Boston PIC Advances Three Neighborhood Infrastructure Petitions to Public Hearings

BOSTON -- July 11, 2024, Boston's Public Improvement Commission continued three right-of-way petitions to public hearings on July 25 after raising unresolved questions at its July 11 meeting. Chair Yasha Franklin-Hodge directed the developer behind a six-story, 33-unit condominium project at 1395-1405 Washington Street to meet with the Boston Transportation Department's new mobility team, overseen by Matt Warfield, to sort out loading and meter regulations adjacent to a bump-out that narrows curbside access on a bus-lane corridor serving three planned restaurant bays. Owner's representative Chris Wally, who told the commission "everyone's going to double park in the bus lane, there's no way around that," floated a straight-sidewalk alternative that could eliminate the loading conflict without changing existing meter positions. On a Hyde Park paper-street abandonment petition from AJFMAF Realty LLC, Franklin-Hodge asked attorney Charlie Tevnin to confirm at the next hearing that no canopy trees will be removed from the roughly 5,000-square-foot Greenwood Avenue strip, after Hyde Park Neighborhood Association member Greg Martin raised the question in public comment. At 118 B Street in South Boston, the commission asked engineer Ryan Patterson to evaluate whether a raised crosswalk is feasible at the West Third Street intersection adjacent to Clarity Park playground, noting the city's existing ADA ramp compliance database should be used to verify current conditions before the July 25 return.