A new season of civic activity is underway in Lower Mills. At last.

After about 30 months of dormancy, the Dorchester Lower Mills civic association met on Tuesdsay night at St. Gregory's auditorium; the key item on the agenda was the nomination of new officers to reactivate the neighborhood group. An election will be held next month.

The organzation has been inactive since a local developer brought a contentious lawsuit against the former president. The legal challenge has yet to be resolved, the action resulted in the officer's resignation and it brought a chill to civic activity in the neighborhood. In fact, the Lower Mills group, which had served a vital role as a watchdog over issues for a generation, fell silent. And judging from some comments from neighbors Tuesday night, a range of development issues considered detrimental to the neighborhood came about while the group lay inactive.

Chief among the hot topic issues was the looming presence of a new Sheet Metal Workers building now under construction on Adams Street. Several neighbors expressed concern at the height of the building, and some wondered aloud whether the structure is in conformance to the city's building code. The construction is only partly underway, and already some neighbors worry that the structure is in conflict with the otherwise residential character of the neighborhood.

The acting chairman, Richard O'Mara, told the group that the union officials will be invited to next month's meeting to give details of the building. Others lamented the fact that there had not been a neighborhood-wide meeting prior to the start of construction; but O'Mara said the union had acted responsibly in sharing their plans with all abutters.

Other issues of concern involved the continuing traffic delays along River Street, the now-cancelled sale of a Washington Street funeral home to a national drug chain, and complaints about inefficient snow plowing after the recent blizzard. All these became issues during the long hiatus from activity of the civic group, and certainly would have been publicly vetted, even resolved had the group been able to sustain itself.

The 60 people in Tuesday's audience give ample testimony to their interest in local affairs, and their involvement portends good things for the future.

So it's a hearty "welcome back" for the Dorchester Lower Mills civic association. For generations, resident involvement has been critical to maintaining high levels of quality of life in our neighborhoods. The scores of civic groups, all of them volunteer efforts by concerned citizens, contribute much to the vitality of our community.

-Ed Forry