President: Elizabeth Doyle
Vice-President: Eileen Boyle
Minutes: Doreen Miller
# in attendance: 40
CSHCA Holiday Party at the top floor of The Daily, Dec. 5 (Des Rohan)
- Hybrid meeting to start at 7 PM, end with the social hour.
- Survey link to determine interest of people to attend in person.
- A motion was made to request $400 to cover food, beverages, and prizes. Membership approved with 15 in favor, 1 opposed, 1 abstained, 2 invalid.
Holiday Tree Lighting at Savin Hill Park, Saturday, November 26, 5:30 PM
- The Pacitti family has agreed to have their memorial tree lit up.
- There will be a Santa (thanks to Heidi for the Santa costume) and possibly Mrs. Claus. George Huynh said we should try to get a volunteer to be Santa as he was unsure of the current rates at Boston Balloon Company, which the city used in the past.
- A motion was made to request $200 to cover costs.
- $100 to contribute to the trolley costs
- $100 for hot chocolate, goodie bags for the kids
- Membership approved with 19 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstained, 2 invalid.
- There is no plan to sell wreaths at this event.
- All Dorchester elected officials have been invited to attend.
C-11 Toy Drive
- Individuals can contribute money towards this cause in two ways.
- Via Venmo: venmo@Des-Rohan. In the memo note Toy Drive.
- Via check to CSHCA, with Toy Drive noted in the memo line. Send to: CSHCA c/o Des Rohan, 4 Buttonwood Court, Dorchester, MA 02125.
- A motion was made to request a $250 matching donation. Membership approved with 19 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstained, 2 invalid.
- Last year CSHCA raised about $800 in addition to the $250 matching donation.
- Toys are generally given out mid-December, closer to Christmas.
- Des will create a flyer with the QR code for donations to be displayed at the November Tree Lighting.
Membership Dues for 2023
- $10 per member.
- Any dues paid now goes towards the 2023 membership.
- Individuals can pay their membership in two ways:
- Via Venmo: venmo@Des-Rohan. In the memo note membership and name(s).
- Via check to CSHCA, with membership and name(s) noted in the memo line. Send to: CSHCA c/o Des Rohan, 4 Buttonwood Court, Dorchester, MA 02125.
Committee Reports
- Events Committee (Michelle Miller)
- The two events held in October were a big success.
- The Kids’ Halloween Parade organized by Brianna from the mother’s group. Over 200 kids took part, along with their parents and family members. There were lots of activities for the kids to enjoy.
- Music in the Park on October 16 had over 100 people in attendance. Hot chocolate, hot coffee, cold water and snacks were provided.
- Upcoming event: Savin Hill Caroling, Wednesday, December 14.
- Gather at the tennis courts at 5 PM where there will be hot cocoa, candy canes, and holiday swag.
- Caroling begins at 5 :30 PM to run until 7 or 7:30 PM.
- The two events held in October were a big success.
- Outreach and Engagement Committee (Heidi Moesinger) – no updates.
- Safety Committee (Dianne Lescinskas)
- There was no meeting in October.
- Issues currently being worked in are
- Getting a Crosswalk at the SH tennis courts.
- Councilor Frank Baker is working with the committee to try to get this done. The problem is that there is no curb/sidewalk to make a proper curb cut.
- The committee is looking into installing a small speed bump instead.
- The loitering and drug activity at Walgreens on the corner of Savin Hill Ave and Dorchester Ave.
- The committee chairs are working with neighbors and the city to address the ongoing problems there.
- George Huynh has been in touch with Keith Williams, director of the problem property task force. They are taking an aggressive stategy to get the law department and city ordinance involved. Some issues are confidential and sensitive in nature.
- There has been frustration by the abutters at the lack of progress.
- George will coordinate with Keith Williams to push for more regular updates on the situation.
- Someone posted in the chat that the solar flashing sign at Savin Hill Avenue and Sydney Street has been non-operative for a while. This should be sent to Boston 311 for resolution.
- The next Safety Meeting is on Tuesday, November 15 at 7 PM on Zoom. The link to join is on the CSHCA calendar on its website.
- Getting a Crosswalk at the SH tennis courts.
- Community Benefits (Don Walsh)
- The next meeting is Monday, 6:30 PM at the Savin Hill Yacht Club.
- This purpose of the meeting is to confirm CSHCA’s position of the allocation and distribution of the $100 million in community benefit funds that will be coming available. All are invited to attend.
- Beautification Committee (Elizabeth Doyle)
- The daffodil bulbs from the city for Savin Hill T Station and other areas arrived today. Des Rohan will pick them up tomorrow afternoon and drop them off. The weather looks nice for planting them this weekend.
- Holiday Wreaths
- Elizabeth has reached out to Marc Antoine to arrange for the assembly and storage of the wreaths. She has not heard back.
- No date has been set for hanging them on the poles.
- Planning Committee (Kristine Hoag)
- 1121 Dorchester Ave. Transfer of liquor license.
- A mixed-use residential with a restaurant “The Dorchester” on the first floor is being built.
- There will be a seating capacity of 255, with 36-40 outdoor seats on private property.
- There will be no live entertainment.
- Hours of operation for the liquor license are S-S 9 AM-1 AM (indoors), and S-S 9 AM – 11 PM (outdoors). Some expressed concern about the 11 PM time for outdoor operations. The owner is willing to pull that back to 10 PM.
- Questions from the membership include
- Trash mitigation – trash will be inside the garage below grade, to be put out the morning of pick up by a private company.
- Deliveries – There is an easement off 31 Savin Hill Avenue, which they also own, for deliveries.
- Streetscape – 4-5 planters are planned for trees. They will also put in a 311 request for city trees along Dorchester Ave.
- Membership voted to approve this project with 19 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstained, 4 invalid.
- 6 Pleasant Street – curb cut for 3 tandem parking spaces
- They have good abutter and neighbor support.
- Their ZBA date is December 6, 10:30 AM.
- Membership voted to approve this project with 18 in favor, 1 opposed, 1 abstained, 4 invalid.
- 9 Sydney Street – raze current 3 family home to erect a 4 floor, 5-unit structure with a penthouse.
- James Christopher, the architect, presented.
- There will be 5 off-street parking spaced at grade in the rear. It will be no taller than Savin Bar and Kitchen. AC units will be either in the rear or on the roof with sound attenuation built in. The owner will live in one of the units. The other 4 units will be sold as condos.
- The zoning refusal letter was shared with the membership.
- He could produce no letters of support from direct abutters who live in their homes.
- Reasons the Planning Committee recommends a vote against this are
- It’s too big, too high, and too many units. They would be OK with 4 units.
- The structure does not fit in with the streetscape and changes the character of the neighborhood.
- It fills the footprint of the property with no setback or green space. We do not want to look like Southie.
- We need to protect and abide by the zoning we have.
- The ZBA date is 12/13.
- Membership voted to oppose this project with 18 opposed, 2 in favor, 1 abstained.
- Kristine will send out the agenda for tomorrow’s Planning Meeting later tonight. It includes
- 11 Spring Garden Street – to raze a single-family home to erect a 4-unit structure.
- 67-71 Sydney Street – to demolish 2 homes and construct three. Number of units has not been specified.
- 1121 Dorchester Ave. Transfer of liquor license.
- By-Laws Committee (Heidi Moesinger)
- Heidi presented the process involved in making changes to the current by-laws to improve clarity and better reflect current practices. She acknowledged all those who took part in working on updating the current by-laws.
- April – May 3 meetings were held in which members reviewed and updated the current by-laws section by section.
- In June we had the initial review, followed by a final review in September.
- It was presented to the E-Board in October, when additional tweaks were made.
- A pdf text comparison was sent out to all members, in which changes from the original to the proposed by-laws were highlighted in blue.
- Both texts can be found on the CSHCA website.
- A couple of members requested if it could be sent out as word docs with notated changes. Michelle Miller said she could prepare them as such and send them to Elizabeth Doyle for sharing to the general membership.
- Other than one member commenting in the chat that the changes were well-thought out and logical, no other comments were forthcoming from the membership on the proposed changes.
- The plan is to vote on adopting the new by-laws in January.
- Heidi presented the process involved in making changes to the current by-laws to improve clarity and better reflect current practices. She acknowledged all those who took part in working on updating the current by-laws.
- Other business
- George Huynh, our community liaison, is leaving his post November 25. He was thanked by members of the association for his service.
- Be sure to take the survey about the CSHCA Holiday Party December 5 at The Daily.