Reports: Executive Director’s Reports

November 30, 2006

1. Zoning - I have attended several meetings convened by Jim Hunt to discuss whether to extend the GCOD into some or all of the study areas outlined in the original presentation. Jim expects to make a recommendation to the BRA for the Zoning Commission before the end of the year, as he promised. The Board of Appeals has been firm in applying the GCOD requirements, with no variances requested or granted.
2. Public Improvement Commission - The PIC is developing standard agreement language for recharge systems installed beneath public ways. There has been one meeting to discuss what should be in the agreement and some draft language has been circulated.
3. State Building Code - Citywide GET filed amendments to the State Building Code that would set requirements for construction in groundwater sensitive areas. I testified in favor of the amendments at the Board of Building Regulations and Standards. The Board will be taking comments for 30 days after the hearing. While I’m not familiar with this board’s operations, the members seemed to be favorably impressed with the presentation by Peter Pogorski of Citywide GET and with my comments. The amendments would largely require pumps or foundation drains in any buildings in areas where wood pilings can be affected to discharge to recharge systems. It should be a complement to the GCOD zoning.
4. BWSC - The Back Street sewer repair repair/replacement got under way this week. The project includes relining the sewer from Massachusetts Avenue to Exeter Street (with some small reconstruction) and replacing the sewer from Exeter Street to Embankment Road, including a recharge system with the new sewer. The BWSC project to video all of their low sewer and drain lines continues and will inform their repair projects going forward.
5. DCR - The EIR process for the Storrow Drive tunnel project continues, with studies ongoing to determine which of the alternatives to pursue to more detailed design. Timing of the project relative to the other major DCR projects at the Longfellow and BU Bridges is still to be determined.
6. MBTA - The T has installed the two recharge and one observation wells for the St. Charles Street area groundwater improvement project. The recharge system on Cazenove Street was turned on Tuesday; they want to see the impact of this system before turning on the one on Berkeley Street in the next week or two. They are also conducting frequent readings of our observation wells in the area; we are providing them with readings from our data loggers in selected wells. We participate in the monthly task force meetings to assess the data and develop a recommendation to the T’s general manager on how to proceed. The recommendation is due in late March. The Secretary of EOEA has responded to the Notice of Project Change filed by the T for Silver Line Phase III; the groundwater related comments largely agree with our comment letter and tell the T to coordinate with the Trust on the required groundwater monitoring program.
7. MTA - The MTA has completed the repairs to the pipe in the Harrison Ave/Herald Street bridge over the Pike. We’ll be looking to see if this helps raise the low groundwater readings in the immediate area.
8. MWRA - The MWRA has issued purchase orders for two line repairs along Porter Street that we hope will help eliminate the low groundwater elevations in that area. While doing the repairs in those locations, they will also conduct a more detailed inspection of the pipes to determine if any additional repairs are necessary.
9. East Boston - Our latest readings in East Boston have indicated some further spread of the low water level area near Porter Street. There were also some new low readings along Bremen Street that we cannot yet explain. The low well on Maverick Street appears to have stabilized at the very low level it reached last time; we are still trying to determine a likely cause.
10. 303 Columbus Avenue - The project at 303 Columbus Avenue is reading several of our wells on a frequent basis and forwarding readings to us. They have not yet installed the well in front of the adjacent property. Many of the levels are low, but they do not appear to have changed significantly during construction.
11. Columbus Center - I continue to receive updates on groundwater readings from the project. Because of construction delays, it is now likely to be Spring before the wells along the railroad track bed are installed.
12. The Clarendon - The project has cleared its regulatory hurdles and will demolish the post office building in December. Construction is expected to begin as soon as there is no frost in the ground in the Spring. We continue to receive the baseline information from the observation wells that they are reading.
13. Museum of Fine Arts - Construction has begun on the addition to the Museum. We are getting regular updates on groundwater levels. These have so far remained above levels that would cause significant concern, but reduced elevations in a couple of the wells will be watched closely.
14. Website - Traffic on our website declined significantly during November, probably because of the approaching holidays. Even so, we are still averaging over 170 visits per day.
15. St. Botolph Neighborhood Association - I spoke to a capacity crowd at the November 1 meeting of the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association. There were many questions from the audience and much appreciation that the Trust was keeping them up to date on the issue. I expect to make several similar presentations in the new year.
16. Potential Research Project - I have spoken with Jim Lambrechts about having Christian do some research work under his guidance toward developing a less costly foundation repair system for lighter structures such as those in East Boston. It is likely that we will be able to get funding for this from the U.S. EPA grant to the City.
17. Press - There are new articles from the Boston Courant and the Back Bay Sun posted on our website.
18. Comment Letters - I filed comments on Silver Line Phase III, Wheelock College, and 585 Commercial Street projects. All are posted on the website. I expect to file comments on several projects in December.
19. Build Boston - Our presentation at Build Boston was very well received. Although the crowd was smaller than we might have liked, all who attended were very engaged and represented people for whom this was an important facet of future projects. I received several compliments about the presentation. Thanks to our excellent presenters, Jim Lambrechts, Jim Hunt, Rick Shaklik, and Peter Nichols.