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A proposed housing development in the city’s West End has triggered a controversy — pitting the city’s need for additional housing against Black and Cape Verdean residents who say they want to protect their community from overdevelopment, traffic congestion and gentrification.
Congregants of The United House of Prayer For All People and other West End residents oppose the proposed three-story housing development. It would abut their church, founded in 1921, which has been described as a “sacred and historic site of African American and Cape Verdean history.” They say it doesn’t fit the character of the neighborhood and that they have not been afforded an opportunity to voice their concerns.
The developer, Tracey White, proposes building nine condominiums on a vacant lot next to the church, with 15 parking spaces — after reducing the project from 15 units due to neighborhood concerns. The Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals will consider the proposed development at their April meetings.
White said he proposed the project because of the housing shortage in New Bedford. He said he has no plans to scrap the proposed development.
“Having more housing in New Bedford is what they’ve been asking for,” White said. “This is a perfect opportunity and a great location for people to own a place to live.”
Josh Amaral, director of the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development, wrote in a statement to The Light that the project would create “much-needed homeownership opportunities” for residents.
“We trust [the developer] will continue to engage in good faith with neighbors and City boards through the permitting and Board review processes,” Amaral wrote.
In a revised proposal for redesign, the developer scaled down the project from 15 units to nine units and from four stories to three “in response to neighborhood feedback,” according to Amaral.
The new proposal decreased the height of the building, eliminated a ground level garage and incorporated the parking spaces.
The original plans also had balconies on every unit. Balconies will now only be on the rear side of the building, which faces the church, according to David M. Davignon, a professional engineer working on the project. More green space has been added to create outside space for residents, which reduces the building’s carbon footprint.
White said there are no current plans for further alterations, and he is nearly ready to submit the revised plans to the city’s Zoning and Planning Boards in April.
Burgo criticizes development
City Councilor Shane Burgo said he thinks the empty lot is too small for a building next to a church because of the proximity of the two buildings. He added he doesn’t see how the two can “coexist without there being issues.”
The church has served as a Black religious space, and the project encroaches upon its space and legacy, Burgo said.
“Everyone understands the need and concern for more housing, but nothing that they want to build in a community that has long roots and ties should be done without including those voices,” said Burgo, who has been dubbed anecdotally as the city’s “housing councilor.”
“I do support housing and smart growth in New Bedford,” said Burgo. “Supporting housing in this case doesn’t mean supporting it in every location.”
In the most recent site plan found on the Planning Board’s website, the proposed building would be on parts of Emerson, Mill and Kempton streets, and its parking spaces would border the church’s property.
Traffic questions
In December, some area residents, including The United House of Prayer For All People’s New Bedford Pastor Harold Taylor, sent a letter to the city’s Traffic Commission requesting it to conduct an independent traffic study. They wrote that the area already has congestion, limited parking and is difficult for pedestrians and emergency vehicles to navigate. The church and the proposed condo development are located between Kempton and Mill streets, both parts of Route 6.
“The introduction of a high-density residential development has the potential to significantly intensify these challenges, creating obstacles not only for drivers and pedestrians, but for the congregational life that depends on safe and reliable access to the church,” said the letter writers.
While the Traffic Commission cannot require the developer to conduct the study, the Planning Board can, city spokesperson Jonathan Darling wrote in an email. He added that the study will most likely be discussed at the next Planning Board meeting on Feb. 11.
But Darling wrote that traffic impact studies are typically conducted for large developments that could “add many vehicles to local roads.” The proposed nine-unit project would add about five to seven cars during peak hours, which is “not enough to change the flow of traffic on typical City Streets such as Mill or Kempton,” he wrote.
“The City continues to encourage the neighbors to engage with the developer and voice their thoughts on the project during the upcoming public hearings as part of the standard Planning Board and Zoning Board review processes,” Darling wrote.
Church’s complaints
A media advisory for a community meeting on Jan. 10 said the development “threatens the cultural, spiritual, and historical integrity of one of New Bedford’s most significant landmarks.”
Bishop Charles Manuel Grace, also referred to as “Sweet Daddy” Grace, founded the first House of Prayer in 1919 in West Wareham. Grace, who emigrated from Cape Verde to New Bedford in 1903, established numerous branches across the U.S., including New Bedford’s, which he organized in 1921 on the church’s current Kempton Street site, according to the New Bedford Historical Society. The current church structure was built in 1994.
Nationwide, The United House of Prayer For All People holds both cultural and historical significance. Apart from providing a religious space, these churches created public services for Black Americans at a time when they did not have access to them. In New Bedford, the church is particularly rooted in the city’s African American and Cape Verdean populations.
Church members and residents who opposed the project said they haven’t been properly consulted on it, and that it would not contribute meaningfully to the area.
Some community members have described the proposed condominiums as “luxury” units. Burgo said the word “luxury” is being used loosely and is an assumption based on people’s review of the development and a lack of information.
“[These are] all questions we want to know,” he said. “We can’t have answers until someone is willing to meet with us.”
Asked if he plans to make the units affordable, White said, “we haven’t got that far with it.”
“It’s a nine-unit building that’s new and modernized,” he said. “Is it luxury? No, I think it just has all of the amenities that you need to live.”
The units would be too expensive for New Bedford and Ward 4 residents, said Marcus Coward, a deacon and Sunday school teacher at The United House of Prayer For All People.
Coward, who was a recent School Committee candidate, said he thinks the project would raise the property values in surrounding areas and attract people who live in New Bedford but don’t necessarily spend their time or money there.
“[This project] addresses housing, but housing for who?” Coward said. “I’m really trying to look out for the people who have generationally been here in New Bedford, who can afford how it is now. But if the housing proposed comes in, they may not be able to.”
Others echoed that thought.
“This is for somebody who’s coming into New Bedford, who’s looking for a place to basically stay overnight as they’re doing their nine-to-five job somewhere around New Bedford,” said Bruce A. Rose, a retired UMass Dartmouth professor and a community activist dedicated to civil rights and equity.
White said he thinks New Bedford residents would want to live there, but has no control over who would buy the units.
Some community members are open to housing units being built in the lot if they are affordable units, while others are not. Other suggested alternatives include a cultural museum, downsizing the project, and letting the church buy the land from the developer.
Rose said he would support a housing project if it were affordable, on an appropriate scale, included notification to the abutters, and if it didn’t pose density issues. Others protested against any form of housing in the area.
“I don’t see how someone could build something there and not have it be a challenge,” Burgo said.
The United House of Prayer For All People has built other housing properties around the country, Coward said, so if the proposed project doesn’t go through, the church could potentially purchase the land and create mixed-income or low-income housing for the community or church members.
In response, White said selling the property is an option “if the church offered to buy it for what I have invested in time and energy.”
Consultation and communication
Opponents of the project said that they have not been afforded an opportunity to voice their concerns.
White said he’s attended public meetings and has had someone try to schedule meetings through City Councilor Derek Baptiste, who represents Ward 4, with “zero reply.” Burgo said a representative from 262 Bedford Street, LLC, the developer, reached out to Baptiste but suggested meeting with only him, not the rest of the community.
Baptiste has not responded to The Light’s requests for comment.
Burgo said there have been informal community meetings because people have had nowhere else to bring their concerns. He said it is possible the developer was unaware of the meetings, but they should have reached out to more people beyond Baptiste if he hadn’t responded.
Carleen Cordwell, a community activist, said opponents of the condo project will hold additional meetings. They plan to conduct door-knocking and to continue to spread word about the history of the building.
City wants more housing
In New Bedford’s Citywide Comprehensive Plan for 2025 through 2035, the city listed strategic city building and modernized land use as two of the four elements of its strategy to create a “resilient, vibrant, and forward-looking city.”
“Adding supply of housing units of all types, at all income levels, and in all of New Bedford’s neighborhoods, is crucial in creating housing opportunities for the next generation of New Bedford residents,” the report stated.
City officials and housing activists have argued that the city needs more housing for all income levels, and that even high-priced units help relieve the housing shortage that has caused rents to skyrocket.
Crystal Yormick is a Boston University journalism student and a frequent contributor to The New Bedford Light. Email her at cyormick@newbedfordlight.org.
Unfortunately we may purchase our homes in decent neighbors then have something like a marijuana store pop up next door. We had a vitamin store which we the residents saw types of car sales, before covid, making us believe they were selling street drugs. The owner across from a school had a crappy vehicle wrote I love haters. They have since moved. Anything can pop up anywhere. So cases, the city taking the land by emminate domain. Hay/Mac area, back when the school was knolton all the people where the highway is has their homes taken by emminate domain. Maybe it’s time to embrace and thank GOD it’s not going to be a landfill.
Should be a major red flag (another problem with a Housing / Tenant project). The Council should revise the proposed parking ordinance to exclude all Housing / Tenant projects before approving. No matter what ward or neighborhood they are proposed in, these type of projects should be thoroughly vetted for parking, traffic, residential, and environmental impacts with public input (neighbors, residents, abutters, and businesses) before these projects can move forward.
They are vetted. It’s part of the city code. It’s called site plan review and apartment buildings cannot be built without getting that approval from the Planning Board at a public hearing. They put some guy through hell a few years ago at the old Goodyear site then the city took it to build a school.
It’s private property…tge developer should be allowed to build anything that meets the zoning …the fact that he seems to require relief from the zoning requirements does seem to imply that he’s trying to over build the site.
The Church had ample opportunity to purchase the site as it was for sale for a good period of time.
To control what is done a an abutting property you need to purchase it.
At least this developer is using their own money and not asking the Cuty to help fund it.
Hank if your in favor of the parking ordinance you’re welcome to your opinion. But approving this parking ordinance to give Housing / Tenant Projects an automatic reduction in parking is not in the best long term interest of this city. This type of project has the most impact on neighborhoods (parking, traffic, litter, noise, trash, environment, and quality of life, etc.) and this has been demonstrated in all wards across the city. I stand by my comments above and in my opinion Housing / Tenant Projects need to be excluded from the Parking Ordinance.
Yeah I know we have different opinions but I keep reading your comments on this as if the update to the parking ordinance excuses housing developments from review. It does not. They all still will need to approval from the planning board and site plan review specifically addresses the things you’re concerned about. The council even reviewed that part of the ordinance with the planner when it was updated last year.
Your way there will be city wide parking reduction already in place and I just don’t think it’s the way to move forward. It should have a hearing, present the project, hear from everyone, and than determine how to move forward.
Sounds like a reasonable proposal ,no objection to further review . Close to downtown, { which by the way should be for business purposes }, not taxpayer funded interties. As far as the church goes , I don’t see much activity there .
Interesting….the South End residents contested an ADU proposal and there was no mention about the ethnic make up there or how it goes against need for housing. However, when it comes to anything on the West End, a continuous reporting of race makes it a factor. For example the article on the Sargeant Carney Elk’s on Mill Street.
When the predominantly residents on the North End protested Parellel Products, again no mention of ethnic make up was mentioned nor how it goes against the need for more recycling plants in the state.
Why does ethnicity and race need to be placed into any article? Why can’t be people simply do not want a disruption in historical significance?
I thought more of New Bedford Lights’ reporting. What are you doing?
How can the reporting not include mention of race when the residents showing up at the public meetings to oppose this have specifically mention the significance of the church and the property to the CV and black community? It would be negligent of the Light to not include that angle, which the community has sought to explicitly highlight.
Agree about highlighting an angle. However, my concern is the wording leading up to the article by using “against”. It pitted a community of people “against” housing.
“Also, a proposed housing development in the city’s West End is pitting the city’s need for additional housing against Black and Cape Verdean residents who say they want to protect their community from overdevelopment, traffic congestion and gentrification.”
Is the community “angle”d against housing?
Well New Bedford Light simply publishes what they want and exclude what they want. Not good for business. However we’re all to blame because we are always commenting, letting them thrive! So whose fault is it, ours?
While this article has a focus on the land next to the House of Prayer, community members are looking at the increase of housing development in the blocks around this site. We are looking at the development of the Holy Family/Holy Name site, which will cause traffic issues for home owners on Summer and Kempton Street. We all agreed there is a need for additional housing, but this West End neighborhood has several developments ready to go and it seems no thought on the concentration of housing squeezing the residents.
The only one who dubbed him the housing councillor is Burgo himself. He opposes housing more than supports.
What’s interesting to me as someone, who for what reason I cannot explain, feels the need to watch the planning and zoning board meetings, is that the community members say they haven’t had a chance to speak on this. They come out in force in the fall and scared this developer back to the drawing board. They continued to have letters read into the record after that. It disingenuous to say they haven’t had an opportunity to be heard.
The article ends up being about more than this one project. The proposed parking ordinance gives developers the oppurtunty to apply to put housing / tenant projects on smaller parcels of open land in all our neighborhoods.
So our leaders are now saying moving forward the residents will have to stay alert and fight to stop these types of projects to save their neighborhoods.
100% we need new leadership in New Bedford.
The state expects small towns like Halifax to allow 750 units to be built. These people are complaining about “density” from nine units ? Maybe I am reading this wrong, but if they are in fact complaining about density and traffic from nine units, they aren’t seeing what many cities and towns in the state are going through. I know one thing for sure, a town with one school can not absorb the dense population, traffic and congestion from 750 new units. And low income units will certainly change the character of our town. Sorry, but the people of this neighborhood are not the only people who want to protect the towns that they and their families have called home for generations. I would hope that the racial makeup of the neighborhood won’t affect the outcome of the decision regarding these units, because if it does, while the state demands that towns with other populations have to deal with density, traffic etc, there are going to be big problems. It wouldn’t set a very good precedent, and every town could demand a hard NO on new housing.
Sadly, This neighborhood had already lost it’s roots after the riots and Urban Renewal. I used to live in the house next door to the old Daddy Grace Church and across from Perricini’s, (sorry if I spelled their name wrong). I haven’t lived in the West End for decades, but that neighborhood will always be in my heart and will always be home. I hope this will work out for the residents there.
I also grew up on Kempton St, across from St. Mary’s Home, and that neighborhood will always be home to me, too. My dearest friend still lives there. Many of my cousins worked for Mr Pierraccini (sp?), and Mrs Grace, one of Daddy Grace’s wives and a lovely lady, lived across the street from us. I always loved hearing the brass bands from House of Prayer. The riots and urban renewal certainly changed the face of our old ‘hood, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. My dad was on the zoning board during those years, and the original plans for urban renewal involved wiping out the blocks between Kempton and North Sts. to shoot the new highway to the Cape, finally built as 195, down toward the bridge. We had a copy of that document at home.
Urban renewal did a lot of damage in New Bedford. There were so many interesting neighborhoods before all that construction (Water St, where my grandmother and her sisters learned to speak Yiddish; the north end neighborhoods that were ultimately destroyed for 195; etc.) Urban renewal did a lot of damage all over the country, destroying long-established, homogenous neighborhoods. The Bronx in NY, Detroit, big parts of LA, which wasn’t even an old city at that point…
The whole world kind of lost its way in pursuit of The Future during those times. We’ve got a lot of bad stuff to answer for, and I don’t see that changing right now.
ARE WE SERIOUS… Are we going to FIGHT every proposal in this City now and then wonder why no one wants to come here, why no one wants to build here, why no one wants to lives here, why no one wants to invest here? Like come on! 9 Units… 9. Change the Neighborhood, REALLY! You mean change it by cleaning and using an empty lot next to church who “WELCOMES” all people or change the neighborhood next to industrial garages and an old Auto Parts Store, Is that the Character we are worried about??? Seriously it’s not an Adult Entertainment Establishment. This is an opportunity people. We complain that rents are too high, Home Ownership is unobtainable for most people right now, Well Folks, Condos are a great in between opposition for people, you get own something, build equity, generate worth. Now I know it’s not the “equity” people are talking about these days… So what’s the answer, no one can build housing in the City unless it’s “Affordable” and let’s be real, There’s no way for a NEW development to be truly “Affordable” without some government subsidy, and if we are being honest the word Affordable is just a term that gets thrown around nowadays. What’s Affordable really, someone will ALWAYS say Oh, that’s still to high. So instead we fight, we don’t push forward and we’ll just continue to be content with mediocrity.
I want to amend what I just wrote–a lot of the urban renewal actions were necessary, however, at the time those things were being done the process didn’t always allow for things to be thought through in ways that we would do now.
At a certain point you have to just accept that the average person around here cares more about parking and “neighborhood character” than they do about reasonable rents for the working class, the 1-in-10 NBPS students currently without stable housing, or the homeless people dying in the cold from exposure. The answer for those of us who don’t already own is to leave. Don’t struggle to improve a city that doesn’t care about you. New Bedford isn’t worth it.
“the area already has congestion, limited parking and is difficult for pedestrians and emergency vehicles to navigate”
This is a direct result of preserving and subsidizing space for cars, instead of preserving and subsidizing housing for people.
The way to prevent traffic congestion is to invest in and improve public transportation, and New Bedford has not maxed out in this regard, far from it.
Ironically requiring the developer to have ave parking spaces ensures that the number of cars will increase by that amount.
While New Bedford isn’t as walkable as Boston, it’s relatively easy to get around the city without a car, especially that close to downtown.
New Bedford isn’t a suburb, and 9 units isn’t “dense”.
Parishioners should stop concerning themselves with the property that isn’t theirs, as the Bible instructs. Maybe they could ask for aesthetic concessions so the new building looks pretty enough to be next to their own historic building.
Let’s also stop perpetuating structural racism with tropes like “neighborhood character”, a term used to exclude by race and class.
New Bedford’s character as a city has gone through various stages of development. We started out from Indian village to English settlement. Right now, we’re in the Brockton phase with hopes of entering a Chelsea phase.