Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
What the hell is wrong with this city?
|
Though the city does have a hand in things, a fair amount of the issues with this tower are actually stemming from state regulations and grumpy (and hypocritical) neighbors.
Chapter 91 of MA state regulations dictates that at least half of waterfront lots are open to public use, and that state has indicated that 1. They don't believe this project's current iteration meets that regulation, and 2. they would enforce those regulations here.
The single 600' tower plan is the compromise proposed by the city to both meet these regulations and allow the developer to make a suitable return on investment.
Neighbors in the Harbor Towers development next to the current site (a garage) have an easement for parking in the garage until 2019 and a permanent easement to hold their buildings' mechanical systems in the garage. Those reasons are valid enough.
However, those neighbors are complaining that the current iteration of this project does not have enough waterfront access, which is laughable given that the Harbor Towers development that they live in is probably the largest such obstacle to public access on the entire Boston waterfront.
I hope this makes sense to you; this project is a mess, there are many, many layers to it, and I get incensed while thinking about it.