"Broken Promises": Globe Op-Ed on BC's Institutional Master Plan

Two Brighton residents have an op-ed appearing in Thursday's edition of the Boston Globe which lists a series of reasons the Boston Redevelopment Authority should reject Boston College's Institutional Master Plan at the BRA Board's meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Ram Rao and Abigail Furey detail some of the broken promises from the university:

Among the most significant examples are its promises not to expand further into Brighton and not to build dormitories for undergraduates on the former archdiocese site. It also claimed it would not accept high-density housing for its students, but subsequently purchased, without notice to the city or the community, a 17-story high-rise about a half mile from campus for dormitory use.

When the college purchased the archdiocese property in 2004, the Globe reported that college officials "do not foresee using the land for core campus functions."

Yet in 2007 BC made a hard turn and is now insisting on putting those "core campus functions" -- dormitories, athletic fields and stadiums, parking garage -- onto their new property. By shifting from low-impact, day-time use facilities -- like administrative buildings, classrooms, offices, laboratories -- to high-impact, night-time uses, BC chose a path of confrontation with the surrounding neighborhood.

Press Coverage of BC Neighbors Forum Meetings

The Boston Globe's City Weekly section ran a story in today's Sunday paper about the recent meetings of the BC Neighbors Forum. There were also a few quotes from BC officials, like this one:

Also planned for the land are a 14,000-square-foot sports support facility and a 200-space garage, according to Jack Dunn, Boston College director of public affairs. Dunn said the 2,000- seat baseball stadium, which is 1,500 seats larger than the current field near Chestnut Hill Reservoir, will still be one of the smallest baseball stadiums in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which BC joined two years ago.

A few comments:

1. Yay! New accuracy in describing the stadium as "one of the smallest" in the ACC, rather than the smallest.
2. The square footage of the sports support facilities is a little bit misleading, in that it includes the "support facility" building and the parking spaces in the parking garage, but does not include the additional square footage of the enclosed tennis courts on the top floor of the parking garage.
   
3. Now... about that 14,000-square-foot support facility: Why does their master plan's visual describe the facility as "25,000+ sq. ft."? (See #39 in image below.) This "14,000 sq.ft." statement was also made by a different BC official during the April 21, 2007 walking tour. Possibly they have decided to downsize the facility since their presentation in mid-March 2007... or they are mixed up on the details of their own master plan. I think BC needs to straighten this one out.
   

Pictures from the Walking Tour of BC's Brighton Campus: I. Athletic Facilities

The community-led walking tour of Boston College's Brighton Campus (former Archdiocese land) took place on Saturday, April 21. The tour was led by Charlie Vasiliades and Wilma Wetterstrom and focused on viewing the open space, inspecting the topological features, and discussing the history of the site. Questions arose about particular proposals in BC's master plan, which were fielded by Tom Keady and Jeanne Levesque of BC's Office of Governmental and Community Affairs. A total of 40-50 people attended at some point during the tour, including from the BC Task Force and elected officials.

Most attendees appeared struck by the great beauty of a few particular locations in the tour, especially the hill with the former Cardinal's tomb (slated for demolition), the view from the Cardinal's former residence and the adjacent meadow/orchard, and the forested sections bordering Lake Street. Immense quantities of broken glass all over the Foster Rock were disappointing, however.

Here are some images taken during the tour of the athletic fields site. Below each one is a satellite picture and BC's March 2007 master plan, both with the approximate vantage point of the image identified.

Baseball Stadium [front] and Support Building [rear]



Baseball stadium: 2000-seats, press box, lights (80-foot?), artificial turf, etc.
Support building: see below.

BC's artist's conception from similar orientation (but much more elevated), although note that the support building design, as well as the softball stadium location, have changed since this drawing was made:




Support Building



Coaches offices, workout rooms, batting cages, lockers, restrooms, concessions.
A little bit difficult to see due to the enclosed parking lots in the foreground.

Brighton Fields Parking Garage and Racquetball Courts [roof]



Note that the new building would be on the RHS and off-image to the right of my picture (and will be much bigger and taller than the existing building in the picture).

160-200 parking spaces on two levels. Enclosed racquetball (i.e., tennis) on top.

Multipurpose Field



Intramurals, etc.


BC Magazine ran a slideshow in 2004 which has photos of the Brighton Campus from various perspectives.

BC's Master Plan for Parking

At the April 17, 2007 (6:30 pm) meeting of the Boston College Task Force, officials from Boston College (and their planning associates) presented various transportation elements from their master plan.

The proposed re-design for the MBTA BC Station (Green Line B) was not presented, because the MBTA planners are not finished with their work. The presentation therefore discussed:

1. Proposed re-routing of Saint Thomas More Road; and
2. Parking demolition and construction throughout the 10-year master plan.

This blog entry is a summary of BC's presentation for #2: Parking.



New and Old Parking

The following existing parking will be demolished or otherwise removed:

# Spaces....Location
------------- -------------
-85............Brighton Campus (i.e., 192 Foster St tennis courts)
-435...........Lower Campus
-175...........Middle Campus
0..............Upper Campus
-75............Newton Campus
--------
Total = -770 spaces demolished

The following parking garages will be constructed (or expansion to existing structures):

# Spaces....Location
------------- -------------
+200...........Brighton Fields Garage (next to Baseball Stadium)
+100...........More Hall site (underground parking)
+350...........Expansion of Beacon St Garage next to Alumni Stadium (4 levels)
+100..........."College-Beacon Garage", aka "Middle Campus Garage" (underground)
+125...........Newton Campus surface parking
------------
Total = +875 new parking spaces

The math is then simple: +875 new spaces -770 removed spaces = +105 net increase in parking spaces by the end of 10 years.

How much new parking? Not much.

Location of Parking Garages

The locations of parking structures throughout the main and Brighton campuses have been chosen so that most of the campus is within 5 minutes walk of one of them. The argument was not made, however, that the correct number of parking spaces are available in the vicinity of the buildings with the highest demand for parking; in fact, much of the parking is adjacent to the football stadium, which is not convenient (5 minute walk) to much of the campus, especially the Brighton campus.

One attendee noted that the proposed location of the Brighton Fields Garage is close -- too close -- to houses on Lane Park. He said that he would be able to water the cars from his deck. This garage is also poorly situated for other buildings on the Brighton Campus (other than the stadiums), being more than 5 minutes walk from the proposed museum, for example.

How Many Parking Spaces Are Required to Support Their Expansion?

The plan calls for an increase in the number of BC employees/students:

+100 Faculty members (primarily in natural sciences)
+175 Graduate students (ditto?)
0 Support staff

The small proposed increase in their employment and enrollment is presumably their justiication for only adding a small number of parking spaces.

Undergraduate Students and Parking

Approximately 250 (undergraduate?) students living on-campus are given a parking permit for a campus lot or garage. There is no plan to increase that number. The 600 on-campus undergraduate beds proposed to be added in the next 10-years would therefore not increase the need for on-campus parking.

Attendees were skeptical: many mentioned that students park illegally on the streets, which is obviously an enforcement issue. It sounded like BC would not consider expanding the on-campus parking for undergraduates in order to alleviate illegal parking on the street. The BC official in charge of parking noted that there is much more demand by undergraduates for on-campus parking than BC currently provides to them.

Approximately 150 (undergraduate?) commuter parking permits are provided each year.

Game Day Parking

BC gave no clear indication of how their parking would be impacted on the six or seven football game days each fall.

One person did note that current parking on the Brighton Campus playing fields would be lost (it will mostly be fenced-in astroturf in their proposals). The 85-spaces on Foster Street would also be lost. Since they are adding only 105 parking spaces overall, it appears clear that they will have less parking available on game days.

Will Newton's Own Development Pave the Way for BC's Master Plan?

A March 27, 2007 editorial in the BC newspaper, "The Allston-Brighton-Boston-Newton College's The Heights," discusses the City of Newton's plan to build a parking garage in Newton Center:

"Apparently a five-story parking garage is not too tall. Needless to say, if these proposals for Newton Centre are accepted, the city of Newton will have little grounds for denying BC the buildings that will be a part of the upcoming campus masterplan."

While the editorial does go on to ask Newton to "carefully consider this proposal," the editorial provides a justification for BC's master plans (in Newton) based on Newton Center's development project located a mile or so away.

I think that the editors at the newspaper may need a little education on zoning. A structure that is perfectly suited to one site can be wrong for another. We don't build the Prudential Center in Brighton Center, for example, nor do we build student dormitories in the middle of Boston Common. The neighborhood bordering BC's proposed buildings in the upper campus needs to be considered when evaluating if the proposal is appropriate; likewise, the shopping district bordering Newton's proposed parking structure in Newton Center needs to be considered when addressing its appropriateness.