e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good morning everybody uh yashu Franklin hudge chair of the public Improvement commission and I will call to order the public Improvement commission hearing of May 23rd 2024 Mr Lyman please take a roll call the representative from the public works department please State their name for the record Yasha Franklin hunch transportation department meing courney Water and Sewer Commission toise Davin commission for persons with disabilities Sarah Leon we do not have anyone from property management or ISD today but we do have a quorum all right thank you very much Todd um our first item today is hearing minutes one at the request of the public Improvement commission staff the acceptance of the minutes of the pic hearing held on May 9th 2024 do I hear a motion to approve the minutes I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of May 9th 2024 second all in favor I I I I any oppose or abstain don't moved on to utility poll hearing number one on a petition by eversource energy for utility pole installation to install one new private anchored guy within Carolina Avenue West oxbury be located on its southernly side at address number 111 West of Carolina Place the proponent please uh introduce themselves their affiliations and describe what you are proposing to do good morning this is ktie clity from Electric um Katie we're having a really hard time hearing you you're cutting in and out no no you know what Yesa this is Chelly Korea too um Katie was having a hard time logging in so she's actually on my cell phone I don't know that she's speaking on the computer microphone so Katie try talking again and see if he can hear you is I'm talking now you're cutting in and out it's almost like the microphone it's kind of far away all right can you can you hear her I'm so sorry about this I can hear her we can hear you really well okay um so yeah I don't know you might have been hearing her through my cell phone I just hung that up so this is Kelly I'm just going to speak I don't know if you can even I can't hear you now can you hear me now yes that's much better okay um let me start forget I'm sorry so oh J can yes good no help me share the screen please okay that you want this screen too and hit share so yeah so now it says your screen sharing so they can see this screen okay good morning again um we are asking to install an anchor guide at poll 508 over one on Carolina Avenue at the intersection of Carolina place and this is at the request AC CR Castle because they're upgrading their antenna that's on that pole so it's to help support the existing pole that's there now because the um crown castle equipment will be upgraded got it thank you um so I think I have some pretty significant accessibility concerns with this proposal um we have a condition right now on Carolina AB where um the the poll sort of C corner on the corner of John a Andrew Street in Carolina AB uh makes for a completely inaccessible condition um at that corner and this pole that we're proposing to Anchor is also creating an inaccessible condition adding a guy wire even if it is in line with the pole is going to extend that pinch Point down the sidewalk but what we have today between these two utility poles is a speed that a person in a wheelchair could not Traverse on the sidewalk on either side of the street um it that's a very problematic condition for us to have and it's not something that we want to make worse so I think we need eversource to kind of take a look at this and look at what other Alternatives exist to uh anchoring this pole ideally this pole would be removed because it is um it is an accessibility problem but um I am uncomfortable supporting sort of something that I think would extend the accessibility issue that's already serious and existing today okay understood any other uh pic folks want to comment on this all right um Todd uh any comments from pic staff or and and how would you suggest we sort of proceed with this in terms of a formal action here um I don't have any uh additional comments um I think this kind of comes down to what ever source and the commission collectively want to do if we're going to continue to consider this particular design um we can either continue the hearing to a future one or um hash it out right now uh the other option would be obviously to have ever sort of to withdraw this um come up with you know some Alternatives and we can discuss it offline and then they can resubmit in the future when mutually agreed upon um design is is come up they come up with that so I guess I'll turn it to Kelly and kayen perhaps yeah hi Todd um so I believe what I'll do is if I could request that we move this to a later hearing just continue it as opposed to withdraw I'm on Google Maps now looking it's a riser pole there's some equipment on there um so totally removing it I think is going to be it's going to need much more of a solution than than kind of a quick design um if we continue it to another date we can at least schedule a meeting with somebody from City engineering and our field engineer out there and look at it and see what our alternatives are and if we have to withdraw before the next meeting that's fine but at least we have we're on the agenda yeah I think we're we're fine with that um do you want should we continue it to our next meeting or should we push it about a month to give everyone time to do that planning work um so when is when is your next meeting I'm sorry I don't have in two weeks I two weeks okay what's our what are our options for dates actually actually our next hearing is 3 weeks um so we could do June 13th or we could push out five weeks to June 27th I'm going to say just because of scheduling and everything let's ask for the 27th that way I know we got some people out on vacations Etc um that'll allow us enough time to coordinate with the city that sounds great um so before we make a motion on this uh any uh public any members of the public who want to speak on this issue as well oh all right seeing none do make for a motion to continue I'll make a motion to continue uh utility poll hearing number one until June 27th second all in favor I I any oppose or abstain so moved all right we'll uh we'll work with you on this uh over the next uh next month thank you very much all right on to utility poll hearing number two on a petition by Verizon New England for utility pole installation to install three new private utility polesin the following public ways in Roxbury I don't know if this is Skyler or Schuler street but uh we'll say Skyler Street on its northeasterly side at add this numbers 9 to 11 Skyler Street on its northwesterly side at address numbers 16 to 18 and Harwell Street on its South easterly Side address number number 42 the proponents please introduce themselves their affiliations and walk us through uh what is proposed here uh good morning excuse me good morning name is Alexander last name morero work with Pike Telecom of Verizon contractor here to present this petition on behalf of Verizon Verizon is here here by petitioning to place three new stown polls as you said one of them will be on hot girl Street and two would be on Sho Sher Street and the other two will be on Schuler Street these this these polls are being requested in order to provide new service to 9 and 11 schler Street uh my understanding is that they don't have existing priz and service and will'll be coming in from the front in order to provide them with Service uh these three new pools would be standard 40t glass tools and they will be installed in the sidewalk in their respective locations so uh thank you so keeping with the theme of accessibility um what uh would these polls uh do in regards to um constraining the sidewalk WIS here so my records is indicate that the sidewalks are 6 ft on Scher Street and 5 ft on AR street so the poles are about a foot thick so they we will be constricting about foot on each sidewalk so can we can we pull up your plans so that we're looking at uh I think the pole on Heartwell looks particularly narrow um looks particularly narrowing the sidewalk wondering if we can request a diagram showing the infield conditions and the PCH points that these [Music] constraint yes we can definitely do that if it's so requested by the commission so that would be important I guess my other question here is just Why are like how are how are the buildings here being served today because I'm looking in street view and I'm not seeing a whole lot of overhead infrastructure uh on the street um and so I'm wondering why these poles are being added in this portion of the street at all so Hardwell Street has an existing pole line coming down from the north that ends at pole three that pole is located in front of 30 to 40 hardw and then on Scher Street we're also coming in from the northwest with another pole number three terminating in front of I'm showing 14 Maple 4 so basically we'll be installing these three new polls so that we can run new cabling from Hardwell Street down toward sh Sher Street to terminate at pole number one in front of 9 and 11 in order to serve those two buildings why can't and and also how is the rest of Sher being served today or are they being served today because if I look going from the intersection of harw well really further up the hill at Scher Skyler uh towards Blue Hill a um if I if I look from from Heartwell down to Blue Hill there's no poles on the street and we're talking about adding to but there are many properties so how are they being served today and why is this the option that is the correct option on this street well the buildings on Blue Hill Avenue are fed underground From The Underground Network on Blue Hill Avenue uh number four number 10 Sher it looks like they're being fed from a PO from a backyard pole line behind that building uh it looks like the reason that we're not going in the backyard this particular instance is because we will have to go to the backyard of 38 to 40 hardw and the C the owner is not allowing us to go back there so we have to go through the front of the build okay I mean to to Amy's point though right like I think you know adding poles on a street that on a segment of street that does not have them is a pretty significant imposition for the residents of that street especially given the concerns that it creates about sidewalk width and accessibility you know it's one thing when you get when it's a street with all overhead and you're adding you know one pole on the other side of the street or something but this is actually taking a street that I think most residents don't see as having utility polls and adding a number of them to this area and um I think we need to see you explore the Alternatives and explain for us why alternatives are not viable to Amy's Point why not feed these underground right this is a service to a single set of parcels combined set of parcels that you're talking about producing with this um there potentially are other options um and you know I don't know what conversations youve had with the butter on Heartwell street but certainly there's you know a question of like we don't know what you've offered them in exchange for using their property but you are coming to us in the public right away and in proposing to you know substantially impinge on it and I think we need to see a really clear exploration of all the Alternatives before we agree to that okay repuls to service one property seems a little much or like not like the easiest way to accomplish that okay all right um so uh pic staff members of the public anyone else want to lay in and comment on this um I also had uh forwarded a question to Verizon previously um about the proposed hole in front of number nine Skyler um there's a very mature Tree on private property right behind the side block there um and I question whether that poll is going to be impacting that tree um I don't know if you've got a chance to look at that or if you have a some commentary on that yes I Reed that question uh our engineering team reviewed it and the pole installation shouldn't affect the tree and then our cabling is going to terminate at po one so we won't be falling anything in the direction of the tree either so we don't expect uh the pole number one to affect the tree in any way can you confirm though that that review included a consultation with a a certified Arborist you know I I don't know what your engineering team's review consists of in something like this but this is sort of not a technical engineering matter it's a plant Health matter which isn't necessarily the same discipline as your uh Telecom engineering team okay no we canot we don't have an aror on staff so it would have been an engineer that reviewed it not an A okay so we would like assurances from somebody with expertise in trees to that this is not impacting if we're going to consider a pole in a location that has potential sensitivity here okay uh I would also note that that tree creates a little that magnifies accessibility concern because it does appear that the tree does itself impinge on the sidewalk a bit so the measured 6t width may actually be less than that and therefore the constraint may be more significant than would be assumed based on just great calculation assuming an even sidewalk um there cool um Ashley and Chris do you have anybody in 801 that would like to speak on this well we do yep um and are you ready to give testimony okay um and she here she is you can introduce um if you introduce yourself for the commission good morning representatives of the public Improvement commission my name is Deborah bowling I live at 18 Skyler Street so that is the correct pronunciation of the street sky my family has lived at this property for since 1955 um throughout the generations we have remained committed to our specific neighborhood The Grove Hall neighborhood um and the larger neighborhood Beyond um I thank you for this time to be able to speak before you um my brother Bruce bowling served on the Boston city council and at one time was the city council president so I understand the importance of public service and also members of the public to be engaged with their City officials so thank you again for this opportunity thank you to my neighbors um who have shown strength uh throughout the past few years um as many of you might know a new Housing Development is occurring on Harwell Street um Skyler Street and cheny Street which will bring an additional 100 units of housing creating addition density to an area that's already oversaturated and that is part of the reason why I'm here I am here for myself but I'm also here for uh my neighbors um who have not been able to attend but are definitely committed uh to our neighborhood um I have a a few questions to ask the Verizon representative um we are not understanding why as a matter of course that you are not putting the wiring underground um so that the poles and the overhead wiring is not an additional blight on the community that is so the uh in this particular instance Verizon is trying to minimize the time that it would be needed to construct any U pathway in order to get service to 9 and 11 obviously we can do under brown but that would be not only higher [Music] that wouldn't So Not only would it be more expensive would delay getting service to these particular residents because we have to get an engineering plan created and then submitted and then it would have to be approved by City then once it it gets approved it will need to go to construction which would delay deployment depending on when it actually gets approved because the city requires us to stop work through the winter and all that stuff like that so we chose the three polls to provide service to these residents as quickly as we can obviously as you said it's not the best solution and I can agree that it's not the best solution but with all the concerns that have been brought today we're going to have to essentially go back to the drawing board and try to figure out if we continue with these Tre pools or if we try to do a new engineering designment I do understand that it would take more time certainly a lot more cumbersome in terms of uh Verizon's respon responsibilities uh to meet state requirements and also um to deal with the city as well as neighbors um but you're talking about putting three 40ft tall poles that we would anticipate would be there for the next 5075 100 years so if we look at longterm the additional amount of time that it might take you to go through the state process in fact is really minuscule so I would like you to consider that okay um I've gone up and down the street I see where Verizon has done trenching on Skyler Street on the even side of Skyler Street and as it gets to 11 Skyler Street where you have your your proposed um pole location um I see that the trenching has gone across the street and actually has ended at the street just in front of uh the white chalk area that you have uh for the proposed uh pole location um why why was that trenching done sir uh I've had to check our records but it could be that the there's an existing comat in the A and it was damaged or it could be for new service towards the expected po that was to be installed but again I don't have any record of this particular TR that you're talking about well definitely there I took photos and it would seem and this is with due respect knowing that you're going to be at a public hearing it would seem that you would be knowledgeable um of this uh information you speak of 11 Skyler Street and N9 Skyler Street um I have a petition that has been signed by the neighbors including these addresses where they are they they along with the rest of the community object to the placement of the three 40t poles and object to the over the overhead wiring so I'm hearing you say resident at uh uh 11 Skyler Street has requested this yet the resident at 11 Skyler Street has signed this document saying that she is along with her neighbors opposes what you are trying to do what you your proposal at this point now we understand Verizon is a business and we understand that in today's society many people have cable services okay we're trying to work along with you but we are very strongly committed for you to put everything underneath the ground now having said this I want to bring to your attention that the 11 Skyler Street neighbor has shared that she has contacted Verizon and asked Verizon to repair the poles that are in the rear of her property because it is disrupting her cable service and Verizon shared with my neighbor that no we're not going to repair that because we're going to go ahead and do the street work so she asked at that time well what do you mean Street work she said she was informed that everything would be Underground now I am very very concerned here because there seems to be two sets of messaging that is coming from Verizon one to pic and one to the neighbors okay you know the neighbor she is not here so I I do not I I do want to respect um and not mention her name um but certainly if pic needs to check with her and certainly if Verizon uh needs to check with her then that's fine um all along the even side of Skyler Street in on many of the homes on the odd side of Skyler streets the poles are in the rear of the Yards and so if there is the historic overhead wiring it's in the rear of the Yards it is not um interfering with the streetcape it's not not interfering uh with people to be able to have sufficient access if they're walking down the street or if you have wheelchairs or baby carriages Etc so this is another area where I'm asking Verizon to go back and do your homework because someone needs to be informing you what is actually happening on the street in the street and with the neighbors because it appears that what you're saying to pic and I don't believe that you are intentionally leaving information out but but for me being here at this meeting today pic would be unaware of actually what is happening at Skyler Street so I would like to that to be noted uh by pic and Verizon Additionally you show at 1618 Skyler Street this second poll just next to the site of the proposed second poll there is already an existing poll that has the Street Lamp as well as the oneway sign and information in terms of parking when you can park um on both sides of the street okay so when when pic looks at your proposal and they just see that one round circle uh of your proposal that is correct but there's no way for p to note that in fact just a few feet away from that proposed uh location there is already an erection there that is at least um I would imagine that it's already at least 20 plus feet high um so that needs to be considered as well um I would like to ask and I do hope the gentleman Verizon is taking notes because we the neighbors are asking specific followup in these areas when I contacted piic pic put me in contact with the Verizon person the I had eight nine specific questions one of which was what was the diameter of the poles I never got an answer for that I asked them I said we were having difficulty visualizing how these lines were going to be tracing across Skyler Street uh to Harwell Street and back to another location on Skyler Street and I ask that we provided some kind of rendering so that we as a community could better understand there was no there was no response uh for that okay uh so it it appeared where I as an interested citizen took the time and effort to type up a letter enumerate my specific questions it appears to me that Verizon handp which answers it was going to complete and the other answers it just did not comment on one way or the other so my request here is for Verizon to go back to that original letter to review the letter and answer all of the questions I also would like to bring up safety concerns right next to my home at 18 Skyler Street you you have the huge building um that Corners Skyler Street in Maple you as you go further as you go farther up Skyler Street there's additional buildings 70% of that population is elderly these are people who walk to the Grove Hall Mall many people use their wheelchairs Etc and I'm concerned in terms of of um accessibility for both Heartwell um pole potential pole location as well as the two Skyler Street poles now this may not seem too concerning to pic but I also want to share if you look at the street skate where Hotwell comes into Skyler Street when we have the snow storms the snow plows come from Harwell Street they begin to turn the corner at Skyler Street which is 1618 Skyler Street they're not going to bring that new snow all the way up Skyler Street they literally dump that snow at 1618 right near the existing pole area in night in right near with the proposed uh pole the Verizon pole area so this is not something that pic would know unless you have citizens who are sitting here at the pic table sharing this information so this again would be another reason why this would not be a good location for any poll or additional poll and would be another reason why in fact if Verizon is interested in um uh in providing additional services that they should be uh considering the underground um Services I have um I have a petitions that have been signed by neighbors we have neighbors who are signing now um we are bringing this before our G Garrison Charter neighborhood committee which our Skyler Street Maple committee is a member of the larger uh community meeting what I would ask of Verizon and pic Grove Hall is a very fragile Community if you were to look up crime in Boston it would be one of those areas you know that would be highlighted so many neighborhood organizations have been working together to reduce crime to increase neighborhood involvement to eradicate the rat the rat SL rodent problem that is on going and we continue to wait for additional support from ISD regarding this matter we are a fragile neighborhood yet we are a strong and committed neighborhood and we're asking you to work with us so the blight that is there can be decreased or emurated altogether I am concerned this is a a huge thing pic and let's go back to the JP NDC development on Skyler Hotwell and cheny Street my concern is that Verizon comes to you today and we just have this two polls on Skyler Street one pole on Hardwell Street I want Verizon to show pic in the neighborhood what is the overall plan for this neighborhood regarding this new development that it it that has been given um the go ahead by the city we were in years long negotiation with jpnd DC one of the the things that jpnd DC told our neighborhood groups we promise you that whatever is the current streetcape will continue to be the current streetcape we asked whether or not you know electric boxes poles wiring and jpndc affirmatively said in no way shape or form would the existing Street gate be changed by JP and DC and adding 100 plus units at Skyler Street Hotwell Street and cheny street so I don't want this to be peac mail and every 6 months or a year we're coming back to you folks you know and I I want this to be a holistic review and response in terms of arizin presence in the gro Hall neighborhood and specifically geny Heartwell in Skyler streets um um I think I'm I'm finished for all right thank you so much Miss buly I appreciate your coming to speak to us I appreciate your um your work on behalf of your neighbors and the community um I think on this particular petition you know Horizon heard before from the commission how we have concerns about what they're proposing to do here and I think hearing you articulate the you know level of neighborhood concern and some of the more nuanced aspects of how this would impact people in the community only magnifies uh the need for Verizon to um to reconsider this approach here so um you know we I think given all of this my ask here would be that Verizon withdraw this petition um you can certainly request a continuance but it seems like you have a lot of work to do to um review the totality of what's being proposed here and look at Alternatives and so a withdrawal seems uh appropriate given uh the level of concern that you have heard from members of the community and from the commission itself um so that would be my ask uh uh if Verizon is amendable to that in terms of the larger question I think we would also ask as the commission that Verizon takes some time to meet with the neighborhood association to review sort of future plans and growth plans uh related to this you know um Miss bowling to your point as the commission sort of we we receive individual uh petitions um and so we consider them as oneoff but I think you're request to have Verizon share with the neighborhood its larger vision for how its infrastructure will grow or expand within the neighborhood is a very reasonable one and so I will certainly ask on behal the commission that Verizon uh do that uh and um yeah so for today I think a withdrawal here would be an appropriate Next Step um while you regroup and reconsider options uh well fortunately I'm not authorized to make that decision so we can continue the petition and then we can withdraw it at a later date if we determine that we're going to explore other options I think that Horizon needs to come to these hearings themselves um right like I understand that you can answer these questions but I think that that's part of the problem I also think that we need to talk with Verizon that putting up new polls will not be the quickest path to do things in the future right we've already heard the need to talk to neighbors uh larger Community process and arborous all sorts of other things that are now going to be involved in this so this might be the slowest route for them to take then to just try and put their infrastructure underground where seemingly everybody would prefer it we I'm okay to entertain a continuance here but with the understanding that um you know it is very unlikely that this petition in its current form will be positively considered by the commission so um you'll either have to substantially revise or uh withdraw at some point in the future uh yeah we can go with that for now until we can go back and explore other options so before we move ahead with that are there any other members of the public who wish to speak on this I just wanted to thank everyone again um for the extra time that you provided and go Celtics thank you thank you so much for being here and uh for for for being a part of this process the the the neighborhood voices matter and uh we we're all we're all right there with you for uh for tonight so thank you be blessed all right so hearing no other uh seeing no other request for Testimony um do uh can we uh do the was it the 27th is that our second hearing Todd yeah 13th or the 27th yeah all right are you okay if we continue this to the 27th and then hopefully before then we will figure out a resolution so we don't have to hopefully is a allocation y all right g a motion to continue I'll make a motion to continue uh utility poll hearing number two as read to the record by the chair until June 27th second second all in favor I I I any oppose or abstain so move all right more to come on this uh thank you very much thank you all right um on to our last item which is new business one wav ever Street Brighton City Shadow rental on a petition by Cambridge Network Solutions the proponents please introduce themselves their affiliations and tell us what is being proposed here morning um her Tony from Cambridge Network Solutions also know as light path um I'm looking to least City shadow do it in the cable TV system out in Brighton on Western a from manall number one um right by tord Street um continuing on down to Everett Street and it's about 63 ft um we've gone out we've proofed the conduits that City sh does exist We R and R to make sure they were clear not crushed and then we worked out a third party agreement with Comcast to to get to each Riser call on either end and um and by doing this it will also the city is Paving I guess along Western AB I've been in contact with the city for quite a while about this since it came to fruition and um they told me that they are going to be Paving and putting a bike lane in and so this kind of expedited everything um so that's what I'm looking to get approved today the the least of the city Shadow all right well nothing makes me happier than proposal that involves not tearing anything up or adding anything new so very very happy to see it um I have no questions but Commissioners anything you'd like to ask about this all right uh hearing none pic staff or members of the public all set all right excellent will you be ready for your uh public Hearing in 3 weeks on what is that uh Jun 13th 13th yes yes that be all right excellent we will see you back here then thank so much thank you very much all right so we have reached the end of our agenda and with that do I hear a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I I I thank you all very much I'll see you in three weeks thank you e