Tag: comment letter

Comment Letter on Kenmore Hotel Project (560-574 Commonwealth Avenue)

June 27, 2019

Brian Golden, Director
Boston Redevelopment Authority
Attn: Tim Czerwienski
One City Hall Square
Boston, MA 02201-1007

Re: Kenmore Hotel, 560-574 Commonwealth Avenue, WalkBoston Comments

Dear Director Golden:

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Kenmore Hotel Project.

WalkBoston believes that the re-configuration of Kenmore Square proposed by the proponent will significantly enhance the environment and improve the safety and convenience of people walking to and through Kenmore Square. It will also create new pedestrian-focused civic space that is presently missing from this important Boston crossroads – where many residents, transit users, students, Red Sox fans and Boston Marathon fans will find new space to enhance their experience of Kenmore Square.

We believe that the re-configuration will also significantly improve the safety of bicyclists and drivers, with its simplified pattern of movement. Based on the traffic analysis provided in the DPIR it also appears that the new traffic pattern will improve the levels of service for vehicles, potentially providing a benefit for the many bus riders who pass through the Square each day.

We are very pleased that the proponent has proposed building a hotel without on-site parking or below-grade service access – either of which would require a curb cut interrupting the sidewalk. With Kenmore Square’s good transit access the hotel will truly reflect an urbanist vision for the City which we applaud. While we have not reviewed any financial information about the project, we wonder whether the decision to forgo the construction of parking spaces (@ approximately $25,000 – $30,000/space) has provided the proponent with the financial capacity to build the extensive plaza and streetscape improvements that are proposed. If this is the case, we hope that future Boston development projects will be encouraged by the City to take advantage of this opportunity.

We urge the City to work with the proponent to bring this new vision for Kenmore Square to fruition.

We have several questions and comments about the project that we urge the City to work with the proponent to address.

The new, much safer, bicycle circulation system is an important improvement for Kenmore Square. We urge the design team to carefully design the western edge of the site to actively discourage eastbound cyclists on Commonwealth Avenue from riding through the plaza area rather than taking the New Road-Beacon Street-Commonwealth Avenue bike route that is the intended route.
Based on the wind study results presented at the June 19 public meeting, several spots on the plaza may be quite windy. We urge the proponent to develop designs that both reduce the wind and avoid the use of walls along Commonwealth Avenue. We believe that walls will serve to privatize the feel of the space and may also cause unintended noise impacts (wooshing sounds) as traffic passes by the intermittent walls.
We hope that the plaza will include seating that has a softer feel than that which seems to be illustrated to date – seating that invites people to linger and enjoy the great people-watching.
For how many years has the proponent committed to maintaining and programming the Plaza?
It appears from the site plan that there are two left turn lanes from westbound Commonwealth Avenue feeding into one receiving lane on Brookline Avenue – is this intended, or is the site plan incorrect? In addition, westbound Commonwealth Avenue traffic will need very clear lane markings (and perhaps a tweaking of the shape of the nose of the plaza) to ensure that traffic does not mistakenly head westbound on Beacon Street.

We look forward to a significantly improved walking experience in Kenmore Square when the project is realized.

Please let us know if you have any questions about our comments.

Best regards,

Wendy Landman
Executive Director

Comment Letter on Paul Dudley White Construction Period Maintenance (02/7/19)

February 7, 2019

Stephanie Pollack                                             Leo Roy
Secretary of Transportation Commissioner
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation
Transportation Building                                   251 Causeway Street
10 Park Plaza 9^th Floor
Boston, MA 02116                                            Boston, MA 02114

Dear Secretary Pollack and Commissioner Roy:

We, the undersigned organizations, applaud MassDOT’s decision to rebuild the interchange of I-90 in Allston by reconstructing the Turnpike in a way that will result in wider riverside parkland and, we anticipate, restored riverbank. In addition to its environmental benefits, this will enhance facilities for the walkers, cyclists, and runners who flock to the area for recreation and commuting. We write to respond to the announcement that construction of the I-90 Intermodal Project will require an extended closure of the Paul Dudley White (PDW) path.

We urge you to develop a plan to retain the path during the construction period. We acknowledge that the project design next steps involve extensive mitigation, that stakeholders will continue to actively participate in stakeholder discussions, and that there is an immediate need to flag concerns regarding the PDW path.

The construction of the I-90 Project cannot and should not require closure of the Paul Dudley White (PDW) path for 8-10 years. The number of people who use the path and rely upon it as a commuter route is simply too large (and growing) to result in PDW users’ diversion to Cambridge. The proposed detour routes through Cambridge are difficult to maneuver and involve unsafe situations where path users will be forced to cross dangerous intersections and cyclists will be directed toward narrow sidewalks causing hazardous conditions for pedestrians sharing the walkway.

Our understanding is that closure of the PDW is an anticipated result of construction in the Throat area. We also understand that other parts of the project site, which are not as confined, offer places where the PDW path can be integrated safely with the highway construction. The law requires that MassDOT implement “all possible planning to minimize harm to the . . . recreation area” during and after construction. To comply, MassDOT and DCR must mitigate construction impacts in the Throat area allowing the PDW path to remain open for as much of the construction period as practicable, preferably on land or, if there is no other option, on a temporary structure in the Charles River.

In the past short temporary boardwalks have been built in the Charles River — for example, to bypass the Bowker interchange reconstruction. Temporary boardwalks have been used safely and effectively in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore park in Indiana, Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, New York, and at beaches in the Cape Cod National Seashore and in Duxbury and Sandwich, Massachusetts.

We urge you to incorporate plans to ensure access to the PDW path on the Boston side of the Charles River as you proceed with the difficult design work in the I-90 Throat area. The provision of atemporary Boston-side walking and biking path during construction is a necessary and legally required project element to mitigate any interruption in access to the permanent PDW path and prevent the safety problems that a Cambridge detour would bring to pedestrians and cyclists. Given the potentially lengthy roadway disruptions, alternative modes of transportation on the PDW will be critical to the Project’s success. We further request that the PDW path construction phase plans be added to the agenda for an upcoming Allston Multimodal Project Task Force meeting.

Thank you very much for your consideration and we look forward to your response.

Wendy Landman, Bob Sloane, WalkBoston
Margaret Van Deusen, Pallavi Mande, Charles River Watershed Association
Laura Jasinski, Harry Mattison, Charles River Conservancy
Staci Rubin, Conservation Law Foundation
Michael Nichols, The Esplanade Association
Galen Mook, Executive Director, MassBike
Becca Wolfson, Boston Cyclists Union
Stacy Thompson, Livable Streets

CC:
City of Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh, Chief of Streets Chris Osgood
City of Cambridge, Mayor Marc McGovern, Transportation Program Manager Bill Deignan
Town of Brookline, Transportation Board Chair Chris Dempsey
FHWA, Division Administrator Jeff McEwen, Assistant Division Administrator Ken Miller
Senator Joseph Boncore
Senator William Brownsberger
Senator Sal DiDomenico
Representative Michael Moran
Representative Kevin Honan
Representative Jay Livingstone
Representative Tommy Vitolo

Boston Comment Letters in 2019

WalkBoston reviews selected development and transportation projects that are located in areas of particular importance to people walking, or that could have impacts on many existing (or future) pedestrians. Comment letters are submitted to the appropriate state or local public agencies.

WalkBoston Comments On Craigie Dam/Bridge Design Alternatives 1/2/19

Wicked Local Belmont – A Growth Mindset for the New High School

Wicked Local Belmont: “A Growth Mindset for the New High School”
By Kate Bowen

Transit: Did you know we charge for school buses, while we provide school parking for free? Did you know that Belmont once plowed sidewalk routes to schools? Facing practices that are at odds with our goals of reducing vehicular traffic, we are responding. We are conducting a town-wide traffic study, applying to the Complete Streets program, learning from experts including WalkBoston and Nelson/Nygaard, and re-examining our policies for buses, parking, and commuter programs. We are learning from peers like Melrose, which plows walking routes to schools:
https://tinyurl.com/MelrosePlows
and safely utilizes on-street drop-off areas. We are learning that, despite our small geography, we need to actively support walking, biking, and public transit to achieve our goals.

Posted May 22, 2018

Letter to Town of Belmont Re: Belmont High School Building Project

WalkBoston met with the Belmont High School Building Committee, Belmont Superintendent of Schools, Assistant Town Manager and representatives from the Design Team after writing this letter. We discussed site design changes that promote walkability, and policies and programs that could increase the number of students walking and biking to school. Based on our meeting and the recent HS Building Committee meeting presentation (5-16-18) we feel that the Town and Design Team are now looking at the campus through the lens of people walking and biking to school. The proposed site plan now reflects pedestrian and bicycle desire lines, and the Design Team has committed to refining these paths as the design process continues. The Town is also studying reducing student parking and locating a drop-off zone on Concord Avenue.
WalkBoston will continue to monitor this project moving forward. We have also offered to be a resource for the Town as they evaluate parking policies and incentives to increase the number of students walking and biking to school. Thanks goes out to the residents of Belmont for speaking up for walkers!

Mr. Jeffrey Wheeler, Senior Planner
Town of Belmont
Community Development – Planning Division
Homer Municipal Building
19 Moore Street, 2^nd Floor
Belmont, MA 02478

May 2, 2018

Dear Mr. Wheeler:

We are writing to express concern regarding the proposed site plan for the new Belmont Middle/High School building, specifically around the safety of students walking and biking to the school. We feel that the needs of those driving to school and the larger town-wide traffic issues have been placed above the desire to create a walkable and bikeable campus for the students and staff.

The site plan details the vehicular circulation patterns on the site including two drop-off loops, over 350 parking spaces, and a long access road that runs the length of the northern edge of the site along the railroad tracks. Other than simple pedestrian and bicycle circulation diagrams which show lines along vehicular travel ways, there is little evidence that the needs of students walking and biking to school have been considered. We understand that the site plan is only in the schematic phase, however we can tell exactly where to park and drop off students arriving by car, yet we can’t tell a student how to walk to school or where to park a bike.

It is clear that the proposed vehicular circulation pattern has been designed to absorb more traffic on site in hopes of relieving traffic queues that now occur around the high school campus. The “Implementation Measures for All Options” slide in the Perkins + Will presentation on January 16, 2018, lists improving queuing issues in 5 of the 9 measures. The access diagram suggests that walking, biking and transit access will also be improved, but the dashed lines along travelways do little to instill confidence that the needs of these vulnerable users are being taken seriously.

It only takes one dangerous intersection for parents to decide that walking or biking to school isn’t safe for their children. Designing the Belmont Middle/High School campus to accommodate more cars without safe, convenient ways to bike and walk will only promote more parents and students to drive to school rather than walk or bike.

We ask that the Town elevate the safety of and improve access for students walking and biking to school. Walkable and bikeable campus design is a proven way to reduce vehicular traffic, to improve the well being of students choosing a healthier way to get to school, and to foster greater independence and responsibility among middle and high school students.

We would welcome an opportunity to come and speak with the Building Committee or the Planning Board about the benefits of walkable campus design and to share more detailed comments on the proposed site plan. Our email addresses are listed below our signatures.

Thank you.

Stacey Beuttell, Deputy Executive Director
sbeuttell@dev.walkboston.org

Laura O’Rourke, Development Director, Belmont Resident
lorourke@dev.walkboston.org