Urban Wilds as a solution to a policy problem

While preservation of Urban Wilds by Boston agencies has followed the rational problem solving model, in which the preservation of a given Urban Wild is the problem and funding or property transfer is sought as the solution, non-profit and citizen advocacy has frequently inverted this relationship between problems and solutions. The following examples highlight situations in which Urban Wilds preservation has been used as a solution to problems faced by Boston neighborhoods and organizations. These problems exist independent of the Urban Wilds.

St. Sebastian's Urban Wild, Allston-Brighton

Policy problem: How to block an unwanted development?

Policy solution: Advocate for protecting St. Sebastian’s Urban Wild from development

Policy entrepreneur: Allston-Brighton neighborhood activists

As Urban Wilds are by definition undeveloped, it is not surprising that many privately owned Urban Wilds have faced development proposals over the past thirty years. While the designation as an Urban Wild can not prevent a development, it has been successfully used to community groups as a bargaining tool in negotiations aimed at bringing the scale of the proposal down significantly. The St. Sebastian’s Urban Wild is an example of an extended negotiation in which an Urban Wild was ultimately lost, but the impact on the evolution of the series of development proposals for this site was to bring the density of development down by hundreds of housing units.

Site history

* 6.4 acre site home originally home to a Roman Catholic country day school

* Burned in 1970 creating an open space

* Early 1980's: developers propose eight 20 story buildings with 1,500 housing units

* Late 1980's: the Green Company proposes 8 and 4 story buildings and townhomes

* 1990's: re-zoning of Allston Brighton places St. Sebastian's in an Conservation Protection Sub-District

* Pending application for 46 homes now requires a variance to build over 27 single family homes

* Community pressure and mayoral intervention blocks the proposal

* Eventual negotiation lowers density to 10 luxury homes in the center of the site

* The Urban Wild is lost but a 30 foot wooded buffer around the site is retained

Source: Rafael Mandelman, Enduring Idea, Elusive Reality: How Urban Wilds are Lost and Saved in Boston