WANA Visioning for Woodrow Avenue in Collaboration with MOH & BSA
WANA VISIONING
The City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Housing intends to dispose of vacant parcels at 61-65 Woodrow Avenue. MOH is mandated to develop housing and open space through their disposition process. Prior to the development and issuance of a Request for Proposals, MOH has asked WANA to provide input regarding community preferences for the development of 61-65 Woodrow Avenue.
THE BSA HAS BEEN SUPPORTING WANA IN THIS PROCESS TO EXPLORE AND ACHIEVE 2 GOALS:
A community-led and community-supported articulation of priorities for development of 61-65 that address both housing + the provision of community resources, benefits, amenities.
Using 61-65 as a type of “pilot,” to produce a more comprehensive vision for development on Woodrow Avenue that solicits broad community feedback, that addresses development processes + guidelines, and that asserts a collection of principles for future development. Ideally, these goals will produce as outcomes:
Principles and priorities for 61-65 that will be directly reflected in the language of the City’s RFP
A document or tool that captures WANA’s vision to be used in dialogue with future developers or speculative developments.
A process for community-supported visioning that may be used as a reference for “sister civic” organizations encountering similar development schemes and pressures.
So far we have:
Outlined motivations, goals, and expectations for all parties involved in the process (WANA, MOH, BSA)
Begun early conversations moving towards the creation of a “vision statement” for the neighborhood
Learned about the RFP process - looking at specific points of leverage for WANA to influence the parameters of the city’s disposition
Identified zoning constraints and overlays for 61-65 Woodrow (3F-5000) - understanding implications for unit types and quantities, building massing, and use.
Developed an awareness of on-going planning agendas with an eye towards understanding how they might have consequences for Woodrow Ave (Blue Hill Action Plan, Fairmount Corridor, Plan Mattapan)
Identified the need for community space/amenities as a part of this new housing development- recognizing that WANA does not have the capacity to serve as building operator or managing tenant.
Started to look into examples of development transactions that have been initiated with community-organizations, or low-impact uses, as partners and anchor tenants (Dorchester Food Co-Op with VietAid, JJ Carroll Building)
Initiated a series of interviews/conversations as participants in the Mattapan Mapping Project Love Stories to collect oral histories that might inform a broader vision for the neighborhood
Welcomed the VFW Post into conversation as a stakeholder (VFW is now under new leadership and will not be pursuing this collaboration)
On August 6, 2022, the WANA visioning team in collaboration with MOH and BSA brought neighbors, friends, and supporters together at the site with music, food, and conversations regarding future plans for the parcels at 61-65 Woodrow Avenue. In addition, the Request for Proposal (RFP) has been completed and the project will be underway later this year.
