City To Contribute $175,000 to Shady Hill

The City Council voted yesterday in a 7-2 decision to contribute $175,000 to help residents of Agassiz’s Shady Hill Square preserve a 93-year-old open space and turn it into a park.

Charles M. Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, said the appropriation means that the city, by acquiring an interest in the property, would have a say in any future alternation to Shady Hill Square. The decision elicited opposition from City Council members Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 and Timothy J. Toomey.

“This is equivalent to enhancing the ownership of already rich people,” Reeves said before the vote.

Toomey argued that it is unfair to subsidize Shady Hill Square while adding more affordable housing to the already well-populated Wellington-Harrington neighborhood.

“It doesn’t make sense to say, ‘Build 20 units on 16,000 square-feet in an already densely populated area’ and say that it’s ‘okay,’” Toomey argued.

“And build one unit on a 17,000 lot and the world is coming to an end,” he added.

But other council members voted in favor of the proposal, saying that they trusted the Historical Commission’s evaluation of the open space.

They argued that because the funds come from a historical preservation budget, which is separate from the affordable housing budget, it would be unfair to juxtapose the two situations.

“I think it’s inappropriate of him to assume the incomes of my neighbors... I can tell you they’re having to mortgage their houses and we know this isn’t any favorable environment to do that,” said Shady Hill Square resident Hannah A. Gold.

“We would have not been able to secure these funds without the incredible and generous support and the outlet [the broader community] provided us for informing people of this issue,” she said, thanking all those who sent in letters of solidarity.

The appropriation order comes after what has been a year-long conflict since Stonehouse Holdings, owner of the 10,500-square-foot open space, announced its plans last year to build on it a large single-family residence.

Neighboring residents have mobilized to protest the plan in order to protect their neighborhood that was constructed during the Garden City Movement.

Peter E. Madsen ’67, co-owner of Stonehouse Holdings who was unable to attend the City Council meeting, said he remains confident about the process.

“I’m optimistic at the big picture,” he said. “We’re going to get somewhere.”

—Staff writer Hee Kwon Seo can be reached at hkseo@fas.harvard.edu.