By Pete Stidman
News Editor
A lack of community interest or the impact of
summer holidays could have been what limited the
number of attendees at the first community meeting
for the proposed Bayside development on Columbia
Point.
Less than 50 people showed up on Monday evening
at the Boston Redevelopment Authority Article 80
meeting that will help decide the direction a local
developer will take the massive shopping, office
and residential development in terms of design,
density, and mitigation for increased traffic.
Those sitting in the large conference room at
the Bayside Office Center included at least a dozen
employed by the developer Corcoran Jennison Cos.
and another dozen or so representing local unions
from the building trades.
Community members who did make it listened to
presentations that gave a general idea of what the
project could become. Elkus Manfredi Architects, a
firm that was chosen to lead the Corcoran Jennison
design team less than a month ago, showed examples
of previous projects and described the "diversity
of architecture" in mind for this project.
Another more detailed report came from traffic
consultant Rick Bryant, who likened the potential
traffic to what a typical show at the Bayside Expo
Center drew.
"These might get massaged as we go forward in
the BRA process," said Bryant of the between $1.4
and $1.5 million in traffic mitigations.
Paul Nutting, a member of the project's Impact
Advisory Group was the only one to ask about the
impact to Kosciuszko Circle, an area the
mitigations address only indirectly. It was
represented by a green circle in the presentation,
indicating an intersection without significant
delays.
"Anyone who drives through the circle would
agree that it's a red or maybe a tick above it,
it's certainly not a green," said Nutting.
Bryant answered that the traffic analysis he did
for Corcoran showed that the real problem was
backed-up traffic from the onramps to I-93, and
constituted a larger problem than would need to be
addressed by more than just one developer.
Nutting indicated the neighborhood would like
to see the traffic study and mitigation extend
south on Morrissey Boulevard to the intersection
with Freeport, past the entrance to UMass where it
currently ends.
"For the IAG, or the people in this area, we'd
like to see the level of service increase rather
than decrease," he said.
A resident of Crescent Street, on the other side
of the highway and Red Line tracks from the
development, asked whether Corcoran Jennison would
be improving the connections from her neighborhood
to the new development.
"I would like to know how handicapped
individuals would get over there to do their
shopping," she said.
"A lot of that would be more forthcoming in the
master planning process than what we're doing,"
answered Corcoran Jennison's Jim Gribaudo.
Corcoran Jennison's mitigation plan so far only
addresses pedestrian connections from the JFK/UMass
station to the proposed shopping mall, also adding
crosswalks and signals at direct entrances to the
project site.
A second meeting, previously undisclosed to the
Reporter due to an internal communication problem
at the BRA, is scheduled for Aug. 4, 6 p.m., at the
Bayside Office Center, 150 Mt. Vernon St.
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