Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee 4/2/2024 notes
Priscilla Anderson
The Allston Construction Mitigation Subcommittee met on 4/2/2024. Please find notes below.
Next meeting: Tuesday May 7, 2024 at 6:00pm EDT. Please pre-register to receive the link.
Chaired by Harvard Allston Task Force (HATF) member Ed Kotomori, this subcommittee invites developer construction mitigation and community relations staff, Boston Police Department District 14, local and state elected officials and their representatives, and local North Allston neighbors, to discuss issues surrounding construction and safety issues in the neighborhood. All are welcome to attend and contribute.
Meeting Notes 4/2/2024
Boston Police Department District 14 Community Service--Sgt Ed McMahon
Boston Marathon coming up on April 15th. The Boston University area, Ashford/Pratt area is affected by house parties from ~8am-4pm; extra officers will be on hand there and also in the Boston College area. Call 911 if you see/hear something out of control.
Boston Calling at the end of May (Memorial Day weekend); will have officers on N Harvard St, and at the Harvard Business School at the end of the night where the shared rides pick up. Will also have an extra officer in the Windom St area preventing people from illegally parking there.
Crime Report for the March:
A peeping Tom, known to the police from a previous arrest, has now been rearrested.
Bank robbery at 1327 Comm Ave
Commercial burglary at A-Z Auto, suspect arrested
Three house breaks in Allston (down dramatically from previous), have made a few arrests recently
Only 2 car breaks in Allston this month
Larcenies (package thefts, shoplifting and a couple of bikes); secure packages and bikes indoors
Auto thefts: 3 in last month (down from 13 last month); mostly UberEats double parked and kept running; officer now moving them along
Feel free to call 617-343-4376
Harvard Construction--Ed LeFlore
General update: bad weather coming in this week, so they are battening down the hatches in all projects
Enterprise Research Campus (ERC):
Overall the project is on schedule
4th tower crane coming on April 8th; will likely be putting it up during the day
ERC East lab steel going up once tower crane is in place.
Temp power on most ERC sites; still awaiting power for Treehouse
Lots of concrete going in at core then steel will wrap around it; top of hotel has been reached.
Rodent control along fence line on Windom St.: no new activity noted; recently updated traps, cleared debris.
NASDEP filter system being added soon; 2 lanes of traffic and bike lane will remain open on Science Drive.
Seattle St affordable housing building will benefit from the NASDEP.
No news on the NASDEP extension to the river.
ART and residential at 175 N Harvard: will have concrete placements soon
Some off-hours equipment delivery; it's quiet
There are more steel piles going in; setting up 14 new piles, will take a couple of days
Next challenge: when mass excavation ends there will be a slew of new contractors arriving, so there may be some trucks going the wrong way etc. but Harvard with Shawmut will work with them to correct their routes. Noise at Continuum will continue to be an issue, but they are now done with sheet and pile driving; will request to work on weekends, and will work with this and other community groups on that.
HBS Kresge Road: final restoration being done now, entrance reopened
210 N Harvard St: overhead wires: there has been a temporary electric feed on there; now there's a permanent feed so the temporary wires should be coming down.
108 Holton St house (vacant) will be demolished shortly; it's a Harvard building, will be making way for the roadway for the Berkeley project on the Mass Pike; it's an enabling project; coordinating with Jody from Charlesview closely about it.
92 Seattle St: delayed because it's an older building and there are more things being uncovered (i.e. poor condition of roof discovered recently so need to take care of that).
State Rep/Majority Leader Mike Moran's office--Benjamin Tocchi
DCR multiple projects in Allston along the Charles River; Moran's office has requested to meet with DCR head engineer about status updates for:
Western and Birmingham reconstruction (currently already budgeted; Every day we wait, we lose money that has been budgeted.)
Leo Birmingham Pkwy from Market to IHOP circle road diet and extended parkland (money budgeted for next fiscal year)
Swimming pool (no final budget because don't have final design)
Artesani parking lot reconstruction
Pedestrian crossing at Soldiers Field Rd (studies were done during pandemic so traffic counts are way off; lane restrictions need to be re-examined.
No news about Telford St pedestrian bridge
DCR has said they will have someone to oversee all the projects to prevent conflicts and extensive inconvenience
Eliot Bridge will also be reconstructed.
Bridge structures are not ADA compliant (too steep, punch outs where concrete crumbles, patched over with asphalt, can't go over with wheel chair
There have been personnel changes at DCR, so they are delayed in responses
Artesani playground and wading pool are expected to be open as expected through the summer
Memorial Drive will be closed on Sundays as expected for biking and recreation
Rep. Kevin Honan's office--Alex Camarena
Hosting a basketball clinic Saturday, April 6th
BCYF/Jackson Mann Community Center Gym
40 Armington St. Allston, MA 02134
Ages 7-9 @ 1pm; Ages 10-12 @ 2pm; Ages 13-15 @ 3pm
All genders welcome; FREE basketball t-shirts will be provided to participants.
For more info contact: Adonis Berrios at 617-635-5153 or adonis....@boston.gov
Harvard Allston Task Force--Cindy Marchando
New task force has been formed
Harvard Institutional Master Plan Notification: Comments due April 12, 2024; please reach out to Allsto...@gmail.com if you want to contribute to the Task Force's comment letter
Allston Civic Association--Tony D'Isidoro
180 Western Ave could be on the agenda for the BPDA board soon; might go straight to the Zoning Commission (not the board of appeals)
Mayor today signed an ordinance to create a planning department that will move the old Boston Redevelopment Authority over to the Mayor's office; will be broken into 4 different groups according to type of development; have identified key areas that need to be modernized.
Craft food hall has opened up in Studio Allston, implying that Davis doesn't intend to do renovation any time soon
Other development projects are also displaying 'for rent' signs; doesn't mean a project is dead, but likely they are delayed and are just trying to make some money while they have to wait.
Neighbor Information
Boston Water and Sewer Commission is re-lining a lot of sewer pipes (not storm drains) in Allston, causing brief parking restrictions and water service shutdowns. Green Mountain is the contractor doing the work.