By Michael Coughlin Jr.
In October, members of the development team — ODJ Dev LLC — and some of its partners held a community meeting at the Tobin Community Center to discuss several topics associated with the plans to develop 11 city-owned parcels at 77 Terrace Street and 778-796 Parker Street.
Specifically, the development at the site would create 44 affordable condominiums for first-time homebuyers and families. It would also include more than 30,000 square feet of community gardens and open space and 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
The first topic discussed during the meeting was remediation. The site, which has had multiple environmental assessments since 2000, has been found to have elevated levels of metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and more.
However, James Smith from the Mayor’s Office of Housing noted that they had submitted for an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Brownfields cleanup grant and were “awarded the maximum amount available in that round.”
“The idea was that we were going to utilize that money to get the most out of the cleanup that we possibly could before we turn the project over to the development team for construction,” said Smith.
Moreover, Weston & Sampson has been hired as the qualified environmental professional. George Naslas, a Licensed Site Professional at Weston & Sampson, noted that their job is to develop the remedial design for the community gardens aspect of the proposal.
Nicholas Ames, a Civil Engineer and Remediation Task Manager at Weston & Sampson, discussed the contaminants mentioned above and noted, “The primary driver of risk at the site is lead.”
Ames continued and explained that the city must develop an analysis of Brownfields cleanup alternatives (ABCA) as part of the grant approval.
“The purpose of the ABCA is to evaluate different remedial options based on cost, implementability, and effectiveness with respect to cleanup goals for the site,” said Ames.
The cleanup goals are to remove lead-impacted soil, reduce site risk for future programming, gain regulatory closure with little or no restrictions on future use, and reduce cost and uncertainty with the redevelopment.
Ames explained there were three alternatives: no excavation, targeted excavation, and extensive excavation. He expanded more on the targeted excavation, which would take place in the northern part of the site in the proposed community garden area.
“The remediation design is still under process, so what we’re looking at is excavation and off-site disposal of lead-impacted soil to a minimum of three feet below the final gardening grades,” he said.
“Once that material is dug out, any remaining impacted soil would be covered with a geotextile layer to provide the demarcation between any existing remaining impacted material… and then placement of a minimum of three feet of clean imported fill above the geotextile.”
As the presentation went on, Ames reviewed the process and documents that would need to be completed before remediation began and the plans to mitigate any effects from construction.
It should be noted that Smith indicated that the grant money is being used to focus on the community gardens area of the project. However, he emphasized that additional remediation will be required during the construction of the rest of the site.
The next topic covered during the meeting was the design of the community gardens. “We have partnered with the Trustees to take over where basically James’ [Smith] team left off to bring the community garden to a usable condition,” said Dariela Villón-Maga, a member of the development team.
While it was emphasized that the design shown during the meeting was not final, those in attendance saw preliminary plans for a community garden with 51 plots, a tool shed, new fencing, accessible paths, and more.
During this portion of the conversation, attendees commented and asked questions about the future community garden before the meeting shifted gears to the other open space aspect.
The other open space aspect proposed with the project is a park. “We really want to have a passive area that walks through utilizing the existing grades and is really a connection,” said Kevin Maguire, a member of the development team.
“This is not meant to be a destination park — this will not have jungle gyms — it’s really meant to be passive.”
Maguire also noted that due to the remediation strategy, part of the proposed park would be similar to an urban wild in that it would not be accessible to the public.
Villón-Maga also mentioned that the plan for the park is to have the activity closer to Parker Street for security reasons. It would be gated and open from dawn to dusk.
“We, as a development team, will also be building out the open space, and once it’s finished and developed, we’re handing it over to Parks and Recs to maintain it for the long term,” she said.
Finally, connections through the site, the housing portion, and more were highlighted. Maguire explained that initially, as part of the proposal, there were plans for a pedestrian pathway from Parker to Terrace Street.
However, that is no longer planned due to cost, its complicated nature, and the difficulty of managing the pathway for security and maintenance.
Regarding the housing component, Maguire indicated that there would be a mix of studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and three-bedrooms.
To close out the meeting, minor modifications were presented, such as including a dog park, moving the garage entrance, including design elements from around the neighborhood with stone walls, and more.
It should be noted that this project is going through the Article 80 process, and Maguire theorized that a public meeting would occur in December.
If you would like to learn more about the project, you can visit https://www.boston.gov/buildinghousing/mission-hill-pathway-aka-parker-and-terrace-street-development and https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/77-terrace-street.
If you have questions for the development team, send an email to [email protected].