Architect's rendering
A developer has filed plans for a 17-unit apartment building on Washington Street near Grove Street in West Roxbury.
Antonio Ferrara, who lives a half mile from the site, says the four-story building, which would replace the current Lee Myles Transmission shop at 5205 Washington St., would add "energy and vitality" to the intersection, which is now dominated by small restaurants and stores, hugging one side of the extinct volcano formed 400 million years or so ago, as well as several auto-related businesses.
In his filing with the BPDA, Ferrara proposes 26 parking spaces in a first-floor garage, along with 12 enclosed spaces for bicycles.
Nine of the units would have one bedroom, the rest two.
The project meets zoning requirements for the site, the filing says.
5205 Washington St. small-project review application (1.2M PDF).
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Comments
Typical Masshole rendering...
By Eighthman
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 7:34pm
...not using the crosswalk.
Not their fault
By SwirlyGrrl
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 8:51pm
The rendering erased the attack turkeys that were chasing them.
Maybe we need zebras
By Eighthman
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 9:22am
Like in Bolivia, to clue people in.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/...
As highlighted on Last Week Tonight on HBO.
https://youtu.be/qJqYfhhlxwA
Pedestrians are not confined to crosswalks
By Jonas X. Prang
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 10:02pm
Let's put to rest this vehicular delusion that pedestrian movement in the streets is confined to crosswalks. It's not. Pedestrians are able to cross at [b]any[/b] intersection, regardless of the presence or absence of crosswalks.
Are Boston pedestrians notorious for wandering across streets like cows, without the least consideration for their safety or that of those around them? Yes, but that doesn't mean that pedestrians can be cowed into crossing only at crosswalks, when perfectly legal and safe alternative locations are abundant.
The rendering that engendered this foolish comment doesn't show enough to tell whether the pedestrian's movement is illegal or not.
$$$$$
By Eighthman
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 11:45pm
Just imagine all the money that could be saved by not painting crosswalks anymore and ridding intersections of unnecessary crossing signals!
I think it does
By Sock_Puppet
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 7:50am
Pedestrians are not confined to crosswalks - except where there are crosswalks.
Any intersection without marked crosswalks can be considered to have 'de facto' crosswalks at the corners. But this not the case here. You can see, in the rendering, a signalized crosswalk at the intersection about fifteen feet to the right of the dude on the traffic island. That's where you should cross at this intersection.
Chapter 89, Section 11, the law stating that cars should yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, starts with "when traffic control signals are not in place." Here they are. Any 'implied' crosswalk at that intersection is governed by those signals.
Here's the spot in street view.
This island is not a "perfectly legal and safe alternative location." It's not perfectly legal because the city has seen fit to define a path where the pedestrian ought to cross (violating this could get you a 1 dollar fine!), and it's not safe because, after dancing through three lanes of traffic, this is a spot where your back will be to the traffic turning left from Grove onto Washington.
Interesting historical note
By anon
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 8:03pm
local residents thought that volcano 'wasn't right for their neighborhood' and 'didn't fit' with community values.
They also thought it didn't include enough parking.
Typical Boston nimbyism!
By tcf098
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 11:17am
Typical Boston nimbyism!
About Nimbyism
By adamg
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 1:00pm
A couple weeks ago, the Globe Magazine profiled a Roslindale woman who is barely getting by with her $50,000 salary and three kids. Today, they ran some letters about it, including one by some guy complaining about Boston Nimbyism and how she wouldn't be in that position if only Boston residents would shut up and let developers build more housing.
Fine, fine, whatever, until I got to the part where it says he lives in Weston.
Oh, no, you don't. You shut up! Somebody living in frickin' Weston does not have the right to tell Bostonians how they should or shouldn't allow development. Go ride your horse or something and just shut the hell up.
Grr, I tell ya, it's getting bad when you can't even read the Globe Magazine over Sunday breakfast ...
No Problem If Reciprocated
By BlackKat
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 1:28pm
You can take that a bit too far though. I've seen comments on this site saying if you don't live in West Roxbury but do live in Boston you shouldn't complain about anti-development sentiments in West Roxbury. Really I have no problem with someone from Weston saying Boston needs more density, so long as they acknowledge ALL communities [in the world] need more density. This will continue to be true until we start colonizing other planets.
The bottom line is we need more density in the parts of the city that are the cheapest to build in, such that the resulting development might have a chance of selling/renting for a reasonable amount. While that doesn't mean anything and everything should be approved, it also means any complaints about said development have to be criticized if said person is just trying to preserve the status quo. As opposed to substantive complaints about the nature of the building, not the mere existence of said building, that are not illegitimate.
It is never legitimate to state a building should not be built.
A legitimate complaint would be more like: Please do build a building there, but I think it should...
have more setback.
have less setback.
have more parking.
have less parking.
etc.
Then those complaints can be negotiated. But outright refusals to change don't work.
The wealthy suburbs
By anon
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 2:50pm
will fight to their dying breath to keep density low in their neighborhoods, limiting section 8 housing and the poors in general from sullying their little towns.
Weston, Arlington, Lexington,
By verbal
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 9:31am
Weston, Arlington, Lexington, ... they all need Moar Housing.
Those towns already have a
By anon
Tue, 03/21/2017 - 7:09am
Those towns already have a lot of density and not much open space. Saying that the need more density is not a reason for it. They are single family neighborhoods mostly.
They have also built more affordable housing than most other nearby towns.
That's not really true, since
By anon
Tue, 03/21/2017 - 7:12am
That's not really true, since many of them have already built a lot of affordable housing, even more than the minimum requirement. Putting more housing in those places would also create more traffic since they are further from jobs. You can't make everything high density.
All communities do not need
By anon
Tue, 03/21/2017 - 7:04am
All communities do not need more density. Helping mange growth is a better long term solution, otherwise you are just building but never solving the demand aspect to it.
In the meantime, I'll take
By anonism
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 8:08pm
In the meantime, I'll take the 1950 Buick, the 1960 DeSoto, and the 1965 Imperial*.
* Model years may be approximate; your memories may vary.
Yes!
By adamg
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 8:35pm
It's always interesting to drive by that place because you never know what sort of old car they'll have parked in their lot. I still miss the little Nash clown car they had sitting there for several years.
The saddest part of this story
By Marco
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 7:47am
Is the loss of this shop, which specializes in rebuilding transmissions of antique cars. Fewer of these spots exist with each passing year. Couldn't they find a nail salon or abandoned car dealership or something to plop their future crack house onto? On the plus side when they close some very hard to come by specialized equipment will come up for sale....
Adam, check the lot across
By anonism
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 8:33am
Adam, check the lot across Grove Street; there sits another Nash Metropolitan!
This makes me sad
By Mary Boyle
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 10:06pm
The new residents will be just a few feet away from the now operating 750 psi methane gas pipeline built by Spectra Energy. For reference, the pressure of the gas for your stove is under 1 psi. In other words, they will be in the incineration zone too. The Evacuation Route signs on Washington St. will not apply. The only other route is over the rocky cliff in back of the site.
All ledge back there ,
By anon
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 8:08am
All ledge back there , interesting how the foundation is dug or hoe rammed or more. The old 9 to 9 market that was there had a parking lot that was restricted by the out cropping of the ledge,
And it appears to be working fine.
By whyaduck
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 9:26am
And to call it an "incineration zone" is a bit of hyperbole, don't ya think Mary?
The thing about pipelines
By avjudge
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 11:08am
The thing about pipelines is they work fine until they don't. With an oil pipeline that means a big mess, but with gas it can mean KABOOM!
Don't confuse Mary with the facts
By Waquiot
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 1:50pm
Now, somehow I've become a centrist on this issue, since I don't think people living on Washington Street need to be too concerned. Now, if this was proposed at Centre and Grove, I wouldn't recommend buying to an enemy, let alone a friend. Still, the volcano should shield the residents of this development from the blast should the quarry explosions and the pipeline not mix well.
Building
By Bugs Bunny
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 10:26pm
If he really wanted "energy & vitality" at an intersection, he should build a park instead of a ugly building.
or an oil rig and a vitamin factory
By EM Painter
Sat, 03/18/2017 - 11:07pm
.
Energy and Vitality?
By bph
Sun, 03/19/2017 - 8:49am
I'm not so sure about that.
That sounds nice, but that area is already filled with apartment and condo buildings, none of which seem to have added any energy or vitality to the neighborhood. Plenty of people live very close to that corner, yet you rarely see people out walking around, except for a few waiting at bus stops.
As one who is there occasionally on foot
By Waquiot
Mon, 03/20/2017 - 1:52pm
Nope, the condos do not add energy or vitality to the area. Nothing against them, but it is pretty dead along Washington Street from Grove to West Boundary, to say the least.
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