Boston City Council hearing finds utility notification gaps, aging permit database

BOSTON — October 15, 2024 — Boston City Council hears testimony on utility street coordination failures and resident notification gaps. The council's Committee on Public Works held a hearing Tuesday on Docket 1384, co-sponsored by Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata and Council President Liz Breadon, focusing on overlapping construction projects, the city's 15-year-old COBUX permitting database, and inadequate advance notice to residents and businesses. Charlestown small business owner Amanda Mitchell testified that her sales at Place and Gather fell nearly 30 percent during more than a year of simultaneous Boston Water and Sewer, National Grid, and private development construction, saying "I can't run my payroll." Neighbor Donna Garlo, owner of Monroe, estimated $50,000 in lost sales and said a June 2 hand-delivered notice projecting an August 31 end date proved wildly inaccurate. City Deputy Chief of Streets Julia Campbell acknowledged that the COBUX system requires engineers to manually query a flat database and make individual phone calls, while Chief Data Officer Stephanie Costalibo said her team is scoping a geospatial replacement but may require custom development. National Grid representatives noted the company is roughly halfway through a state-mandated leak-prone pipe replacement program, with approximately 15 years of work remaining.