May 19, 2005                                                              

Boston Foundation money to address potential environmental benefits of large-scale development in the watershed

Waltham, MA -- Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA), a leading environmental organization headquartered here, has received $50,000 from the Boston Foundation to develop an environmentally sustainable urban development approach for the Boston area.  Three redevelopment areas in Allston, Cambridge and Fenway/Kenmore will be the focus of the study. CRWA will work with municipalities, community groups, government officials and developers to create an example of how urban design and development can enhance the community and the environment, focusing particularly on water and open space issues.

“Our experience with development projects is that too often the processes of site review, design and impact analysis do not maximize the potential benefits of the development,” said Kate Bowditch, lead project manager at CRWA.  She pointed out that in typical development projects planning and review processes are fragmented, community groups feel they have little opportunity to participate and developers feel they lack clear guidance.  Even when project review is coordinated, and neighborhood input is sought, environmental issues are rarely addressed, which can lead to poor design and permit delays.

“We are excited about this project because ultimately it will help to improve the relationship between people, parks and the river.  CRWA will seek to establish guidelines for environmentally sensitive urban development by using our scientific, advocacy and coalition building experience to create a model process for environmentally sensitive urban development,” she said.  “We want developers to see that there are opportunities to link development to larger infrastructure improvements and leverage additional resources.”

The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations, has an endowment of $648 million and made grants of more than $50 million to nonprofit organizations this year in the Boston area and beyond.  They support projects which include public policy advocacy and public education on urban environmental issues, including transportation, access to natural areas, and the built environment, and which provide technical assistance and other forms of support to community-based organizations.

“We are proud to be a recipient of the Boston Foundation Grant and partner with this organization to shape future relationships between healthy rivers, vibrant parks, strong communities, and sensitive development,” said Robert Zimmerman, executive director of CRWA.  “CRWA has long led efforts to improve the urban environment.  It is a challenging place to improve --with its buried streams, impervious surfaces, filled land and engineered infrastructure, yet the potential for change is enormous, and the impacts far-reaching.”

According to Ms. Bowditch it is critical to lay the groundwork for environmentally sensitive urban development in the first phase of any multi-year development project. “The Boston Foundation funds will be used to focus on three distinct urban redevelopment areas in the Charles River Watershed: the Harvard Allston campus, the New Charles River Basin, and the Longwood Medical and Academic Area,” she said.  “The objective of our work will be to create a process to support development that improves the urban environment.”

Harvard University’s new Allston Campus comprises over 300 acres of land, and is bounded on three sides by the Charles River and its public parkland.  CRWA will work to see the new campus develop in ways that will bring significant environmental improvements to the area and will develop and support a broad and inclusive process for evaluating environmental enhancement.

In addition to the new parks being built in the New Charles River Basin, sizeable new development is planned in the area, notably the North Point Project, encompassing 45 acres of land.  Plans for the site include approximately 20 buildings, new parks and open space, new transportation elements including a new MBTA stop, and new infrastructure. 

“A project of this size, in close proximity to the river and the new parks, presents major opportunities for improvements to the urban environment,” said Ms. Bowditch. “CRWA will work with officials from Cambridge, Boston and Somerville, federal and state regulators, neighborhood and community groups, and the park advocacy groups involved in the lower Charles River to ensure that the project is a benefit to the river, park system, and surrounding environment.”

In the Longwood Medical Area (LMA), as with the Harvard Allston Campus and New Charles River Basin Projects, CRWA will support development that actually improves the environment, helping citizens, developers and public agencies make the growth in the LMA environmentally healthy by improving the park system and neighborhoods. 

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Charles River Watershed Association’s uses science, advocacy and the law to protect, preserve and enhance the Charles River and its watershed. One of our country’s first watershed organizations, CRWA formed in 1965 in response to public concern about the declining condition of the Charles River.  Since its earliest days of advocacy, CRWA has figured prominently in major clean-up and watershed protection efforts that have dramatically improved the health of the Charles.