South Boston neighborhood is seeing red over possible green space sale

Trio of elected officials vows to preserve the 'vest pocket park.'

A hand-painted wooden sign welcomes park-goes and reads “Sr. Mary Veronica SND (Sisters in Notre Dame) Park.” Lindsay Crudele

By Lindsay Crudele

October 13, 2023

3 minutes to read

A South Boston park the Archdiocese of Boston owns is up for sale, and neighbors who have known it since the 1960s as Sister Mary Veronica Park are saying: Not so fast.

An early “vest pocket park” sandwiched between residences, 190-198 West Eighth St. — actually five contiguous parcels — is not technically protected parkland, but neighbors say the potential sale threatens to eliminate one of the few shady refuges in the area.

Today, local elected officials vowed to preserve it.

“We will not support any future variances to develop on this site,” read a joint letter provided Friday that Councilors Ed Flynn, Michael Flaherty, and Erin Murphy addressed to neighbors. “In recent years, and with the amount of development in South Boston, the park and its five mature trees have stood out even more so as a treasured space for both longtime neighbors and new residents in dire need of open space, due to a lack of trees in the surrounding community, and as a place to provide comfort from heat island effect.”

St. Augustine Park South Boston — The park is mostly paved but has mature trees. – Lindsay Crudele

Counselors noted that they met with city officials, but did not indicate which departments. Attempts to contact the area’s neighborhood group were not returned.

In the tidy, mostly paved park, several painted benches rest under the watch of a freshly painted statue of the Virgin Mary. An aged but still legible hand-painted wooden sign reads “Sr. Mary Veronica SND (Sisters in Notre Dame) Park.”

In the waning daylight, neighbors expressed curiosity about fliers posted around the area. The fliers, calling to “Help Save St. Augustine Park!”, referred to its earlier association with St. Augustine Parish and did not include contact information, directing interest toward the offices of local elected officials.

flier to save St. Augustine Park — A flier urges neighbors to call elected officials to save the park. – Lindsay Crudele

Zoe, a neighbor, walked her pooch through the lot and described the park as a neighborhood favorite for dog-walkers, calling it clean and well-maintained.

Alex Esping, also a neighbor, said he has observed regular maintenance, from trash removal to bench painting. “It’ll be a shame to see it go,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of green spaces left around here.”

The park is the closest one to Evan Sands, who was also out walking his dog. “[It’s] a green space in our urban neighborhood that brings us joy to go to on a regular basis, and it would be a darn shame for us to lose it,” he said.

Each parcel making up the South Boston lot was once individually owned, according to a 1910 Boston atlas. The city took at least one in 1937 via tax lien, according to records at the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. The addresses appear in a 1962 Boston Redevelopment Authority index of vacant properties, the Boston Planning & Development Agency said in response to a record request.

The index described its listings as parcels not containing permanent structures, or which may contain one, but “whose primary use is that of open land, such as a park, playground, parking lot, railway yard or open-storage yard.”

The West Eighth Street property, assessed in the city tax database for a total of $125,100 across four listings, is residentially zoned and tax-exempt under religious ownership by the Archdiocese. Neither Public Works nor Inspectional Services has issued violations to the addresses associated with the site.

City Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods said that he has no record of the parcels ever being listed as a park and that it is not registered as an Article 97 dedicated park property.

“We’re not making any representation that anything can be done there,” said Matt Aranson, a managing partner for Compass who represents the seller, noting the park’s potential for continued open space use, as well as residential development or parking.

According to the BPDA, the parcels are zoned for multifamily residential development.

“We’re putting the diligence on the buyers,” he said.