Next Round in Fight Against Proposed Parking Lot

As many of you know, the Lantana function hall has proposed destroying 3.2 acres of Blue Hills parkland on High Street in Randolph to build a parking lot.

After several hundred people commented during the MEPA review last fall, Secretary Ian Bowles required Lantana to submit an Environmental Impact Report to justify his proposal. In the Draft EIR (DEIR), which Lantana just submitted last week, the proponent must justify why he needs to destroy public parkland to protect his patrons from crossing a busy street and why he cannot simply implement basic traffic calming measures.

In the original proposal, the function hall owner proposed building 408 cars on what is now a highly visible, highly accessible wooded part of the Blue Hills. He offered in exchange a landlocked parcel with little economic and ecologic value. In last week’s DEIR, he reduces the number of parking spaces to 374 and offers to swap an additional two acres of land. However, it is all wetlands and thus under no threat of development.

The new proposal still cheats the Blue Hills – and the people of Massachusetts – of over three acres of parkland.

We will be reviewing the DEIR in detail and will soon provide you with a summary and talking points to help you submit comments to the MEPA Office. In the meantime, if you would like to request a copy of the Executive Summary or the full report on CD form, contact Jeffrey O'Connell of Coler & Colantonio Inc. at 781-982-5473.

Get the full story about the Lantana Land Swap at our main website.