Boston PIC Approves Easements, Utility Poles, and Street Repairs at April 24 Session

BOSTON — April 24, 2025 — Boston Public Improvement Commission clears seven unanimous votes and advances ten new-business items to May 8 public hearings. The April 24 session opened with the commission accepting the withdrawal of a Verizon utility pole petition for Public Alley 442 near 264 Newbury Street, then unanimously approved a joint Verizon-Eversource pole installation on Gove Street in East Boston. Four public hearing items passed without objection: ADA curb-ramp repairs at Jones and Ballou Avenues in Dorchester; 10 new pedestrian curb ramps on the MBTA Green Line B Branch at Lake and South Streets in Brighton; a Seaport Square pedestrian easement completing a set first approved in 2022; and a Northeastern University and Boston Planning and Development Agency joint petition to widen and extend Columbus Avenue right-of-way in Roxbury, contingent on finalization of a license maintenance agreement. Seven Public Works street-repair projects covering corridors in Dorchester, Brighton, Hyde Park, and the Fenway were introduced as new business and are slated for public hearing on May 8, as are an Eversource conduit and vault installation in the North End, a Northeastern-ACCOP student housing streetscape at 840 Columbus Avenue, and a Vertex Pharmaceuticals sky bridge over Northern Avenue in South Boston — the last having already received BPDA board and Boston Civic Design Commission approval.