Waterfront Group Opposes City’s Municipal Harbor Plan

Boston Waterfront residents, calling themselves Preserve Boston’s Waterfront, have been collecting signatures opposing the City’s Municipal Harbor Plan (MHP) which will replace the regulations of Chapter 91, the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act and negatively impact the neighborhood and the city as well.

Residents have also created a website listing some of the real needs for the area such as making the Harborwalk ADA assessable and having a ferry terminal for the reportedly thousands who use the ferry to go to the Harbor Islands or to go home.

“The needs of residents are being ignored mostly to favor the needs of the developers,” Joanne Hayes-Rines noted in an email. “The State and the City of Boston can do better when it comes to the development plans.”

The community group claims after nearly five years of meetings, discussions and strong community opposition, the MHP includes (in part):

• Permitting a 600 foot tower on the site of the Harbor Garage.
• Permitting 70 percent lot coverage with only 30 percent of open space on the Harbor Garage site. Chapter 91 permits only 50 percent lot coverage.
• Permitting the development on the Book site a 305 foot tower and 70 percent lot coverage.

What the MHP does not include (in part):

• A much-needed ferry terminal.
• A Harbor walk that is assessable to everyone from Columbus Park to Congress Street.
• A traffic plan, without which the hundreds of additional vehicles each day will bring traffic to a standstill.

Joanne recently attended the North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC) to explain the group’s concerns and needs while collecting opposition signature of the city’s plan.