The planned conversion of Blessed Sacrament Church in Cambridge into a high-end condominium complex has upset neighbors.

A plan to transform a former church property in Cambridge into a high-end condominium complex has stirred up controversy, with neighbors arguing that the project is too dense and will exacerbate parking problems in the area.

Residents also are criticizing the city’s permitting and planning process, arguing that more community input is necessary. They say the city often considers developments individually, without considering their impact on such issues as transportation, open space, traffic and parking.

At the center of the controversy is the redevelopment of the Blessed Sacrament Church, a four-building property on a one-acre parcel near Central Square that the Archdiocese of Boston sold to developer Paul Ognibene of Urban Spaces last year.

Ognibene received a permit in January to convert the church and a former school on the property, both of which are located on Corporal McTernan Street, into 49 condo units. He also plans to demolish a convent on the parcel and replace it with two two-family homes and convert the rectory into a two-family residence.

Neighbors say the development is too dense and not enough parking will be created at the site. In addition, two residents are so frustrated that they are appealing the Planning Board’s decision to issue a permit. According to a complaint filed in Middlesex Superior Court, abutters Dennis Friedler and Laura Blacklow claim that the developer submitted incomplete plans at an initial public hearing and offered more detailed plans at a subsequent meeting where abutters and residents were not allowed to comment. It was at the second meeting that planners issued the permit for the project.

“How can you have a deliberative meeting and allow one party to present their side and not allow public comment?” asked Friedler, who also accused the city of submitting a “flawed” traffic study at the meeting. “They made a decision and they voted and the public had no opportunity to respond.”

Friedler said the Planning Board has followed a similar pattern with other proposed projects, adding that he believes the city should change its permitting process to allow more civic participation, as other cities do, in order to promote better planning, address neighborhood concerns and lead to projects that are more appropriate.

In an e-mail sent to Banker & Tradesman last week, Friedler wrote: “They do not seem to have an administrative procedure in place that assures that only completed applications are accepted for review. This creates an environment that favors applicants and disadvantages abutters and the general public.”

Calls for comment made to Beth Rubenstein, assistant manager of community development in Cambridge, were not returned by press deadline.

‘An Opportunity’
Hubert Murray, a Cambridge architect who lives on Erie Street across from the convent, also expressed concern about the process that was undertaken. He said he doesn’t have a problem with the developer, whom he believes is operating within the city’s zoning guidelines.

“The developer is absolutely operating within the zoning ordinances, but I think it’s the city that is really in default both in process and substance,” Murray said.

A special ordinance passed by the city several years ago specifically targets the conversion of large-scale vacant buildings – such as churches or industrial buildings – into housing by allowing more density. The typical density in the neighborhood district as it is zoned allows for one unit per 1,800 square feet, explained Murray, but the ordinance allows one unit per 900 square feet.

But Murray said the proposed project is actually “over four times the density of the surrounding area.”

Murray said he’s not against density, but he thinks the city must consider the burden it will place on existing services – such as transportation – and “the potential for more services that the increased density brings.”

“The increased density should be seen as an opportunity for the city as much as it is an opportunity for the developer,” said Murray.

Ognibene said the condos being built in the school and church will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, some as large as 2,500 square feet. Seven of the condos will be affordable, he said.

A Cambridge resident, Ognibene said he has been to at least 35 meetings to try to address the neighborhood’s and city’s concerns.

Ognibene also said he is proposing more parking spaces than he is required to for the condos that will be in the school and church. Under a fairly new city ordinance, developers are required to create one parking space per unit built. He said he is including about 55 parking spaces in an underground garage that will serve residents living in the school and church condos.

At a meeting last week attended by the developer’s lawyer and a project manager, neighbors urged the developer to reduce the number of units and to include artist live/work space and more affordable housing.

“They seemed more open to our proposal of cutting down the development by a few more units,” said Blacklow.

“They seem to be taking our offer a little more seriously in terms of reduction of the units and increasing the number of affordable units,” agreed Friedler.

Ognibene acknowledged that his team is actively listening to the neighborhood and trying to tweak the number of units to satisfy the neighborhood’s concerns, and are seriously considering the proposal to include artist live/work space.

But he also told Banker & Tradesman if he was really intent on creating a high-density project, the plans would have included many more smaller, one-bedroom units. The units in the school and church will be on average almost 1,300 square feet, he said.

Ognibene will go before the city’s Zoning Board this week seeking a subdivision variance to split the property into three distinct parcels. The variance will allow him to create three separate condo associations – one for the 49 condos, one for the two-family home at the rectory and another for the four units that will be built where the convent currently stands.

Several Bay State cities – including Boston, Cambridge and Salem – are grappling with similar Catholic Church redevelopment projects. Murray believes that other communities may be employing more creative and progressive methods.

In Jamaica Plain, the Blessed Sacrament Church, which also includes a convent, rectory and school buildings, was sold to the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. The community development group is partnering with a private developer, New Atlantic Development Corp., to transform the 3.5-acre property into a mixed-use project with 150 housing units that will be targeted to households with a mix of incomes, including those with very low incomes.

Under the proposal, the school is expected to be sold to an alternative school that occupied the building for the past 20 years, and Pine Street will be running a program for formerly homeless people at the convent.

But even before the archdiocese put the church up for sale in 2004, JPNDC organized three meetings to hear from the community about the best uses for the site. After it was announced that the archdiocese was selling Blessed Sacrament, a neighborhood council sponsored two additional community meetings.

Hundreds of neighbors, local business owners and former parishioners attended the meetings and spoke about using the property for affordable housing, small businesses and community space.

Richard Thal, executive director of JPNDC, said the community’s concerns and ideas for preferred uses were communicated to the archdiocese as well as city officials.

“People in Jamaica Plain felt passionately about the future of the site. Even if the archdiocese was fast-tracking this, we decided we wanted to get out and create a vision of what we would like to see at the site,” said Thal. “We kept people in the city aware of what was going on. It was something that came out of a neighborhood effort.”

JPNDC submitted a proposal in April 2005 and came to an agreement to purchase the property in the summer. After formulating plans for the site, JPNDC held three community meetings to get further input from abutters and neighbors this past fall and winter.

The city is about to begin the review-and-approval process, said Thal, and the mayor will soon designate a community advisory committee to take part in the project review.

In the case of Blessed Sacrament in Cambridge, neighbors say they also communicated their desires for the site to the city before the church was sold.

Murray said that neighbors also sent a copy of the neighborhood’s community design guidelines to the archdiocese last year. Friedler said neighbors hoped the city would consider a mixed-use, mixed-income development that included more affordable housing that’s designed for families.