By Brian Denitzio
News Editor

As the public process surrounding the reuse of the former St. William church complex closes out its second month, a consensus regarding what should fill the critical block on Dorchester Ave. has yet to emerge. Two community meetings regarding the site have been held to date, and many observers say that the lack of clear vision for the reuse for the site could hurt the neighborhood's chances of finding a satisfactory use for the property.

"From what I've done, there's no clear cut consensus from the community about what should happen with that block, it isn't as though there was overwhelming support for any one thing," said Don Walsh, who headed up a sub-committee within the Columbia Saivn Hill Civic Association that considered future uses of the site.

During a meeting to discuss the site last week, Father Paul Soper, pastor of Blessed Mother Teresa Parish drew criticism for his handling of the process to determine the future of the site. Walsh repeatedly questioned Soper as to how he intended to take community input into account as he determined what would be the best use for the site. Walsh stated that Soper was being too reactionary in allowing Codman Company, the real estate agency handling the disposition of the site, to simply obtain bidders rather than determining what the community wanted and seeking out parties who could exercise the community's wishes.

"I don't see you leading us in that way," said Walsh. "I think you're trying to get the highest dollar amount within an acceptable range of uses."

Walsh said that he still believes that there is time to make changes to the search process, and hopes that Soper and Blessed Mother Teresa's Parish Council will be responsive to that idea.

"I would like to see the parish council and the community, which includes the civic association, have an idea of what would be beneficial to the community for that full city block," said Walsh in a phone interview after last week's meeting. "Once people say we'd like to see A,B, or Z, and then go make that happen."

Soper told the Reporter in a phone interview this week that he is sensitive to the community's concerns and has every intention of taking their wishes into account. The stumbling block, Soper said, is that the community has not yet rallied around a specific idea.

"We've had two meetings and haven't heard consensus," said Soper. "We're going to explore whether there are new ways of getting at that."

One possibility might be a survey of the community, which was discussed at last week's meeting. Betsy Drinan, a member of the Board of Directors at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, suggested that the parish council commission a survey of residents to gauge community sentiment regarding the site. With such information in hand, she said, the council could be more proactive in determining the future of the site.

"Rather than just sitting back and waiting to see who knocks on our doors…we're out their knocking doors ourselves," said Drinan.

Walsh and others are concerned that if no steps are taken to gauge the community's interests, the choices for a use of the site could be severely limited.

"If you don't go out and try to accomplish something, you're left with the choice of other people's ideas," said Walsh.

At last week's meeting, Soper outlined a tentative set of deadlines for the process, stating that he would ask for bids from interested parties in the beginning of August, and close the process towards the middle of the month. Those dates are flexible, Soper said this week.

"If it's necessary to adjust the timetable in order to meet needs, those changes can be made," said Soper.

Jim Belli, who is handling the disposition of the site for the Codman Company made a brief presentation at last week's meeting about the types of inquiries Codman has received regarding the site. He stated that some 25 parties had shown an interest in the parcel, with the majority of them interested in purchasing the property rather than signing a lease. Those parties fall into three major categories&emdash;other churches, developers, and social services organization. Belli named only one party&emdash;a social services agency named Teen Challenge&emdash;as having shown interested, and avoided speaking specifically about what any of the potential bidders might do with the site.

The next public discussion of the site's use will be a meeting of the Blessed Mother Teresa Parish Council, scheduled for this evening at 7 p.m. at the parish.

Read related articles from the Reporter files

St. William Church to be sold (May 4, 2006)
Church sale seen as chance for healing (May 15, 2006)
First meeting held to discuss sale of Saint William (May 25, 2006)