Kenmore Square Archives - WalkMassachusetts

Comments on Fenway Corners DPIR

March 30, 2022
Aisling Kerr, Project Manager
BPDA via email Aisling.Kerr@boston.gov

Re: Fenway Corners DPIR

Dear Ms. Kerr:

WalkBoston has attended project meetings and reviewed the DPIR for the Fenway Corners Project with respect to its impacts and benefits for people walking and using transit.

We are happy to reiterate that we are pleased that the proponent is proposing significant improvements to the walking environment in the Fenway neighborhood and giving detailed attention to the needs of people walking, taking transit and bicycling. The proposed transformation of Jersey Street into a pedestrian-only space will provide an exciting new way to experience Fenway Park (on non-game days) and add amenities for residents and visitors to the Fenway neighborhood. We are also pleased to see that the Lansdowne Street building will be designed around a public gateway through the building which will someday allow connectivity through the Lansdowne block to provide a pedestrian connection with Kenmore Square.

We support the proponent’s plans to modify the street system in and around the multi-site project in order to create more space for pedestrians and for people enjoying what will essentially become a new open space in the neighborhood.

We believe that the combination of street changes, walking, transit and biking improvements and attention to urban design provided by the project will provide benefits to both neighborhood residents and visitors. The proponent’s plans are consistent with the City’s goals of growing without adding significant new vehicle traffic to the City’s streets.

Overall we believe the project will benefit pedestrians on the streets and sidewalks of the Fenway. We urge the proponent to continue working with WalkBoston and other advocates and with the City of Boston to refine several elements of the design as the project proceeds.

Sidewalk/Bus stop/Bike interactions – We appreciate that the project team has continued to assess the operation of Brookline Avenue with attention to the mix of bus, walking and bike operations. While the exact design and operation of Brookline Avenue is not yet certain, the good faith efforts of the design team are encouraging. We urge the proponent to continue working with WalkBoston, the Boston Disabilities Commission, the MBTA’s Office of Systemwide Accessibility, the Boston Transportation Department and the bicycle advocacy community to ensure that the designs meet the needs of all sidewalk, transit and street users.
Transit operations – In order to achieve the mode shares that the proponent, the residents of the Fenway, the employers in the area, the City and all of us interested in reducing GHG emissions hope for, the operations of the many bus routes in the neighborhood and throughout the region need to be improved and added to. As noted above, we are encouraged that the needs of bus riders are being given careful attention to ensure that they are enhanced by the changes in street operations and design. We hope that the proponent will continue to be a voice for better transit with the City and the MBTA.
Curb management – As noted in the DPIR, the management of buses, deliveries, TNCs, and short-term parking is critical to the smooth operations of the district’s streets and sidewalks. With the proposal to eliminate on street parking in several locations we believe that it will be incumbent on the proponent to develop a detailed management system that is clear, easy to use and actually used by the many delivery vehicles and short-term parkers who frequent the neighborhood. This is needed for both the businesses and business users of the neighborhood, and for the safety of people walking, biking and taking buses. When drivers stop in travel lanes and block the passage of other vehicles, people walking can find themselves crossing the street between stopped vehicles and confronted with frustrated drivers. We ask the proponent to provide an opportunity for interested members of the public to review the curb management plan prior to its finalization.
Parking – The supply of parking for the project will have a profound impact on the mode of travel that will be used by people accessing the site. We urge the developer and the City to work together to further reduce the number of parking spaces that will be provided. With the 5-7 year buildout period we are hopeful that the City, MBTA and MassDOT will make progress toward the investments in transit, walking and biking that will make is sensible to reduce the number of parking spaces in the project.
Paving surfaces – Some of the sketches shown in public presentations continue to suggest paving stones or other uneven paving materials. We ask that all paving materials be fully accessible and comfortable for all people walking or using mobility assistance. We also ask that the proponent take into account the needs of providing good snow clearance on all of the sidewalks and also that they commit to providing such clearance.
Sense of welcome for all – The redesign and re-purposing of Jersey Street and all of the city blocks included in the project presents exciting opportunities for walkability. It also presents some challenges to ensuring that the spaces and places are not managed or curated in ways that could feel privatized or exclusive and less than fully welcoming to people of all races, incomes and ages. We urge the proponent to continue working with diverse community groups and individuals from a variety of Boston neighborhoods to ensure that the sense of welcome includes everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.

Sincerely,

Wendy Landman
Senior Policy Advisor

WalkBoston comments on 819 Beacon Street

October 16, 2020
Director Brian Golden
Boston Planning and Development Agency
Attn via email: Edward Carmody
Re: 819 Beacon Street

Dear Director Golden,

The proposal for 819 Beacon Street is admirable for its attention to the many uses of the site by people on foot. WalkBoston commends the proponent, Boston Children’s Hospital, for its focus on developing pedestrian facilities at three edges of its site in addition to a significant amount of open space with walkways as a focus of the development.

The proponent has outlined the development of a large residential building to provide temporary housing for families of patients in Children’s Hospital in about 50 units and provide 499 small units with kitchenettes for students or nurses to use for either long or short term rentals. The site of the building is a large parking lot over the MBTA’s underground Green Line D branch which leaves the main underground Green line at the boundary of the site. The D line occupies space under much of the site’s north and west sides, resulting in a proposed building which skirts the subway and occupies the east and south sides of the property. The portion of the property not occupied by the building will be largely landscaped open space.

The pathway proposed by the city to connect the Emerald Necklace to Kenmore Square runs directly along the south side of the site. This path is entirely off-road, and will connect the T’s Fenway Station and provide an option to pass under Park Drive to the Landmark Center and the Green Line Fenway Station. The path continues to Maitland Street, the east boundary of the 819 Beacon Street site. At Maitland Street, the path reaches David Ortiz Way, which connects to the new Lansdowne commuter rail station, to Brookline Avenue and the gates of the Red Sox Fenway stadium.

The proponent has indicated considerable enthusiasm about the connection to the proposed path, by including the path layout in its drawings and by showing landscaping of a long row of trees along the path for shade. The proponent also proposes path and sidewalk connections between the Necklace-to-Kenmore path and Beacon Street along the east side of the parcel. We hope and trust that the proponent will commit to its proposed landscaping along the path, and also commit to the permanent maintenance of the portion of the path along its southern boundary.

Access between the site and other Children’s Hospital locations – several less than a mile away from this site – will be enhanced by the path which makes the walk pleasant and safe. Access will also be provided by shuttle vans or buses that will pick up riders at the corner of David Ortiz Way and Maitland Street. The street crossing here will need additional study to make certain that crossings are protected and safe for walkers seeking wheeled access.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important project. Please feel free to contact us for further explanation of our comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Stacey Beuttell

Executive Director

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

June 27, 2019

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

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

Dear Director Golden:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best regards,

Wendy Landman
Executive Director