.
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p>Here’s a map of 40B compliance:
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p>Notice that Stoneham is white — they have less than 8% affordable. Perhaps the lesson here is: hey cities and towns! Work harder to get some favorable affordable housing in your community so that you can get over the 10% threshold — and then have a better chance of keeping projects like the one proposed on Fells Reservation out.
but Stoneham wanted this project to go forward in the worst way. When looking at the overall project the 40B development is the least of the problems. It would not be so offensive to me if it were just the 40B project. Affordable housing is great although I would prefer it to be somewhere else. Gutierrez doesn’t care about affordable housing, they want to do big projects as depicted on their website. The 40B project is the pretty dress they put on the 250,000 square foot office project which will choke the life out of the Lynn Fells Reservation, at least the eastern half of it.
40B is a windfall for developers. I’ve been watching my town chase that elusive 10% for 20 years, and we’re no closer now than we ever were. It’s my understanding that 40B rentals need be ‘affordable’ for only 10 years; after that, they can go for market rate. It’s like a giant hamster wheel – lots of effort, producing no movement.
but why can’t your city/town pursue (re?)development of parcels which don’t sunset after 10 years?
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p>Personally, I think the state ought to revise 40B so that 40B only kicks in if both the town is below 10% and the town is amongst the lowest half in terms of percentages.
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p>In other words, you can temporarily get out of 40B cross hairs if your affordable housing exceeds the majority of cities and towns in the Commonwealth. This way, there’s always a little pressure to add to the stock… if you’re anywhere near the 50th percentile, you want to add a few when possible to get over that hump. It would also help to spread affordable housing development across the Commonwealth as communities find small projects that they like.
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p>I’m of the opinion that affordable housing should be rather diffuse. A large building of 40B isn’t so great — let’s get a home in this neighborhood, an apartment or three over here, a condo or two here. Spread it out throughout the town, and throughout the Commonwealth.
and I don’t have a lot of time today for research, but I believe the sunset provision is written into the law. Someone who knows could confirm or refute that. Even if it isn’t in the law, a developer is holding all the cards when he goes 40B. The town has almost no say in what gets built, unless it’s on a wetland, and even then I’ve seen them build.
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p>The builders don’t often go with single-family homes; they like to put as many units as they can on a property. I assume that’s where the biggest profit is.
because it nullifies town zoning restrictions,conservation laws, wetlands setbacks, vernal pools, traffic studies, title five regs and fire ladder truck turn around space. I know, I have a 40B across the street and it will forever be an instrument of contempt for state government until the day I die.
This sad story illustrates one of the consequences of the legislature’s destructive fiscal policy towards cities and towns, which since 1990 seems to comprise the following elements:
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p>1) Restrict local power to raise revenues,
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p>2) pile on unfunded mandates,
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p>3) To balance the state budget, cut local aid.
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p>Marinate for nearly two decades to get local officials begging for any short-term gain to the tax base.
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p>In the Fells case, the Administration earns praise for promoting economic growth rather than the protest it deserves for selling off the state’s heritage for a mess of pottage.
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p>Most criticism of the state’s focal fiscal policy rightly focuses on the cuts and tax hikes it engenders, but it also profoundly distorts land-use decisions.
go to Sec. of State’s Campaign Finance site and search in contributions category with employer line for “Gutierrez”…that’s where politics begins and ends today.
Above and beyond irreparably degrading a jewel of the natural world that our Bay State forebears were wise enough– and ungreedy enough– to preserve, the waiving of environmental review for this project would set an insanely dangerous precedent for one of the most densely populated states in the nation. Talk about giving the fox the keys to the henhouse! Someone in favor of this project, please tell us: why should this project be exempt from environmental review? Before you say anything else– just answer that one question.
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p>Above and beyond that, I invite anyone who thinks this project is a good idea to stand at the ‘Friendly’s Corner’ at the intersection of Route 28, North Border Road, and South Street in Stoneham during either the morning or evening rush hours. Now, envision adding 8000-10,000 vehicle trips a day (according to independent sources– see Friends of the Fells website) once this behemoth of a project is completed, and if you see an exponentially-expanding cluster **** or car accidents, degarded air quality, gridlock, and more and more roadkill, blow your nose and move to the head of the class.
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p>If you want to see the Stoneham Board of Selectmen’s wisdom when it comes to development and stewardship, drive down Main Street beyond Stoneham Square– one big ugly strip mall, where any pedestrians crazy enough to be out and about had better watch their booty. We’ve enough of that already– this development is NOT near public transportation (despite an occasional bus running down to Oak Grove station)and is smack in the middle of 3000 acres of conservation land, where, when you’re lucky, you can see bald eagles, wood ducks, ospreys, lady slippers, and hundreds of other species that you won’t find anywhere else in the area.
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p>All politics is local– despite my progressive leanings, Deval Patrick and Jason Lewis (both of whom I supported) have utterly lost me, and hundreds of my neighbors, on this issue alone. The implications of this end-run around environmental review should frighten everyone; this project in particular should disgust anyone who enters a breathtaking grove of 200 year old trees, and DOESN’T picture 400 condos and a quarter of a million square feet of office space there in its place.
I hope Governor Patrick comes to his senses and I hope that Reps Lewis and Clark start doing some representating. I have a bad felling, I smell a big bag job here.