HomeMy Public PortalAbout150218 Minutes for 480 Arsenal Community Meeting_201503051316374678Community Meeting
480 Suite 3 Arsenal Street
Proposed revitalization of
Warehouse Building to Office Building
Meeting Minutes and Q&A
Date of meeting: February 18, 2015
Presenter: William McQuillan, Developer, Boylston Properties
Introduction of Project Team-
o Boylston Properties (Developer)
o Spagnolo Gisness & Associates (Architect)
o Vanasse and Associates, Inc. (Traffic Engineer)
o R. J. O’Connell and Associates (Civil/Site Engineer)
Project overview
o Currently the site is an industrial warehouse utilized by Verizon. The existing building
consists of a taller “high bay” space and “low bay” space, most of which will be retained.
o The proposed project consists of opening the site up by taking down the chain link
fencing and connecting to the Watertown Greenway, Arsenal Street via Birch Road, and
Coolidge Square via a new opening opposite Bigelow Ave.
o The proposed building will be inserting a full 2nd floor in the high bay space, and a
mezzanine space in the low bay space. The newly revitalized building will be 185,595 SF.
Presenter: John Sullivan, Architect, Spagnolo Gisness & Associates
Discussed why the project is named “Linx”. It pulls from the idea of “linking” to the Watertown
Greenway, neighborhood, Coolidge Square, The Arsenal Project, and the River. The connection
is accomplished through a large outdoor amenity space connecting to the greenway, taking
down the fences, and a new connection onto Nichols Ave, across from Bigelow Ave.
The building will be reused. The warehouse space lends itself perfectly to what the current
techy tenants in the marketplace are looking to rent. The building will be carved into and added
to, to allow in more natural light to the deep spaces.
A rendering showing the proposed architecture was presented, showing a lot of glass and
interesting building treatments. The main entry highlighted was oriented towards the south and
the Greenway.
The building will be reused and will seek LEED certification. High performance systems will be
utilized. There will be a focus of sustainability throughout the design process.
Areas of open spaces were shown around the northern and southern entries, providing large
green areas for employees to work outside as well as inside.
Presenter: Giles Ham, Traffic Engineer, Vanasse & Associates
Overview of access point to the site and general existing traffic patterns.
Presentation of traffic generation tables showing existing, proposed, and the net change in the
average daily trips, peak morning hour, and peak evening hour.
QUESTION: Please explain the existing and proposed graphic.
ANSWER: We studied the existing traffic entering and existing the site by Verizon in
November, which set the existing numbers. The proposed traffic generation is based
upon industry manuals that estimate the expected traffic based upon a proposed use
(retail/office/etc). The Net change is the difference between the two.
Presentation of the roadways and 12 intersections studied for the project under the existing
condition and the proposed condition. These intersections were based upon discussions with
the Town and general knowledge of the area. Included in the report were the other currently
submitted and recently approved projects before the Town.
QUESTION: You had referenced “Bays” in the earlier presentation. How much truck
traffic will you have?
ANSWER: The term “Bays” being referred to were the building structural dimensions,
and not truck bays. This will be an office with only the usual associated truck traffic-
UPS/FedEx etc.
QUESTION: All the existing traffic on site is on Arsenal Street. How is that represented
in your report?
ANSWER: Let me run through the other slides, which may better answer your question.
Site traffic patterns under the proposed condition were presented in a graphic. The graphic
showed the anticipated percent of traffic that would utilize the Arsenal Street access versus the
Nichols Ave. access and then how the traffic would disperse through the area, to the regional
road networks.
An overview of the proposed mitigation measures was presented. The project’s Traffic Demand
Management program was laid out, which includes encouragement of public transit at the T
stops in Coolidge Square and on Arsenal Street by requesting the proposed tenants subsidies
mbta passes, providing a strong focus on bikes and access to the Greenway, car sharing
program, requirement of a welcome package be included when a new employee starts so they
understand their transportation options, among others. Also included was signal optimization
and timing at intersections.
QUESTION: What do you mean by signal optimization?
ANSWER: The study took a look at the area traffic signal times to see if they can be
adjusted to make an intersection operate at its most efficient. For example, the
intersection of Nichols and Arlington has what is called an “advance” for the traffic
heading south on Arlington Street. This is to allow those heading south on Arlington to
take a left before there is oncoming traffic. It was found that this does not get used very
much and the time currently given to the advance could be used to help traffic pass
through in other directions, resulting in a more efficient intersection.
QUESTION: This area around Bigelow Ave is very very congested and opening up a
Nichols Ave entrance would make it worse. It’s really bad today, much worse than what
your numbers are showing.
ANSWER: The existing numbers are gathered by doing traffic counts. They are what
they are because they were counted. As for the future numbers, traffic counts are
added by reviewing US Census data, traffic data, and other local input. The percent of
where the traffic goes upon exit is estimated based upon these assumptions. Any of the
assumptions will be reviewed by the Town and a Peer Reviewer, which may tweak the
numbers slightly, but we are confident in the numbers presented in the traffic report.
QUESTION: In the peak morning hour, how many of the 244 vehicles will come from
Arsenal vs. Nichols Ave.?
ANSWER: 25% will come from Nichols Ave., so we are talking about roughly one more
car per minute on Bigelow Ave.
QUESTION: There are more than 270 parking spaces on site, if that the peak, why do
you need more spaces?
ANSWER: The peak is only the one hour that sees the most traffic. There are still other
cars coming and going at other times, but the peak is just the highest one hour use.
Presenter: Roy Smith, RJ O’Connell and Associates, Civil/Site Engineer
Overview of the site, including adjacent properties and their uses and the existing building
footprint and its use. The layout of the site was shown, illustrating access to and throughout the
site, the various parking zones, the open spaces, the proposed one level structured parking
deck, and stormwater features. The lower level of the deck will be sunken down slightly, to take
advantage of the difference in grade between Nichols Ave and the site, and plantings will be
provided on the street side to help screen the structure.
The proposed building is in compliance with zoning and adheres to all the setback, bulk and
dimensional requirements. The project will not require a variance, and is by-right with a special
permit from the ZBA.
One item of note is the significant additional open space being provided, more than double the
required amount- 22% open space versus the required 10%. A substantial area devoted to open
space is the connection between the entry and the Greenway. This allowed for a meandering
main access drive through the site that divides it into various zones, instead of the current one
main significant parking field.
The new access on Nichols Ave was shown, along with proposed improvements. Pedestrian
bump outs are being provided to enhance crossing Nichols Ave safely, crosswalks are being
proposed for the same reason. The angled parking spaces being displaced by the new entry are
being relocated to the west and east of the existing parking. A sidewalk running the full length
of the site frontage on Nichols Ave. will be constructed as part of the project, along with
roadway drainage improvements consisting of Tree pit filters and a rain garden area.
A review of the stormwater management system was provided, which includes the significant
infiltration of storm events. In addition, a large rain garden, pretreatment, and detention are all
elements of the proposed system, which will be a substantial improvement over the existing
condition.
QUESTION: What is the eastern curb cut shown on Nichols Ave?
ANSWER: That is for emergency access only, to provide access to the east side of the
building.
Question/Answer portion
Comments from Town Councilor Angie Kounelis
o The Driveway on Nichols Ave is a problem. Looking back historically from the rubber
factory to when the property got redeveloped, there was never a vehicular access from
Nichols Ave to the Site, and there shouldn’t be one now.
o The community meeting should have been better publicized by the developer,
specifically citing the opening of Nichols Ave to vehicles. If better notification had gone
out, more people would have attended and expressed their concerns on the subject.
o The access from the site to Nichols should be open for pedestrian access, which would
be supported by the neighborhood.
QUESTION: We have a major problem with flooding at Melendy and Oak. I’m concerned that it
will get worse.
ANSWER: This project is down stream of that flooding problem. From the sounds of it, it may
be an inlet capacity problem. Infiltration on our site may help, by opening up more downstream
pipe capacity.
QUESTION: We understand that you won’t start construction of the building until you have a
tenant, but will you start site work?
ANSWER: We will wait to do site work until we have tenants as well.
QUESTION: Have you thought about using porous pavement in the parking areas?
ANSWER: We are using porous pavers at the entrances, and incorporating numerous
underground infiltration systems. In addition we have 22% open space and won’t be adding
porous pavement.
QUESTION: If you add together the peak hour traffic together, you do not get the total. The
numbers aren’t adding up.
ANSWER: The peaks are only at the peak hour. Traffic will come before and after the peak.
COMMENT: Excellent job on the Stormwater Management measures.
QUESTION: Can you do a traffic analysis with and without the Nichols Ave entrance? It seems
that those cars would need to get there somehow.
ANSWER: Yes, you are correct. No matter if the Nichols Ave entrance is open or not, people will
need to come from the North to get to the site. If they do not come through the entrance on
Nichols, then they will need to circumnavigate the site some way, filtering through the
neighborhood- School Street, Dexter, still on Bigelow and Nichols, Elm, and through Arlington
intersections; all to get to down to the Arsenal Street entrance or back to the North-
Belmont/Cambridge/Watertown. Instead of concentrating the traffic and straining
intersections, we think it’s better to open the Nichols Ave entrance and make the connection
across Bigelow Ave.
COMMENT: The traffic in the neighborhood is not your typical- there are schools, churches,
funerals, etc. The drainage system to the south of the site was installed too small.
QUESTION: Will you pay any mediation money?
ANSWER: Taxes and Nichols Ave. improvements. Taxes alone should triple from somewhere in
the range of $250,000 to $750,000 per year.
QUESTION: Will you include solar panels?
ANSWER: This will be a LEED certified building. Due to the reuse of the existing structural
columns and footings, it doesn’t look like it will be feasible to add solar on the roof.
QUESTION: Do you have a timeline for construction?
ANSWER: We’d anticipate a deal will be made in late summer at the earliest, followed by 12
months of renovations, 15 months once the building tenant is on board and finishing their work.
QUESTION: How did you get to 565 parking spaces?
ANSWER: As much parking as possible is needed. The marketplace demands it. The deck will
be 10’ high, but will be sunken and screened.
QUESTION: Will you add bus service?
ANSWER: We looked into a private bus system, but the cost was substantial. It’s unclear if a
tenant will want to pay that additional rate to have it, but it will be up to them.
QUESTION: How will the new commuter station at New Balance impact the project?
ANSWER: It’s unclear. We must first see who uses it and how much it gets used. If it’s heavily
used, there may be forces that require us to contribute to alternative transit.
QUESTION: How many Boylston Properties employees will be from Watertown?
ANSWER: The property will be managed by a third party, whom won’t have consideration for
where they reside.
QUESTION: What is the process?
ANSWER: A meeting with the Town Departments is scheduled for next week, followed by
additional meetings with the DPW, a Peer Review, then on to the Planning Board/ZBA. Another
community meeting probably will occur prior to submitting to the Planning Board.
COMMENT: Another meeting could be helpful.
QUESTION: What about “cut through” traffic?
ANSWER: We don’t like the idea of traffic cutting through the site and will put in speed bumps
or something along those lines to discourage it from happening, if our monitoring shows that it
is occurring.
QUESTION: Will the neighborhood be able to pass through the site (walking or on bikes)?
ANSWER: Absolutely. We are taking down the barbed wire fences and replacing them with
connections. Connecting to the neighborhood is valuable. Connecting to Coolidge Square is
extremely important. We are striving to do what we can to support Coolidge Square and its
businesses, as a strong successful Coolidge Square is an integral part of what makes this
property this community so attractive.