Public Improvement Commission - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Hey, good morning. My name is Nick Gove, Chair of the Public Improvement Commission. I call to order the Public Improvement Commission of September 24th, 2026. Mr. Lyman, please take a roll call.

Certainly. Would the representative from the Public Works Department please state their name for the record? Nick Gove. Property Management Department, please do the same. Joseph Callahan. Transportation Department.

Morning.

Inspectional Services Department. Ryan Roden. Water and Sewer Commission.

Denise Devlin.

And the Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

Carol Young.

We have a full quorum.

Great, thanks, Todd. We'll start with hearing minutes. At the request of the Public Improvement Commission staff, acceptance of the minutes of the PIC meeting, which was held on September 3rd, 2026. Any questions, comments, or edits to the minutes? And if not, do we have a motion?

I make a motion to accept the minutes of September 3rd, 2026. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed or abstained? Hearing none, so moved. OK, on to the public hearing. On to the public hearing, agenda item number one. on a petition by arema region number 87 tenant llc for the widening and relocation relocation of the existing right-of-way lines on fullerton street of public way in boston proper as well as for the acceptance of a highway easement located on southwestern side at the side of 201 brookline avenue generally northwest of brookline f As shown on a set of plans, City of Boston Public Works Department, Engineering Division, widening and relocation plan 201 Brookline Ave, Fullerton Street, Boston proper, one sheet dated August 26th, 2026. We'll hand it over to the proponent.

Yeah, good morning, members of the commission and members of the public. My name is John Moser. I'm with BHB as the civil engineer for the project. I'm just sharing my screen to give a little background on where this is located. The project's located in the Fenway neighborhood. Highlighted in blue is the 421 Park Drive project, and in green, the 201 Brookline Avenue project. And then in red, you can see the general location of the project site, which is Fullerton Street. I'll be presenting three plans. The first will be the widening and relocation. And these are all modifications to approved plans during the 201 Brookline Avenue project in 2019. So that first plan is the widening and relocation plan on Fullerton. And as you can see on the right side of the screen in black here was the existing widening relocation as part of the 201 Brookline. Project, and then in red here on the left is the continuation of that plan for the widening and relocation on Fullerton street. Coordinated with the commission and others. So with that, please let me know if there are any questions or comments.

Thank you, John. Any questions or comments from members of the Commission? How about BIC staff or members of the public?

I will take this opportunity to remind the public, if you wish to ask questions or add testimony to any particular action item, we ask that you use the raised hand function, which can be found at the reactions tab at the bottom of your screen. PA staff is all set with this action, and I am not seeing any raised hands, so I think we're good.

Great. Thanks, Todd. Unless there's any other questions from the Commission, do we have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve a petition by ARE-MA, region number 87, tenant LLC, for the widening and relocation of Fullerton Street as read into the record by the chair.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed or abstain? Thank you. Okay, public hearing agenda item number two. On a petition by area region number 87, tenant LLC for the acceptance acceptance of a pedestrian. Adjacent to Fullerton street, a public way of Boston proper located on a Southwest side of the side of 2 0, 1 book on Avenue, generally Northwest of. As shown on a set of plans entitled City of Boston Public Works, Department of Engineering, Division of Pedestrian Needs with Plan 201455 Fullerton Street, Boston proper, one sheet dated August 26, 2026. Back to the proponent.

Yeah, thank you. Once again, Jon Moser with BHB. On this plan, you can see similarly to the widening relocation plan, the pedestrian easement runs along 201 Brookline Ave just outside of that widening and relocation. So this is amended and restated from that 2019 approved plan, which also just includes the additional pedestrian easement on the

uh west side of the screen you can see here um so once again with that any questions or comments thanks john back to the commission for q a on this aaron john how about the ic staff or members of the public all set do we have a motion

I'll make a motion to approve a petition by ARE-MA, region number 8710N, LLC, for the acceptance of a pedestrian easement adjacent to Pulleton Street. It's read into the record by the chair.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed or abstained? Hearing none, so moved. Okay. Agenda item number three, petition by AREMA, region number 87, tenant LLC, for the making of specific repairs within Fullerton Street and Public Way in Boston proper, located at the side of 201, Brooklyn Ave., generally northwest of Brookline now, consisting of curb relocation, sidewalk reconstruction, structural soil, as well as new and relocated pedestrian ramps, specialty pavements, street lighting infrastructure, street trees, planters, landscaping, irrigation infrastructure, and driveway curb cuts. As shown on a set of plans entitled City of Boston Public Works, Department of Engineering Division Specific Repair Plan, Fullerton Street, Boston. Two sheets dated September 1st, 2026. John, back to you.

Thank you. Yes, and now sharing on screen the specific repair plan for the same project here. And on the plan, you can see the... Figuration of the existing curb line, concrete sidewalks, new planter areas, new street lighting, which has been coordinated with Boston street lighting and as well as. New 88 panels and and 80 ramps as coordinated with the disabilities commission. There's also additional details showing the. sections through the furnishing zone, new street trees, and any other details for this plan. This was also coordinated with BTD to provide a new crossing at the mid block crossing and additional parking at the curb, short term parking at that curb. So with that, once again, if there's any questions or comments, please let me know.

Thank you, John. Back to the Commission. Any questions, comments from Commissioners?

Thank you so much for the presentation. I just want to thank the project team for working with our staff on the grant integration.

Thank you, sir.

Any other questions or comments? Todd, how about the IC staff, members of the public? We are all set. Thank you. Do we have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve a petition by ARE-MA, region number 87, tenant LLC, for the making of specific repairs within Fullerton Street, as read into the record by the chair.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed or abstained? Hearing none, so moved. Thank you. All right. Public hearing agenda item number four on a petition by 545 Center Street LLC for the making of specific repairs for the following public ways in West Roxbury consisting of curb, sidewalk, and pedestrian ramp reconstruction, as well as new and relocated specialty pavement, street lighting infrastructure, driveway curb cuts, and a bus shelter. Center Street at addresses number 545 northeast of Beaufort Road and Beaufort Road northwest of Center Street. As shown on a set of plans entitled City of Boston Public Works Department Engineering Division Specific Repairs Plan 545 Center Street in Jamaica Plain, Beaufort Road, Center Street, Public Way. Pre-sheet stated August 2026. We will hand it over to the proponent.

Hello, good morning. Thank you members of the commission and staff. My name is Carla Chaffee from Nixon Peabody. I'm here on behalf of the applicant. We're at 545 Center Street, also known as the Forbes building. This petition relates to a substantial rehabilitation of 147 affordable units in Jamaica Plain. The board of the BPDA provided approval in September of 2023, and we're here today hoping to wrap up our specific repairs petition. And I will pass it now to Chris Hodney at Niche to do the technical presentation.

Thanks. So my name is Chris Hodney. I'm a civil project manager at Niche Engineering. I am sharing my screen. I just want to make sure everyone can see that. Hearing no one say no, so I'm going to go with yes. All right, so let me start from the beginning here. So you can see just the locust plan of the project location. Here we've got Guilford Road here and Center Street along the right side, the east side of the project. Just a rendering of what this would look like from Center Street looking towards the building. The proposed improvements along Center Street essentially consist of an eight foot wide concrete sidewalk. There will be a narrow bus shelter which has been coordinated with the MBTA which you can see right here on the top side of the plan. So the concrete sidewalk is generally eight feet wide. It'll be six feet in front of that bus shelter. We've got a new street light right here and then generally similar to what the existing condition is. There are some existing pedestrian ramps which are measured to be compliant, so those will remain. There's been some discussion about this existing reciprocal ramp on the east side of the intersection, southeastern corner. So we are proposing just to reconstruct that as a blended transition. It's kind of a unique situation where the sidewalk runs into the side of the building, doesn't continue down Robinwood Ave, which is on the bottom of the page here. So this seems to make the most sense a layout of this crosswalk and this ramp. Moving just around the corner here, we have, again, sidewalk along the road. We've got the cement concrete sidewalk here, and then the resin-bound aggregate along this section of the road where we have existing trees. I'll just zoom in. You can see there's some existing trees that are basically on the property line, which are to remain. So this resin-bound aggregate will give them the best chance to survive. um and the ramps of the intersection like i said before are existing for me so i'll open up to any questions at this point thank you chris any questions from members of the commission

Thank you so much for the presentation. I appreciate all that you've done to coordinate with our office via the grants. We just asked with the budget transition that you coordinate with our streets cabinet office on accessibility compliance on the grades whenever survey is available and that information is available.

Great. Will do. Thanks, Sarah.

Great. Thank you.

Thanks, Sarah. Any other questions or comments from commission members? Todd, how about the IC staff or members of the public?

i just wanted to flag that we yesterday afternoon received a couple of relatively minor comments from the planning department that i promised to pass on i think there is at least one section of curb along beaufort road which is actually missing so we'll expect that that piece of kirby replaced as part of this reconstruction and then additionally There was a question about how the resin bound aggregate will meet the private grass area at the back of the sidewalk. And we just want to point out that care should be taken there to make sure that the sidewalk service will be able to meet that and not start failing as time goes on. So we can discuss that offline after this hearing if necessary, but just a couple of minor comments to keep in mind. We'll note that I see that section of curb that you're talking about. So, yeah, that'll... Yeah, and then I think you added a couple of notations for a rolled curb at the private trees. We'd just like to have a detail for that added to these plans before you submit final milars. We can do that. Thank you. Other than that, we are all set. Thanks, Todd.

Okay, unless there's any other questions or comments from the commission, do we have a motion?

I move to approve a petition by 545 Center Street LLC for the making of specific repairs within Center Street and Buford Road as further read into the record by the chair.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed or abstain? Hearing none, so moved. Thank you. Okay, that's going to conclude our public hearing today. We're going to move on to new business. New business agenda item number one is 471 Commercial Street Boston Proper Specific Repairs on a petition by the City of Boston Public Facilities Department. And in order to propone it.

uh gregory wright out city of boston public facilities department uh here today in regards to 471 commercial street ward 3 in the north end the north end community center public facilities department is working on this project with property management and the boston centers for youth and families with me today from the public facilities department is our director carlton jones our assistant director uh marquis mecca and our deputy director ron mcnulty We have Kevin Nigro here from PMA. And from Sasaki, we have Zachary Crisco, Steven Engler, and Steven Lacker. The Public Facilities Department is very excited about this Northland Community Center project. It's a very high priority project for us, and we look forward to continuing to move it forward. The improvements that we have in the public way are relatively straightforward. We recently completed our site plan and drainage review with the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. public facilities department would like to thank the pic staff department public works transportation isd disabilities commission boston water and sewer and our city partners we look forward to engaging with the commissioners today and now i'll turn it over to steve angler from sasaki please okay that's great on camera to the screen

Yep. So I have slides here showing the overview of the project. We'll show it real quickly because we'll get to the streetscape part of things. But this is looking from the water side. We're rebuilding existing Mirabelle pools. And also you see the new North End Community Center, which replaces the previous Valerie C. Bath House housing, both the pool functions and additional program spaces for BCYF. Also, this view from this kind of bird's eye from the street, you can see the existing ball fields, which remain in place, the fields to the left side. And we'll call your attention to the streetscape elements here. They aren't shown in a lot of detail in this rendering, but you can see there is an existing two-way. Great separated bicycle path, concrete sidewalk, and then some crosswalks and curb bump ups. It'll show more detail on the next slides. This is showing a high-level rendering of a similar view looking from across the street from Foster Street across from Commercial Street to the front of our building. As Greg had mentioned, this product for Pacific Repairs petition for some modifications and restoration of conditions along the sidewalk and streetscape. Starting from the opposite side of the street, on the south side of the plan, the bottom of the plan, you'll see a reconstruction of an existing curb ramp at the Foster Street and Commercial Street intersection. Foster Street is the one that heads off to the bottom of the sheet here. That was something we've added in discussion with the Disabilities Commission based on the fact that that existing ramp was not compliant with ADA standards, and so we have for those to read instructions that reciprocal ramp to fix that condition for the ramp facing commercial street existing ramp facing foster street will remain in existing condition we understand that one is still in compliance moving to our side of the street there is an existing curb cut you can see it's sort of a white blue line that access the previous small parking lot for the mirabella pool and splash pad that curb cut will be closed and so we're proposing a mountable curb across there still allowing for fire access along the east side of the building so the 20 foot wide mountable curb to close off that previous curb cut condition as you move to the left along the final tri-point move out so you can see it you'll see the curb ramp reconstruction that's an existing curb ramp today that will be reconstructed at the completion project It's a relatively short height. I think it's about three inch vertical rise. So you see a short ramp, followed by a landing. Then you see the technical warning papers on either side of that grade separated bike path that I mentioned earlier, with new pavement markings for that bike path crossing. Moving further west, you'll see there are existing handholds, traffic signals, et cetera. Those will remain. Currently, the CMP plan, the traffic signals have been bagged and there's temporary crosswalks to the east and west of this location. Those pedestrian push buttons and signals will all be restored at the end of construction and will remain in place with bags around during construction. Moving further west, you'll see a striped section of parking area that's allowing for the fire access lane on the west side of the building. So another mountable curb will be installed there in place of what is currently a vertical granite curb to allow for a 20-foot wide fire lane on the west side of the building as well. You'll see beyond that striped area for the fire lane, there are two additional reserved spaces proposed for one for drop-off space and another one for VCOF staff vans for pool maintenance, etc. So they don't have to hunt for parking as they come to do their service in the pools. Also included in the project will be the reconstruction of that bike path, the asphalt bike path, the reconstruction in kind. And then the concrete, you'll see the shaded concrete, but the heavy-duty concrete, the fire lanes, then a lighter concrete hatch for the rest of the sidewalk. It'll all be the same surface appearance. It's all city of Boston standard concrete paving and asphalt bike lane. The separation between the concrete sidewalk and the asphalt bike lane will be proposing trapezoidal delineators, which are requested by the Disabilities Commission in place of what's currently just a scored concrete strip to separate the bike lane and the sidewalk. Also proposed is some of the locations of an existing light pole. You'll see in the middle of the plan right where it's in front of the front entrance of the building, we're moving it slightly to the east, but using the same existing hand pole location, which will remain. That's been discussed with the street lighting department. We've also proposed to relocate a fire department street box pull station, which is in the way of the east fire lane access. They are moving it to the west to see this conduit running under the bike lane and ending next to this tree location. That's something that's been discussed and coordinated with the Boston Fire Department. Speaking of trees, we have two trees that have been removed as part of the construction of the project. One to the west here is a dead oak tree that's been removed. And another one was a small tree that was removed, actually relocated by the city, Tiny Elm, relocated by the city parks department already. At the end of construction, both of those will be replaced with new trees as coordinated with the Boston Parks Department. I think that covers it. We aren't proposing any changes to right-of-way. This is the only change to those curb lines. We'll be replacing the curbs I mentioned, but not really adjusting anything except for the closing of the driveway curb cut. You can go through some of the detail sheets if you want to review those. But as I said, it's pretty much standard Boston's details. The trapezoidal delineator is shown here. wheelchair ramp details, detectable warning pavers, will all be the powder-coated yellow detectable warning cast iron pavers, transition curves to the granite mountable curb. We are relocating two bike racks that I mentioned previously that are existing in front of the building, further to the west on the streetscape. Within the tree planting zones, those will be the same Boston standard post and rim bike racks and then our tree planting detail. a few details for the conduits for the link pole and the fire department street box station that i mentioned i'll take any questions thanks steve any questions or comments from members of the commission just uh confirm please did you did you say there would be two parking spaces for uh such as like uh service vehicles for the building correct those are the ones that can you say pointer So there'll be one, so this is the strike fire lane for the west side of the building, and then it's the 22-foot space down here, and another 22-foot space beyond that. It's currently resident parking along that side of the street entirely. Thank you.

What's the purpose of the fire lane striping?

In order to get access to the prison building, it's a long building. It's so hemmed in by the post guard to the east and the ball fields to the west. The only way to really get construction access was along the west and east sides of the building. So there's a fire lane that runs the entire length of the building on the east side. And then a short fire lane that allows the fire truck to get up to where the backstop is today for the ball fields. And that allows them to get the hose distance reach they need around the perimeter of the building.

Did you consider extending the bump out through that fire link? We did not. It seems like it would be what would keep that clearer.

I think we're trying to minimize the amount of changes to the curb lines. Yep.

Any other questions or comments from members of the commission? Assuming October 8th is enough time. All right. See you on October 8th. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Second item of new business is 90 Allendale Street, West Rock. It prepares on a petition by Eleanor Efra Stradakis. Hand it over to the proponent.

Good morning Mr. Chairman, PSC Board, PIC staff, Attorney John Pagini here on behalf of Illinois. After Tadakis relating to a specific repairs action located at 90 Allen Nail Street in West Roxbury arising from an approved eight unit residential development. specifically uh it is the reconstruction of approximately 225 linear feet of concrete stamp concrete sidewalk as well as reducing a curb cut an existing curb cut from 24 to 22 feet with me this morning is jim nicholas the project engineer who will go over the plans I just want to point out the current condition, as you can see on those plants that you have, is these are stem concrete sidewalks that present as brick. So we've been asked to replace that with just regular flat poured concrete, which we're happy to do. It just won't be consistent with what the existing condition is. At this point, I'll turn it over to Jim to go through the plans. Appreciate it.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Jim DeCoulos here representing Stefco Holdings. I'll just give you a brief overview of where the project is here. We're close to, we're on 90 Allendale Street, close to the intersection of Center Street, recent expansion. Here's the Brigham Women's Faulkner Hospital, and our site here is located at 90 Allendale Street. The existing conditions are that there's a single family residence in 90 Allendale Street being served by a 12 and a half foot wide driveway that comes down a steep grade. What we're proposing to do is provide eight units in this project, demolish the existing residence, provide a 22 foot wide common driveway down to access the eight units and make improvements up here at the intersection with Allendale Street. The specific repairs plan that was submitted shows that we're going to be moving the curb cut, which is currently 26 feet wide. We're going to be moving it to the east as shown here. And what we're proposing to do is to replace a 35 foot section from this existing curb cut opening to the new proposed curb cutting with smooth concrete as John mentioned. This will be a reduction in the overall width of the curb cut opening from 26 down to 22 feet. and we would basically just propose to modify the sidewalk at this entrance. So that's it and I'd be welcome to take any questions.

Questions or comments from members of the Commission?

I just want to confirm that later on the plans will be updated to reflect that material change.

Of course, yes. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Any other questions or comments? Okay, to the proponent, I'm assuming October 8th is enough time? Yes, sir.

Sorry, if I can jump in one second, I apologize. I've just gotten word that the material change along the sidewalk is something that the neighborhood should just be made aware of. So if the proponent can just check in with the Office of Neighborhood Services and just develop a way to let the neighborhood know that that is imprinted asphalt is going to be replaced with cement concrete that would be fantastic if you do that in a couple weeks yeah we'll do that talk thank you great thanks john thanks todd okay any other questions or comments on this if not see you on october 8th appreciate it guys have a good day thank you

Okay, last item of new business, 8 Burning Street, Roxbury, an Earth Retention License on a petition by DeMock Doyne. We'll hand it over to the proponent. Anyone here from 8 Burning Street?

We had Peter Vanko, who was their architect, register for the hearing. I'm not seeing him online, though.

Only once. no i think unfortunately they'll have to try again in a few weeks all right unless there's any other questions or comments from members of the commission do we have a motion to adjourn i'll make a motion to adjourn second all in favor all right thank you everybody being adjourned thank you thank you recording