The long-awaited comment letters for 920 Centre St. were posted on Oct. 1 after the Aug. 28 deadline, the third extension.

For reasons largely due it would seem from the proximity of 920 Centre Street (the former Poor Clare Sisters Monastery) to the Arnold Arboretum, the comments were filled with a level of anxiety and emotional hyperbole not witnessed for any development in Jamaica Plain possibly since 3200 Washington St. in 2015.

There were 177 letters in support and 103 in opposition, but Frank O’Brien of the Arnold Arboretum Advocates tipped the scales with a 57-page petition he said was signed by 5,146 names.

He must have stood in front of South Station for some of the names because there were over four pages of signatures from New York, Brooklyn, New Jersey and even Miami.

Fifteen pages were filled with Jamaica Plain names and the rest were a mix from Cambridge, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, South Boston and surrounding suburbs.

Isaac Baker of Lila Road submitted a petition with 240 names from “the quiet majority in support.”

Ben Crowther submitted and another petition of 95 names in support which included people from Andover. Scituate and Brooklyn.

There were conflicting Franciscans, with which the Poor Clare Sisters are affiliated.

Sister Mary Veronica of the Poor Clare Sisters wrote that five years ago “we made the difficult decision that after 90 years our building had become too large [to maintain]… We first offered the property to the Arnold Arboretum but they were not interested.”

“When we decided to sell we wanted a buyer who would be sensitive to the neighbors and the needs of Jamaica Plain… [and] we found John Holland whose mission is to enhance housing and integrate it with the Arnold Arboretum. The resources from this sale are vital to our future… we are now living temporarily while this project moves forward.”

The Capuchin Franciscans seemed suspicious.

Living in two buildings on Montebello Road near Our Lady of Lourdes Church, the Capuchins have never joined any Jamaica Plain issue, but Brother Anthony Zuba felt compelled “to express our reservations.”

“[We] knew the Poor Clare Sisters well… but [design-build firm] Sixteen Penny’s promise cloaks a hidden ecological impact on the Arnold Arboretum and we are skeptical of their claim to be creating affordable housing.”

“We friars firmly support deeply affordable housing – something Magnolia Boston does not provide… We also question the metrics of the 60 percent area median income (AMI) that define affordable housing as fundamentally flawed.”

“Capuchin Franciscans stand in the tradition of St Francis of Assisi the patron of ecologists and lover of the poor. We would like Sixteen Penny to be a good neighbor to the poor of Jamaica Plain.”

Hyperbole was in abundance.

Fern Shilland: “This will destroy our neighborhood.”

Carol Galvin, Whitcomb Road: “Now Satan has reared his evil head. Developers want to destroy Jamaica Plain. Believe me they are killing Jamaica Plain and the Arboretum all at once. The Devil will get you… Do not allow this monstrosity to be built.”

Diane Valle: “Even in the name of God, the Planet Earth, the public jewels of nature and the rules of man and zoning shall not be destroyed for private enrichment… nor in the name of housing… I am concerned.”

Valle attached without comment six pages of a May 12, 2025 listing that a “Franciscan Monastery of St. Clare purchased four parcels at 590 Gay St. for $6 million” and included six pages of photographs of the house and grounds.

Jean Weinshul of May Street: “Please! Please! don’t allow this monstrosity to be built.”

The BUTs were many with variation of:

“I do not oppose development of the monastery… I want to be clear I support housing… I oppose the scale…”

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Andrea Howley, representing the Jamaica Hills Association, wanted to be “entirely clear: we acknowledge the serious housing crisis facing the City of Boston and we genuinely welcome new neighbors but development must be appropriately scaled.”

The Arnold Arboretum director repeated what he has written and said for three years: not opposed to new housing, do not object to size and density but “have serious concerns with the health of trees and the visitor experience.”

Noah Albino seemed to have had an epiphany.

“I thought this project might harm the Arboretum which is the narrative I’ve been exposed to but I retract my opposition.”

Robert Kretschmer who lives next door to 920 Centre St. wrote that Boston needs more housing but suggested Sixteen Penny use the abandoned West Roxbury High School site “rather than destroy a functioning neighborhood.”

Others questioned the fiscal integrity of Sixteen Penny’s proposal.

Flora Siami of Parkside Drive wrote a long analysis.

“What evidence supports the expectation that the project will meaningfully improve housing opportunities for middle-income households in Jamaica Plain?” she asked.

“The projected $1.9 million annual property tax revenue suggests a development with substantial market value. If so I ask the (Boston Planning Department) to consider whether the project’s affordability benefits are proportional to its market value.”

“The (Boston Planning Department) [should] ask whether the public benefits are proportional to the unprecedented increase in density.”

“The project requests extraordinary zoning relief… [It’s] the burden of developer to demonstrate that relief of this magnitude equals the public benefits.”

Maria Morelli of the Jamaica Hills Association seemed skeptical.

“The project proposes 24 percent affordable units at 60 percent AMI without relying on federal funding or public funds… the market rate units will subsidize the affordable units.”

“This is a highly unusual economic model for a project with this proportion of subsidized units.”

“What legal instrument insures that the subsidized units will be adequately funded should the developer no longer own the project in the future?”

Design-Build firm Sixteen Penny sent this statement to The Bulletin on Oct. 6:

“The public comments exposed a generational divide between those who own their homes and those who rent, while also demonstrating significant support for creating new housing, including much-needed affordable housing, in Jamaica Plain.”

What happens next is up to the Boston Planning Department, and whether or not to send the project back to the drawing board, or put it on the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board Agenda for a vote.