By David Taber

Local residents expressed concerns about rodent control and increased traffic at a public hearing last Thursday on proposed zoning changes that would allow developers to build 199 condominium units at the site of the former Max Pak paper factory.            

But most complaints took the form of tempered support for the proposal.  ‚ÄúAs hearings go, I think it was fine, most of the residents understand that the site has to be rezoned," said Magoun Square Neighborhood Association President Joe Lynch.

He said the main issue now is that work still needs to be done on a covenant being negotiated between the city and the developers, KSS Realty Partners Inc.

The covenant will set a number of conditions that KSS must meet in order to proceed with their construction plans, and will be considered in conjunction with the zoning amendments when they are voted on by the Board of Aldermen. It was intended to follow guidelines set by the community but it has failed to do so, said Asher Miller who was part of the Max Pak Design and Development Review Committee, a group of local residents appointed by the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (SPCD).

‚ÄúThe guidelines were supposed to feed into the covenant, but it didn’t really work out that way," Miller said.

Proposed language for the covenant, negotiated in private by Ward 5 Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan, the SPCD, and Steven Smith of K.S.S, and released in late January, left out a number of conditions recommended by the advisory committee, Lynch said.

For example, the committee recommended the height of new buildings not exceed four-stories, but the covenant contains no such requirement and KSS is proposing to build a six-story building along Lowell Street, Miller said.  The recommendations also called for a sound attenuation study, to determine the potential acoustic impact on Lowell Street of building a large wall opposite the route of the proposed green line extension, he said.   

Reading from a prepared statement at the joint hearing, Miller said that the committee had put months of free labor into developing community guidelines meant to inform the language of the covenant.  ‚ÄúNone of that means a thing if the result of all of that community input and time and effort and compromise is tossed aside and a legal document hammered out behind closed doors,‚Äù Miller said.

The covenant also gave KSS the right to use the future site of the community path as an access road to the construction site- a right that was not discussed during the advisory process, Lynch, who says he has audio recordings of all of the committee meetings, said.

Matters were further complicated by the fact that, due to a potential conflict of interest, O’Donovan, who helped negotiate the covenant, submitted the rezoning proposal, and chairs the land use committee, recused himself from the proceedings   The vice chair of the committee, Ward 2 Alderman, Maryann M. Heuston, who chaired the hearing in his place, was not familiar with the relationship between the covenant and the proposed zoning change, Lynch said.

Lynch said he recommended to Heuston, Ward 3 Alderman Thomas F. Taylor, who also sits on the committee, and Steven Smith, the principal developer with KSS, that they hold another meeting with the community to iron out concerns about the covenant.

           ‚ÄúI think it would be extremely beneficial for the community to have one more shot at the covenant through a public meeting.  I think it would be beneficial for Alderman Heuston to familiarize herself with the community that is asking for these covenants. Alderman Heuston has never attended one meeting,‚Äù Lynch said.

           Joel Bennett of Friends of the Community Path is still hopeful that theses issues will be ironed out so the city can take advantage of 3.8 million dollars in state funds that have been allocated for the path extension in fiscal year 2009. 

‚ÄúIt’s a great opportunity for the city, community groups and a developer to work together.  I think that looks really good.  It shows commitment and brings down the price,‚Äù Bennett said. There is some concern that the city will lose the funding if it is not expended on schedule, he said.

Another flaw in the covenant is a last minute insertion that allows use of the future site of the bike path for construction access without mitigation from the developer, Lynch said.