|
|
|
|
|
MHNHS Parcel 25 Newsletter |
|
September 2005 Volume 1, Number 1 |
|
|
In This Issue · Parcel 25 Community Planning · Next Steps: Task Forces, Consultants, and Community Workshops · About Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services On the Website Report Back
from Small Group Brainstorming Meetings Contact Us E-mail:
Patricia Flaherty E-mail:
James Hoffman |
Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative: The Community Process
Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services began the
Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative last year with the
goal of generating the community’s vision for a viable development plan for
the Parcel 25 site located across Over 140 Mission Hill neighbors attended 14 brainstorming sessions identifying potential goals, uses, and constraints on development. The ideas generated in the Small Group Brainstorming Meetings which are included in this newsletter below will be used during the second stage of the process that involves task forces, workshops and consultants to determine the community vision for Parcel 25. See REPORT BACK from Small Group Brainstorming Meetings. The second stage of the community planning process will
begin this fall. Volunteers recruited
at abutter and district meetings are being asked to serve on Citizen Task Forces
and will soon begin their workplans gathering information on transit oriented
development, housing options, traffic, parking, easements and existing site
conditions. This information will help to inform neighbors at future
community meetings. Our past experience shows that efforts of members of the
community serving on Task Forces were extremely enriching to the
process. If you are interested in working on a Task
Force, please call Pat at 617-566-6565.
MH NHS is also in the process of hiring an architect, financial consultant, and planning facilitator to work with the community at 3 to 4 day-long workshops to develop consensus for the community’s vision, refine schematic drawings, and discuss and analyze the feasibility of preferred options. Our goal in creating Citizen Task Forces and hiring qualified consultants with community planning experience is to bring information back to the larger community based on the ideas you came up with during the brainstorming sessions and subsequent meetings that will allow the community to determine the best uses for Parcel 25. Answering the question, “What does the Mission Hill
community want to see at Parcel 25?”, participants at the Community Workshops
will agree on the objective and goals to define the neighborhood’s
vision. The development objectives and
goals will guide the direction of the Parcel 25 Project, its management and
implementation. As the workshops
progress, our desire is to reach broad based support for a financial viable
development program that defines specific uses and services to be located at
the site and incorporated in the development.
And collectively we will develop a conceptual design to define how the
program is implemented on the site, including scale, density and
massing. Dates and locations for Parcel 25 Community
Workshops will be posted on our website once scheduled. Check out www.missionhillnhs.org for updates and events. At the end of this 18 month planning process, we will have defined the community’s vision and readied ourselves to submit a community-supported, financially viable proposal. For newer residents and businesses, we’d like to introduce ourselves. MH NHS is a community based organization that has been in the neighborhood since 1975 working to stabilize and improve Mission Hill for all of its residents. For three decades Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services has been a force in the struggle to preserve a vital urban neighborhood. Since beginning operations MH NHS has provided financial and technical housing services to over 1,000 residents. MH NHS has helped over 200 homeowners with home repairs. In addition to helping existing residents, MH NHS has assisted 150 first-time homebuyers secure home purchase financing and has developed 117 units of affordable rental housing at the HERE House on Calumet Street, 706 Huntington Avenue, and Frawley-Delle Apartments. In the 1990s we conducted the successful Ledge Site
community planning process that resulted in the Our Board of Directors is made up of 27 elected volunteers, the majority of whom live in the neighborhood. MH NHS strives to involve all segments of the community in planning and implementing housing and economic development activities designed to preserve Mission Hill’s unique character, improve the standard of living of its lower income residents, and enhance the quality of life for everyone in Mission Hill. The Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development
Initiative corresponds to the organization’s commitment to revitalize Mission
Hill for all people who live and work here by transforming the largest
remaining vacant area of the community into an asset that improves safety,
reconnects the two commercial nodes of Mission Hill by filling a glaring gap
and responds to needs that will be prioritized in the process. The process was successful because it was resident-driven rather than city- or developer-imposed. With the completion of OBC, MH NHS has shown it not only has the expertise to conduct successful participatory planning actively engaging hundreds of residents, but has the ability to build the community’s vision from that planning. The redevelopment of Parcel 25 is our next goal.
Last
October MH NHS began a comprehensive community planning process for Parcel 25, a 2.5 acre parcel
owned by the MBTA. Fronting Parcel 25
should be envisioned as an opportunity to strengthen the Roxbury Crossing
gateway to Mission Hill. The Parcel 25 Newsletter is
published by Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services’
Parcel 25 Committee. Members: Bruce Keary (co-chair), Nancy Sheehan
(co-chair), Tony Barros, Matilda Drayton, Kay Gallagher, Rich Giordano,
Maryanne O’Keefe, Sandra Pascal, Councilor Michael Ross, Maria Sanchez, David
Welch Mission
Hill Neighborhood Housing Services
|
