Residents and Businesses Urge Oversight of UMass Building Authority Plans and DCR Easement for Dorchester Bay City

Residents, business leaders and housing advocates testified about access, traffic and stewardship concerns tied to the proposed Dorchester Bay City development and UMass Building Authority (UMBA) control of a planned easement across land under Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) stewardship. Multiple witnesses asked the joint committee to ensure public access and to scrutinize UMBA’s negotiated easement rights.

Why it matters: Testimony described potential traffic gridlock on the peninsula’s single main thoroughfare, possible emergency-access constraints for Harbor Point’s roughly 3,500 residents and seniors, and long delays in site redevelopment since UMBA acquired the Bayside parcels. Witnesses urged the committee to protect the public’s ability to access Dorchester Bay shoreline areas and cited prior legislative easements as precedent.

What witnesses said: Orlando Perella, Harbor Point Community Task Force chair, described the peninsula’s limited egress and asked for an additional access road that would link Harbor Point through DCR land to Day Boulevard to avoid gridlock and to preserve emergency access. Miles Byrne, who has worked on Columbia Point and with local development, said the community had received memoranda of community benefits that were not honored and that trust in UMBA has eroded. Michael Carquin (Cochran/Jenison Companies) and Richard Fulham described UMBA’s decades-long stewardship and argued that the draft bill would restore or preserve DCR access rights. Community speakers said UMBA had allowed structures such as the old Bayside Expo Center sign to deteriorate and that residents and neighbors deserve clearer protections.

Legal and procedural concerns: Senator Collins recommended the committee seek an opinion from the Supreme Judicial Court on Article 97 protections for public parkland and on statutory limits for easements across parkland that is paved or used as roadway rather than turf. Collins said prior legislation had granted UMBA nonexclusive access for certain purposes but that UMBA’s actions had been perceived by neighbors as limiting other public and private rights; she urged a legal opinion to clarify the legislature’s authority and limits when parkland access and easements intersect with large development projects.

Ending: Witnesses asked the committee to take up oversight, preserve public access and hold agencies and public authorities accountable; committee staff said they would take testimony and may follow up with additional hearings or written requests for documentation.