Alternative Plan to One Charlestown Presented

By Seth Daniel

Former planner Sy Mintz said this week that he has presented his “alternative plan” for One Charlestown no fewer than 17 times to small groups around the Town, and that at one of those meetings a representative from the Corcoran Jennison team was in attendance to view his presentation.

Last week, in a statement from Corcoran, they said they had not been invited to review any of the plans with Mintz or those helping him.

“I have given 17 presentations, and one of their representatives, Sarah, was at the one we had at Spaulding,” he said. “I think they said they haven’t seen my plan, but there was someone at one of those meetings.”

Mintz was apparently referring to Sarah Barnat, who has presented with the Corcoran team extensively during official meetings, and did attend a meeting that was posted publicly, but was not exclusively invited.

Mintz went on to say that as a result of her attendance, he is scheduled to show his “alternative plan” to the development team in a meeting today, March 23.

One Charlestown said it had not been invited by Mintz during his process to comment on the plan, with them being the official designated developer named by the Boston Housing Authority after a long RFP process more than a year ago.

“We’ve never been invited to comment on the design of an alternative plan by the creators as it was being developed,” read a statement from One Charlestown’s development team. “Our plan was designated through the Boston Housing Authority RFP process. It has gone through the first phase of the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s Article 80 Large Project Review process and we have received many productive comments. We have heard the community and will incorporate this input into our next filing document.”

Jan Hunter said she had been to many of the meetings where Mintz has presented, and she was aware of a Corcoran representative being at one of the 17 presentations.

“A representative from Corcoran Jennison did recently attend one of the open community meetings in Charlestown to learn about the ‘Alternative’ plan.’ …As a result of that meeting, the representative is meeting with Sy this Thursday to further discuss Sy’s plan and presumably to learn more about the community concerns which are numerous – such as the impact from traffic and parking, school population increases and environmental concerns. The Community has voiced in numerous meetings that the proposed plan is too big, and too much for Charlestown to absorb, from just one development.”

 

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