A week after a feisty BRA-sponsored public meeting, neighbors who will be most impacted by a proposed mixed-use development in Mattapan have begun a petition drive that raises significant objections to the project. To date, some 63 neighbors on the streets closest to the Cote Village project have signed onto a statement that urges the BRA and the development team to scale down the density of the proposed apartment complex and to add more “ground floor business space with high capacity for job creation.”

Jacques Dady Jean, a direct abutter to the proposed project on Regis Road, led the signature drive last weekend. The signatories, he said, include 10 home owners on Regis Road, where the five story, 76-unit housing development is planned to rise near the corner of Cummins Highway.

“If you want socio economic development in the neighborhood, you are looking for business, not low income housing,” Jean said. “During the community process we made it clear we don’t want those tall buildings.”

Jean said the infrastructure is not ready to support a high density project.

“I think it’s not realistic,” Jean said. “We don’t want something like this on Regis Road.”

Jean said he would like the developers and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to sit down again with the people directly effected by the project, and modify their proposal in the interest of the community.

Nick Martin, the director of communications for the BRA, told The Reporter that as with every large development, the BRA is concerned about what the abutters have to say.

“We are in receipt of this petition, and we will have a conversation with the development team to see what can be done about this issue,” said Martin. “It’s important to remember that the community was very involved in planning for this development parcel. The Department of Neighborhood Development led a community process to create a vision for the Cote Ford site, and the development proposal that’s currently under review was heavily informed by that vision. There is a desire to create more housing that’s affordable to people in the middle class, and this project could help address that challenge.”

The comment period for this project ends on Friday, Feb. 12. BRA project manager Lance Campbell encourages Mattapan residents to contact him with questions or concerns at lance.campbell@boston.gov or at 617-918-4311.