Monday, December 8, 2008

South Boston Groups Favor Development, Under Stipulations


By Joshua Schubert

SOUTH BOSTON – Over the past decade, cleanup crews have spent years ridding the Boston Harbor of debris clouding the water.

But property overlooking the harbor has become valuable, and new building projects threaten to repollute the harbor and increase traffic congestion, said locals.

“The fact that the waterfront is so clean has made it very attractive for development,” said Vivien Li, a spokeswoman for the Boston Harbor Association.

As developers prepare to build new hotels and other buildings, neighborhood groups are welcoming the growth, despite fears of pollution and poor use of land.

All new buildings in the neighborhood are required by law to meet minimum green standards, but they are not the only standard important to local organizations.

Green certification “tends to be a good system,” said Jon Seward of the Seaport Alliance for Neighborhood Design, but “I’m not so much concerned with a building getting a specific rating.”

A green building is one that is well-engineered and constructed, Seward said.
“The longer it can persist, the greener it is,” he said. It keeps the energy of the manufacturer from being wasted or downgraded.”

The Fort Point Arts Community “doesn’t have a specific environmental policy or mission,” said Paul Bernstein, community president. He is more concerned with the neighborhood’s cultural life.

Bernstein and other neighbors are concerned about the neighborhood’s cultural landscape and the amount of land that will be accessible to the public.

The organizations prefer the land to be used for parks, benches, open spaces, public art and other cultural facilities.

“What we’re looking for is a richly mixed-use sort of district,” Seward said.
But as growth contributes to an influx of tourists and consumers, locals also seek to limit the harmful emissions caused by increased traffic congestion.

There is a “lack of available parking for residents [and] guests,” said Timothy Brown, community liaison for City Councilor Bill Linehan.

But additional parking would cause more people to drive, Seward said.

“Traffic congestion is already a problem,” said Seward, who hopes that the lack of parking will lead to an increase in mass transit use.


The threat of water pollution as a direct result of construction is less of a concern among neighborhood groups.

“Requirements for development [along the harbor] are more stringent than inland,” said Li, explaining that the law evolved from the British concept of public access to the waterfront.

There is “very little [construction] right by the water,” so the chances of debris causing pollution are relatively small, Seward said.

2 comments:

Drew V said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drew V said...

Residents are looking for open space, but a big point of contention has been that developers and the BRA have been promising a grand vision of a mixed-used, 24 hour neighborhood, but almost all development has been office space. And the fear is that, as more and more residents and small businesses get forced out, Fort Point will become another Kendall Square. The two most recently approved projects on Summer and Melcher Streets is a great example. See these blog posts for background.