The Community Planning Committee for the Arborway Yard (CPCAY) will further investigate a plan to move a MBTA bus yard facility a mile away from the Forest Hills area to the American Legion Highway, according to CPCAY member Allan Ihrer.
A new bus yard is slated to replace the temporary bus facility currently located along Washington Street as soon as the MBTA funds the project. Several acres of the site would be given to the City for redevelopment as housing and commercial space.
Ihrer has proposed building a permanent bus yard along American Legion Highway between Walk Hill and Morton Streets. The property is currently owned by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and used as a composting site. His plan would free up the entire Forest Hills site for housing and commercial redevelopment.
The MBTA has said that it will not move the bus yard to the American Legion Highway location.
Ihrer, who remarked he was not making an official CPCAY statement, said the group discussed his proposal during a Jan. 22 meeting and it is “generally thought to have much merit and worth further investigation.”
He said CPCAY plans to hold a public meeting to get residents input on the American Legion Highway proposal.
View Comments (3)
The relocated busyard wouldn't displace park land. It would be replace a historically blighted parking lot on American Legion highway. Removing the facility from the Arborway Yard would enhance the Casey Arborway Parkway section of the Emerald Necklace.
Also, using the MBTA's own cost figures the relocated facility would save at least $30 million. $250 million for the Arborway Yard vs. $220 million for the American Legion Highway site. That savings would pay for a fleet of shiny new buses for the facility. Oh yes, and the relocated facility would be more operationally efficient and could accommodate a larger fleet of buses.
Note: the MBTA has misled the public by recently saying the Arborway Yard facility would cost $180 million. That figure is off by whopping $70 million!
The land is currently owned by DCR and is designated as park land. It's not a manicured lawn like the Boston Common, but it does have plenty of trees and plant life. I'm not sure why you want to create two paved parking lots (the existing one and this new one) and cut down all those trees.
I am supremely disappointed that Mr. Ihrer would rather have a bus yard than park land.