Board holds off vote on proposed non-profit birthing center and offices that would require tearing down an early 19th-century house in Roxbury

The Zoning Board of Appeal voted today to hold off any vote for at least three weeks on a proposed building that would house a birthing center and offices for five other non-profit groups at 14 Winthrop St. in Roxbury, so that organizers can hold more meetings with neighbors and a Roxbury community group to try to address neighbor concerns.

The Neighborhood Birth Center, which would be Boston's first community-based birthing center - although with an affiliation with Boston Medical Center - would have four midwife-staffed, bedroom-like birthing rooms and would help ease the long-standing disparities between Black and White maternity outcomes, Executive Director Nashira Baril told the board.

Nearby residents say they don't mind the idea of a birthing center, but say it should go somewhere on one of the area's existing commercial streets, rather than in a building that would require the demolition of two houses - one of which dates to the 1830s -  in what they say would set a precedent for more office space on their street, at a time when the area desperately needs more housing, not less.

The proposed two-story building with 11 parking spaces - one set aside for an ambulance should any birthing mothers need to be rushed to nearby Boston Medical Center - needs variances because clinics and office space are forbidden in the residential zone along Winthrop Street. 

The project was originally proposed as a four-story, more institutional-looking structure. Baril and her architect, David Saladik, said they reduced the size and reformatted the proposal to look more residential after meeting with neighbors.

They added the birthing rooms themselves were aimed to be more home-like from the start and would be staffed by midwives. Baril said studies have shown birthing parents do better in such an environment and that while birthing centers can be expensive, what would set this one apart is that it would be "sharing costs and resources with our partners," who would use the rest of the building.

She added one meeting room would be available for community use, for everything from neighborhood-association meetings to quinceañeraeras.

Outside, "birth lanterns" would turn on to announced "to the neighborhood that a new life has entered the world," Saladik said.

But neighbors said the building was still mainly an office building on a residential street - and one that would require tearing down a home once occupied by Dr. John Warren, known as the first doctor to use general anesthesia, in an operation at Massachusetts General in 1846.

Sophia Burks, who lives across Winthrop Street, said that if the house and another on the site have to be torn down, they should really be replaced with housing, because the neighborhood needs that, there is plenty of open commercial space on nearby thoroughfares and letting this project go forward would only mean more office proposals for the street.

"The exception to the zoning code will become the rule," if the project is approved, she said. "Once this door is open, it will be open forever."

She said she and other residents had talked to "several developers" who expressed interest in building housing on the property, which also fronts on Kearsarge Avenue.

Another Winthrop Street resident, Priyama Barua, said the proposal would only worsen already dangerous traffic conditions in the area, in particular for children at a nearby school. 

Lorraine Payne Wheeler said the project has not fully met the city's community-engagement process because Baril has yet to meet with the Roxbury Community Council.

The residents were joined by state Rep. Chynah Tyler (D-7th Suffolk), who urged a deferral on any vote. Tyler said that while she supports the general idea of birthing centers, financing for them is only going to get more difficult over the next couple of years and that she is not convinced Baril has gotten firm commitments yet from her partners on the project. And the board should ensure that direct abutters are fully heard before taking any vote.

She added she "just can't see" tearing down two historic homes in the middle of a housing crisis.

"Right now, this project is just not where it could be," she said.

But through an aide, state Sen. Liz Miranda (D-2nd Suffolk) strongly supported the project.  The "historically underserved" Black and Brown communities of Boston are "in dire need of this birth center," she said, pointing, like Baril, to the stark and well documented disparities in birthing outcomes between them and White mothers.

"We have a real opportunity here to be on the right side of history," her aide said.

Baril  countered the opposition by saying that the birthing center's services will be fully reimbursable by private insurance and MassHealth. Saladik said that while the red house may, indeed go back to the early 1800s, it is not on the city's list of historic structures. Baril's attorney, Patrick Gallagher, said the house is in such poor shape ISD has demanded it be torn down. Saladik added that the birthing center and non-profit groups would generate far less traffic than the sort of dense residential development any builder would want to put on the roughly 20,000-square-foot lot.

Board member Giovanny Valencia moved to grant the project the variances it needed, but that failed on a 2-3 vote - Katie Whewell voted with Valencia, but members Alan Langham, Hansy Better Barraza and Sherry Dong voted against.

Better Barazza then proposed a deferral to give the proponents and residents more time to try to work out some sort of an agreement. In fact, she called it "a commendable project," but said the fact that the neighborhood's state rep attend the hearing to voice concerns showed that more community input is needed.

The board then voted unanimously to defer action on the proposal, rather than reject it outright, and set a Feb. 25 meeting for updates on a meeting with the Roxbury Community Council.  Gallagher said that if a meeting can't be arranged before then, he would likely ask for another deferral at that hearing.

Proposed view from Winthrop Street, during the day: