Monday night’s Council vote will determine whether the Innes Street/Central Avenue housing redevelopment receives a ’40R’ zoning designation, a critical step after the Planning Board recently approved the project.
This special zoning classification would permit the mixed-income development to operate under its own tailored regulations governing parking, density, and other standards. The designation also provides access to $5 million in state and local funding.
“It’s a critical vote,” explained Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) Director Al Ewing. “That is a very important ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If
we don’t get it, this project dies. It is our use it or lose it moment.”
Working alongside Corcoran Development, the CHA is planning a 330-unit mixed-income community to replace the current housing development. The project will preserve all 96 existing public housing units while adding 40 workforce housing units and 194 market-rate units. Through state and federal grants, the market-rate units will help subsidize the public housing replacement. The overall development achieves a 41 percent affordable ratio—triple the City requirement and double the state standard.
For residents like Jean Fulco of the Innes Residents Alliance (IRA), this represents a pivotal opportunity.
“This will be a much better situation for
the people who are there now,” Fulco stated. “The re-development would be so much
better because the apartment conditions now are not very good.”
Melissa Booth, another IRA member, noted that her special needs child cannot navigate stairs, yet their current unit is on the second floor.
“I usually have to carry my child up the
stairs because there isn’t an elevator,” she explained.
The new development will include an elevator.
Parking remains a significant challenge in this second attempt at the redevelopment, which was shelved two years ago. The site will provide 226 parking spaces, with an additional 50 located nearby off-site.
Council President Damali Vidot supports the project but acknowledges the neighborhood’s existing parking difficulties. A potential solution has been negotiated: market-rate unit residents would be ineligible for residential parking stickers.
“Everyone says that these people who will
live here will take the Silver Line and not have a car,” Vidot stated. “Let’s see
them prove that. I’m ok with giving them the 40R so they can move forward, but
when their Tax Incremental Financing comes up, I will let them know that I will
not support the project unless they will enter into an agreement with the
market rate tenants to not participate in the residential parking program.”
According to Vidot, the Council faces a difficult decision, balancing concerns about parking with the desire to improve conditions for public housing residents.
“I’m not in love with the project, but I
know everyone is trying to do their best,” she added. “These 96 families deserve
to live in dignity. I have family that lives there and no one should live in
those conditions…If this is what I have to do to preserve the units for these
96 families, then we don’t have a choice really.”
In recent weeks, the IRA, CHA, and Corcoran have intensified community engagement through coffee hours, direct outreach, and a dedicated website.
“We are in a competitive process and if this
doesn’t get approved for whatever reason, Chelsea will not realize this
opportunity,” noted Sean McReynolds of Corcoran.