East Boston Master
Plan
Feasibility and analysis
of preferred alternative - Workshop 3
Feasibility
and Analysis Key: (+) Positive factor (-) Negative factor
(*) Issue requiring further study
Strengthening
the Neighborhoods
The recommendations in
this Action Area seek to ensure that public investment is
directed not just to facilitating new waterfront
development, but to improving the quality of life
throughout East Boston’s existing residential
neighborhoods and commercial districts, and along the
streets that connect them. It includes recommendations
for smaller scale housing and commercial development
opportunities throughout the community, as well as the
creation of additional buffer areas to protect
residential neighborhoods from adjacent development sites
and the airport.
1. Public Realm -
Triangular
Intersections
Recommendation:
Create attractive
small plazas over existing middle-of-the-street
parking at various triangular intersections.
Locate
opportunities for off-street residential parking
lots.
Feasibility
(+)
Case study of White Square in Jeffries Point was
tested. Public and private owned vacant lots were
identified within a one and half block radius.
(+)
The number of off-street parking spaces, including
about 8-10 new curbside spaces, exceeded the current
number of vehicles which park illegally daily.
(-)
Other sites might not contain the nearby vacant lots
which exist in this particular area; however,
creative parking policies, such as user sharing of
school parking lots, should be explored.
(+)
This type of urban design solution has been
implemented elsewhere in East Boston, particularly on
Meridian Street, where excess pavement was eliminated
resulting in better pedestrian circulation.
Bennington Street
Recommendation:
Improve
streetscape by consolidating curb cuts, adding street
trees, and utilizing signage promoting commerce in
Orient Heights, particularly south of Orient Heights
Square.
Designate
Bennington Street corridor as a Corridor Enhancement
Subdistrict.
Feasibility
(+)
While existing auto-dependent businesses rely heavily
on immediate street access, consolidating curb cuts
to two or three curb cuts could add substantial
aesthetic value to this commercial center.
(+)
The existing businesses on Bennington Street south of
Orient Heights Square mainly occupy a few blocks,
thus reducing the need for numerous curb cuts.
(+)
The renovation of Constitution Beach and its
pedestrian bridge over the Blue Line to Bennington
Street would benefit from an enhanced pedestrian
environment.
(*)
Designation as a Corridor Enhancement Subdistrict
could give Bennington Street more attention for
funding street improvements and guarding against
future expansion of auto-dependent uses.
Maverick Gardens
Recommendation:
Rebuild pedestrian
ways or streets through the Maverick Gardens complex
to allow for more efficient vehicular and pedestrian
access, and to restore sight lines from London and
Border Streets to the water.
2. Traffic Management/
Traffic Calming
Recommendations
include:
Extension of
Meridian Street intersection improvements at Sumner
Tunnel access streets to Havre Street.
Continuous strict
enforcement of the Massport gate closing at Jeffries
Street to all but local residents from 3-6 PM to
prevent cut through traffic in Jeffries Point.
Further study of
options to handle Neptune Road Bypass Traffic and
prevent undesirable use of local streets.
Make Maverick
Street "officially" two ways between
Chelsea and Meridian Streets as part of MBTA Maverick
Square improvements.
Limit left turns
westbound on Saratoga Street at morning rush hour to
reduce traffic cutting through Bayswater
neighborhood.
3. Neighborhood
Parking
Recommendations
include:
Utilize some
vacant lots for residential parking.
Improve existing
parking lots to become more welcoming for residential
and commercial areas, as well as for improving public
access.
Identify existing
parking lots for split-user(day/night) opportunities.
Analysis
(+)
Vacant lots in Jeffries Point could be developed to
minimize parking demand.
(+)
Promote neighborhood parking with landscaping as a
potential reuse for vacant City-owned parcels up for
redevelopment through the Department of Neighborhood
Development Real Estate Disposition Initiative
program, such as several parcels on Ardee Street in
Jeffries Point currently up for disposition.
(+)
Existing parking lots could be enhanced and/or
enlarged to attract more users off the street. The
parking lot at Bremen and Prescott will be at the end
of the Bremen Street Park and would benefit the
nearby Day Square retail center by being enlarged and
made more welcoming. The Harborside Community Center
parking could be redesigned to be more efficient and
allow better public access to the waterfront.
(*)
Split-user or shared parking would create more spaces
during peak demand hours for a secondary user, which
would occur during non-peak primary user hours. For
example, in Eagle Hill, the East Boston High School
parking lot is generally filled during the day and
empty by evening, which is the time when nearby
residents could occupy some of the spaces until the
morning.
(+)
The schoolyard at the Kennedy School near Day Square
is a potential candidate for renovations under the
City’s Boston Schoolyards Initiative. As part of
such renovations, parking could be reoriented to have
its main egress on Prescott Street, allowing for
shared parking with nearby businesses during evening
hours.
(+)
Shared parking has been used elsewhere within the
City of Boston where off-street parking is at a
premium, such as at the Haley School in the South End
4. Residential Buffers
Southwest service
area
Provide pedestrian
connection from Maverick Street to Memorial Park
along a dedicated pedestrian right-of- way adjacent
to the proposed Embassy Suites Hotel..
Create new passive
park and some residential parking mid-way along the
connection.
Madonna Hill
Recommendations include:
Secure the sloped
landscape to eliminate further erosion.
Upgrade the
existing park at the end of the intersection to
include better landscaping and sitting areas for
observation.
Construct viewing
deck along the sidewalk with interpretative signage
depicting the development of the immediate
neighborhoods.
Analysis
(*) As
an Urban Wild, Madonna Hill is an important natural
resource to Orient Heights and should be taken care
of by correcting erosion hazards.
(+)
The existing small park, which owned by the Boston
Housing Authority, could be upgraded as part of the
additional funds which were designated for
renovations at the Orient Heights Overlook Terrace
development.
(*) A
small observation deck along the sidewalk could offer
educational interpretative opportunities.
Hess Oil Site
Recommendations
include:
Establishing a
landscape buffer along Condor Street to separate
maritime industrial use from existing and potential
new residential development across the street, and to
extend the linear green space from the Condor Street
Urban Wild area.
McClellan Highway
corridor
Recommendations include:
Establishing a
landscape buffer between Waldemar Street and the
Suffolk Downs access rive off McClellan Highway to
protect the Orient Heights residential neighborhood
from potential redevelopment of Suffolk Downs site.
5. Housing
Opportunities
Infill
Opportunities on Vacant Lot
Jeffries Point
lots
Condor Street lots
Feasibility
Small-scale
Infill Residential New Construction- Market-Rate
Rental.
(+)
Strong market for moderately-priced rental
apartments.
(+)
Positive, though somewhat thin financial feasibility.
(-)
Feasibility is especially sensitive to land
acquisition pricing.
(-)
Works better in an owner-occupied model similar to
the prior scenario.
Maverick Gardens
Recommendations
include :
Continue
landscaping improvements to better fit in with
adjacent neighborhoods.
Reconnect one or
more pedestrian way or streets through the site
(Border and/or London Streets) to provide better
visual connection between the existing neighborhood
and the waterfront and better vehicular and
pedestrian circulation along the waterfront.
Analysis
(+)
Current site improvements should improve physical
connections allowing at least better pedestrian
access.
(*)
Reconnecting streets through the site is dependent
upon long term goals of the BHA for the site.
Commercial Infill
Recommendations include:
Develop mixed-use
development with retail and residential on vacant
parcel on Meridian Street half block south of Central
Square.
Maverick Square
– mixed use retail with residential above.
Border
Street/Decatur Street – new infill residential.
Feasibility
Small
Scale Owner-Occupant Rehab (3 Decker Type) –
Market Rate Rental and Ownership
(+)
Strong market for moderately price ownership and
rental apartments.
(+)
Positive financial feasibility for rehab.
(+)
Rental units help to cross-subsidize home ownership
by moderate income households.
Small
Scale In-fill Residential New Construction –
Market Rate Rental
(+)
Strong market for moderately priced rental
apartments.
(+)
Positive, though somewhat thin financial feasibility.
(-)
Feasibility is especially sensitive to land
acquisition pricing.
(-)
Works better in an owner-occupant model similar to
the prior scenario.
Small
scale In-fill Retail/Residential Rehab – Market
Rate Rental
(+)
Strong market for both neighborhood retail and upper
floor rental apartments.
(+)
Positive financial feasibility for rehab.
(+) Retail
use on the ground floor is able to help cross-subsidize
the rehabilitation of moderately priced rental units on
the upper floors.
Shore Plaza East
Recommendations
include:
Redesign exterior
public access and landscaping to allow for waterfront
access as part of the Harborwalk.
Feasibility
(+)
The development is an expiring use property and is a
candidate for renovations as part of refinancing,
whether under existing or new management, allowing an
opportunity to improve the design the exterior of the
site to allow for better public access to and along
the waterfront.
Waterfront
Recommendations include:
New housing at
Clippership Wharf, Pier One, and possibly Boston East
site.
Feasibility
Large
Scale Residential New Construction – Market Rate
Rental
(+)Strong
market for high end rental apartments
(+)Positive,
though somewhat thin financial feasibility
(-)Feasibility
is especially sensitive to land acquisition pricing,
parking costs (cannot afford to do structured
parking) and other development cost premiums
(waterfront foundations, public amenities, etc.)
(-)Works
best in lower density, lower height configurations
Large
Scale Residential New Construction – Market Rate
Condominium
(+)Works
best as potential future development phase following
after successful rental development
(-)Pioneering
market for high end condominiums in East Boston
(-)Cost
of development likely to exceed current end-unit
pricing potentials
(-)Feasibility
is especially sensitive to land acquisition pricing,
parking costs (cannot afford to do the structured
parking which condos require) and other development
cost premiums (waterfront foundations, public
amenities, etc.)
6. New K-8 School in
north zone
Recommendations
include:
Review of
potential school siting opportunities in light of new
policy favoring establishment of "walk-in"
schools. This may make previously infeasible sites
such as renovation of the historic Barnes School
viable, as major bus access would not be required.
posted 3/19/99
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