09.26.2022/Shakeup in Boston development

Mayor Wu cleans house: Chair of powerful board who blocked housing in mayor’s neighborhood among members shown the door

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That would be Christine Araujo, the Zoning Board of Appeals chair who became a lightning rod for her pivotal role in rejecting plans for badly needed new housing in Roslindale.

The long-time ZBA board member and chair was outspoken in casting crucial no votes against a 31-unit apartment complex in Roslindale Square and a seven unit, two-storefront apartment building by Target on Washington Street, Universal Hub reported.

Araujo criticized the first project for not providing any parking and the second, smaller proposal for not providing enough spaces.

The outgoing ZBA chair also made comments seen as dissing Roslindale’s commuter rail station as not real mass transit, though, in her defense, Araujo tells Contrarian Boston she is concerned about the cost to ride for low-income workers.

Those stances raised the hackles of WalkUP Roslindale. The nonprofit group, which advocates for pedestrian and cyclist friendly streets and transit orientated development, is a strong backer of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for whom Roslindale is home turf.

And WalkUP Roslindale has been pushing openly for months for an overhaul of the ZBA, an institution Wu attacked head on as a city councilor.

On Monday, Wu lowered the boom, announcing she would be replacing 10 members of the 14-member board, including Araujo, with a new slate of members.

The board plays an outsized role in Boston development, weighing plans for hundreds of small and mid-sized projects, many involving new housing.

“The chair has been the biggest obstacle on the board to new housing production in Roslindale,” Rob Orthman, chair of WalkUP Roslindale’s housing and development committee, told Contrarian Boston. “I am overall happy with the new appointments, and have heard good things about a number of them from my network.”

Pushing back, Araujo told Contrarian Boston that she was trying to balance proposals for new housing with quality of life issues for existing neighborhood residents in Roslindale, like parking.

The nonprofit consultant also expressed frustration over a lack of a larger, strategic plan for dealing with Boston’s housing crunch, expressing skepticism over how much impact smaller projects with only a handful of affordable units can have.

Diss Roslindale’s commuter rail station at your peril (By Andrew Watson from Silver Spring, MD, USA - Waiting for the Train)

A major issue, in Araujo’s view, is the seemingly inadequate efforts to date by local universities and colleges to provide enough dorm and other housing for their students.

“We need to look at it comprehensively – at what is putting the pressure of demand on our housing stock,” she said.

All that said, Araujo did not appear to be shedding tears over the loss of her perch on the ZBA, known for is voluminous workload, with board members having just a few minutes to consider each item.

“I am completely zen with her decision,” Araujo said.

Quick hits:

We all suspected it - and now the Fed has the numbers to prove it: “Remote Work Drove Over 60% of House-Price Surge, Fed Study Finds” Bloomberg

Well-reasoned and interesting column – which puts it heads and shoulders above the Trumpie drivel regurgitated by the Herald’s other remaining columnists: Battenfeld: Michelle Wu’s real record on traffic-stopping street protests      Boston Herald

Speaking of the pandemic and remote work: “Massachusetts has one of the highest rates of employees working from home” Boston Globe

Brace for impact: “Fed Chief Collins Hopeful for “Soft-ish Landing”” State House News Service

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