FOREST HILLS—The City Public Improvement Commission just approved half-a-dozen new on-street parking spaces on Washington Street just south of Ukraine Way to accommodate customers for the Arboretum Place development.
“The plan is not yet finalized as we continue to work to incorporate proper pavement markings and associated bike lanes in order to ensure that all modes of travel are accommodated,” Boston Transportation Department (BTD) Commissioner Thomas Tinlin said in statement provided to the Gazette by BTD spokesperson Tracey Ganiatsos.
The five to six on-street spaces, proposed for the northbound side of Washington Street, will be time-restricted—that is, they will not be usable between 7 to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. They will supplement the 58 off-street parking spaces the development will create.
“It’s very common around the city” to time-restrict on-street parking spaces to “try and open up space for traffic,” Ganiatsos said.
Traffic lane configuration is not expected to change, though it is unclear where the spaces will go.
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) spokesperson Melina Schuler told the Gazette the parking plan was presented to the community as part of the development’s BRA process.
“There was a very long and comprehensive review process conducted by the developers of the pedestrian and traffic impact to Washington Street for the Arboretum project,” Harvest spokesperson Chris Durkin told the Gazette.
A Gazette phone call to developers WCI Realty was not returned.
Arboretum Place will include retail and office space for a total of a little over 34,000 square feet, including a 9,000 square foot new Harvest Co-op Market. It will also feature semi-public “pocket parks,” landscaped open space.