Re: The Boston Arch (Aquarium parking garage)
SHOWDOWN OVER THE GREENWAY | Bob Durand
Menino is right to reject proposals that put the area back in the shadows
Other developers may seek similar allowances from Mayor Menino.
By Bob Durand
April 29, 2010
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Sending your articleYour article has been sent. E-mail| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size ? + SIX YEARS ago, tangible evidence of the future Rose Kennedy Greenway began appearing in Boston as work commenced on tearing down the elevated Central Artery highway. At street level, the Central Artery had created a dark urban canyon that divided the downtown area from the waterfront, North End, and South Boston Waterfront neighborhoods.
Now, sunlight once again reaches this area, restoring Boston?s legacy as a livable, walkable city. This strip of land has been transformed into a most improbable urban opportunity: new public open space in the heart of one of America?s oldest cities.
We should reject proposals that cast the Greenway back to the land of perpetual darkness. The Menino administration understands the significance of this opportunity and has adopted reasonable building height guidelines for the area adjacent to the Greenway, guidelines that will buoy all area property values, not just those of a select few. Those who believe Mayor Tom Menino?s sensible approach to urban planning is antidevelopment, or bad for Boston, are mistaken.
In reality, Menino has been an advocate for greater density through increased building heights ? but only where this type of development increases rather than diminishes the neighborhood?s vitality, such as in the core Financial District or along the Massachusetts Turnpike corridor.
Just as the city has been careful to limit new building heights adjacent to the Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the Esplanade, the mayor?s height guidelines for the Greenway help protect Boston?s new signature park while still promoting greater activation of the adjacent neighborhoods.
Few people have spent as much time discussing building heights with the mayor as I have. As the former state Secretary of Environmental Affairs, I approved six state waterfront plans and amendments in the City of Boston, many of which included controversies involving building heights.
The mayor was a forceful advocate for vibrant neighborhoods, with mixed uses including residential units, affordable housing, commercial space, and retail stores, to provide 24/7 activity and livability. Where we disagreed on building heights, the mayor was eager to find a solution that satisfied his concerns for viable neighborhoods and meet state and federal requirements.
His pro-development approach that characterized our discussions is also evident in the Greenway building height provisions. Far from cutting back on building sizes, the mayor envisions moderate increases in density along the Greenway through careful assessment of larger building envelopes, in some cases more than current zoning and state-imposed height limitations allow.
In the controversy over the Boston Harbor parking garage, developer Don Chiofaro has proposed replacing the existing parking garage with structures that are hundreds of feet higher than currently allowed. On their own, the project?s wind, shadow, and visual impacts may not kill the Greenway. But they must be seen in terms of the collective impacts of all potential projects along the Greenway corridor. Without a comprehensive approach to height limits, Chiofaro?s project will set the height standard that others will also demand. Unrestricted building heights would create more shadow and wind along the Greenway, and diminish the park?s potential to tie the city?s neighborhoods to the waterfront.
Menino?s proposal for constructive urban planning provides developers with reasonable expectations for future construction and creates a human-scale community along the Greenway. It would ensure that public parks and private development reconnect downtown Boston to its waterfront neighborhoods and to the harbor?s edge, for everyone to enjoy.
Bob Durand is president of Durand & Anastas Environmental Strategies.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...posals_that_put_the_area_back_in_the_shadows/