View back of 87 Southgate towards Armory Street
Let me give you an example. The South Worcester Neighborhood Center partnering with an affordable housing group and has built a 25 unit project on Southgate Street that cost $7,000,000 or $280,000 per unit. No, you are not reading the numbers wrong. During the building process, they wanted a much larger project that had literally very little if any parking for 40 plus units and applied for a waiver of parking requirements.
There are few local businesses nearby and Canterbury School and parking was already an issue without the addition of 40+ units with no more parking. I showed up, as an owner of abutting property for my tenants. Since I am pretty good at counting, I knew that I had no chance. Talking to their lawyer before the meeting started, I told him that I was going to leave, but I would appeal the decision in the courts. The developer pulled themselves off the agenda that night, changed their plans and we have 25 units (that cost $270,000 per unit in case you forgot the cost) with ample parking. Bottom line the power of the Zoning Board really help me and all the other abutters.
As a parting gift, the developer used the lot behind me to store extra fill. Here is a picture from last June and it has not been touched since . Please note the project has been completed for maybe 3 years?? Is this what the developer meant when he said that his project would fit into the neighborhood? This developer is seeking to work on more land in the City of Worcester, stay tuned.
My final point is that when the Salter School is moved from Zoning to Planning Board based on the recommendation that is going back to council. The neighborhood will not have the power we had on this development on Southgate Street. Again I want to make this abundantly clear, this may in fact be a great project and everyone in the neighborhood loves it, but I just want to point out the implications of this change. The plans the developer has for the Salter School could have gone through the Zoning board, but they are asking for these changes so that they can get their special permit from the Planning Board.