Hey, there! Log in / Register
Tropical Foods on Melnea Cass Boulevard sues to block construction of residential building next door
By adamg on Tue, 06/06/2023 - 4:44pm
Tropical Foods on Melnea Cass Boulevard in Roxbury says a ten-story residential building next door would cause parking and driving problems for its customers, created"offensive shadows" and reduce the value of its property, so it's asking a judge to "annul" the Zoning Board of Appeal's approval of the project.
In a lawsuit filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, Tropical Foods says the proposed building with 64 affordable apartments, 30 affordable condos and 2 market rate condos is simply way too big and tall for the site and the parking lot that would sit between them. The board's approval was arbitrary, capricious and legally "untenable" and even "whimsical," the suit charges.
Bot the land Tropical Foods sits on and the land on which the Madison Park Development Corp. and Trinity Financial want to put their residential units, were originally vacant lots owned by the city or the state.
Tropical Foods charges that neither Madison Park nor Trinity provided the least shred of proof of the sort of "hardship" that is required for a variance to exceed what a lot's zoning required.
Tropical Foods says it is particularly concerned that residents or visitors to the new building would use some of the 91 parking spaces it says its guaranteed for its patrons.
Complete complaint (5.2M PDF).
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Huh? More nearby residents means more customers for groceries
This is a ridiculous lawsuit and it makes me think less of Tropical Foods.
seriously
this is some pants-on-head shit right here, almost like the NIMBY reflex is uncontrollable even when it amounts to punching yourself in the face
I agree, and what makes it
I agree, and what makes it even weirder is that they are already surrounded by affordable housing! What difference could it possibly make?
Alternatively…
Alternatively, there is the possibility that Tropical Foods has thought through the potential impact of the project on their business in more depth than you or I have done, and have come to the conclusion that the proposed project would do them more harm than good. I say this knowing that Madison Park and Trinity are good folks who do a lot of good for Boston, but tropical has a right to make its case.
One would think
They would have presented these concerns to the ZBA and at official hearings, who determined the concerns to not merit stopping this development.
Our rule of law allows for redress
Our rule of law gives us access to the courts to seek redress when we want to make the case that a government agency has acted wrongly. The ZBA has a long and notorious record of acting outside its legal authority; the courts are the place to seek redress.
They did! If it is like any
They did! If it is like any other zba hearing, they were probably given 30 seconds to a minute to speak. And the zba said "whatever, you figure this out on your own".
So because the system is set up to work in EXACTLY THIS MANNER, their only chance to actually have their concerns listened to is to file a suit. Don't like that? then advocate for a different system.
I seriously doubt it
The logic doesn’t isn’t there. There’s also a parking garage being built in Nubian Square like a block or two away.
I laughed out loud
I would think Tropical Foods would welcome the added customers from the project. I stopped shopping there due to their horrible produce dept. and general lack of cleanliness. They have bigger issues to conquer.
Offensive shadows??? Really?
Offensive shadows??? Really?
Now I’m picturing
Shadow puppets. Of penises. Maybe a buttock or two.
Hahahaha!
Hahahaha!
It’s 2023
Everything is offensive to someone
2013 to now
The original drawings from 2013 are vastly different than what the developer has been presenting up until last year. I can see why Tropical is concerned. They went into a 3 building agreement (their name was on the proposal with Madison) back in 2013 but things have changed a lot. I agree, they deserve their right to be heard.
ten years
The real problem is that it's been ten years. How is it possible to take that long?
Maybe it shouldn't take 9 yrs to get approval
2013? Of course plans changed during that time - maybe it shouldn't take over 9 years from proposal to permitting. If we streamlined housing approvals, we could put a dent in the housing crisis too.
When it takes nearly a decade to even get approval, plus however long this ridiculous lawsuit ends up taking, nevermind the time to actually build, plans often have to change to make the financing work.
Things that pencil when interest rates are at historic lows don't pencil when rates go up. Boston and surrounding towns and cities wasted a decade of low interest rates when we could have built a lot more housing. If we had, we wouldn't be in this crisis today.
People are falling into homeless every day. I couldn't possibly care less about this business's worries over parking and shadows. I hope people boycott until the law suit is withdrawn.
How long do you think it should take?
How long do you think it should take to gain a special exemption to the rules, to allow you to build something that the law does not allow you to build? Say for example Exxon Mobil wanted to build a refinery next door to your house? Would a two week process, in which you were given 90 seconds of floor time at a public hearing, be acceptable to you?
Hyperbolic?
You may have jumped the shark of hyperbole with the refinery as simile to a residential building…
0 years
To build housing, it should take 0 years to gain an exemption to obviously harmful regulations because we are in the midst of a housing crises and people are having to move out of the area because they can't afford to live here.
Simultaneously, we should be amending the harmful zoning codes, but we can't wait.
An obviously environmentally catastrophic refinery that would serve no civic benefit would never be allowed, so that's a silly comparison.
Just change the damn law
Your opinion is that the zoning laws are “obviously harmful.” Plenty of people are of the opinion that worker safety and occupational health regulations are “obviously harmful.” Should those be simply ignored as well?
I believe this project ought to be built. And I believe that more housing ought to be built. But my belief that our government agencies should obey the law is stronger than either of the first two. I don’t want to live under a government whose unelected bureaucrats simply ignore laws and regulations just because someone is of the opinion that the regulations are “obviously harmful.” So I support changing the laws that are preventing projects like this from being built, rather than just ignoring them.
A lot of people think that worker safety
False Equivalencies are Your Bag
Is there a widely recognized on-going worker safety and occupational health emergency caused by dumb, obviously harmful regulations? No.
90+% of all EXISTING housing in the city couldn't be built under our dumb, obviously harmful zoning. Every major study shows that exclusionary zoning is detrimental to society at large, not just driving up the cost of housing, but leading to the ongoing traffic nightmare we face, which in turn contributes to the ongoing environmental disaster we face. We need every available tool to fix this ongoing emergency.
2 months
2 months should cover it. A month to advertise and hold the zoning hearing, and a month to wait for any further appeals.
Of course, 10 story residential buildings should be allowed on all 4 lane roads as of right, with no hearings necessary.
But cars, but parking
You know this is the main reason. The shadows and traffic is just 'value add' to their complaint.
OMG PEOPLE WONT BE ABLE TO PARK THEIR CARS. /s
but cars, but parking...
housing>parking
Homes for people over space for cars any day.
Deleted a comment
That had absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand but which the author appeared to be expressing frustration I hadn't written about the mayor's car crash yet.
Odd mix of units
No opinion on the suit but found this interesting:
At that point, when there's 96 units of housing, why even bother with two at market rate? Are the market rate ones truly going to be so astonishingly priced compared to the other units that it will genuinely make up for the cost of the affordable units (usually the justification for mixed-income). I honestly wonder if they'll be able to sell them, I feel like if you're looking at a building and literally everybody else except this one unit is hundreds of thousands of dollars cheaper you would feel ripped off? Not in a "oh I'm living with the poors" way but just in a sense of what justifies the unit being so much more expensive than all the others in the building? Because when all but two units are affordable it's no longer a sort of special exception to the pricing/stock it's just that's what they're worth.
Mixed income buildings are also generally better for those in the affordable units than all-affordable options like public housing, etc. This is due to the mix of demographics, the ability of full price owners being able to leverage better service/more attention, a lot of things... I don't know if you're going to get that income-mixing when it's two regular units and an otherwise affordable building. Which, again, at that point, are you really making so much profit off TWO units you can't just affordablize them and give two more families a chance at stable housing?
If I had to guess...
Inside sales to people who don't want their deeds to be encumbered by the affordable housing resale restrictions.
Well, if they have trouble
Well, if they have trouble selling them, the price will drop and they'll become affordable to more people with no lottery, waitlist, or certification bureaucracy needed.
This is so lame. I’ll no
This is so lame. I’ll no longer shop here as they favor cars over people.
subsidy
Before it was Tropical Foods - it was BRA Parcel 10....so 99% likely that the Tropical Foods' project was subsidized.