The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met last week in a virtual format and touched on several topics in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods.

The biggest is the ongoing Jackson Mann Community Center issue. If you’re unaware, the Jackson Mann and Horace Mann Schools shut down years ago because the building is structurally unsound.

The community center is a part of that complex and remains open, probably because of the community outcry when it was originally announced to close. Now the city is looking at what to do with the site that once housed three large institutions, and so the city is looking for community feedback. The options are a mix of basically the community, housing and a school.

“Basically to find what uses are the preferred uses,” said ACA President Tony D’Isidoro.

Charlesview Executive Director Jo-Ann Barbour added that the city is looking for more survey results on this second time around, because they want to have the continued interest and buy-in from residents.

“They’re looking for at least 100 more survey results,” she said. “They want to continue to show the impact folks want to have in the community, and so it’s important that we have the same numbers or more on the survey.”

D’Isidoro added that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has said previously that she wants to have this settled for the preferred uses by the end of the year.

To participate in the survey, go to https://gvimes.link/jcksnmnnsrvy2

The survey is open until Sept. 28.

D’Isidoro also touched on an upcoming Neighborhood Housing rezoning effort coming to Allston and Brighton.

“This neighborhood zoning that you’ve been hearing a great deal about, it really is more of a neighborhood preservation exercise than anything else,” he said. “When most people hear about zoning they think it’s all upzoning and they’re going to go crazy. Well, on commercial corridors or busy thoroughfares where density and height make sense and there’s land there, potentially yes. But it’s more or less there for existing neighborhoods to improve what they have, repair their houses or add an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), but it’s certainly not like what Cambridge is doing where they basically are allowing six-story buildings as a matter-of-right no matter where you are.”

Neighborhood Housing has seen much less resistance than the Squares + Streets rezoning has where it’s been pitched, and the Allston-Brighton zoning has been previously discussed as a kind of combination of both. Though informally only, and real information on District 9’s plans has been released.

Lastly, the ACA talked with Trina Murphy of DND Homes and development Attorney Joseph Hanley of McDermott, Quilty, Miller & Hanley regarding the proposed 151-unit building at 169-177 Cambridge St.

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The project doesn’t have a project notification form on its Boston Planning Department Page – https://gvimes.link/169cambrdg – but has a letter of intent detailing the broad strokes of the plan.

Hanley went through what they were thinking, and stipulated at this point in the plan a lot is still up in the air and subject to change. But there will be a lot more community meetings on the project, especially considering it will have an Impact Advisory Group (IAG) set up, which will require double what the Planning Department’s Article 80 project review typically does.

Hanley said the units will be smaller one-bedroom and studios marketed to empty-nesters and young professionals. He said this will result in fewer roommate situations – likely a euphemism for students – but allowed that it wouldn’t have any appeal to most families trying to live in the neighborhood. There will be 89 one-bedrooms, 10 two-bedrooms, and 52 studio units.

Hanley also said the denser nature of the building would be perfect for when the West Station and Allston Multi-Modal Transportation project are both finally done, as well as Harvard Enterprise Research Campus. Both of these projects will increase jobs and transportation across the neighborhood.

The West Station also may reconnect Lower Allston and Allston Proper over the Mass Pike, one of the reasons the ACA was originally founded.

Members were cautiously optimistic about the proposal, but some raised concerns. For one thing, several residents talked about the importance of funding Roberts Park renovations currently in the process, and Hanley said they would look into that.

Another was ensuring that delivery and ride share drivers have enough space to move. The site will have 28 parking spaces, so the idea is that most of the units will rely on rideshare, public transportation, and delivery for travel and necessities.

At 151 units and the city’s current 17 percent affordabillity requirement, 25 units will be affordable under the Boston Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP). Resident Sarah Iwany said she’d like to see that higher.

“The affordability could be inched up a teensy bit, I think,” she said. “And my final comment is that it looks so, so grey, in the renderings. Could you please add some semblance of color? I’m so tired of tan, grey buildings.”

Hanley said they would look into both, assuring her the renderings were more about giving a sense of the building’s size and scale rather than color.