June 18, 2010
- City-State Groundwater Working Group - The Working Group will meet next on July 22.
- Well Installation - We are in the midst of installing the wells in our 2010 plan. Installation should be complete by around the end of the month. We are planning a press event around the completion of the wells.
- MBTA - On June 16 the MBTA held a public meeting to discuss the revised plan for raising groundwater levels in the area of the South End near Back Bay Station. Rather then a recirculation system to recharge the water being pumped away from the Southwest Corridor through the Follen Street pumping station, the T now plans to essentially plug the leak by constructing an underground barrier on T property eliminating the path that groundwater takes to the track drain system. This work will be done as a high priority portion of a tunnel leak repair contract that will cover most of the T’s underground structures. The request for quotations for the engineering firm is currently out for bid with responses due in July. The T hopes to have the design contract awarded in October and work commencing next summer. The Trust and other members of the project review team will play an active role in assuring that we are all comfortable with the design as it goes forward.
- BWSC - Repairs to the combined sewer overflow at Fairfield and Back Streets were completed this month. Work has just begun on repairs to the sewer line at Richmond and Commercial Streets, with the work estimated to take five weeks. Authorization for repairs to the Dartmouth Street combined sewer flow will be sought this month. Work will likely be completed in about a month after that.
- MWRA - MWRA will complete the East Boston sewer replacement project this summer. At that point, the possibly leaking old sewer pipe along Porter Street will be discontinued and filled in. Recent groundwater readings in areas where MWRA has completed its work continue to be encouraging. They have discovered a leak in the siphon under the Blue Line at Breman Street. They will be lining the two pipes as an add to the sewer project, with completion of this expected this summer as well.
- GCOD - Projects in the GCOD area continue to come before the Board of Appeals at a fairly steady pace. Cooperation among the Board, ISD, BWSC, the BRA, and the Trust has assured that virtually all projects have completely met the recharge and no negative impact standards of Article 32. The BRA continues to make sure that even projects, such as those in Planned Development Areas or under Institutional Master Plans, that don’t go before the Board of Appeals still meet all requirements of the GCOD.
- Website - The problems with our map seem to have mostly cleared up, and we continue to work with our consultant and the ISP to maximize its availability. Traffic to the site has remained at its usual high level.
- Meetings - In addition to the MBTA public meeting, I have attended two public meetings on the planned Liberty Mutual project on Berkeley Street, as well as scoping sessions on Liberty Mutual and the Landmark Center North project in the Fenway.
- Comment Letters - I have filed comment letters on the Boston University East Campus Student Center, Landmark Center North, and Liberty Mutual projects. All are posted, as always, on our website.
- Office Move - As of June 1, we are located at 229 Berkeley St, Suite 410, Boston, MA 02116. The move went very smoothly, although we were without Internet access for a few days.
- Vacations - I’ll be on vacation July 12-16. I expect to be able to check both voicemail and email periodically while away.
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