A proposal to redevelop the former Blessed Sacrament Church in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood into a mixed-use property has run into opposition from neighbors.

A plan to redevelop a former Catholic church in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood into a mix of condominiums, apartments and commercial space is drawing criticism from some neighbors who say the project is too dense and will create serious traffic and parking problems for the area.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., which purchased the Blessed Sacrament Church property last year, has partnered with New Atlantic Development Corp. to create 118 housing units. The proposal calls for a mix of condos, apartments, single-room occupancy units and cooperative units, as well as 7,500 square feet of commercial space on the 3.5-acre site. The project is currently going through the public review process.

“Right now we’re really excited about the plan we’ve come up with. It’s the result of a tremendous amount of community input from people who have both supported the project and criticized it,” said Richard Thal, executive director of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp, or JPNDC.

But members of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association in Jamaica Plain are worried that project is too dense and fear it will bring a flood of extra traffic into an already congested area.

“We think something closer to 70 to 75 units is more a reasonable number, based on the existing zoning in the surrounding neighborhood,” said Joel Parry, who has lived on Sunnyside Street for 18 years and serves as vice president of the neighborhood group.

Some neighbors say the JPNDC has not been responsive to their concerns about the project’s density and claim the traffic studies that have been done are flawed.

“We don’t feel they’ve dealt with us in good faith,” said Parry, who added that JPNDC hasn’t been forthcoming about providing density information. “We’ve asked them for all kinds of numbers Â… and they’ve slow-rolled us.”

Parry said Centre Street is usually clogged with traffic, and drivers regularly cut through Sunnyside, Creighton and Westerly streets. Adding that many housing units and commercial space to the property will worsen traffic on those side streets, abutters argue.

“[The developers have] insisted it’s not too dense,” said Parry. “We completely respect the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. They’ve done a lot of great things in the community Â… but what we think is that this project doesn’t respect the character density of” the area.

However, Thal said the proposal came about after input from hundreds of residents, and changes were made in response to the neighborhood’s concerns, including reducing the height of one of the proposed buildings and incorporating more affordable homeownership units into the development.

“We think it fits into the neighborhood context very well,” said Thal. “We know that the neighbors do have concerns about the traffic and the parking and as much as possible we’re trying to address that in the plan that we have.”

JPNDC submitted a project notification form about the redevelopment to the Boston Redevelopment Authority in July.

‘Strong Sentiment’
According to Thal, the plan calls for converting a convent on the property into the 28 single-room occupancy units for formerly homeless individuals. The units will be affordable to those earning 30 percent or less of the area median income.

The church itself – a 93-year-old landmark which faces Centre Street – will be converted into a mix of 37 market-rate and affordable condominiums. The affordable condos will be reserved for people earning between 60 percent and 80 percent of the area median income.

The property’s rectory and a newly constructed building, both located along Creighton Street , will consist of 16 market-rate and affordable condos. And a building at the corner of Creighton and Centre streets will be a limited equity cooperative with 36 apartments affordable to those earning 30 percent to 60 percent of the area median and ground-floor retail space.

In addition, there are currently two school buildings at the back of the property, one of which has been leased by the Compass School – a private special education day school for elementary, middle and high school students – for about 20 years. Thal said that building will continue to be used by the Compass School, which wants to purchase the building and rent space in the adjoining school building on the property. The developers haven’t “fully programmed” how that particular school building will be used, said Thal, but it could potentially be used for educational or office uses.

Thal also noted that there will be a large community meeting space at the front of the church and a public plaza and park. “There was strong sentiment within the neighborhood that the green space remain, as much as possible, a public space,” he said.

As for parking, Thal said there will be underground parking in the cooperative building, several short-term parking spots behind that building, and surface parking that primarily will be utilized during the day and week by the schools and during the evenings and weekends by residents and visitors.

Further, Thal said the development team has talked about providing MBTA passes for residents and having Zip cars onsite as a way to minimize traffic and parking problems.

“We know the traffic situation in that part of Jamaica Plain is bad. We know it’s very tight, and we’re trying to have as little further impact as possible,” said Thal.

Currently, the church property is zoned for single-family homes. The development team is seeking a zoning map amendment to extend the neighborhood shopping district at the front of the property and extend the adjacent multifamily residential district at the back of the property, according to Francesca Fordiani, chairman of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council’s Housing and Development Committee.

The housing committee approved the affordable housing component of the project last Tuesday. Fordiani said the project exceeds the neighborhood council’s inclusionary zoning guidelines, which call for developers of 10 housing units or more to set aside 25 percent for residents earning an average income of 65 percent of the area median income. According to the redevelopment proposal, 69 percent – or 81 units – will be affordable.

“We were delighted to approve the inclusionary zoning piece,” said Fordiani. She noted that abutters were able to air their concerns about the project, but the committee knew “we were not going to resolve” the situation.

“I think the bottom line is that [Sunnyside neighbors are] trying to find some way for there not to be the mixed-used building at the corner,” of Creighton and Centre streets, she added. “But there just doesn’t seem to be way to make that happen.”

Fordiani, who acknowledged that she’s “not crazy” about the building either, said the development team has indicated the retail space included in that particular building will be an “economic driver” for the project.

The neighborhood council’s Zoning Committee voted 6-1 in favor of the zoning map amendment last Thursday night. The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the entire neighborhood council, which will also vote on the zoning change. The council will then forward its recommendation to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is expected to review the project this month.

Within the last month, the Boston Landmarks Commission and the city’s Civic Design Commission have approved the project.

Asked whether he thought the neighborhood council would make a positive recommendation for the zoning map amendment, Thal told Banker & Tradesman last week, “I think we have a lot of support,” he said.