Government

AG: City Broke Open Meeting Law in Approving Controversial Egleston Development

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The Attorney General's office ruled that a major city board intentionally violated the Open Meeting Law the day it gave final approval for a bellwether development at 3200 Washington St. Public notice laws let residents know what subjects government boards will discuss. The office of Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Friday that the Zoning Board of Appeals acted improperly by failing to post that 3200 Washington St. would be up for a vote. That vote, taken way back on Sept.

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Real Estate

Weekend Tent City at 3200 Washington St.

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Two actions Saturday and Sunday by City Life/Vida Urbana and Affordable Housing Eglston/Beantown  Society showed "what democracy looks like!" as the youth chanted to drivers Sunday afternoon outside 3200Washington Street. City Life demonstrated at 26 School Street Saturday afternoon - setting up an eviction free zone in the middle of the street.  Tenants facing eviction from that building said they can't afford to even live in the new affordable units planned for at 3200 Washington Street. This was the point  of Affordable Housing Egleston and the Beantown  Society at the Sunday rally: how do the youth stay in the community they've lived most of  their lives? AHE knows its history.

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Real Estate

City Chooses JP Development Team for 52 Montebello Road

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Mark your calendars: Thursday, Aug. 13.  5:30 p.m. Boston Redevelopment Authority board room. That's the day and time the BRA board will hear from and vote on the 3200 Washington Street/52 Montebello Road developments. This date was set 24 hours after the Department of Neighborhood Development voted to designate 3190 Washington St. LCC as developer of 50-52 Montebello Road.

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Real Estate

Decision on Key Egleston Development Delayed — Again

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What began exactly a year ago on July 23, 2014 when the Egleston Square Neighborhood Association got a premier showing of the plans for the Economy Plumbing site is no closer to approval. For the second time, the developers of 3200 Washington St. asked the Zoning Board of Appeals for deferment at its scheduled hearing on Tuesday. Speaking on behalf of local developers Justin Iantosca and Dan Mangiacotti, Attorney Joe Hanley requested the deferral because "we are still finalizing the Article 80 Large Project Review application" for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The development team is now scheduled for the Zoning Board hearing on Tuesday, Sept 15.

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Real Estate

Neighborhood Council Gives Firm ‘No’ to 3200 Washington St.

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The full Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council on Tuesday voted 11-3 with one abstention to recommend that the city "deny all variances required" to the developers of 3200 Washington St. City boards, in this case the Zoning Board of Appeals, have the final say and can go against Neighborhood Council recommendations. However, that is rare. The proposed development has sparked intense discussion about what the mixed-use project. The $23 million housing development would bring 76 residential units in two five-six story buildings, plus retail on the ground floor, to a three-quarter acre corner lot now occupied by a plumbing warehouse, auto repair shop and parking garages.

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Real Estate

Neighborhood Board Deadlocks Over 3200 Washington St. Development

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In the end the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Zoning Committee was as divided as the rest of Egleston Square on the fate of 3200 Washington St. At its Wednesday meeting the Committee voted 5-5 on a motion to deny approval of the largest development in Egleston Square history. (One member of the 11 in attendance was ineligible to vote). Developers Dan Mangiacotti and Justin and Joseph Iantosca can now take that deadlocked vote together with what their attorney Joe Hanley said was "over a hundred-plus letters of support" to their regularly-scheduled Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on July 21. It was a packed house of over 60 people.

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Real Estate

Deep Divisions on Display in Comments on 3200 Washington St. Development

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The comment period for 3200 Washington St. — the largest development in Egleston Square in half a century — ended May 1. There were 119 letters of support — many of them form letters — and 45 opposed. There were also two petitions, one in favor and the other opposed. It is an unprecedented development in scale, density and cost but also in community debate; there were two Boston Redevelopment Authority-sponsored public meetings and the comment period was extended three times (April 3, April 15 and May 1).

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Real Estate

Protesters Block Washington, Demand 100 Percent of New Development Be Affordable

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"The force of youth" it was called by organizer Maya Gaul, a lifelong resident of School Street. It was nothing less than an amazing and spirited rally for the soul of Jamaica Plain; never before seen in Egleston Square in this observer's 40 years in the neighborhood. On a mellow Wednesday evening, more than 50 youth and adults gathered in the Peace Park at Egleston Square to demand 100 percent affordability at the development of 3200 Washington St. Specifically, the group wants housing to be affordable for families earning $26,000 a year. The current proposal calls for 12 of the 76 housing units of a five-six story development to be what the city of Boston considers affordable.

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Development

3200 Washington St.: The Future of Egleston Square in the Balance

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A Boston Redevelopment Authority-sponsored public meeting about the planned development of  the former Economy Plumbing evolved into a protest on the very future of Egleston Square. The day after the contentious Wednesday meeting, Mayor Martin Walsh addressed the Urban Land Institute — a group of which toured Egleston Square this week — on the need for a Washington Street planning process that combines "development and consensus." BRA Assistant Project manager Ed McGuire cautioned a packed house at the Egleston Square YMCA that "this has not been approved. [The BRA] is still reviewing this proposal." The 3- day comment period had been extended to April 15.  "[Your] comment letters are a very important part of this process."

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Development

Project Would ‘Announce Egleston as a Great Place to Live, Work and Play’

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3200 Washington Street as proposed. Looking south. Credit: 3190 Washington St. LLC

A three-man development team plans to build the largest housing development in the history of Egleston Square; a community it describes as "a vibrant [one] that owes its vibrant identity to its diversity to ethnic, racial, age and economic patterns." 3190 Washington Street LLC, managed by Justin Iantosca with partners Paul Iantosca and Dan Mangiacotti, has acquired the 3/4 acre that includes Economy Plumbing and E+J Auto at Washington Street, Montebello and Iffley Roads. A  three building, $20 million, 76 unit development is proposed, to include two  5-to-6 story buildings facing Washington Street.

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