Boston PIC Advances Four Development Projects to December 19 Public Hearings

BOSTON — December 5, 2024 — Boston's Public Improvement Commission advanced four development projects toward December 19 public hearings at its December 5 session. Chair Yascha Franklin-Hodge led presentations on the proposed replacement of the Fields Corner branch library at 1520 Dorchester Avenue, where the City of Boston Public Facilities Department is seeking approval to demolish an 8,600-square-foot, 1960s-era building and construct a two-story, 14,700-square-foot replacement; a 41-unit multi-family building at 9 McKay Place in East Boston that triggered questions from Franklin-Hodge about whether a proposed new bus shelter represents an MBTA stop consolidation; a 21-unit affordable artist live-work homeownership project at Hillsborough Street in Dorchester backed by New Atlantic Development; and the long-pending 361 Belgrade Avenue project in West Roxbury, where developer Jake Dupton of Upton Belgrade Investment Partners won conditional support for a 124-unit building that would narrow a dangerous skewed crosswalk from more than 70 feet to 40 feet and permanently relocate a BlueBikes station to a year-round sidewalk installation. The only formal vote was unanimous approval of the November 21 meeting minutes.