Politics & Government

Local Association 'Disappointed' with S. Huntington Guidelines

The association is dismayed with in certain aspects of Boston Redevelopment Authority's guidelines for the area, specifically regarding the inclusion of areas where buildings could be built higher than regulation.

After months of planning, the Boston Redevelopment Authority released guidelines informed by neighbors about the future of the South Huntington Corridor at the end of March. Not two weeks later, a prominent Jamaica Plain neighborhood group publicly voiced its disappointment in them.

The Jamaica Pond Association said in a letter from chair Jack Fay Jr. to the BRA April 5, the association is “dismayed in a few specific but critical aspects of the current draft product.”

The association takes umbrage with four “special height zone” areas along the corridor – which runs the length of South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain. In these areas, the BRA recommends that buildings could be built higher than what is currently known as regulation.

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The association letter argues that the guidelines fall short of explaining a justification for the allowed special height zones. The zones would be located at four areas along the corridor where sight lines end.

“The JPA believes there is no reasonable basis to include special height zone exceptions especially as the basis on where views terminate and streets converge, and therefore should not  be used as the basis to determine this,” according to the letter.

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For a building to qualify to exceed the requirements, that building would have to provide “exceptional public benefits” such as affordable housing units above the city-mandated 15 percent, according to the guidelines.


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