On Monday night the Boston Redevelopment Authority hosted an Impact Advisory Group meeting community hearing to discuss the potential impact of moving forward with the proposed DOT BLOCK mixed-use development.

The project essentially calls for the creation of a mini neighborhood and retail destination not unlike Assembly Row in Somerville.

For locals in attendance, the development itself isn’t an issue. In fact, many seemed in favor of the project in hopes of creating more jobs for locals (both construction and those afforded by the retail and housing itself) and relatively affordable living options near public transit, as well as the recycling of an overgrown lot with decrepit structures.

Even the recent audit commissioned by Mayor Marty Walsh, which revealed more structural and operational issues after one in 2014 revealed similar problems, came up as a talking point but didn’t particularly strike any negative chords.

Once the BRA and representatives from the DOT BLOCK’s architectural team, Boston Transportation Department and the developer, Atlas Investment Group, presented multiple public benefits that will come into fruition as a consequence of building out the site, Dorchester resident after Dorchester resident raised their hand and expressed serious concern about traffic flow on Dorchester Avenue.

As it currently stands with BRA filings, the concept of DOT BLOCK is 384 residential units, 60,000 square feet of retail space, a 450-space above ground parking garage all centered at the confluence of Dorchester Ave., Pleasant Street, Hancock Street and Greenmount Street. The proposed site is 4.75 acres.

It’s important to note, though, that designers have gone through multiple iterations of the DOT BLOCK layout and pending approval from the Boston Civic Design Commission on Tuesday night, for those new iterations – like retail space closer to 72,000-square feet and residential units numbering over 400 – be permanent revisions.

Currently existing buildings will be razed to the ground to account for new ones and the garage, while they’ll all be situated around a shared pedestrian corridor that cuts through the middle to provide a foot-traffic link between a proposed roundabout at Hancock and Pleasant streets, and Dorchester Ave.

The roundabout, explained Brian Beisel, a traffic engineer hired by the develoeprs, is intended to slow traffic to create a safer intersection at Hancock and Pleasant.

“The roundabout we’re proposing is actually a traffic calming measure, intended to constrict but allow for flow,” Beisel said. “The main purpose is to be more pedestrian friendly.”

The idea is that a roundabout will create shorter distance crosswalks for pedestrians while bring cars to a slower pace without inducing a standstill.

This is where objections began.

Before the presenters could finish their demonstration, one man, who’s “been here 20, 30 years” began interrupting with comments like “we don’t need a roundabout” and “why don’t you tell the truth?”

His sentiments were echoed by others once the presentation came to an end. Many of the approximately 25 attendees (hardly a fair sample size for a such a large and diverse neighborhood), followed up with similar comments rather than questions, noting that the traffic study conducted last year which catalyzed the roundabout thought process, is an unfair representation of traffic mitigation issues in the area.

For them, the issue isn’t where Hancock meets Pleasant Street. It’s Dorchester Avenue, which at rush hour transforms from a lengthy two lane road into a parking lot.

Not to mention, at the time BTD conducted its traffic studies, such large-scale projects as the redevelopment at South Bay Plaza and Andrew Square were not included.

“BTD has been working for years to get Dorchester Ave. to operate as well as possible,” said Beisel. He added, though, that simply widening it to be a two-lane road in each direction would create “induced demand.”

Basically, once rush hour rolls around, many commuters try and evade northbound traffic on the I-93 expressway by getting off in Dorchester and taking a straight shot into the city by way of Dorchester Ave.

But so many people attempt this that vehicular flow quickly comes to a crippling stop.

On top of that, in 2012 MassDOT outfitted Dorchester Ave. with 15 upgraded traffic lights in 2012, converting some from blinking yellows to full red, green and yellow displaying lights. Though this increased safety down down Dorchester Avenue, allowing drivers turning onto the avenue to no longer have to sneak in between a torrent of moving cars, it added to traffic woes by mandating several stops.

“Traffic studies should be regional, not local,” added another local insinuating that BTD’s analyses were in complete as its data was confined to merely the streets surrounding the development.

Undeterred, though, the presenters tried to reinforce that the development itself is more than worth traffic headaches and that the development could help spur new strategies for alleviating Dorchester Avenue.

“I always thought Dorchester Avenue could be the mainest Main Street in Boston,” said Catherine O’Neill from Atlas Investment Group.

Whether Dorchester Avenue garners that reputation or not remains to be seen. But one can’t argue with the substantial transformation the surrounding area will undergo as a result of DOT BLOCK.

A possible alteration of traffic flow aside, DOT BLOCK is poised to turn this area of Dorchester into a retail destination with transit-oriented housing – the kind of residential building the Walsh administration is trying to bolster throughout the city.

Atlas will strive to make the units as affordable to residents as possible, said O’Neill, in hopes of enticing more people to live in the units and shop at retails ranging from the national variety to the local.

“Of course we’re going to try to do the best that we can to make it affordable for people to live in the neighborhood, that’s what this whole project is about,” said O’Neill. “The higher the density, the more opportunity it will be to lower the price for people in the neighborhood to afford. There are a lot of things being balanced here to make it all it can be for the residents of Dorchester.”

 

*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Brian Beisel, traffic engineer, as a recent BRA hire name David Cotter.