The Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association (LANA) in Roslindale met last week and heard from the Arnold Arboretum regarding its plan for new solar panels at the complex.

The plan, according to Project Management Head Danny Schissler, is to add 767 additional solar modules to the approximately 1,100 modules currently on the fields in between the Weld Building and Weld Street. Schissler said the project will bring the Arboretum’s onsite generation from around 25 percent to 50 percent.

“Which is a huge step for us to reach our climate goals and the City of Boston’s climate goals,” he said.

He said the new modules will be located on the parking lot and on the Weld Building itself, and he said they would be a bit different than solar panels residents might be used to.

“These are bi-facing modules over the parking lot, meaning that they are semi-transparent and they actually let some light through,” he said. “If you’re familiar with the back porch of the Weld Building, it’s the same as we have there.”

While Schissler said the main aim of the project is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the parking lot modules will also have the added bonus of helping the Arboretum to reduce the heat island effect of its parking lot. On that tack, he said three trees will need to be relocated and five parking lot trees will be removed where the panels will be located.

Schissler said they hope to start construction next March and complete, power on and closeout the project by next fall.

“We’re looking to mitigate any impacts, and we don’t anticipate much impact outside the property, with the small exception that we’ll have to add some electrical gear that (electric utility) Eversource requires to service the building,” he said.

However, some residents said they felt there would be many more impacts, particularly during construction. A resident going by the name Louis said he had no concerns about the panels, but rather parking and construction parking. He said when the Faulkner was being rebuilt, most of the parking around the Arboretum went to two-hour parking, and all the construction workers, hospital workers and more parked in the neighborhoods.

“Our strategy is going to be to keep vehicles on the property to the greatest extent possible,” Schissler said. “Secondarily, we’re looking at whether we can borrow or lease spaces from the Faulkner or the (Hebrew Senior Life) rehab. If we do need to have staff parked on street, it would be minimal amounts of time. We felt the pain of the Faulkner project as well, and we don’t want to cause similar pain.”

Advertisement

Most members and residents at the meeting were positive about the solar panel project. Schissler said they were a little behind schedule, as the “Big Beautiful Bill” put a lot of their funding for the project out of reach, but he said they were happy they could make it happen.

Also at the meeting, LANA drilled down on the 100 Weld St./1400 Centre St. condominium issue. The short version of the story is that the developer promised a lot of road improvements to Centre and Weld in exchange for impeding – or essentially butting into – the public way. The building got built, the improvements never came, the new condo owners are suing the old developer, and LANA had to hold a meeting – instead of the city – to try to figure out the next steps.

District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepén’s representative Dianna Bronchuk said the city council will be hosting a hearing to try to figure out how the city can have a bit more teeth when it comes to community benefit agreements and their enforcement.

“The Planning Department has told us they are looking at their legal team to go towards the developer to fix that soon,” she said. “Our office filed a hearing order to discuss why so many community benefits do not get fulfilled and whether or not that is a loophole we need to fix. We will file that in a future council meeting and host it, hopefully, before September.”

LANA Chair Cathy McCabe said she is also concerned with the closure of the rail bridge under the West Roxbury Parkway just on the neighborhood line. She pointed out that, while the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) does not expect traffic to spill into the side streets, she feels it’s likely and could exacerbate issues already going on in the neighborhood, like the allowed ‘right on red’ from Walworth Street to South Street directly at Fallon Field. With street hockey and basketball leagues setting up there, she said the city needs to be more proactive about safety there.

In other news, the LANA Ice Cream Social is Thursday, July 23, at the Green T Coffee Shop from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Also, LANA is asking all residents to sign up to volunteer this Saturday, July 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the 104-108 Walter St. Habitat for Humanity affordable housing project. The link to sign up: vhub.at/LANA