The Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association (LANA) out of Roslindale met virtually with about 30 residents last week and discussed the progress of the affordable housing on 104-108 Walter St. in the neighborhood.

The project has been a long time coming and is now the gateway to the Roslindale Wetands, an urban wild in the area that is now fully protected from development because of the efforts of the Roslindale Wetlands Task Force pushing the city to purchase the site for more than 20 years.

The site is the future home of four affordable homeownership units – two of which are currently under construction by Habitat for Humanity (HFH) through a renovation of an existing house on the site – while the other two will be completely new construction. HFH President and CEO Jim Kostaras came by to give an update, as he often does at LANA, and said the work on the renovation piece is progressing, but more volunteers wouldn’t go amiss.

“The basement floor has been poured and we’ve installed windows,” he said. “This is in Phase 1, the existing building. We’re waiting for better weather to install roof shingles. We’re moving forward with the decks and pilings as the exterior renovation and roof drain plan gets finalized. We’re working on interior framing so we can start on the mechanicals. The exterior doors are on site, and we’re getting ready to install them.”

Kostaras said they will also soon start construction, hopefully this year, on Phase 2, the new building construction. He said currently they are looking for a group of 10 volunteers per day. The volunteer opportunity is April 26 and you can sign up at https://tinyurl.com/3jem2889

Kostaras said they hope to have at least one of the units occupied by the end of this year.

Speaking of the city purchasing land to keep it from development, LANA member Julia O’Brien asked District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepén about the current status of Crane Ledge Woods.

Crane Ledge is a long story, but the short version is that five years ago, the landowner at the 24-acre site of woods wanted to develop 14 acres for about 265 units of housing. The plan required zoning variances, and the neighborhood fought the developer until the developer managed a plan that had no variances. Then the city fought it, got sued, lost in court and then approved the plan due to the court decision.

Now advocates are pushing Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration to purchase the property, for which representatives of the owners of the Church, Jubilee Christian Church in Mattapan, have said they would want around $100 million.

“Crane Ledge is probably the biggest chunk of land at risk of losing open space because of development,” Pepén said. “It’s very controversial with a lot of back-and-forth between the developers and the city, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Planning Department etc. Right now, a few months ago the developers won their case… My stance has always been to preserve Crane Ledge Woods, but with the ask that there be an appraisal for Crane Ledge Woods so the city can pay the adequate amount to the developers.”

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Pepén said the church should be properly compensated.

“What would be the ideal situation is the city is able to pay for the land or be able to do a swap of land so they’re able to preserve Crane Ledge Woods for another piece of land, if that even exists,” he said.

Another issue that has recently popped up is that of street trash. Residents said after the big snow melt from the feet of snow dropped on the city this winter, there is now a lot of trash on the streets. Pepén said he sympathized, but the city is stuck with the dirt until it can take an April shower.

“I was able to connect with the Public Works Department and I learned that street sweeping really starts on April 1,” he said. “I requested a sweeper but because of the contracts, they have to start on April 1.”

Pepén did say, however, specific and special requests for cleaning may see the promptest service.

“If there is a specific street which you think has an abundance of trash, let them know, let me know and I’ll let them know so that it can be taken care of as soon as possible,” he said.

The next LANA meeting is scheduled for May 11 at 7 p.m. For more information, go to longfellowarea.com