Boston College now officially owns 24 acres of largely undeveloped land in Chestnut Hill that previously belonged to Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Jonathan Dame of the Newton TAB reports.
BC completes purchase of Webster Woods site
by Village 14 | Jun 8, 2016 | Newton | 11 comments
They sure as Hell didn’t pay $20M so they could keep the trees. I am mystified as to why the Mayor allowed this transaction to happen without clear development restrictions negotiated and in place.
@Mike Striar, I know people think of Setti as all powerful but I am not sure what levers the City had other than coming up with $21 million to buy the property. I am already worried about what a historic district would do to my personal property rights not wanting to think about the City blocking private property transactions.
Note: The “all powerful” was an injection of levity, please don’t take personal offence.
I agree with Mike. Just think that BC probably wants the site for administrative offices and dormitories.
@Groot Gregory– The threat of eminent domain should have enabled Mayor Warren to force BC’s hand, and lock in development restrictions. But I know Setti’s a BC alum. I saw he recently hosted the annual mayor’s breakfast at BC. And those things make me wonder which side he’s on, and if he even tried.
@Mike Striar: If there is a case for eminent domain, doesn’t it still apply after the purchase? BC still needs the city’s approval for whatever they plan to do, no?
@Newtoner– Eminent domain often generates a legal battle. Not necessarily to stop the process, but over other issues like land value. It would have behooved the City to have that fight with Mishkan Tefila, since they were on a tight exit timeline and don’t have the resources of Boston College. That would have put the City in position to negotiate development restrictions with BC. Now that BC owns the land, there’s not much the City can do. The Dover Amendment exempts BC from local zoning regulations.
This whole issue just makes me squirm. I hate to lose open spaces, but somehow squeezing money from Mishkin Tefila doesn’t set right either. I agree with Groot – in the end, this was a private property real estate deal.
Newtoner – Mishkin Tefila made an agreement in the 50’s with the state when it acquired the property that the land had to be used for a religious or educational purposes for a century.
@Mike Striar,
FYI, The Mayor’s prayer breakfast has been held at Boston College for many, many years, long before Warren became Mayor.
@Jane– You’re misunderstanding my point. I’m not suggesting anything like “squeezing money from Mishkan Tifila.” Simply pointing out that by introducing the possibility of eminent domain, the city could have leveraged a deal to restrict BC’s development of the property. Without that restriction, BC is free to exceed most of our zoning ordinances, including height restrictions.
@The Whole Truth– Fair point! The Mayor’s breakfast goes back a long time at BC. My larger point is that Mayor Warren’s relationship with BC goes back quite a ways too. As I mentioned, I think he’s a BC alum. And I’m just wondering out loud if that had anything to do with his apparent hands-off attitude toward this land deal?
I doubt very much BC would want to put undergraduate dormitories there. Students would be far more isolated than those who live on Newton Campus — which at least has access to the T and offers a safer walking environment to the Main Campus — so the university would have to expand its shuttle service, which I’d imagine it would be extremely reluctant to do. Perhaps — *perhaps* — graduate housing would be a possibility, but that’s a very different kind of scenario.