Developer proposes 28-condo project next to Roslindale forest; residents say that's the wrong place

A Roslindale developer last night showed off his initial plans for 28 townhouse condos in two buildings on a narrow acre off Dale Street, between the Sherrin Woods forest and the Northeast Corridor train tracks in Roslindale.

James Guerrier said all the units would be sold as affordable to people making between 80% and 100% of the Boston area median income.

He said that would mean prices of between $213,000 and $368,500 - and that deed restrictions would limit unit sales to people making no more than city affordable guidelines for 30 years. Although Guerrier said he would seek state housing subsidies or credits, he is financing the project on his own. He said he wants to do more with his work than just make money and that he sees the proposal as a way to create a way for Black and Brown families to build equity and stay in a city that has increasingly priced them out.

Nearby residents, though, worried about the impact of any development right next to the 25-acre Sherrin Woods forest - which extends into Hyde Park - and their neighborhood, during an hour-long Zoom call with Guerrier.

They said the project could ruin Sherrin Woods, which they said was one of the largest urban wilds in the city, flood the neighborhood with displaced rats and pet-chomping coyotes - and literally, with water - and even possibly lead to the entire area burning down if residents had barbecues during dry season and set the woods on fire. Residents also worried about traffic on what they said were already congested streets like Dale and Windham and doubted that the 28 parking spaces Guerrier said he would propose, on the advice of BPDA planners, would be enough.

Jeanne DuBois, a Roslindale resident and executive director of the Southwest Boston Community Development Corp., which seeks to create affordable housing in Roslindale and Hyde Park, said she admired Guerrier's proposal, but said the location was simply a poor choice because of its potential impact on Sherrin Woods.

DuBois offered to drive Guerrier around Roslindale to see other locations that would work equally well for 28 units - and even offered to work with him on a joint-venture project, if he needed any development help. Guerrier said he would like to sit down with DuBois.

Pat Alvarez, who lives nearby and who is assistant director of the Southwest Boston CDC, also praised Guerrier's design and goal, but said destroying a wooded parcel in an era of climate change is just the wrong way to go.

"This is a beautiful design, but you cannot destroy an existing woodland" because woodlands are "critical to protecting us from climate change," she said. "If you don't have woodland, you are not safe from climate change, it's just that simple."

Guerrier said he would do more than his part for the environment, by putting solar panels on the building roofs, by not adding a natural-gas hookup to the site and by replacing the invasive Norway Pines and weeds with more local alternatives, especially along the driveway off Dale Street - as well as by removing all the empty propane tanks and other trash that now litter the site. He added he is also talking with the MBTA to try to get permission to clean up a particularly ragged piece of land it owns just off Dale Street and to let him landscape it.

At one point, he grew a bit frustrated with all the tree talk, asking if people on the Zoom call were really "talking about prioritizing trees" over affordable home ownership.

Residents said no, just that this one specific parcel is the wrong place.

"We can do both and do both well," Alvarez said. "This is the wrong place for this beautiful design."

But Guerrier said he is determined to do something for Boston residents of color who could not otherwise afford to buy a home in the city - and that he remains committed to the specific site and project.

"I'm totally committed this project, to see it through at all costs," he said. "It's something I'm extremely passionate about."

At one point during the Walsh administration, the city had an agreement with the lot's owner, Fred Van Dam, to try to buy it for roughly $600,000 and to formally add it to Sherrin Woods, resident Frank O'Brien said. But through the changes from Walsh to Janey to Wu, the city never followed through and now his heirs have a deal with Guerrier to sell him the land should he get the project permitted.

Guerrier said he wanted to discuss the plans with nearby residents before formally filing with the BPDA to start the regulatory approval process.