##VIDEO ID:6csN6U5qjhI## uh good morning everyone uh thanks for joining the uh city of Boston zoning commission meeting today uh November 20th 2024 we're uh waiting a couple of minutes we still have an interpreter who has yet to show up so we're going to wait a couple of minutes until they are uh they arrive and then we'll begin with the the hearings so uh just please bear with us for a couple of minutes see e e e e e e e e e e thanks everyone for waiting we're just uh have our legal team um getting some uh looking into the question of um our options on moving forward if this interpreter continues to not show e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hey Joan while we're waiting is it possible we could promote Joe Mitchell uh I believe he's in the waiting room or just as a a viewer if we could promote him as panelist Tyler thank you problem thank you Joan you're welcome um would it also be possible to promote uh Adam weisenberg and Emerson LW panelists as well I believe they're in the waiting room um just as there might be a Wentworth member that we lose due to time uh so these will be their backups thank you Nick I don't see Adam weisenberg in there okay what was what was the name Emerson Lou okay okay I see Emerson thank you e e uh Tina Wang if you are on the meeting can you please uh raise your hand put a comment in the chat uh let us know you may have a different display name and we're missing uh that you're here and present and ready to interpret Mandarin for double checking that uh Tina Wang you're not on this uh call and available to interpret it looks like she's there Kathleen hello this is Tina hi Tina uh somehow Oliva told me the meeting was cancelled sorry about that well we're we're very glad to have you here because now we don't need to cancel the meeting okay thank you great uh Mike and uh Cyrus let's go ahead and get the meeting started uh and our interpretation set up for sure absolutely uh thank you for joining the Boston zoning commission public hearing which is being held virtually to ensure the safety of the public staff members and the Boston zoning Commissioners during the covid-19 pandemic the open public meeting law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is being recorded Please be aware that an audio and visual recording of this meeting is being made I will now take a roll call of the members present at the beginning of the meeting Miss Hatton present Mr dellaa present Mr Mah present Miss Miller sorry presid Mr left Mr Roo present Mr ostrich present Mr mcneel present and I'm Micha Nichols in present before we move forward to a couple other housekeeping matters we will have our interpreters introduce themselves I'll turn to Cyrus or Jeff to ask for each individual interpreter to introduce themselves thank you very much uh we'll start with Joan then go to Tina and finish off with David hi good morning everyone my name is Jan I'll be The canonist Interpreter for this morning's meeting thank you hello this is the interpretor thank you good morning to everyone my name is David Molina and I will be the Spanish interpreter for this meeting Molina mandas back to you C thank you David and the interpretation channels are now open so back to you Mike great thank you Cyrus uh before we begin our 9:00 a.m. hearing um we the commission will hear testimony from councelor Liz Braden on one of the matters that we'll be considering later this morning the councelor has other responsibilities that will now not allow her to join us later in the hearing so I want to welcome councelor Liz Braden um councelor please identify which topic you are speaking on um and then the floor will be yours as Jeff um opens up your ability to um provide testimony he councel you should be able to talk now good morning everyone um just pull up my my statement here good morning chair Nichols and members of the Boston zoning commission uh thank you for allowing me to speak today as City councelor for district I am here to express my support for Franciscan Hospital for children's 2022 uh to 2032 institutional master plan and its Associated proposed clinical building with its Campus located on Warren Street in Brighton Franciscan childrens has been an important Community partner in the Austin Brighton Community for over 70 uh seven decades their mission is focused on serving children with complex medical conditions Mental Health challenges and special education needs their services are critical to Children and Families in the community and throughout the region with his proposed 2022 to 2032 institutional master plan franciscans proposes to modernize its campus to better serve its patients as part of the proposed IM Franciscan children's will construct a new approximately 235,000 foot clinical building for both Behavioral Health Health and Medical Services with the construction of this building franciscans will be able to expand Equitable access to those in need needs of comprehensive Behavioral Health Services I strongly support Franciscan efforts to modernize its campus and improve vital Services through construction of this building again thank you to the Comm zoning commission for the opportunity to testify this morning and to voice my support for this institutional m plan thank you thank you Council bradden uh hearing no questions for the councelor we will move forward with our 9:00 a.m. public hearing this is a public hearing before the Boston zoning commission to consider the Wentworth Institute of Technology 2023 to 2033 institutional master plan the hearing was duly advertised on October 28 2024 in the Boston Herald in a Boston zoning commission hearing on proposed petitions the proponent will first present their case and are subject to the questioning by members of the commission only we are taking support and opposition at the same time if you plan to testify please take time now to verify that your computer microphone is active click the hand icon on your Zoom control panel this will signal to staff that you would like to speak when your hand is raised it will be blue if you calling into the meeting and would like to testify please dial star9 to raise your hand when I call for all testimony staff will announce your name and allow you to talk you must unmute your microphone your webcam will not be active in an effort to accommodate all who would like to speak about this proposal each person will be given up to two minutes to comment commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain at that time please conclude your remarks so that the hearing may continue and others may be heard finally the proponents are allowed a a brief period of 5 to 10 minutes for rebuttal if they so desire will the City Planning Department please begin the presentation uh thank you and good morning chair Nichols uh members of the commission I'm here before you this morning to present the new 10-year institutional master plan for Wentworth Institute of Technology for 2024 to 34 which is approved by the bpda board in October of 2024 founded in 1904 the 31 acre Wentworth campus is located in Mission Hill on Huntington Avenue this new 10-year imp seeks to advance wentworth's long-term mission of serving its students the neighborhood and the city at large by providing more modern student housing new green space and better connectivity to the area this 10-year imp includes six new proposed institutional projects including two new academic projects three new residential projects and a new front entrance and welcome Pavilion to the university the residential projects will create as many as 1,800 new beds on campus allowing Wentworth to provide on-campus housing to every member of the incoming freshman class after completion these proposed institutional projects will also transform large swats of the campus currently used as surface parking lots as new Green Space open to the students and the public the Imp serves to re imagine the Wentworth campus as a modern University that can best serve its students needs retain its unique and historic characteristics better connect with its neighbors and the city before I turn to the Wentworth team to take you through the Imp itself my colleague Alana Haynes will take you through planning contacts thank you good morning members of the zoning commission my name is Elana Hayes and I am the planner assigned to this project uh next slide please is the slideshow there I don't see it anymore we're able to see it on our end Alana this is the site context okay um and I apologize for the background sound um the Wentworth Institute of Technology institutional master plan uh for 2024 to 2034 contains six new proposed int institutional projects and identifies progress made since the implementation of the previous imp the Imp covers the University campus comprising 31 acres in the Mission Hill and Longwood neighborhood the previous institutional master plan was submitted in 2011 amended in 2017 and 2021 and extended through March of 2023 the Wentworth Institute of Technology campus and institutional master plan area are located in the Mission Hill Neighborhood District within the Wentworth Institute in institutional subdistrict the institutional master plan zoning overlay sets forth the dimensional and use regulations for the campus and subsequent development projects per the updated imp uh all proposed instit institutional projects are planed to comply with the dimensions as anticipated and codified in the Imp next slide please the previous imp and its subsequent amendments provide the Planning and Zoning context for this update the 2010 imp included five paps including the renovation and building addition for the Flanigan Campus Center at batty Hall in addition to the Ira Allen building a new seven-story student residence hall a new center for engineering and technology and a new Sweeney field soccer complex with the exception of the soccer field presently under construction all Pips were completed as of the expiration of the prior imp the innf include included six Pips within this imp duration including academic residential and open space development projects next slide please the proposed imp includes a series of Urban Design guidelines that in conjunction with the development proposals align with existing city-wide planning initiatives these guidelines include the development of an open space framework a strong civic identity and an inclusive campus the Wentworth campus forms an important connection between the emerald necklace Park system and the Southwest Cor coridor the proposed front lawn and improved connectivity from Huntington Avenue through the campus work toward the goal of connecting the emerald necklace to other systems as enumerated in the city's 2023 2029 open space and Recreation plan the Imp continues to align with other Citywide plans such as housing a changing City through its intention to create new res a new residence hall netting the campus additional student residential spaces which feeds into the goal of creating 16,000 new undergraduate student dorm beds for Boston colleges and universities by 2030 of the Citywide and localized planning initiatives most relevance the proposed institutional master plan is the Avenue of the Arts design guidelines study a local planning study intended to design to guide design of buildings and open space along Huntington Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and Longwood Avenue the guidelines set forth goals for design along the Avenue emphasizing Mobility placemaking active programming and comfort the proposed updated imp for for the Wentworth campus directly addresses each of the study goals of Mobility by creating a clear safe well-connected pedestrian experience uh placemaking an expression of the institutional identity through architecture open spaces and the creation of a cohesive high quality environment um programming through the creation of an active inclusive environment uh pursued by development along Urban corridors suggesting that buildings lining the primary Urban corridor should locate active student public and Community oriented programs along these perimeter edges to foster a rich and active public realm and strengthen connections to surrounding neighborhoods and Commercial nodes and forth Comfort the promotion of a pedestrian of of pedestrian comfort in the public realm which is addressed through care taken to reduce substance of shadows out in public open spaces and the intention to create pedestrian scale connections that facilitate safe and accessible links to surrounding neighborhoods next slide please the updated institutional master plan will contribute to a variety of multimodal plans projects and needs along the edges of the Wentworth campus Wentworth is located along the design area for the Roxbury Fenway connector linking the Southwest Corridor with the Fenway neighborhood propos campus changes increase pedestrian circulation areas facilitate eastwest connection across the campus Pike the Imp Pro proposes to maintain the current level of parking on campus but move approximately 4 70 spaces below grade to improve campus connectivity further pedestrian scale enhancements are proposed for Parker Street and anunciation road with additional improvements for cyclists along ruggle Street at Huntington Avenue thank you and I will now turn it over to the development team to present the project in more detail thank you Nick kelana for the introduction and overview chair Nichols members of the commission secretary Hampton good morning and a sincere thank thank you for having Wentworth here today my name is Dave walstrom and I'm the vice president for business and our team is pleased to introduce the new Wentworth 10-year institutional master plan which is geared to modernize our residential and academic facilities improve new green spaces and to become a more sustainable campus not to mention improve and enhance connectivity to the neighborhood a little bit about Wentworth the university has a curricula focused on engineering design technology science and management our largest programs are mechanical engineering architecture and computer science our programs are experientially based career focused and supported by a robust Cooperative educational work program and our enrollments are approaching prepandemic levels 3,700 undergraduates right now and 230 graduates ww worth has a long history of being a good neighbor as evidenced by Community commitments such as scholarships and vocational training programs one of many examples of our Partnerships is the Boston Public Schools strive program which mayor woo toured in August on our campus this partnership has been in place for over 35 years is providing Workforce training to students with unique learning and physical needs this vocational program has placed over 6,000 Boston Public School students in internships and employment opportunities upon graduation again thank you for your time and consideration and thanks to Nick CER Seth Risman and the bpda design staff for their thoughtful guidance throughout the process and with that I'll ask AUM sundrum of Perkins and will to provide an overview starting with the goals we set out to achieve with the Wentworth campus master plan thank you Dave um good morning chair Nichols and commissioners of the zoning commission my name is goam sundram principal at Perkins andv representing the planning team along with my colleague Brad Rogers next slide please as Elena described the overall context um what we've always seen as part of this planning effort is the opportunity that this institutional master plan presence that it is one that really engages all of these surrounding neighborhoods and integrates them into a new Urban fabric that is through a series of parks and Open Spaces uh energized public realm improves connectivity not just from a multimodal standpoint but also to make it more pedestrian friendly from a climate change and heat resilience standpoint as well at the same time uh aspiring to reach many of the goals that they've highlighted as part of their academic and Mission related goals around identity elevating the student experience and the academic Innovation within this great city of Boston next slide please and so how do we achieve many of these opportunities is through a series of strategic goals one was to really examine the overall campus and look at the land uses and transforming what have been parking areas into new green spaces repurposing and modernizing many of the academic facilities and at the same time planning new academic facilities for engineering experiential learning and design increasing housing on campus to really create a strong living learning community on campus that also alleviates some of the pressure around housing in the surrounding neighborhoods and by doing so replacing what have been outdated housing to meet current student needs as well to really create a vibrant campus and celebrating the unique identity and image of Wentworth next slide please so with those goals in mind I want to briefly share with you what the overall existing conditions of the Wentworth campus today is um highlighted in here um with labels are a series of dated facilities but then also you can see the significant amount of parking area within the West lot the team undertook an compreh ensive assessment of all of those building facilities themselves to understand which buildings we should maintain uh how are they performing and how we can continue to update and replace aged facilities certain buildings that were highlighted for uh replacement were the Annex Building that's on the east side of the campus uh which is not accessible but also presents many performance issues as well which is in the east side of Parker Street similarly the Edwards Rogers housing building that's facing Huntington Avenue is also one that has been slated for replacement along with some low uh academic buildings Kingman and Williston which is at the core campus and the Baker Hall which is a residence hall along um Huntington Avenue so with those building facilities to be replaced in mind taking a further look at how do we reimagine the campus ground plane itself so on the next slide you will see what we've really tried to transform is by replacing what have been areas for parking into new new green spaces to reimagine the front lawn which has been more of a visual green into a park a park for the entire neighborhood that could be programmed in many different ways that engages uh uh the uh the surrounding communities for active use on weekday and weekends and at the core of the campus to expand from what has been One Singular quad or green space at the heart of the campus into two additional green spaces and creating this network of Open Spaces that Define a sense of community and each of those Open Spaces are now framed by architectural uses of residential uh student life and academic and these communities really start to become the heart of the campus at the same time what you see highlighted in the orange are reimagining the edges of the campus by really engaging the surrounding neighborhood and reimagining with new streetscape which are lined with pedestrian trees W finding uh bike lanes and other amenities that really start to create a more pedestrian friendly environment and that really to Al's Point earlier is how do we start to connect the Southwest Corridor to uh the fence and the open space framework as well so those were some big driving Urban Design principles that have shaped the overall master plan and so now on the next slide you will see an aerial view of the overall existing conditions of the uh ex the campus itself and so highlighted in here in the existing conditions you can see that c four of the campus which is the main Green Space and then you also have uh what is the existing massart Treehouse so working very closely with the BPD staff we really looked at the surrounding context to examine how we can align our program and our planning goals as in context and relationship to the surrounding context so the next slide please so here you will see what is the overall institutional master plan that shows um highlighted in um the white is a completely reimagining the uh front along the uh Huntington Avenue it's also showing what has been proposed as the final hunting de development under a separate application but how that integrates with the overall Wentworth campus itself uh new residential buildings and a new residential building that will be along the front of Huntington Avenue that also elevates uh and aligns with the Avenue of the art guidelines but also making sure that none of the buildings at any given point of Time cast any shadow on the emerald necklace itself next slide please and so here you can see what are some of those significant projects one is the new Huntington residence hall uh along Huntington Avenue uh we also have an additional residence hall which is called as the pike residence hall that reframes what has been called as the pike as a major pedestrian connector a new addition at Wentworth Hall which has show you some close-up renderings on that not only makes the building accessible but also makes it the new Gateway into the campus in addition replacing what has been the Aged uh Baker Hall with a new residence hall and a new building that would anchor the corner at Ward Street and at Huntington Avenue with a residential building as well uh also replacing those Annex academic buildings with a new green space and a series of academic buildings that will be home to um many of the engineering programs and other uh uh design programs as well but more importantly the Open Spaces that will connect all the way from the southwest Corridor to the uh fence next slide please and so here I'll walk you through very quickly as to what have been really the significant impact of this master plan is the transformation of the public realm here is a view if you a student or a visitor coming to Wentworth Hall uh you'll get off the train station or park at the visitor parking lot and make your way through what is the existing lawn and this bituminous pathway leading you to the Wentworth Hall itself which is currently accessed through a series of stairs and it is not an accessible uh condition today so in the next slide you will see that what we're transforming that is with a new Pavilion uh that not only becomes uh a Gateway as a way to open up the main entrance of the campus uh for visitors but also makes the building accessible we paid careful attention to the massing to respect the existing facade of the Wentworth Hall itself the one that you might be able to experience and see and really imagining this Pavilion as a way to celebrate the work that the students do and the innovation of the various programs within that as a new way to uh receive the broader Community into the Wentworth campus itself uh here you can see also glimpses of the oral Park and maintaining views to the Greek Orthodox church and really engaging them in the reimagining of this front law into a new park itself next slide here is as I talked about really reimagining the streetcape along Huntington Avenue it's another major Gateway into the campus where students walk across Huntington Avenue uh from the fence or the evansway park uh towards and on the right hand side you can see the beginnings of what has been called as the pike pike which is a pedestrian Corridor um so really looking at uh transforming this very important Gateway in corner uh and what you'll see in the next slide is by removing all of those fences those brick walls to really open it up into a new green space and creating a wide pedestrian prominade that becomes uh a reimagined pike into a pedestrian prominade that is now engaging with active uses on both sides becomes a great pedestrian experience for students but also the broader Community to make their way from the evansway park all the way out towards the Southwest Corridor and bringing in many sustainable features of not increasing tree canopy but also increasing biodiversity in what is a very Urban condition to really start to create a much more resilient landscape itself next slide please here you can see a view of what has been called as that uh Pike which is a 5 foot to 6 feet wide pedestrian walkway that meanders its way between a parking area and the MW facilities itself to truly reimagine this into a great pedestrian Corridor on the next slide you you will see that not only is it framed by the residential building with active uses at the ground floor with mural walls on the right hand side that screen from the MW facility but also a new open space that's going to be south facing which has great solar exposure as well into an active uh part uh that also transforms what is an existing parking lot into a new green space that also has many sustainable features in addition to the biodiversity with rain Gardens and other sustainable features to really make uh sustainability very visual aspect and educational aspect of the overall Wentworth campus next slide please some other Transformations that here you can see the parking lot itself uh and in the background you see the mass Art treeh House which has some existing U dining facilities at the ground floor uh which Overlook into the parking area and what we'd like to do is now reimagine this parking lot into a new green space that you'll see on the next slide that not only creates a space for our own bentworth Community but also engages the Massa Treehouse as well as part of that orall composition that now not only has active uses along the ground floor but also creates shaded environments as well next slide please um we talked a lot about how we are reimagining the Parker Street itself as a much more safe pedestrian uh uh passageway to connect to the Southwest Corridor here are those existing Annex buildings that really do not allow that type of permeability to happen so we're looking to replace the annex buildings and on the next side you will see they will be now replaced by a new green space and that new green space is will be framed by new academic buildings and really putting the green space at the center of this community space itself at the same time making Parker Street a very safe and pedestrian walkway by creating a flush condition that prioritizes pedestrians and slows down the vehicle traffic to create that very strong pedestrian connection that now here you can see this walkway that will connect all the way through Alis Tor housing towards the Southwest Corridor and the new Green Space uh this is a great opportunity for us to connect what has or our Legacy green spaces and green ways of the city of Boston itself that this master plan allows us to complete next slide please and here a big aspect of our engagement has not only been been within the vent Worth community but also with our neighbors um they have really expressed concerns about some of the views that that they are seeing into which is the backs of houses service and loading and parking areas and we want to transform that experience not only from a visual standpoint but also engage them so in the new next slide you will see how that those the replacement of those Annex buildings is now framed by new series of Gardens and Open Spaces that become places for the community that they can C they can pause they can meet with their friends and really create a place for them to engage and be part of a much larger open space framework um and here you can see what those Open Spaces would be like that not only create a lot more shade but also create that sense of intimacy and social well-being as well next slide please and so I'd like to close on really showing the overall impact with the existing conditions on the left hand side and the proposed impacts that this is not just about a series of architectural projects of program related projects it's truly transforming how the campus is envisioned to uh create an impact on the broader Community but and also really elevating what we believe will be 21st century Urban campuses itself next slide and So within this and I won't go through them in all detail we've been working very closely with the BPD staff and the various uh Focus areas on some significant uh sustainability opportunities around the categories of energy climate resiliency water and materials as well and many of these aspects will be embedded in the institutional master plan so that when we go into the implementation phase with the various projects that they would be uh addressing and making sure that many of these sustainable aspects are included in it next slide and similarly another impact has been uh vent towards commitment to its Community around us and here highlighting and this is a dynamic uh and and continues to get updated with the various programs that Wentworth is currently involved in not only in engaging with the community but also addressing many commitments in uh maintaining uh the surrounding Park spaces like you see with the evansway park but then also through a series of programs like strive and scholarships that really are elevating the access to education and the summer program uh and working closely with the Boston uh pipeline as well and engaging broader students as well and volunteers as part of the many community initiatives as well next slide please and so with that I would like to close with what what we've really shared with you in a very very quick uh and short summary is the vision for what we believe is a future ready higher education campus that elevates experiential learning as Dave described engages and inclusive to the community but at the same time embeds the values of environmental stewardship thank you again very much for your time and uh this opportunity to share with you the overall bentworth institution m that thank you to the project team we will now take questions from the commission only followed by public testimony do any of the Commissioners have questions for the development hearing none we will move into public testimony again please uh raise your hand or use start 9 if you're on your phone if you wish to testify uh commission staff will call on you uh and unmute your microphone and allow you to speak for up to two minutes okay we have uh one hand lii lari you're unmuted go ahead hi everyone can y'all hear me okay all right great um hi good morning my name is Lauri I'm counselor durkin's new chief of staff and I'm happy to be here today to provide testimony on behalf of councelor Durkin so City councelor Durkin supports Wentworth Institute of Technology's institutional master plan and recognizes its alignment with Boston's Housing and Community goals the plan addresses housing affordability by prioritizing oncampus residences uh alleviating pressure on the city's housing market additionally transformative projects light the integrated Athletics Fieldhouse and new residence Halls enhance both the student experience and neighborhood benefits Wentworth has shown its commitment to being a strong institutional partner and this imp reflects a thoughtful Vision thank you so much I don't have any more raised hands Mr chairman thank you Jeff we'll now move into our business meeting there any discussion or motions from members of the commission yeah Michael David Mar here uh I just like to say to you know to the planis uh Wentworth and uh the design team uh that was a terrific project and uh Wentworth is a terrific uh contributor to uh the city of Boston and um it produces the future uh creative minds and builders that U make Boston so unique so uh I just wanted to recognize uh that group I thought was a terrific joke thank you I would also say the lack of questions isn't because of anything other than the th I agree with David the presentation and the materials we got were very thorough and it's a complex imp um so uh I also appreciate the the depth and scope that um in the presentation for a very complex transformation of this campus so I I would also Mr chair be happy to make a motion that we accept uh approve the 2024 2034 Wentworth Institute of Technology institutional master plan imp second the motion is made and seconded I will now take a roll call of the members Miss Hatton yes Mr Dello yes Mr Mah yes Miss Miller yes Mr Le yes Mr Royo yes Mr Austin yes Mr mcneel yes and I vote Yes vote is nine to nothing in favor thank you to the project proponents thank you Commissioners have a good day as we transition to our 9:30 hearing uh this hearing will be chaired uh by the commission's Vice chair Jill Hatton um as I will be recusing myself from hearing this matter and I will return for a later thank you thank you Michael um this is the 9:15 hearing um just to clarify for everyone so that we're on on track here um thank you for joining the Boston zoning commission public hearing which is being held virtually to ensure the safety of the public staff members and the Boston zoning Commissioners during the covid-19 pandemic the open public meeting Law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is being recorded Please be aware that an audio and visual recording of the meeting meeting is being made I will now take a roll call of the members present at the beginning of the meeting myself Jill Hatton present Mr deela present Mr marer present Miss Miller Miss Miller I will come back to Aisha Mr Le present Mr ooyo present Mr ostrich present Mr mcneel present and Miss Miller just checking hey Jeff I will just I will let me know when she comes back on we'll do this um the the 9:15 public hearing this is a public hearing before the Boston zoning commission to consider map Amendment applications number 786 and 78 87 and petitions for approval of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute institutional master plan excuse me and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center institutional master plan this will be one hearing to consider the map amendments in IMS however there will be separate votes for both map amendments and imps the hearing was duly advertised on October 28th 2024 in the Boston Herald in a Boston zoning commission hearing on proposed petitions the proponent will first present their case and are subject to the questioning by members of the commission only we are taking support and opposition at the same time if you are planning to testify please take time now to verify that your computer microphone is active click the hand icon on your Zoom control panel this will signal staff that you would like to speak when your hand is raised it will be blue if you're calling into the meeting and would like to testify please dial star9 to raise your hand when I call for all testimony staff will announce your name and allow you to talk you must unmute your microphone your webcam will not be active in an effort to accommodate all who would like to speak about this proposal each person will be given up to two minutes to comment commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain at that time please conclude your remarks so that the hearing may continue and others may be heard finally the proponents are allowed a period of 5 to 10 minutes for rebuttal if they so desire will the city of Boston planning department please begin the presentation uh Jill just to let you know I you is back on okay thank you so that Miss Miller is present for this hearing thanks Jeff thank you madam chair members of the board my name is Tyler Ross I'm a senior project manager in the development review Department The Proposal before you is the 10year Beth Israel Deacon Medical Center institutional master plan and Dana Farber Cancer Institute uh institutional master plan located in the Longwood Medical area neighborhood of Boston on December 8th 2023 Beth Israel and Dana Farber both filed a a imp notification for their 10-year imps which included one jointly proposed institutional project the one jocin place Cancer Center the Boston planning department issued a scope and determination to Beth isra and Dana Farber on May uh 21st 2024 which was responded to by the formal institutional master plan filing by Beth Israel and Dana Farber on July 10th 2024 the proposed project within the Imp entails the demolition of the existing joson diabetes building and the construction of a new approximately uh 450,000 square foot 14-story building with approximately 300 impatient beds and approximately 20 observation beds and 5,000 feet of retail space on the ground floor accessible from Brookline a Beth Israel is expected to own the below grade portion in the above first floor Podium of the building while Dana Farber anticipates it will own the building above the first floor of the podium subject to the final terms of a long-term air rights lease agreement between the two parties additionally Beth Israel and Dana Farber have committed to substantial public realm Transportation infrastructure improvements as a part of their institutional master plan the total mitigation and Community benefits package for this uh in institutional master plan proposal is estimated to be around approximately just over $20 million furthermore the BPA held five task force and public meetings on January 3rd 2024 January 4th 2024 February 26 2024 January 29th 2024 and October 7th of 2024 all of which were well attended and advertised in local newspapers Beth Israel and Dana Farber also worked with City Department to the local elected officials to Garner support for this 10-year institutional master plan proposal I'll now turn it over um to Lois to do planning contacts um before Jared dor and Wendy Gelman from Beth isra and Dana Farber um present I'd like to say thank you to the members of the to the public elected officials and City agencies who helped rev review the proposed Beth isra and Dana Farber institutional master plan thank you thanks Tyler good morning Mr chairman and members of the commission my name is Ella Wise and I'm the senior planner assigned to this project as well as the proposed Beth Israel uh deonis Medical Institute imp I'll be presenting plan and context for both for the benefit of the public as a reminder and institutional master plan or imp provides the comprehensive planning cumulative impact analysis and Community benefits of development on an Institutional campus it creates a zoning overlay District setting the use and dimensional guidance for individual projects known as proposed institutional projects and for these imps there is one shared proposed institutional project the cancer hospital at one jlin place that Tyler mentioned which will go through an article ADB full review Once filed so the site context is shown here with the Dana Farber um imp shown in purple and the Beth Israel imp area shown in yellow the proponent will explain the context but this helps give give you a sense of the area next slide please okay in terms of planning context uh the Boston Redevelopment Authority now the planning department adopted the Longwood Medical area LMA interim guidelines in 2003 to inform development in the area prior to completion of a master plan that intended master plan was never completed and the zoning was never amended based on these guidelines in addition as can be expected the neighborhood context has changed since these interim guidelines were adopted and City goals have evolved however still relevant today is the special attention of the interim guidelines given to potential Shadow impacts on certain city of Boston Parks the potential shadow cast on Boston parks by one jlin place was carefully considered by City staff during the AR arle 80d review the estimated Shadows um will exceed the LMA interim guidelines however the building has been designed to cast no net no net new Shadow lasting longer than an hour in any one area of the Riverway or Joslin Park in addition the impacts will be mitigated through the proponents Reconstruction of josin Park and improvements to Beth Israel's Green Space along the Riverway um and again want to be clear that one jlin will undergo full article 80b review as well as additional permitting by uh parks and the public Improvement Commission in addition to those interim guidelines uh planning department staff are currently working on the Fenway Transportation action plan accompanying the proposed project are significant Transportation improvements some of which Tyler alluded to um to the Brookline Avenue Corridor developed in coordination with this action plan and informed by the mbta's bus Network redesign these both help improve the safety of existing infrastructure and prepare for more bus routes um for example the proponents have committed to constructing separated bike Lanes on both sides between Longwood AV and Francis where the width of the Brookline Avenue quarter allows um making Pilgrim Road two way as well as a floating bus stop um on Brookline Avenue all again inform by these plans next slide please as the proposed imp is considered it's it's helpful to compare it to the most recent imps on the left you see a combined summary of the proposed imps including um the one proposed institutional project and committed public realm improvements on the right you see a summary of Dana farber's 2007 as well as Beth Israel's 2004 imp development program and subsequent Amendment Dana farber's 2007 imp included three projects including the AI Center all of which were constructed the Beth Israel 2004 imp included three projects um and then the amendment included the claran building nearby an addition and an addition uh to the bodden street Health Center in Dorchester with that thanks for your time and I'll turn it over to the development team good morning uh thank you uh chhan and members of the commission my name is Michael Hinchcliffe I'm an architect and principal with payet who represent the two proponents uh today Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center uh on the next slide uh we will see the context uh for these two institutional Master plans uh looking to the north uh Beth Israel campus is split between the East Campus and the west campus uh reflecting uh the long-term history uh of the Beth Israel Hospital merging with the New England Deon Hospital over the past uh several de decades Dana farber's campus is located between them at a juncture along Brookline Avenue in the Longwood Medical and academic area uh I'd like to introduce Wendy Gelman on the next slide to tell you a little bit more about the context uh for the collaboration uh and the project that is contained in these two institutional Master plans Wendy good morning and thank you to the Commissioners and the city staff for the opportunity to present today my name is Wendy Gelman I'm the vice president of facilities management and real estate at Dana Farber Cancer Institute so the collaboration between Dana Farber and Beth Israel was solidified in the fall of 2023 when cancer is all you do there's an advantage to that focus and expertise that benefits patients by integrating our care in a single cancer hospital we believe we can provide higher quality less fragmented care the collaboration between Dana Farber and BMC means that we are ensuring that our patients receive care from integrated cross-disciplinary teams while avoiding costly duplication of resources next slide please you may be asking why here and why now there is an acute need for more inpatient beds in the state and across the country a 2021 study released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and prevention otherwise known as the CDC predicts that the annual number of cancer Cas cases will increase 49% by 2050 primarily due to the growth and aging of the US population the proposed 300 bed hospital is designed to help this region keep Pace with the increasingly alarming rates of cancer incidents this project ensures that we are prepared for what we believe is the future of Cancer Care a dedicated cancer hospital that leverages sophisticated multidisiplinary teams of experts from several Subs Specialties without duplicating Services already available as advances in cancer treatment are developed Dana Farber remains one of the leading transplant centers in the United States offering Cutting Edge care such as car T therapy as well as preparing for groundbreaking breaking treatments that we're not even aware of yet as the population ages and the incidence of cancer rises in younger people at a distressing rate there will be more and more patients who need our care we need to act now to plan and prepare for the future of Cancer Care we recognize that a dedicated cancer hospital requires close integration and expertise of a comprehensive academic Medical Center Dana farber's close physical proximity and new clinical affiliation with BMC means that patients will continue to have the expertise of some of the world's best non-oncology medical and surgical clinicians in summary with cancer incidences rising at alarming rates in Massachusetts and across the country Dana farber's proposed new cancer only hospital will help Prov improve health outcomes for patients increase access with a proposed 300 additional beds in the facility lower costs and advanced Equity thank you and next slide please thank you very much as you heard as you heard Miss Wise describe earlier the sole project contained in both institutional Master plans is the proposed 300 bed cancer hospital uh this project uh and the zoning envelope uh that's requested uh have been crafted to seat the and meet to suit and meet the needs of a new inpatient cancer hospital meeting all of the upcoming amendments to uh the building energy code uh as well as support spaces uh both institutions work carefully over the development of the plan uh to include uh the qualities and capabilities that would be required to support the high level of care uh that Wendy just described uh the project also features a 250 car up to 250 car underground parking garage uh that has been considered uh with our transportation planners along with other factors in transit improvements uh for both campuses uh on the next slide uh you'll see in a stacking diagram uh that the proposed project is a 14-story building containing 10 stories uh of inpatient beds uh sandwiched by mechanical spaces again providing those updated mechanical systems to meet the energy code and carbon reductions that both both campuses have made commitments to below that is a ground floor Diagnostic and treatment platform uh providing critical Imaging and other services and observation units that support U patient care and and patient transfer below grade uh the parking garage will be supported by mechanical spaces as well as provision for an underground radiation oncology center to provide critical patient treatment on the next slide I'd like to thank Miss Wise and Mr Ross as well as other members of the bpda and bcdc for their excellent involvement in stewardship of the intense process uh of review and Improvement that both institutional Master plans overw uh over the past year including a significant impact from uh impacts from the community of Butters uh and a very engaging process on the next slide we see the exact context uh for the institutional master plan event uh Amendment which is the inclusion of the former Jen diabetes uh master plan site into the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center institutional master plan uh this uh is the outcome of a long collaboration between uh the jaw and diabetes center and Beth Israel that now includes that campus and their capabilities within the Beth Israel Deus Medical Center and Beth Israel Ley systems uh this is the proposed site for the future cancer hospital as Beth Israel Works to relocate those critical services from the Joslin uh to other locations on their campus uh on the next slide uh as we saw uh previously the two uh the Beth Israel campus is segregated into two adjoining Parcels uh the west campus and East Campus with the compact Dana Farber Campus located at the juncture between the two in the Longwood Medical and academic area at the juncture of Brookline Avenue and Longwood uh Longwood Avenue with the Jin diabetes site the location of the project uh at the Confluence of the two on the next slide uh we see that uh the outcome of this planning project has been a commitment of both institutions to look comprehensively at their role in the urban environment uh and to improve not only The Pedestrian uh and Transit areas in in the region and District but also to respect the very uh important landscape amenity of the Riverway uh which is adjacent to both sites so the outcome on the next slide of both uh both institutional Master plans has been a deep reflection of the public realm uh to strengthen the urban environment and to take into account jlin Park uh which is one of the key public spaces uh that the city May uh that this for the city in this District on the next slide we see that both institutional Master plans are committed to strengthening the urban realm and improving uh their front doors uh and The Pedestrian and experience in the district on the next slide we see that that includes in both uh in both institutional Master plans a commitment to the urban realm uh with projects to improve uh and increase Landscaping along the Riverway Edge uh for public amenity and Transit uh and uh improvements along Brookline Avenue uh as well as very key elements of the project uh which will undergo full article 80b review uh to look carefully at the streetcape In This Very dense uh Urban District on the next slide uh for your uh for your information is the exact context of the project again this is the location of the current josin diabetes center the project will replace uh its footprint in kind uh with a new 300 bed cancer hospital on the next slide we see uh we step back to look at the larger context uh noting Dana farber's uh proposed connections as well as Beth Israel's proposed connections to the project to link the critical Cancer Care elements uh for inpatient and Outpatient Care in both in both campuses again as Miss y said uh those connection designs will be thoroughly reviewed uh and discussed during the article 8B process that is forthcoming on the next slide both uh both campuses have committed uh to working closely with the with the district uh to take into account uh The Many Factors regarding Transit and transportation as well as Service uh that go into this very busy District uh in our city the project includes dedicated retail space uh so along Brookline Avenue we see here at this ground floor plan a proposed continuation of the existing local retail with 5,000 square feet of new leasable retail space engaging the streetcape along Brookline Avenue the main lobby uh for the proposed project will face South to Brook to josin park with its Service uh uh and loading and parking access along Pilgrim Road uh which is in keeping with the second nature of that site of that street on the next slide uh we see that the proposed massing of the project as I described earlier has been developed in close conjunction with the proposed program but also as Miss W said with a careful consideration and input of the city and the parks department to the proposed uh Shadow impacts of the project to the adjoining jman Park as well as the Riverway uh working to minimize uh the impacts of those Shadows on the critical evaluation date on the next slide we see in a little bit more detail a stacking diagram of the proposed project from the bottom up with underground parking to serve patients and visitors uh clinical support space uh in the podium uh and then 10 floors of inpatient uh use above I'll note that the zoning envelope uh and planning uh for see that there will be significant setbacks of the building at grade to expand and extend The Pedestrian realm through easements moreover on Brookline Avenue these will provide for the critical Transit and infrastructure improvements along that thoroughfare for bike lanes and uh bus stops uh that will allow the the very vibrant pedestrian uh movements along that Avenue uh as well as setbacks along Jin place and Brooklyn Avenue for patient drop off and arrival in this image here of the massing on the next slide uh we see that the uh the proposed project will be reviewed uh in close uh in close coordination uh with the bcdc and the bpda in the coming months for the article 80 review in the existing context uh and now on the next cont slide we see the proposed massing uh in its context along the future uh future Brookline Avenue streetscape uh so on the next slide uh we see that uh the future building uh adjacent to josin park with its context of the two campuses uh as well as the the additional approved projects along Brookline Avenue uh at this point I'd like to ask Jared door uh to describe uh the timeline for the project as well as those mitigation efforts and improvements to the public realm uh and transportation networks uh that have been foreseen in both institutional Master plans Jared thank you Michael uh thank you chair Hatton and the Commissioners for your time today and I also would like to thank the bpda staff for all of the support through this process my name is Jared dor I'm the vice president of capital facilities and Engineering at BMC uh next slide please and I'm here to elaborate a little bit more on uh the public realm um improvements that we're proposing for this project so on the um also want to take a step back on what BMC and Dana Farber has done recently so uh as part of the claran project uh BMC improved the public realm along Francis Street in front of the climing building front entrance and we also added a blue bike station at the corner of Brookline Aven in the Riverway we also had what's not shown on the strong is some additional uh plantings along the Riverway uh BMC takes great pride on their in their Green Space along uh the Riverway and through uh strung along the Brookline nav campus um Dana Farber did Plaza enhancements uh as part of the Yaki project um and that's shown uh in the uh be uh bubbles on both Brookline a and the B Street area what we're proposing and I'm going to start with number one which is probably one of the biggest impacts is we are dedicated to improve Joselyn Park um we look at josm Park as kind of the heart of our campus and it is um a center point and um definitely an active area we also um want to improve Brookline a uh streetscape uh and the transit um Transit including a floating bus stop and dedicated bike Lanes we're also uh want to improve the Netherlands uh Road intersection at the Riverway so we are um we're proposing to um help with that process as everyone knows that's a difficult intersection um on the Pilgrim Road um section which is uh the streetscape we'll be improving the plantings along our West Campus to frame Jocelyn Park and then um if you look at uh item seven that section of Pilgrim Road is private way owned by BMC it has been primarily a one-way Street we propose to provide better throughput having that as two-way traffic uh as part of the project which should improve throw put through the area uh on on eight we all know that um the Pilgrim Road and the Longwood uh intersection is a very difficult intersection especially for pedestrians we we are dedicated to improve that by tablet topping and um putting a four-way stop sign there and then last um on in item nine you'll see that we are dedicated to doing a study uh to see if we can increase any landscape in that area in front of our East Campus uh next slide please so now we're just going to go over some high high level milestones for the project so um planning department uh add imp approvals is our milestones for 2024 zoning approvals meepa review completion and receiving the dph determination of need in 2025 we're looking at art article 80b large project review working with the bpda and bcdc Parks Commission approval public improvements commission approvals demolition delay complete and dph plan review and approval in 2026 we're proposing to start Demolition and construction for this exciting project I'll now turn it over to Michael uh to close us out I want to thank you for all of you for your time thank you very much Jared uh so on the next slide uh we see again the context uh for the two institutional Master plans uh and the proposed project uh at their intersection for the new 300 bed cancer hospital uh thank you so much for your time and consideration today well thank you Ella Michael Wendy and Jared um do any of the Commissioners have any questions for either any of the planning or development team and I think you could take the presentation down so thank you are there any questions of the Commissioners for the presenters okay seeing um seeing none at this time I'd like to call for public testimony and if if um if anyone on the call would like to testify please announce your name affiliation and your position either for or against the proposed project Jeff I'll turn it over to you for managing um interest in testifying thank you uh lri go ahead hi everyone thank you so much um again my name is l sherro I'm counselor Durkins Chief of Staff um and I'll be uh giving a statement um in support of this project um and thank you all for that very informative presentation it was it was great um so city council Durkin is proud to support the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Dana Farber cancer institute's plans for a new cancer hospital at one josin place during today's meeting this transformative project the first dedicated Cancer Hospital in New England will provide critical care with over 14 stories over 450,000 sare ft and 300 impatient beds councelor Durkin looks forward to continued discussions with the community and stakeholders to ensure thoughtful design Transportation mitigation and strong neighborhood engagement thank you so much thank you Lori uh I have no more raised hands Madame Vice chair okay thank you Jeff at this time I would ask um if any of the Commissioners have any comments or questions and also just um for some guidance this is a little bit of a unique situation we will be I would be asking for a motion on two separate items so we'll take them separately um and so we'll first consider the motion for the uh map Amendment application number 786 The Dana Farber Cancer Institute institutional master plan and follow that with after we vote with a separate motion for the Beth Israel deaconness Medical Center institutional master plan map Amendment application number 787 so I'll turn it over to the Commissioners for any discussion comment or if anyone is interested making a motion I I'd make a motion to um approve map Amendment application number 786 Dana Farber Cancer Institute uh institutional master plan thank you Michael thank you Aisha thank you Michael thank you Aisha um is there any discussion on this motion seeing none I'll um take a roll call vote at this time Mr deela yes Mr marah yes Miss Miller yes Mr Le yes Mr aroyo yes Mr ostrich yes Mr mcneel yes and myself Jill Hatton yes the um item passes uh8 to nothing at this point then I would also ask if the Commissioners have any comments for interest in making a motion on the map Amendment application number 787 Beth Israel deaconness Medical Center institutional master plan I'll make a motion uh to approve map Amendment application number 787 Beth Israel deonis Medical Center institutional master plan thank you Michael thank you Aisha um is there any discussion on the motion okay seeing none then I'll um take a roll call vote Mr dellaa yes Mr Mah yes Miss Miller yes Mr Le yes Mr aroyo yes Mr ostrich yes Mr mcneel yes and myself Jill Hatton yes um the item passes eight to nothing thank you very much uh to the to the presenters um for a very thorough and uh uh well well-coordinated presentation so at this time I'll turn this back over to Jeff and um I think Michael will be back on uh to cheer the next hearing yeah chairman so thank you Vice chair Hatton uh thank you for joining the Boston zoning commission public hearing which is being held virtually to ensure the safety of the public staff members and the Boston zoning Commissioners during the covid-19 pandemic the open public meeting Law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is being recorded Please be aware that an a audio and visual recording of this meeting is being made I'll now take a roll call of the members present at the beginning of this hearing Miss Hatton present Mr dellaa present Mr Mah present Miss Miller present Mr Le present Mr aroyo present Mr ostrich present Mr mcneel present and I'm Michael Nichols and present this is our 9:30 a.m. public hearing this is a public hearing before the Boston zoning commission to consider Amendment application number 788 and a petition for approval of the fan Franciscan Hospital for Children institutional master plan the hearing was duly advertised on October 28 2024 in the Boston Herald in a Boston zoning commission hearing on proposed petitions the proponent will first present their case and are subject to questioning by the members of the commission only we are taking support and opposition at the same time if you are planning to testify please take time now to verify that your computer microphone is active you can click on the hand icon on your Zoom control panel this will signal to staff that you wish to speak when your hand is raised it will be blue if you're calling into the meeting and would like to testify please dial star9 to raise your hand when I call for all testimony staff will announce your name and allow you to talk you must unmute your microphone your webcam will not be active in an effort to accommodate all who we wish to speak about this proposal each person will be given up to two minutes to comment commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain at that time please conclude your remarks so that the hearing may continue and others may be heard finally the proponents are allowed a brief period of 5 to 10 minutes for rebuttal if they so desire will the City Planning Department please begin the presentation thank you Mr chair members of the board my name is Tyler Ross I'm a senior project manager in the development review Department The Proposal before you is the 10-year Franciscan Children's Hospital institutional master plan located in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on July 13 2022 Franciscan filed a institutional master plan notification form for their Franciscan children's hospit hital campus and a PNF for the new andpatient Hospital project during the article 80 review process the Boston Civic design commission and commission uh an inpatient building transformed from the original institutional master plan and not um project notification form um prompting Franciscan to file a updated institutional master plan on September 9th 2024 reflecting the comments received from the public and the Boston Civic design commission Commissioners on the design of the institutional master plan and impatient hospital with this imp there is one proposed institutional project that being the new impatient Hospital mentioned the proposed Hospital project consists of the demolition of current one through six buildings on Franciscan campus to construct a 235,000 square foot impatient building that will provide expanded capacity for beds and Franciscan health programs improve family and visitor spaces and allow caregivers access to more updated Health Care Technologies the new clinical building will contain all the Clinical Services and programs currently in the existing buildings 1 through six which will create a more comprehensive and cohesive landscape and improved public realm the bpda hosted five task force and public meetings the latest being being on September 25th 2024 all of which were well attended and advertised in the local newspaper Franciscan also worked with the community members and local elected officials to Garner support for this 10-year institutional master plan proposal now we'll turn it over to Michelle ye to go over to the planning context before um Franciscan Hospital presents thank you to the members of the board elected officials City agencies who help review their proposal Franciscan Children's Hospital institutional master plan thank you thank you Tyler um good morning Mr chair and members of the commission my name is Michelle and I am the planning review team planner assigned to this project uh next slide please the proposed 2022 to 2032 institutional master plan for The Franciscan Children's Hospital is located in the Alon bright Brighton neighborhood district and currently comprises of three zoning subdistricts the Kenny Rock conservation protection subdistrict The Franciscan children's hosal institutional subdistrict and the multif family residential subdistrict this portion of Warrant stre is currently a mix of institutional and residential uses in regards to Transportation the proposed project is 0.3 miles from the MBTA Warren Street Greenline station and is serviced by the MBTA 57 bus route next slide please the proposed project site Falls within the boundaries of the atin bran needs assessment which was approved and adopted by the BBD BP da board in January 2024 as this project will create improvements along warrant stre to increase Mobility this is consistent with the need for increased connectivity to Medical Services found in the plan as the campus pursues his 2022 to 2032 imp the ongoing Alon Bretton community plan should also be considered as this two-year planning process will guide the growth in both the Austin and Breton neighborhoods next slide please in regards to Transportation the proposed project site also falls within the the boundaries of gold Boston 2030 complete Street guidelines and the Alon Brighton Mobility plan which were all taken into consideration with the site circulation and the proposed improvements on war Street to meet the city guidelines next slide please as the proposed project a new clinical building will adhere to the dimensional regulations set forth in the proposed imp the proposed imp will establish us and dimensional regulations for the campus and future development projects notable highlights for the project include transportation and improvements such as the replacement of surface parking to accommodate more open space adding two crosswalks to Warrant Street including one at Monastery way path and eliminating the unnecessary driveway at cambas Street and improving pedestrian safety thank you and now I'll turn it over to the hospitals team to present the project in more detail good morning Commissioners uh my name is Lisa hogerty I'm the senior vice president of real estate planning and development for Boston Children's Hospital uh about 18 months ago Franciscan children's join the Boston Children's Hospital System uh and now we have a formalized affiliation agreement and Boston Children's has been supporting The Franciscan team on this imp work we'd like to thank Tyler Ross and uh the entire bpda uh planning staff for all of their support and uh I'll now turn it over to Dr Joseph Mitchell who's the president and CEO of Franciscan Thank you Lisa thank you very much for having me this morning my name is Joe Mitchell I'm the president of Franciscan children's uh I also want to Echo Lisa's thanks to the bpda uh to our elected officials to the planning staff for what has really been an incredibly collaborative process over many years Franciscan childrens's was founded in 1949 uh and uh is a leading provider of complex care for children both in Boston uh and New England uh we are the largest provider of impatient Behavioral Health Services in the city of Boston we are the only pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital in uh New England we operate um one of the most important and impactful dental surgical programs uh in the Greater Boston area and uh we're proud to run uh a very unique special education school called the Kennedy Day School we can go to the next slide please as Lisa mentioned uh in July of last year we officially uh became an affiliate a Boston Children's Hospital uh this came on the backs of many decades of clinical collaboration and really a shared commitment uh to the community and to the children uh who we serve we recognize that we Franciscan occupy an indispensable and critical a part of the healthc Care delivery system for kids but we also recognize that we could do so much more to address the community's needs if we came together as one institution and so we did so with four primary goals first to expand access access to care uh for children suffering from behavioral health and medical and dental conditions second to recruit retain and train the next generation of caregivers which is particularly important given the uh Staffing challenges that uh Pediatrics faces today third to invest in clinical research and Innovation uh both for complex medical kids but also kids um facing behavioral health challenges which has been uh really an epidemic coming out of the pandemic uh over the last many years and then finally um to modernize our campus on Warren Street and Brighton uh which largely dates back to the 1950s and 60s you can go to the next slide please um we are delivering very complicated Care on our campus we operate a 48 bed postacute Care Unit which uh it requires very intensive technology nursing and support uh and yet we're doing it um in buildings that were not fit that are not fit for purpose that were designed in the 1950s and 60s when Franciscan was a Convalescent Hospital for Children and despite the wonderful caregivers and uh extremely high quality programs we have this uh creates many challenges for us including the high cost to maintain our facility uh the lack of private rooms uh infection prevention and other quality and safety challenges that you face when you're trying to deliver uh complex care in 2024 in facilities that were designed for care in the 1950s and 60s we can go to the next slide please um and so we have an urgency to act and uh this is an incredibly exciting moment in time for both institutions as we embark on building uh the first Standalone Pediatric Hospital really in a generation in the city of Boston which has been um uh badly needed for some time and it's needed for three reasons first uh we're in the middle of a once in a generation Behavioral Health epidemic which began before the covid-19 pandemic but certainly has intensified since then one in four children are depressed or anxious we've seen suicide and suicide attempt um increase really dramatically over the last many years and children are suffering about half of kids surveys uh surveyed in the city of Boston last year um talked about uh a persistent feeling of helplessness and hopelessness so uh you know Houston we have a problem with kids and we face uh losing a generation of kids if we don't do something and act urgently um second is the types of kids that we're seeing on our campus um have grown in their complexity and Acuity which means we need more contemporary spaces um and infrastructure to support them and our staff and then finally as I mentioned earlier um our facility is aging and outdated and has really been a challenge to maintain over the last many years and to ensure the quality and safety of our children and our for our children and our staff go to the next slide please uh so we're planning um a significant expansion um on our campus uh which uh my colleagues are going to talk about in a minute but just to highlight some of the advantages of this plan um we're going to significantly expand um access and capacity for both kids facing complex Rehabilitation um issues as well as Behavioral Health needs uh we're going to design rooms uh that are and spaces that are much more comforting uh Joy light filled and really bring a sense of of Hope and healing uh as I mentioned earlier we do not have private rooms which is really not the standard of care in 2024 all the rooms will be private uh and we um intentionally are going to design much better spaces for families and staff the the average length of stay that a child and family are with us is 70 days and yet we don't have great spaces to accommodate families who are going through very difficult and traumatic um challenges with their children so in summary we're very excited for this project uh we can't thank you enough for your support um and for the planning staff that's been working with us over the last many years uh we have an opportunity to transform Healthcare in the city of Boston for a generation and really emerge as a uh national leader and National model for rehabilitation medicine and Behavioral Health with that let me uh turn it over to my colleague Martin bat who's the lead architect on the project thanks Joe uh good morning CH Nichols and Commissioners um I will present the project in more detail my name is Martin bad I am president of is genuity the Architects for the project next slide please um this is the the site for Franciscan Children's Hospital as mentioned it is on uh Warren Street it does have a um edge of the site along Cambridge Street um and Warren Street is a connector street that um runs between Cambridge Street and Commonwealth Avenue next slide please the area as mentioned is um does have some significant um institutions along Warren Street including bright Marine Brighton High School Boston green Academy um St Elizabeth Med medical centers uh main driveway also um is on Warren Street um and then we do have some midscale residential um on the Commonwealth Avenue end of Warren Street next slide please um just a an overview sort of looking from the Commonwealth venue um side you can see the Brighton Marine building um on Warren Street um as well as um the Brighton High School a relatively recent residential development um and um it just gives you the context of the the buildings um of Franciscan as mentioned they are they are um scaled um such that they are really not fit for purpose they don't meet handicap accessibility codes um and um really do not provide the types of environments um needed to provide the complex care that Franciscan provides next slide please um some views along Warren Street um Warren Street um has not um clearly had a an upgrade um in a significant amount of time the sidewalks are pretty inhospitable to pedestrians um and pretty narrow um so we you know it's a unique opportunity for Franciscan for um the area of um sidewalk and public realm um that um AB buts waren Avenue to to Really transform um the experience but experience and the public experience of Warren Street next slide um some views from the other direction again just showing the sort of the overall feel um of Warren Street um very much you know a lack of Street trees and and other types of um things that we would expect to see on on a on a public realm um today next slide please um the side plan um it it really um came about through um some some um work with the bpda and and bcdc as to sort of really how to optimize this particular site and and the advantages that this site has to create you know something that is going to be um you know a state-of-the-art campus and and really um a national model of care um and and how does that translate into an overall campus um for um for Franciscan children's hospital um you can see um that we actually have a Conservation Area existing Ken Kennedy Rock and urban wild um on the site which will be um maintained um right now that um that Urban wild it it's um visible to Cambridge Street but you you really can't um appreciate it or see it from one street the buildings block it so we we've actually created a sort of a new visual Corridor that sort of um allows um views into the site all the way through the site to to that Urban Conservation Area and really taken that inspiration and the idea of therapy um and the idea of healing um and um Infuse the entire site um with um those Concepts um in a way that you know not only we're healing patients but we have the potential to impact um the public in a way that reflects Franciscan Mission um as healing and so some of the things that we've um we've done is we've expanded the the public realm to allow for um significant views into the campus uh we widened um the accessible public realm to the public um and we're creating a linear artwor um along Warren Street um that provides for um you know um areas of contemplation and just really engagement um with um with the site with um with the artwork and obviously um with Franciscan um we're um included a rain Garden um feature um that is going to be partially accessible to the public as part of the experience um and we've we've taken down the sort of traditional barriers um the institutional barriers um along Warren Street um using more natural elements to create thresholds to Define sort of public and and and um private space um so the whole idea is as part of this clinical um process and healing is to really deinstitutionalize um the experience of um Franciscan children's hospital um and really engage um the public realm um with the um with the programs and and the the concepts of what they do at franciscans all the way through the site next slide please um some elevations of the the building the building is a four-story um building with um basically in the ground floor um opens up with some of the more public spaces such as cafeterias and lobbies um into that um into the site um with three floors of clinical space and then a twostory penthouse um so it just gives you the sort of overall um view of the building from South and North elevations next slide please um and this is the East and West elevations next slide please um insection um the first uh the upper section is a cross-section across the site um you can see the relative scale of the building um where set back significantly um from um the adjacent um midscale residential um so between 72 and 120 ft um and on the um cross-section um across Warren Street you can see the relative scale of the building um to the Brighton Marine which um is is sits up on a slope um and sort of overlooks Warren Street so we're um you know consistent in in height with other buildings um in along Warren Street next slide please uh this this is the um view along Warren Street um um basically the the Art Walk uh so the idea is that the the public realm is has been widened we have a a stone wall that creates a a threshold uh for public and private um and um using landscape and art and um having the sidewalk um flow and then sort of meander it it just creates a completely different experience for for um the public um as they experience walking down um walking down Warren Street next slide please um this is a view further down Warren Street as you approach the building it gives an idea of sort of the um building scale um relative to um just as you're approaching um approaching the the um garden areas that are going to be accessible um showing just the the um visuals as you would experience it next slide please um in terms of materiality um the building um is um the goal is to be I think Joe mentioned this to be joyful um where um utilizing um um some um masonary that is um is reflective in a modern interpretation of the current campus materials um but also um the idea of of um having some um color and some vertical elements on the building that um just de institutionalize the The Experience um of the campus and the building from a patient perspective and you can see just at the ground floor how this building is incredibly welcoming um to the public um as you approach next slide please um this is a a building uh sorry this is a view from um the garden areas that will be accessible um that just shows um the the overall aspect that the transformation of the campus from you know effectively a heat island to a much more natural state next slide please um a view um along the building as you approach um there is a a a connector that connects to the Kennedy Day School which will remain on the campus um and just uh again showing additional landscape and um and openness of the overall side next slide please and um just as you approach the entrance um of the building itself and the view back to Warren Street um next slide please and so you know in summary um you know the the um project um serves about 4,500 patients annually um and um it has a expanded outpatient program so the the opportunity to really be a national model for Behavioral Healthcare is is the goal of the project and and um uh it will create a significant um increase in um construction uh jobs and there will be an expansion um of programs which will increase the uh number of employees at Franciscan Children's Hospital uh we are um adding um bike stations and bike parking um obviously creating a rain a rain Garden that is publicly accessible uh we are cre two raised crosswalks along Warren Street um just to reduce the speed of traffic along Warren Street and we are targeting um industry-leading carbon emissions index um and Lee gold um and obviously the building will meet all of the upcoming um energy code requirements and we'll be um electrification ready that's the conclusion of the presentation thank you thank you for your presentation we'll now see if we have questions from the commission only followed by public testimony questions from the commission hearing none we will move to public testimony I'd also ask Commissioners to recall the prior testimony provided by councilor brayen uh if you are interested in offering public testimony uh please at this time uh raise your hand and commission staff will call on you in the order in which you noted your interest in offering testimony right thank you Mr chairman uh John Woods John go ahead and unmute you hello my name is John Woods I'm here this morning in support of The Franciscan children's institutional master plan and new building project I've been the executive director of the aome Brighton Community Development cooperation since 2018 and spent seven years in the early 2000s as the organization's director of real estate I have over 30 years of experience in affordable Housing and Community Development from my long-standing work in the Austin Brighton Community I can say that Franciscan children's is an important part of what makes our neighborhood so special their medical mental health educational and dental services are crucial to the surrounding Community Franciscan is also an important employer to the city with over 30% of its employees living in Boston I often make my way from our office in Brighton over to our community center in Allon and I take enormous pleasure in walking down Warren Street by the important Community institutions like Brighton Marine Center St Elizabeth and of course Franciscan Children's Hospital these symbols of caring that extend to the people of the neighborhood are a point of Pride because these crucial resources symbolize that sense of caring and compassion that makes alustin Brighton a great place to live and work I'm excited that Franciscan new building will help increase its impact and reach even more children and families in need of medical and Behavioral Health Services this investment in children's and families will have a longlasting impact on the community and benefit F future Generations I know this project will be critical and transformative to the neighborhood by creating a state-of-the-art therapeutic environment for patients families and staff I'm also pleased and excited that the building project will show leadership in environmental sustain stainability the community features described in the building plan a new blue bike station a rain Garden an artw walk new crosswalks on Warren Street will be a huge enhancement to the neighborhood as the merger between children's hospital and The Franciscan Children's Hospital takes place I'm pleased that the efforts to expand and modernize the Fran Franciscan facility is coming to fruition it helps to reinforce that the tremendously positive impact franciscans has had here in Brighton will continue for many years to come thank you to the zoning commission for the opportunity to testify this morning and voice my strong support for The Franciscan Children's Campus modernization plans next is James Prince James go ahead hello Commissioners my name is Jim Prince I'm a lifelong Brighton resident and a francisc children's board member I'm testifying today in support of Franciscan children's plans to build a new clinical building and modernize its campus my entire professional career was spent working with children with significant Behavioral Health needs I retired recently after spending 22 years as the Director of the Manville School at the Baker Center for Children in Mission Hill I know how important it is to expand access to Services children with comp Lex medical and Behavioral Health needs this is a population that is growing and requires the unique and critical services that Franciscan children's provides Franciscan new building will enable an expansion of the hospital's Mental Health and Rehab programming across the C Continuum including inpatient outpatient and intermediate levels of care Franciscan existing buildings are outdated with four of them over 70 years old creating significant ongoing operational challenges I know this fir hand I I started my career at franciscans in the 1970s the proposed new building will allow Franciscan staff to better serve children in a welc familyfriendly environment one that will support complex care they deliver to children on a daily basis as Brighton resident I greatly appreciate the work done over the past two years in refining the plans for this project with significant Community feedback a substantial emphasis on Green Space environmental sustainability and accessibility the plan for the Franciscan campus is both a great fit for our community and transformative at the same time I enthus enthusiastically support Franciscan Children's Campus modernization plans thank you to the commission for giving me the opportunity to testify today okay next is Jean Powers Jean go ahead thank you um good morning Commissioners thank you for giving me this opportunity to testify my name is Jean Powers and I'm a resident of Alon and a member of The Franciscan children's IM task force I'm speaking today in support of the Francis skin children's institutional master plan and newb building project I feel strongly about this project because my own family has benefited greatly from the expertise and compassion of franciscans and children's mental health services without these Services my child would probably not be alive today um my child began experiencing extreme mental health issues during the pandemic and was hospitalized at both franciscans and children several times over the next few years it was a frightening and painful time that we were able to navigate only with support and guidance from these dedicated mental health professionals during the pandemic demand for inpatient treatment was high and availability was limited at one point my child waited in an emergency room for more than two weeks and then boarded in the hospital without access to Mental Health Services for nearly two months while waiting for a spot to open in an inpatient unit with this new clinical building and campus modernization access to these vital mental health services will be greatly expanded other families will not have to endure the pain and fear that my family went through children will be able to receive the help they need when they need it from the most dedicated skilled and compassionate providers in the nation and they will be treated in a facility that not only respects but celebrates children this is the facility our children deserve as an imp Task Force member I have seen this project evolve and response to community feedback The Proposal before you today is a beautiful welcoming place of healing that will benefit our entire Community I strongly support this plan and I hope you will as well thank you I have no more raised hands Mr chairman thank you Jeff and we will move into our business session uh do any members of the commission have any discussion or motion Mr chair I would make a motion that we approve map Amendment application number 788 Franciscan Hospital for Children institutional master plan second we have a motion and second we will move to a roll call vote Miss Hatton yes Mr deela yes Mr Mah yes Miss Miller yes Mr Le yes Mr aroyo yes Mr ostrich yes Mr mcneel yes and I vote Yes it's a vote of nine in favor and no opposed congratulations thank you Commissioners thank you commission as we transition to our final hearing of the day I believe we do have another uh member of the commission who is recusing from this hearing yes that's thank you commissioner Miller will not be on the line for this final hearing of the day thank you for joining the Boston zoning commission public hearing which is being held virtually to ensure the safety of the public staff members and the Boston zoning Commissioners during the covid-19 pandemic the open public meeting law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is being recorded Please be aware that an audio and visual recording of this meeting is being made and we'll now take a roll call vote of the members present at the beginning of this meeting Miss Hatton present Mr dellaa present Mr Mah Mr Mah Mr left pres Mr Ro Royo present Mr ostrich present Mr mcneel present I'm Michael Nichols and present Mr M are you on the line okay we have seven voting Commissioners which is for for this hearing this is a public hearing before the Boston zoning commission to consider map Amendment application number 789 filed by the city of Boston planning department the hearing was duly advertised on October 31 2024 in the Boston Herald in a Boston zoning commission hearing on proposed petitions the proponent will first present their case and are subject to the questioning by members of the commission only we are taking support and opposition at the same time if you are planning to testify please take time now to verify that your computer microphone is active click the hand icon on your Zoom control panel this will signal to staff that you wish to speak when your hand is raised it will be blue if you were calling into the meeting and wish to testify please dial star9 to raise your hand when I call for all testimony staff will announce your name you'll be unmuted your microphone will be active your webcam will not be active in an effort to accommodate all those who wish to speak about this proposal each person will be given up to two minutes to comment commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain at that time please conclude your remarks so that the hearing May continue and others may be heard finally the proponents are allowed a period of 5 to 10 minutes of rebuttal if they so desire will the planning department staff please begin the presentation thank you chair Nichols and members of the commission my name is Ebony D roza and I'm a senior project manager with the development review division of the planning department the proposed project before you is an article 8e small project for phase one of the Boston Water andwer Commission parking lots located at 980 Harrison avue Vue the phase one proposed project comprises the construction of a six-story residential building with approximately 44,000 Square ft of gross floor area that will include 45 affordable home ownership units 54 bicycle parking spaces and up to 32 atg grade vehicular parking spaces provided in a temporary parking lot associated with the phase one of a phase five project phase one will receive American Rescue plan act funding that must be committed by the end of the year the proponent filed a small project review application for the proposed project on September 6th 2024 the spr was sent to the city's public agencies and departments and elected officials pursuant to Section 8 a-2 of the code on September 26th a virtual public meeting was held the public meeting was appropriately advertised in the Roxbury and South End newspapers listed on the planning department website and distributed to those enrolled in the planning department Roxberry and Southend email lists the comment period concluded on October 7th in addition to the legally required article 80 meeting that I previously described I held a meeting on October 7th with the proponent and six community members to allow for further discussion on the proposal which resulted in the proponent commit committing to continuing to engage with the group as the project progresses the phase one article 80 small project review was just one step in a multi-year process of Redevelopment that started approximately 18 months ago and included six public meetings as part of the disposition and proposal selection process finally I would like to thank elected officials and the Roxbury and South End communities who have consistently worked within the article 80 process over the last few years and help shape the project you are about to see I will now turn it over to senior planner Lois to cover the planning context before the development team begins their presentation thanks 7y good morning again Mr chairman and members of the commission my name is Ella Wise and I'm a senior planner with the planning review team the proposal before you is a map amendment to adopt a U District to enable the development of affordable homeownership units on a Surface parking lot as described by ebony the development constitutes phase one in a multiphase Redevelopment of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission parking lots next slide please as shown here the five uh bwsc or Boston Water and Sewer Commission parking lots are just north of Melia Cass and east of Washington Street the site under consideration today is only the one outlined in Black here recent developments in the area are noted on the slide in terms of planning context the Rockbar strategic master plan plan Nubian square and the December 2023 RFP or request for proposals provide planning context next slide so the rsmp a neighborhood wide planning study to guide change and economic growth in Roxbury established goals related to maximizing affordable housing units and improving multimodal accessibility as well as emphasizing the importance of of Melia cast and serving as a seam to unite upper and lower Roxberry this image here is copied from the plan and we've added this oval circling uh circling the five parking lots next Slide the proposed project is just outside of the boundaries of plan nuvan Square you can see the boundaries are the dash blue line and again we've added that oval circling the Lots um however plan Nubian was focused on Guiding the use of quote public land for public good and is therefore particularly relevant to the proposal plan Nubian recommends balancing commercial and residential opportunities with a mix of affordability levels as well as the use of Public Funding to provide deep affordability The Proposal aims to leverage Federal funding as ebony noted to deliver exactly this kind of affordable housing and wealth building opportunities next slide please and then finally the RFP so the real estate team at the bpda Led a community engagement process to draft the RFP which was released in December of last year the RFP requires development of the parking lots to be consistent with the two neighborhood plans I just described and to advance several development objectives including creation of affordable housing and creation of wealth through home ownership opportunities next slide slide please so the planning context the RFP the selection process the article 80 review of phase one leads us to today the phase one parcel is is included in the Southend urban renewal plan and any development of the site must accordingly be allowed by the urban renewal plan at its October meeting the the of the October meeting the bpda approved a minor modification which is a non-substantive Amendment to the urban renewal plan to amend the boundaries of parcel 35 urban renewal parcel 35 to include the entire Phase 1 Project site and to allow the proposed uses minor modifications as you know are routin routinely used in order to ensure that the intended land uses as outlined in the accompanying projects are in compliance with the respective plan in addition the planning department is p petitioning the zoning commission to to adopt an urban renewal overlay District or a U District which will supersede the base zoning and allow for the proposed uses and dimensions the O the U District only applies to urban renewal parcel 35 which includes only phase one of the site as outlined on that first slide in Black the U District is the most effective tool for enabling phase one to be permitted and constructed delivering these affordable home home excuse me affordable home home ownership opportunities in Roxbury in addition it is a tool that the city has used for similar affordable housing projects in Roxbury including Northampton Street residents with your choice and others next slide please this chart Compares some key facts about the proposed project to adopted zoning planning and policy the proposed Project's base zoning is the article 50 Roxberry neighborhood District multif family residential subdistrict and as noted the proposed U District would supersede the base zoning and allow for the proposed uses and diens dimensions all of which are consistent with the planning context thanks for your time and with that I'll turn it over to the development team thank you Ella and uh good morning uh my name is Gregory Minot um I want to thank the Commissioners City staff and elected officials for their time today um as Ella mentioned today we'll be presenting the phase one of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission parking lot Redevelopment to create new home ownership in Roxbury bringing jobs an improved public realm and bringing many sustainable features in terms of a green building and creation of an of open space so today I'm joined by my colleagues on the screen uh today from dream development and related Beal we'll be here to answer any questions uh so we are in a 50/50 joint venture uh between dream and related Beal as co-developers and economic Partners in this development next slide so as previously mentioned just to give you a status of where we are in the process um in February of this year our team responded to a community-led RP process that came out of a city-wide land audit identify high priority sites to create affordable housing and we submitted our proposal for a 402 unit mixed income mixed use master plan we're designated in April and since then we've been working diligently with the planning department the neighborhood and other key stakeholders to get to a bpda board approval in on October 10th and the timeline for the project was driven by the goal to commit federal arper arpa dollars to the phase one project by the end of the year which we have achieved and the project now has received its arer funding as of November first next slide so today we are seeking approval for the phase one parcel of a 4 and a half acre master plan uh the phase one parcel will contain the 45 unit Home Ownership building and a future Phase 5 building that will contain 30 4 home ownership units our goal for the entire master plan is to enhance the site's integration with the neighborhood by transforming these parking lots into much needed residential buildings and rein and reinforcing major city connections next slide so the key objectives of our proposal are to first and foremost restore and reinvest in this section of the L rockbury neighborhood while honoring the Legacy and history of lower Roxbury and we're doing that first and foremost by prioritizing home ownership as the first phase which starts to honor that Legacy we're also catalyzing economic growth in the community prioritizing local Roxbury Workforce participation and people with people of color and women and lastly the product will seek to enhance and facilitate Pathways to home ownership for firsttime home buyers through our partnership with the Massachusetts affordable housing Alliance otherwise known as Maha um through tools such as enhanced down payment assistance next slide so you'll see on this this slide uh photos of our site um that was um cleared or raised during urban renewal and we're excited to transform these parking lots into a vibrant section of the neighborhood once again you'll see the first phase um site outlined in red and that site is bordered by East Lenox Reed Street and newom Street next slide so we've intentionally designed a building to reflect roxbury's and Boston's historic pedestrian friendly character by utilizing thoughtful building materials massing and Design Elements such as the use of brick of course this design will continue to evolve through our um collaboration with the planning staff and uhoh the pride site is around 33,000 Square ft um the building size is approximately 48,000 grow square feet um again it's 45 units of income restricted housing restricted at 80% and 100% am I so you know targeting teachers firefighters City staff as an example um of of the income levels that we're targeting um to occupy this building um the building will be six stories 70 ft in height a 1.9 F uh 32 on-site parking spaces uh which will be available on a first come first um uh come uh first serve basis and we're excited Del live deliver this building as a Lee Platinum passive house 100% electric building next slide so the phase one site plan uh we PRI prioritize um Reed Street as the main pedestrian Corridor the entrance to the building will be off uh newom Street uh but re Street and you know essentially all three uh streets that border the the site um will be featuring pedestrian friendly design and appealing landscape so we have set the building back to create these expanded sidewalks and Landscape zones to really Foster a welcoming and active streetscape incorporating new tree canopy and increased Greenery surrounding the site to promote a healthier Urban environment we've also sighted the building to maximize open space and use as little of the site area as possible for the building and we're giving back 16 feet of the site area via easements on all three sides of the site um to promote this um enhanced Greenery the future phase five which you saw in the earlier um slide will be built on the parking lot behind the phase 1 building and the displac phase one parking space will be relocated to an adjacent future phase three parking that will be par part of that Residential Building in the future next slide uh so this is a typical Street section this one is through East lenux um but what I want to highlight is um that we're giving back 16 approximately 16 feet of our site uh on all three sides to improve this public realm um and to create these wider sidewalks and accommod this new tree canopy next slide uh This Is A View From East lenux and again we're excited to bring this brick expression um to fit into the neighborhood in the context of this six-story building next slide and this is a rendering from our RFP um submission um the phase one building uh will over look at Future Central Open Space which is features featured in this rendering and the phase on building you know the way that we're thinking and and placing it on the site um and the Urban Design moves we're creating the framework to accomplish a seamless integration with future phases and the in and the existing neighborhood uh with that I want to thank you for your time today can I just ask a quick question Greg um on the phase one you said the entrance was on newom Street would um Building Services like trash and uh the ability for people to move in move out occur behind the building um into that that area that looked like it was a short-term parking area or it was it was brown um I I just was curious if if you could just describe how you're going to um offer the residents the ability to have that type of service given that parking is not going to be temporarily on the other lot but just how do they get their trash out and and what circulation um how how that will be addressed thank you absolutely thank you jelly one go back to the site site plan I think it's a few few slides back back yeah right there yes um and so that parking lot will it so the entire red area um with the phase one and phase five that's all pH the phase one parcel okay uh so the the parking lot will remain um and be in service for the homeowners um until the future phase three uh building comes online so that will be fall intense on purpose they're parking lot right for for for for now until the foreseeable future so between the parking lot and the phase one building we're accommodating um a secure uh so the trash will be in the building for the most part until it needs to get taken out and then it would be you know for you know for the period of a few hours it will be contained within a secured fence in location um between the parking lot and and the building and um that will be secured okay but all the access for those services are off newom Street as well it looks like there's another little driveway entrance um there yeah so the so there is a driveway off East Lenox okay I see that access the parking lot yep so that's where you'd be able to Building Services Building Services move in move out okay all right thank you Greg thank you absolutely other questions from Commissioners for the project team this might be more for the planning department but um I think this project is fantastic I I I'm trying to think um do the future phases have to do the future phases have to go through the same process um I'm just trying to think of other ways to accelerate these future phases it's uh it's a great question I will uh defer to the uh the planning department on on the future phases but as soon as we're able to progress uh with the future phases um you know we're excited to move forward um hi commissioner so all of the future phases will go through their own um article 80 review uh so we will be back in front of the community the board and the zoning Commission um at the appropriate time okay this is just for phase one this is just for phase one yeah okay and we will um present to to the zoning commission for the zoning pathway for future phases so at uh the November bpda board there was an amendment um approved and to petition the the zoning commission regarding enabling development of future phases okay thank you yeah I've been walking and driving past these lws my whole life I uh so happy to see being engaged now and Ella that that enabling leg Le the enabling activity will be soon I think to to Jaime's point to keep this momentum but this this designation allows the ability to access these funds which expire at the end of the year as I understand so the timing is very critical that this parcel one have this designation to be able to take advantage of the funds that Greg indicated you have been allocated is that correct that's correct okay thank you can I just raise one question um I I think this the project looks looks great uh to me and uh but I did have one question we received uh uh one uh very strong negative uh letter on this um from the folks at uh it was 881 to 85 Harrison a which is not immediately Jason but in close proximity and the one piece that that had raised a little bit of concern was the the u u public uh process could someone from the uh planning department uh just address that just to help me understand that that the process is that there isn't really an issue with the process because I do realize how important uh the U timing is for sure um so as I stated in my earlier remarks um this first phase is just one step in a multi-year process um that started approximately 18 months ago I was not a part of that process um but I do have a colleague on that can speak more to um the pro uh the process but they did have six public meetings with the community um as part of the disposition and uh proposal selection process um I myself after the spr was filed um which was also sent to the public agencies departments and elected officials I held one uh community meeting um and then actually held a separate meeting with the proponent and members um of the community that wrote that letter that you are referring to um so I had a separate meeting apart from the public meeting um and in that meeting the proponent committed to continuing engagement with uh these abutters um to ensure that as the project progresses like one of their concerns was security of the area so as the project reaches those Milestones they will continue to engage with this group um to ensure that they are working collaboratively on a solution to um mitigate some of their concerns thank you any other questions from the commission hearing done we will move to public testimony uh I would encourage members of the public who wish to speak to note so on uh by raising their hand um chat is not necessarily referred to by all members of the commission for public testimony so you are encouraged to uh raise your hand and use up to two minutes to um to speak um when you are called upon please um identify yourself your support or opposition and again you have up to two minutes to speak commission staff will call on folks in the order that they raise their hands thank you uh Mr chairman first Brian mcarter Brian go ahead sorry am I unmuted you are now so I am uh Brian mcarter one of the abutters to this project um I hear what you're saying today but this the facts of the situation are untr I'm still waiting for responses from John and Greg uh to my emails so any commitments to engage the community haven't aren't being met um we still view this as a abuse of the public process and that there's false information in the uh bpda board memo as well as the presentation today uh the boundaries of parcel 35 are beyond the boundaries of phase one so this zoning change will impact areas Beyond phase one so any statement that uh this is only affecting phase one is untrue uh we were submitted an additional letter with from the community with about 45 people since Monday have signed uh objecting to this zoning change uh I think there was a lot of unanswered questions we've got about three or four public records requests to the city to try to understand various phases and pieces of this process and they have not been responded to uh so we vly uh and unanimously have to say we this should not move forward and this matter either needs to be rejected or delayed to a later hearing where some of these issues can be addressed okay next is Andrew brand Andrew go ahead I am can you hear me now yes okay so I am a 27e resident of the area and while I strongly support phase one the owner occupied um units I have the same concern that Brian has according to the zoning the Boston zoning view of parcel 35 extends west of newom Street it was not outlined in Black in the presentation nor in the red presentation that developers gave um so that extra land would also cover phase three of the project there have been no hearings on phase three and uh our so specifically Our concern about phase three is that it would uh include some um homeless uh set aside housing we've been trying that is administered by the mayor's office of housing we've been trying to work with the mayor's office of housing to get some confirmation that they would not be PL um placing individuals with active addiction into those units but as of as of um late last night we or as of right now we have not gotten that confirmation we don't feel that putting uh ACT people with an act of addiction into an area that's right in the middle of an open a drug Market will be beneficial to those people and it will certainly exasperate the conditions in the neighborhood that are always already pretty bad our at least our ask and we're we're the 45 people is that you either um you know reject the meeting until this can the zoning change until it can be clarified or clarified here that it only affects fa that it only affects phase one and not the area west of uh west of Nukem Street and thus phase three okay next is Adam Powell Adam go ahead am I on muted now yes good hi my name is Adam pow and I'm a trustee of Harrison Garden condominium at 881 Harrison Avenue I represent the people of the building which is in 300 ft of the parking lots and hence am in a butter I am here to Second what was just said by Brian mcarter and Andrew brand and then provide some additional remarks as you may have seen in Boston 25 News November 18th and read in our letters objecting to this plan this plan will actively harm us the city is already failing the neighborhood there is open drug use residents of the building have been assaulted homeless people regularly go through a trash throw it on the street this year someone even stole our flower planters rezoning and facilitating this development provide a permanent supply of active drug users to our community deepening our current problems rather than fixing them this is being done against the wishes of the community as you've seen there are dozens of people objecting community outreach has largely not been directed to the abuts rezoning is being used as a way to avoid being responsive to community and working with it and there's been housing activism that's not being driven by the people live here that you should all be serving this is really being driven from outside there's a lack of a security plan people that are dangerous potentially are being moved into our community without any additional security to protect the existing residents in later phases there's going to be a lack of adequate parking and there's also no market rate housing that could potentially subsidize necessary services such as security would you want the city placing active drug users next to your home without any added security please protect people that already live in this community by voting against the proposal we do not want this project happening thank you thank you anyone else that wishes to speak that has not yet raised their hand I have Mr chairman Jeff and Cyrus we've got someone who in the chat is saying they want to speak but I for whatever reason are not showing up as a in able to raise their hand that's someone you're able to call on in the zoom settings hey Kathleen I don't I don't see uh Jenny in the attendance list any anymore but I do see that that Rey just uh put a put a message in the chat and so I will promote him hello good morning uh my name is Reay Yan I'm the um one of the director Ops and actually I actually seconding uh those three previous speakers so and I object object to the approval of this project and I second their opinion and currently actually the street even you know you got already got a sharp uh needles on the syringe and you know by introducing this project and City without taking care of of this issue by introducing this project you know this is not for the great benefit of the community actually so you know you need to improve the quality of life of the neighborhood not you know by making it worse I think our project should keep this in mind no matter what your goals is thank you for your testimony is there anyone else that wishes to speak who has not yet raised their hand seeing none we will move to a brief uh period of rebuttal for either or both of the planning department and the project team yeah this uh this is John Barrow uh uh uh commissioner and U I am a member of the development team and uh want to first thank you for uh hearing our presentation today and want to thank the city staff for all of their their work as well uh we have been uh talking to Brian and um those who who spoke today and Brian is right he had he he wrote a letter with a long list of issues and uh has has written some emails we tried to answer some of the emails uh to the best we can unfortunately some of the issues that they're raising are beyond our project and in fact Beyond this phase one building uh but we are sympathetic to the qualities of life that we all uh um have to deal with I live um not too far from the location currently I understand some of the issues on our streets um but um they're not issues that you know effectively are being caused by the creation of affordable housing I think there's a little bit of misconception when we talk to them about who will live in these homes right these are homeowners and um you know people who are homeless can't qualify for um the units we're building these are for teachers for firefighters for uh members of the public that are effectively serve our communities and oftentimes Can't Buy in the open market um and units and so it's really important housing in future phases there will be is there will be um deeper affordability and and um there will be questions around uh some of the deep affordability affordable units that they're talking to looking forward to having that conversation and deep in in future uh uh phases there will be other questions around parking and moving forward and and once again I said to Brian we'd love to continue to engage you about the parking plan and what we're trying to do um but but once again that that can't be answered here in phase one so although we are we're deeply sympathetic to issues that they've raised uh we've done our best to try to answer those questions around garbage um um uh security um but but in fact um they're right this is just phase one it's a home ownership unit and as they said um that that's all we're trying to get um approved here is phase one it's a 45 units and we look forward to engaging them and you in the future phases of the project thank you thank you for those statements uh would someone from the planning department please address the feedback about the zoning implications um uh pursued at this time relative to the phase one project in any future phase yeah thank you Mr chair I'm happy to follow up on that um we actually have we took a look at that letter as well um and can clarify that we have Max here who's a policy specialist on urban renewal who can kind of walk through the technical details of parcel 35 yeah excuse me absolutely um can you all hear me yes great um thank you chair Commissioners plan Department staff um just want to acknowledge the comment that was made about parcel 35 and provide some clarification so Brian and others who sent that letter um I assume that when you were looking at the zoning viewer you were referring to um the parcel that is labeled parcel 35 and 36B under the section that says land disposition agreements um that tag is actually related to metadata in the system and simply denotes the fact that when the parcels were conveyed and LDA was attached to two of those Parcels it does not label that parcel as parcel 35 so urban renewal parcel 35 in the South End urban renewal area is indeed the parcel that is described in the minor modification um from October 10th 2024 bpda board meeting um and moreover I just want to add kind of as a side note here that the zoning viewer does not reference uh it's not a regulatory tool right it's a a reference and a research tool and the governing uh uh tools that will communicate the actual boundaries of the parcels uh with regards to urban renewal are the Southend urban renewal plan and any minor modifications there too um so you know happy to answer further questions about that but again just to put um a finer point on it parcel 35 is the parcel with the boundaries that are described in that minor modification thank you thank you we will now move into our business session uh where we will entertain discussion Andor motions from members of the commission um Mr chair I would um just note because I would like to make a motion on this I think it's a very important project acknowledge the the opposition and and I do what I feel com why I feel comfortable that I'm going to make a motion is that the balance of the parcel will still go un will still undergo EX extensive um public review as Mr barel had indicated um also I just wanted to note that we also received a number of written correspondents in advance of this meeting in support of the development of the parcel one um and and I think everyone is is very clear this is just parcel one and there were a lot of uh supporting letters in FA on parcel one to and for me um I also read the letter in opposition and I read the letters in support and in in um in balance of all that I would be happy to make a motion that we approve map Amendment application number 789 parcel 35u overlay District map 6A 6B 6C Roxbury neighborhood District second that motion it's a motion and a second uh any additional uh discussion I believe commissioner left you perhaps had your hand up yeah I just might just say that I I agree with Jill um and I appreciate the uh the staff clarifications in particularly uh Mr barros's comments that uh most of those comments don't really as I see it don't really uh relate to this particular first phase project but it will be good to be able to address it and deal with those issues in future phases so thank you and I will vote Yes when it comes my turn any additional discussion from members of the commission uh yes Michael um so I I also will support this project but uh will acknowledge the opposition um I agree with Drew's comment uh uh wholeheartedly um I'm I'm working on a rather significant project also in the mass and cast basis our Mantra in terms of development in this area is not saying no but saying yes because what we've discovered and this is in the you know kind of public realm Open Space Landscape realm is that provide and adding positive uses and New Uses to areas that are problematic like mass and cast the Mantra is good use pushes out bad use and so I see this development as a good use and it is with the hope that the very reasonable issues that were raised in the opposition letter will be addressed in future phases but that we need to have some good use here so that it will look to a future where bad uses can be pushed out uh and so I will support this as well thank you commissioner any additional discussion hearing none based on the motion and second on the table we will now move to a roll call vote of the members present Miss haton yes Mr dallo yes Mr Mah yes Mr Le yes Mr aroyo yes Mr ostrich yes Mr mcneel yes and I vote yes that is eight votes in favor congratulations to the project proponents and we will see you for future phases of the project thank you thank you Commissioners thank you with that unless Jeff has any other feedback for us today we can entertain a motion to adjourn make such a motion to adjourn and I am appreciative of your patience this morning I apologize for that uh nothing that we really could control but I do appreciate you and the uh the time that you put in even though uh we really had no control over it we're going to try to work to make sure that it doesn't happen again um but I also just want to let everybody know that the next meeting um is going to be December 11th right now there was only one item on the agenda and it has to do with the water and sewer Lots again it's to make them PDA eligible so we may hear a lot of the same people testifying again so um and I also just want to give everybody a heads up that uh the law that allows us to meet remotely only uh is set to expire I believe in March so I know the bpda board had met hybrid this past Thursday so um we may have to do that I'm trying to figure a couple of things out I know the board of appeals does not want to go back to a hybrid or in person uh they feel that they get better participation and attendance virtually uh I tend to agree with that um but I as soon as I get any more new information on how meetings will go after March I will be sure to let everybody know I just wanted to uh just give everyone a heads up so uh again thank you again for today I appreciate you guys and uh I will see you next month thank you Jeff bye thank you take care Happy Thanksgiving everybody thank you everyone Happy Thanksgiving everyone