[T]wo days after two city councilors agreed to push for the elimination of proposed rezoning for residential housing from city development plans, Mayor Miro Weinberger told the public he would oppose housing projects in the South End neighborhood.
In an op-ed in the Burlington Free Press on Thursday, Weinberger said that he stood with the agitated South End neighbors and artists who oppose the inclusion of housing in any final version of planBTV South End, which is part of the city’s master plan.
“Fundamentally the city undertook this effort out of a belief that proactive planning holds the promise of giving us more control over the future of the South End,” he wrote, “and the ability to protect what we love about it during a time of growth and change.
“The focus and concern about housing is distracting the much-needed, much broader discussion of the future of the South End. Thus, after listening carefully to this debate, I will not support a final plan that recommends adding housing as an allowable use in the Enterprise Zone.”
Residents of the South End who opposed the proposed housing zones were critical of the city’s plan in part because Weinberger is a real estate developer by trade.
In an interview, Weinberger said he thought that criticism was based on a misunderstanding.
“I think – listen, it’s a positive thing how engaged people have been with the planBTV South End process,” he said. “That was exactly the idea. We wanted engagement.”
“At times I do feel my position on some of these issues has been a little misunderstood or misrepresented. I guess that happens. I think my biggest concern is that it’s unfortunate when the debate about housing gets reduced to concerns about developer profits,” he said.
On Wednesday night, two city councilors that represent the South End vowed, before the adjournment of a community meeting, that they would bring a resolution to the City Council striking all housing from the Enterprise Zone.
City Councilor Joan Shannon said she was personally against housing in the industrial area because of the potential impact on new residents’ quality of life. “This is a no brainer for us,” Shannon said. “If removing housing takes away the distraction, let’s remove housing.”
The pushback on the city’s housing plan, known as planBTV, started in June when Goody Clancy, a planning firm from Boston hired by the city, released a 99-page plan for the South End that included the rezoning of several portions of the historically gritty, industrial district that runs along Pine Street. The rezoning would allow higher-density housing developments in the neighborhood. The area now includes a mix of single-family homes, artists’ studios, retail and businesses.
The South End Alliance, a group of artists that use the area now, many who pay affordable rents for their studios, objected to the conversion of single family home neighborhoods into denser housing areas.
On Wednesday, dozens crowded into the Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting, held at the Department of Public Works, to hear City Planning and the South End Alliance’s presentations on planBTV South End.
David White, the director of City Planning, gave his presentation on the project, and briefly answered questions, while urging neighbors in Ward 5, which encompasses much of the South End, to share their thoughts on the city’s website by the Oct. 1 deadline.
Then Genese Grill, an artist who spoke for the alliance, identified problems the artists had with planBTV as it was presented to them.
What followed was a nearly two-hour discussion with audience members, White, and Grill, as well as some of the Neighborhood Planning Association leadership.
Erik Eskelsen, an English professor, and resident of Lyman Avenue, and other neighbors said the city should be addressing more urgent issues.
“I don’t understand frankly the rush to rezone for housing when it’s obvious that we have so many problems to deal with in the Enterprise Zone, today. Right?” said Eskelsen. “I mean, there are accidents all the time. I wonder what our priorities are,” he said.
White said planBTV is a long-term plan for the South End, which has become home to yoga and Aikido studios, lumber yards and art suppliers, framing shops, food spots and four breweries in recent years.
“It is changing, it is evolving,” said White. “The question is, is it evolving in a good way? Does the community like where it seems to be headed? Because where it seems to be headed is in a different direction than how it was originally defined and constructed.”
R. Paul Smith, a mechanical engineer at NRG Systems who lives on Austin Drive, said the existing Enterprise Zone plans have worked and said he saw no reason for the city to change course now.
“The Enterprise Zone, the way it’s been for years and years, has worked. Maybe we’ve been messing with it a little bit more lately,” Smith said, but “all in all the thing has been working pretty well.”
“Why are we suddenly trying to change something here?” he asked. “Are we trying to change something? Who brought this to the fore, and what is it going to solve?”
Weinberger has been blamed by some artists – most recently in a shanty erected for the South End Art Hop, labeled “Miroville” – for having an interest in the residential projects.
When asked how he felt about the allegations, Weinberger said the complaints skirt the real problems that he says are at stake.
“That’s my biggest concern when I see what’s been written or posted or put out there. By personalizing it and putting it about my background it’s diverting from a serious challenge that we have to deal with,” he said.
CORRECTION: Two city councilors oppose housing in the Enterprise Zone, not in other areas of the city.
