Okay. Good morning. My name is Nick Go, interim chief of streets and chair of the public improvement commission. I call to order the public improvement commission hearing of January 15, 2026. Uh Mr. Lyman, can you please take a roll call?
>> Certainly. Would the representative from the public works department please state their name for the record. Chair go if you're speaking you're muted. >> Sorry go chair motion. >> Thank you. Uh property management department please do the same.
>> Joseph Callahan. >> Thank you. Transportation department. Inspectional Services Division, >> Brian Ronin, >> Water Stewart, >> Denise Delin, >> and Disabilities
Leon. >> We have a full quarrel. >> All yours, sir. >> All right. So, first agenda item is the hearing minutes from December 18th, uh, at the request of the public improvement commission staff. uh the acceptance of
the minutes of the PIC hearing which was held on December 18th, 2025. Do I hear a motion to approve uh the minutes from December 18th? >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of December 18th. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I
opposed or abstained. Hearing none. So moved. Okay. On to new business. Um first agenda item is 29 Hawkins Street uh grant a location on a petition by uh
Eversource Electric. Um would the project team please introduce yourselves as well as your affiliations and provide a brief overview of your project and the different actions you would like the commission to consider? >> Uh yes sir. My name is Samantha Ramos. I am the project manager representing
Eversourc's um assets here. Uh we run and operate the substation at Hawkins Street right next to the police station and we are needing to
place uh an anode bed in the street um on Hawkins between the station and the A1 police station. I can share my screen and show y'all um exactly where we're looking to place if that's okay.
Yes. Okay. >> Um so this is Hawkins Street here. Um this is our station over here on the left. This is where the police station exists and we are looking to install um a collection of anodess along the along
the sidewalk right here in the parking area. Um we have performed uh some vac vacuum excavation along with ground penetrating radar surveys and have even done test pits in multiple areas and have determined that in the street is
the only feasible location to place the anodess. Um the anodess are necessary to provide uh corrosion and overcurren protection to uh the line coming from the mystic bulk power station which provides power to this particular
substation. So uh it it is a necessary infrastructure project. Um and as I said this has been determined as the most feasible location. So we are seeking a grant of location from the public improvement commission to place the
anode bed here in the street. >> Okay. >> We have y'all have any questions? >> Any questions uh or comments from the commission? Yeah. Will that impact the parking spaces along the street in the in the photo?
>> Only temporarily. Um, as far as the construction duration goes, um, we will return the street and sidewalk back to its previous or better condition after we are completed construction.
>> Jess, do you know how long roughly this project will take to complete the construction? um it'll be two weeks, but the actual street closure will only have a duration of about 3 days maximum.
Um the parking spaces will be restored though um at the twoe mark. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Any other questions or comments from the commission? How about PIC staff or members of the
public? >> I will remind the public if you wish to ask questions or add testimony to any particular action, we ask that you please use the raised hand function which can be found at the reactions tab at the bottom of your screen. Uh giving everyone a moment.
I do not see any raised hands and PSC staff is all set with this for now. >> Great. Thank you, Todd. Uh Samantha, is two weeks enough time to come back? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay, we will see you in two weeks on
January 29th. >> Thank you. Looking forward to it. You all have a great day. >> Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda uh is uh 1188 to 1194 and 1200 to 1208
Bennington Street, East Boston uh repairs uh on a petition from GVW Incorporated. Uh can the project team uh please introduce yourselves and your affiliation? Um >> yes, this time
>> good morning uh Mr. Chairman and through to the members of the commission. And for the record, my name is Richard Lind. I'm an attorney with a business address of 245 Thunder Street, East Boston on behalf of the petitioner GBW. With me is George Watenorf, who is the principal, uh Brendan Collins, project manager, um
as well as Craig Marchandona, who's our civil engineer. Uh as indicated in the petition, this is for specific repairs including sidewalk uh curb ramp reconstruction, granite curb realignment, driveway opening and landscaping connection uh with a proposed mixeduse multif family
residential uh project. There's a total of two buildings uh which have been approved under article 80 of the Boston zoning code as well as has received all necessary relief from the Boston Card appeal. Uh the proposed uh repairs are shown in a plan that's been filed with the commission. I can share my screen
and turn it over to our engineer to walk through uh the specific actions that we're requesting if that's okay with the commission. >> Yeah. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Let's see. Are we able to see that screen?
>> Good to hear. >> Okay. Uh Craig, do you want to take over here and walk through the specific items that we're looking at? >> Sure. Yeah. Thank you. Um Craig Marsh, Marsha and Associates. Um yeah, thank you, Richard. So, yeah,
we're looking to do this mixed juice build or two mixed use buildings as discussed. Um, the entire the sidewalk along our entire front end will be replaced with a a 6ft um wide concrete sidewalk. We're going to be currently the site has
four curb openings. We're going to be closing all four of those and creating one new one. So, be a net reduction of three, which is great. Uh there'll be utility connections of course uh to service this development um ac across various parts of the frontage.
Um as Richard mentioned, we'll be you know replacing all the curbing um where we're closing the openings and removing the curbing where we're creating an opening. Um there'll be some in the area of interest is also going to be some some bicycle
parking for the walkways. Um providing access to the property uh you know both buildings along the old way here. Um I don't really have much else specific to point out. Um there'll be obviously extensive landscaping as well. It should
look really nice here when we're all said and done. Okay. >> Any questions or comments from the commission >> who maintains the landscaping? >> Owner of the property >> and that's the front the stuff at the
front and the back of the sidewalk. >> That's correct. Uh I know we do have the draft template of the LMI. Uh we will complete that before public hearing. >> Great. >> Great. Thank you, Amy. Any other questions or comments from the commission?
>> I had a quick question about uh where the limit of work for this project is. Does it meet um the bridge um or does it just um fall short um of the bridge um that goes over the MTA tracks?
It's a good question. It's We're just short. See it? Well, actually, it's a good question. I think we're actually right to the corner. Trying to see if I have a plan that shows it better.
Bear with me here. I think relatedly um the connect the connection with the bridge um deck with the right of way um in the um sidewalk area that connection um is a little bit inaccessible. I think there's a little
bit of a lip. Um so we were wondering if the team um would be amendable um to um solving that accessibility um issue with a connection um with a bridge deck um while your team is in the area.
>> Um I would like to just point out if I may through the chair um this is also as you can see on the plan we are abuing the MBTA right away. We've gone through an extensive uh licensing process with MBTA. I know that bridge um is likely to
be under their jurisdiction or they may have some some say over that. So certainly happy to do anything to address uh the concerns for accessibility. Just want to make sure that we're staying within the scope of the license that we've uh worked out with the MBTA on this.
>> Noted. Any other questions or comments from the commission? Um, I do have another question. Um, it looks like there's a pole um on the west end of the site. We just wanted to confirm that there's um a 5 foot
clearance there. Um, and then just to confirm that dimension on the place if possible. >> I'm sorry, could you which which poll are you looking at, Sarah? Um I think if you zoom in onto the westerly
side of the site um there is a poll there. Um >> I think it's utility poll number 412 over 70 um almost all the way to the westerly extent of the project limits
>> right in this area. >> I I believe I see the one you're speaking of. Um, yeah, almost all the way exactly right there. You want to confirm you have 5T from the pole to back of sidewalk? >> That's correct. >> Okay,
>> I will take a look and add a dimension to the plan. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Okay, any other questions or comments uh from the commission? Okay, hearing none. How about from PIC
staff or members of the public? Uh we are all set on this one. Uh we are happy to accept revised plans in the next two weeks addressing uh Miss Lung Lung's comments. >> Great. Thank you, Todd. Uh is two weeks
enough time for the proponent? >> Two weeks should be final guess. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> See you on January 29th. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is 27 Farragate
Road uh at East Second Street in South Boston uh for a pedestrian easement specific repairs on a set of petitions by 726 East 8th Street LLC. um in the proponent uh please introduce
yourselves as well as your affiliation and provide a brief overview of your request. >> Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members. My name is George Morancey. I'm the attorney for the project. uh this uh specific repairs plan and pedestrian
easement plan relate to a proposed 21 unit residential building that was approved by the BPDA in October 2023 and by uh uh zoning board of appeal in 2024. Um, as part of the public review
process, uh, certain, uh, improvements to the public realm, uh, were required under the BBDA board memo. U, these include, uh, sidewalk reconstruction and improvements, new pedestrian ramps, a, u
uh, an extension of the curb uh, into the East Second Street um, public realm, that side of the site. uh various other specific repairs including street trees, new lighting, etc. Uh we have Len Buffar
uh from CEC, the project engineer with us uh who can take the board through uh both the pedestrian easement and the specific repairs plan in more detail and then we'll be happy to take any question uh from members of the commission. >> Great. Thank you. Uh questions or
comments from the commission? All right, hearing none. How about uh PIC staff or members of the public? >> Uh George or Lynn, if you want to just throw the plans up really quickly um for the record. >> Len, are you prepared to share? If not,
I can do it. I'm sharing the specific repairs plan uh which obviously includes the uh the easement area which is along the East Second Street side of the site. Can everybody view that? >> Yes. appreciate the team um making um some
last minute adjustments to the plans um yesterday in regards to the alignment um of um the the crosswalk on Farragate road. Um we do want to express um our desire to look into a raised crossing um
on E2nd Street. Um so just getting a commitment from the team to explore that option um would be great. Yeah. >> Thanks Sarah. George Morancey again. Um yes, we will certainly do that. We'll be in touch with you between this meeting and u and the the meeting for a vote in
two weeks. And I think two weeks is an adequate amount of time. Great. Thank you. Unless there's other comments, we'll see you uh on January 29th. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Next and final item on the uh new
business agenda. Uh 100 Magazine Street, Kembell Street, Phumm Street in Roxbury. pedestrian easement specific repairs project license abandonment on a set of petitions by Magazine Street B LLC, Allerton Property LLC, Harbor Realy LLC,
and Kembell Street uh LLC. Would the project team please introduce yourselves and your affiliations and provide a brief overview of your project uh as well as any actions you would like uh the commission to consider? >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Happy New Year, Chief Gove. Appreciate your time.
Members of the and staff of the public improvement commission. Good morning. My name is Pat Roofy and I serve as the vice president of state and local government affairs at SUFFK. I'm joined this morning by my colleagues from Suffach Design and High Point Engineering. As you know, for over 40 years, Suffach has been a collaborative
partner in Boston and an anchor business in the new market district. We employ almost 500 people. Our national headquarters on Allen Street in Roxbury. We've been very encouraged by the recent city investments in Clifford Park and the construction of Roxbury Prep High School and the increased public safety
presence in the district. This morning, I'm here to introduce a major investment in our headquarters in New Market. This project was approved by the Boston Planning Department board meeting on December of last year, 2025. This estimated $30 million renovation of 100
Magazine Street will transform the office and warehouse space into state-of-the-art office that will house Suffix technology innovation research product development teams. When complete 100 Magazine Street will be the epicenter of artificial intelligence in
the built environment. Our CEO John Fish is very proud to call Roxbury home and this renovation will support our anticipated growth making us one of the largest employers in the new market district. Our building designs directly supports the plans and goals outlined in the plan new market, the newly reszoned
plan. It preserves the traditional industrial and commercial uses while welcoming the new industries of tomorrow. We're improving pedestrian safety and public realm conditions, especially along Magazine and Kembell Streets near Roxbury Prep and Clifford Park. We're enhancing our climate
resilience through increased landscaping in increased EV charging on site, creative storm water management, and campuswide efforts to reduce heat island effect. Our presentation today will detail significant public improvements including the installation of 48 canopy
trees, a almost 1,500% increase in campus green speed, installation of dark sky compliant lighting, installation of additional security cameras, and we're increasing sidewalk west to improve walkability, view corridors, and safe pathways to public transit. This pro
project reflects years of collaboration collaboration with the planning department, the transportation department, the Boston police and the new market bid and our community stakeholders. We've listened very carefully to the community concerns and incorporated feedback in every aspect of the design. In conclusion, I'd like to
thank Todd Laming, his staff, and his guidance for professionalism and throughout this process. We're hopeful that our presentation and will demonstrate our commitment to the neighborhood and we look forward to your feedback. I'll turn the presentation over to Matt Iel from Suffach Design to
provide an overview of our development and Doug Hottman from High Point Engineering to discuss our individual petitions. Greatly appreciate your time and thank you very much Matt. >> Yeah, morning everybody. I think Pat did a really great job introing the project. And so, just to go through some
specifics here, you can see the site plan. We're adding 48 new canopy trees all over the site, which is increasing our uh, you know, canopy by,700%. Um, we are donating some of our land back so we can actually increase
sidewalk widths. Along Magazine Street, they're going to increase from 7 ft to 10 ft. And then along Kembell Street, they're going to increase from 6 to 7 ft. so that we don't have any pinch points and we have clearance working all the way through. And this is going to be um you know currently it's an office and
a warehouse space and that's going to be transferred to an alloff space to um accommodate our growing uh needs as staff. And so we're also adding uh some parking spaces behind the building in order to um accommodate those new employees. Let me go to the next slide.
Joe, just a quick image of what the building looks like today. This is um you know it's an old warehouse building. And if we go to the next slide, just wanted to provide you some imagery of what it is that we're proposing. Um right here you can see that we're uh you know doing
some aesthetic upgrades to try to upgrade the overall um neighborhood feel and aesthetic. We are adding a new um overcloud system which is going to be a perforated corrugated rain system. It's uh 11 1/2 ft above the sidewalk and
projects about 8 to 10 in. And um you know you can see all the trees and other public amenities that we're adding in there. And if you go to the next slide, this is a little bit deeper into our site, but just again wanted to provide some overall context. This is the warehouse building that will be our
center for AI and construction as we um you know intend to be leaders in that field and continue um our growth there. >> Thank you, Matt. Uh again for the record, Doug Partnet, principal of High Point Engineering. Joining me at our office is Joe Petra, who've been our
lead designer on this project. Uh given the number of uh petitions that are being considered by the public improvements commission, we wanted to provide a key plan to give a better understanding on where each petition falls within the property. uh going from
top to bottom on the uh on the agenda, pedestrian easement, as Matt had alluded to, uh is associated with the green along Magazine Street and along Campbell Street. Again, that pedestrian easement is provided
uh as a result of discussions with Boston planning and other stakeholders in the new market area for the desire to increase these sidewalks to improve the public realm in both those uh both those roadways. The second is the uh um the
specific repair aspects of it. You see that in red. That's essentially sidewalk reconstruction and curb cut closures and sidewalk widening along Magazine Street from really the northeast corner of Barnum, which is a private lane. We'll
discuss that in a minute. Uh, and around the corner and down Kendall speaks to the property line to the west. The third petition being considered by the public improvements commission is the projection license. Matt described that a little more specifically in his prior
comments regarding the the fenestration improvements on the facade of the 100 mag speed magazine street building. And then the last one is the private way abandonment of Farman Street that's shown in blue. Uh Faram Street is a
private way 40 ft wide. Uh it has no redeeming value in terms of providing public access. It's an old ride ofway that was established, you know, many many many decades ago. And with the improvements proposed under the the
campus master plan, uh it makes sense now to uh come to the decision that that farman street is obsolete and seeking approval of the discontinuence of that railway. Next, John. Uh these are the specific technical
drawings that were submitted to the public improvements commission as it relates to each of the petitions. This drawing is the pedestrian easement drawing produced by Feld and Geospatial and provides the pedestrian easements on the private property controlled and
owned by the proponent to allow the widening of the sidewalks. The total area of the easement being provided to on the benefit of the city is approximately 2,124 square feet. Under the specific repair application,
this is the technical plan associated with that. You can see in the darker shade, Joe, if you can zoom into the uh plan. Uh the upper viewport is the Pemble Street improvements which includes widening the sidewalks to 7 ft
while providing 5 foot minimum clearance from any obstructions along the sidewalk corridor. It includes the closure of three curb cuts that exist today along Kendall Street. It maintains an existing curb cut as you can see on the image in
that location there and also provides provision for future street lighting when the city elects to install that within the sidewalk area. It includes two new curb cuts at the magazine tumble intersection so we improve the
accessibility of that um area. And as you get to the lower viewport, you have Magazine Street. And Magazine Street provides a 10- foot wide sidewalk. Uh again, in in the discussions with the stakeholders in this new market area,
that 10-ft width extends from Kemell Street to the essentially to the 100 Magazine Street building. And then the building position obviously it's at the back of sidewalk precludes us from extending the sidewalk any wider. So, but the sidewalk will be reconstructed
in that area as well and extended over to essentially be the northeast corner of the farm street layout. In this case, we have slightly modified and reduced the curb cut that exists on Farm Street. That's to the left of 100 Magazine
Street and essentially maintaining the existing curb cut where you would farm street which has been discontinued under the other petition. Next slide. Uh on the projection license
application, this is the site plan on the left. If you can see the sidewalk improvements and the projection associated with the building in the section, you see the projection. Uh Matt had said projection was I believe 10 in or 11 in at the time. We provided a bit
of contingency when we made the application at 1T2 in to allow for the the final design of the structure to be completed. The petition is for that dis for that overhang distance. And as Matt had said, we have about 11'2 in of uh
clearance from the bottom of the projection to the sidewalk. And then lastly, we have Farnum Street. Uh do you think that the site plan um how much benefit the the new campus will
will provide not just vehicular circulation but we're also providing pedestrian connectivity between 100 magazine street and 65 Allison Street the headquarters and by extension uh all those pedestrian uses uh really do make
farming street obsolete and so we felt it was appropriate at this time to uh petition for the abandonment of Farm Street. There will be provisions for maintaining emergency access along the Farm Street area, minimum widths and so forth in order to be able to allow
emergency vehicles to come in and out of the campus at that location. And that essentially summarizes the four petitions being considered by the public improvements commission today. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
Great. Thank you everyone. Any uh questions or comments from the commission? >> Oh yes, good morning. This is Denise Delvin from Boston Water and Sewer. Uh we are still confirming there are no services off the water main on our end.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the commission? >> Uh thank you so much for the presentation. um as well um for providing the updated plans yesterday. Um we're happy to review those um within
the next two weeks. Um I also wanted to confirm that at the intersection of um Allerton and Magazine Street that reciprocal ramp from the site um is compliant. Um if so, just putting a note there um for the record um would be
helpful. >> Just that briefly. So Sarah, thank you for your comments. In response to that, we've actually gone out there as recently as yesterday afternoon to look at the opposite ramp measure it slopes to see if that ramp is in fact compliant
and we will surely comply with any of the requirements the disabilities commission to bring that into compliance if necessary. >> Great. Thank you. >> Other questions or comments from commission members?
Okay, hearing none. How about PIC staff? Uh, just for the record, I know the project is still working on the finer details of the ramp design for the magazine at Kemble intersection. Uh, it's a little bit of a challenge at one of the corners because of the location of the rightway and property lines. Um,
but we expect that to be resolved in the next two weeks. >> Thanks, Todd. How about members of the public? >> I see no raised hands, so I think we're all set. >> Great.
And proponent thinks that two weeks is enough time. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Todd. >> Okay. See you on January 29th. Thank you very much. >> Have a wonderful day. Thank you. >> Thank you, everyone. Thank you. I think that wraps up the agenda. Todd,
any other items from the commission? >> Nope. Just uh take a motion to um to close the hearing. >> Have a motion to uh close the hearing and adjourn the meeting. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Any oppose or abstain? >> Hearing none. So move. Thank you everyone. Everyone >> recording. Thanks.