Here we go again!

Last November the Back Bay and the Fenway were slapped in the face with a development proposal by Millennium Partners, a New York outfit. Millennium and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority hatched a scheme for a massive hotel and entertainment complex spanning the Turnpike. To be located by Massachusetts Avenue, near Tower Records, the complex was to include a 600-room hotel, a 300,000-square-foot Sony Entertainment Complex, a 100,000-square-foot Reebok Sports Club and another 100,000 square feet of retail space.

Big and clumsy, announced with no effort to consult with local residents or officials, it was a proposal that seemed by design to provoke local ire — and that it did.

Resident groups mobilized, correctly seeing in the huge complex the destruction of their neighborhoods. The Mayor was furious at the Turnpike Authority's "arrogance" and, despite Turnpike claims that the City had no leverage to stop its development, vowed a fight. The state legislature, pushed by State Rep. Paul Demakis, passed through legislation requiring the Turnpike Authority to consult with the city and local residents using a citizen advisory board. State and local politicians, including state senators, state representatives and the city councilor who represent the area, began to meet regularly to develop a coordinated response to the proposal.

And then, in a stroke of good luck, Millennium backed off from the Turnpike development. After extensive conversations with the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the developer announced proposed constructing the project at a new location: at Tremont Street, adjacent to Chinatown. It was a terrific location, praised all around by City officials and residents. Rather than a scourge plopped in the middle of two neighborhoods, the new site was to be a savior for a struggling part of town that was zoned and ready for exactly the kind of project Millennium was proposing.

Still, rumors floated that Millennium was interested in developing the Massachusetts Turnpike site anyway. Throughout the summer the notion was floated, then denied. Most of those who had been involved in the original proposal expected that, if a new project was to be forthcoming, Millennium would do the sensible thing and sit down with residents and officials and discuss the idea. There was no such discussion.

Now the Turnpike Authority and Millennium have announced that they have agreed upon a deal for developing over the air rights. It includes $30 million in upfront payments from Millennium to the Turnpike Authority, an additional $1 million a year in lease fees and a cut of the projects revenues for the Authority.

Concerned? If you live in the Fenway or Back Bay you should be. No one knows what the proposed development will look like; Millennium and the Turnpike Authority haven't seen fit to actually consult with the people who will have to live with the project. But it won't be small. While many would welcome a modest development that bridged the Pike and connected the two neighborhoods, the high level of fees — especially the $30 million upfront payment — suggest it's going to be big, expensive and a lot like last November's proposal.

It's time for Paul Revere to mount his horse and sound the cry, "The New Yorkers are coming!"