The Boston Redevelopment Authority announced Wednesday a pilot program for allocating discretionary funds to large development projects with community benefits.
The program will allow applicants to complete a standard application process to request a community benefit grant from the BRA, according to a Wednesday press release from the BRA. The BRA will test the process by releasing $400,000 of the $630,000 in community benefits that come from the D Street Hotel project in the South Boston Waterfront.
If successful, the agency hopes to apply the same model citywide, the release stated.
“Typically, when these benefits agreements are negotiated, there are particular organizations or programs that are specified to receive funding,” said Nick Martin, director of communications at the BRA. “But often times, there is also a certain level of discretionary funding that goes along with the agreement and with the project. That’s the case here, and in the past, when that had occurred, when there was more of an open-ended funding stream. There wasn’t a standard protocol for releasing that money and getting it out to the community to put it somewhere.”
Martin said all large city projects have a set of community benefits associated with them. However, there previously wasn’t a standard process or application.
“We want to have a test case or trial, and there happens to be a significant amount of funding with [the D Street Hotel] project, so we thought that would be a good place to start,” he said. “But certainly, after we measure the success of the pilot program, we’ll consider the best ways to get other funding out on the street.”
The pilot for this process, the D Street Hotel, is being built upon land owned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the release stated. Katie Hauser, director of communications at the MCCA , said the MCCA has been an active participant in the process.
“We have a really strong commitment to the community and every step of our expansion plan,” Hauser said. “We have been looking for ways to involve the community and make sure that we aren’t just putting a building in the neighborhood, but really making D Street come alive and making the expansion plan part of the urban fabric.”
The D Street Hotel follows the creation and success of the Lawn on D, a public park with community programming and activities. The long-term goal for D Street is to make it a destination, Hauser said.
“Right now, there is a little bit of a disconnect between what we refer to as the Waterfront District and the traditional South Boston neighborhood. But we feel like with the expansion, we’ll have a commitment to really bring that street to life,” she said. “We started with the Lawn on D … and then as we continue to develop on D Street, we want to make sure that we have plenty of retail and urban design so D Street becomes a walkable street and a street that’s part of the overall community.”
The MCCA worked with CV Properties, the developer of the D Street Hotel, to come up with the community benefit program. Additionally, the BRA worked with local elected officials and the mayor’s office to come up with this process that allows the community to have input as to where that money goes, Hauser said.
“The mayor came into office wanting to institute a series of reforms with the BRA,” Martin said. “Really, his focus, and the focus of the new leadership, is trying to create ways to transparency and accountability in the decision making process, and [the new process for awarding discretionary funds is] an example of that. There are still other changes to be made and improvements that we are working on, and this is one of the most important ones.”
Non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for a community benefit grant under the new application process, Martin said.
“It’s pretty straight forward. It asks the applicants to fill out information on their organization and what program they are proposing, and they have to lay out a budget and what the goals of the program are and how those can be measured,” he said. “It’s fairly straight forward, and we are trying to keep it as uncomplicated as possible so that a variety of community groups, large and small non-profits can find this easily accessible.”
Several residents and students said the community benefit program will promote redevelopment and help both Boston’s people and economy.
Jordana Kulak, 18, a freshman in Boston University’s School of Education, said she hopes the project in South Boston, as well as the community benefit grant process as a whole, is a success.
“If it’s a success, the entire city would benefit from this new process for redevelopment,” she said. “I’m interested to see how this process rolls out.”
Kayla McDonald, 24, of Brighton, said she doesn’t see any potential problems with the redevelopment project.
“I don’t really know if there would be any negative impacts,” she said. “It’s a good idea if it’s bringing more people to Boston, and it will be better for the economy.”
