Koch blasts Phelan on development

Mayor’s spokesman returns salvo, calling foe’s plans ‘day-old bread in new wrapper’

By JOHN P. KELLY
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - Thomas Koch outlined what he would do, if elected mayor, to end development of condominiums and townhouses in neighborhoods and improve traffic flow in the city.

Koch said the proposals were the first in his ‘‘Leadership Now’’ plan, which aims to highlight ‘‘almost every challenge our city faces,’’ with the goal of reaching community solutions. The plan, which is to be fully rolled out over the next several weeks, will call for quick action on issues such as excessive development and traffic congestion, and for long-term planning to address issues that are less urgent, he said.

Koch would immediately seek a requirement that says a special permit from the zoning board of appeals must be obtained when something other than a single-family house or a duplex is being proposed in a residential neighborhood. The ‘‘Leadership Now’’ plan also calls for a commission to draft long-term development guidelines, including modifications to zoning laws.

In an interview, Koch said developers have built multifamily ‘‘monstrosities’’ beside modest homes. And he accused the administration of failing to address the problem.

Mayor William Phelan said his administration has worked steadily to address concerns about multifamily development, budgeting this year to create guidelines to govern the design of such projects. He also cited recommendations his smart growth committee made this spring to the city council after it declared a one-year moratorium on building multifamily developments in some residential neighborhoods.

‘‘Every one of (Koch’s) allegedly new proposals have already been done or is in the process of completion,’’ the mayor’s spokesman, David Murphy, said. ‘‘This is day-old bread in a brand-new wrapper.’’

City council member Kevin Coughlin said a subcommittee has met three times since the moratorium was put into effect and intends to propose zoning changes this year.

Coughlin said he viewed recommendations by the mayor’s smart growth committee as too broad to be factored into the discussion. He called them ‘‘a work in progress.’’

Koch said the lack of firm solutions was part of the mayor’s ‘‘troubling’’ record on development, which he said led the city council to take the lead by declaring the moratorium.

Koch said multifamily development is related to traffic congestion, which he accused Phelan of exacerbating by not hiring a traffic engineer for nearly two years and letting ‘‘traffic systems around the city deteriorate.’’ He called for an overhaul of the computerized system that controls more than 100 intersections and a complete traffic and parking study.

In recent months, Phelan has touted major transportation strides by beginning demolition work for construction of the long-discussed Quincy Center Concourse and with the start of work on a new series of highway ramps at the Crown Colony office park.

Koch said those projects are unlikely to clear up the neighborhood traffic that many residents express frustration about as he campaigns.

Koch, who worked as Phelan’s director of parks before resigning in January to run for mayor, also vowed not to accept campaign contributions from members of the city’s regulatory boards in order to increase the independence of the boards and ‘‘raise the level of ethics.’’

He also vowed that his first appointment to the zoning board of appeals would be a professional engineer. Although the board is supposed to, by law, include a professional engineer, it currently does not, Koch said.

Murphy, the mayor’s spokesman, disputed that. The pertinent ordinance calls for one member to be an engineer, an architect or a licensed builder, and the board’s current membership does meet that requirement, he said.

John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com.