Brookline Select Board backs sending Washington Street 25% design to Transportation Board, with caveats on parking studies

The Brookline Select Board on Feb. 4 transmitted its support to the Transportation Board for the 25% design of the Washington Street Complete Streets project, while asking that parking and curb-use analyses and wayfinding work be completed as the design advances.

The vote to send the Select Board’s comments to the Transportation Board followed a presentation from the Department of Public Works and the project consultant Ty and Bohn, nine Design Review Committee meetings and more than two years of public outreach. Erin Chude, Brookline’s commissioner of public works, outlined the project’s goals: “complete streets… safety and access for pedestrians… ADA compliance… and enhancing commercial vibrancy.”

The board and the public focused much of the evening on trade-offs among protected bike lanes, on-street parking and business access. Multiple business owners and neighborhood representatives urged preserving parking in commercial nodes; Ailish Gilligan, speaking for more than 22 Washington Square businesses, said the proposed loss of 18 spaces in Washington Square would “be a direct threat to the economic stability of our district.” By contrast, advocates for biking and pedestrians emphasized safety improvements: Emily Jacobson, vice president of Viking Brookline and chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, said the design’s raised crosswalks, shortened crossings and rapid flash beacons are “a huge project for people walking.”

Consultant Christopher Sorrett of Ty and Bohn and DPW staff walked the board through the preferred alternative. Key design features include separated bike lanes on both sides of Washington Street from Beacon Street to Station Street, raised crosswalks and rapid-flashing beacons at side-street crossings, narrowed travel lanes (11-foot standard), curb extensions at intersections and a program of streetscape improvements. The current preferred concept shows an estimated 135 on-street spaces within the project limits compared with about 190 today (the consultants’ counts separate some spaces now used for outdoor dining). Commissioner Chude described that result as a balancing exercise to preserve as much parking as possible while meeting the project’s safety, ADA and multimodal goals.

Board members and several speakers repeatedly called for a targeted parking and curb-use study and permanent wayfinding so customers can locate remaining and substitute parking. The Design Review Committee added wayfinding and a Brookline Village parking and curb-use analysis to its vote on the preferred alternative; DPW and Transportation Board leadership told the Select Board they will pursue a similarly scoped parking/curb study for Washington Square as funding and scheduling allow. Brian Kane, chair of the Transportation Board, said: “We are absolutely 100% committed to doing a parking and wayfinding study, not just in Brookline Village, but in Washington Square.”

The Select Board’s action was procedural: the Transportation Board will hold its own public meeting and record comments; the project then advances to MassDOT 25% design review and a state-conducted public hearing. The schedule presented by DPW shows the Transportation Board meeting on Feb. 5, the Select Board to revisit the project on Feb. 11, and a MassDOT 25% public design hearing to be scheduled after submission.

Public commenters and several Select Board members also pressed for construction mitigation and business coordination during construction, noting that short-term disruptions can critically harm small retailers. Commissioner Chude said the federal/state grant scoring and MassDOT process require construction management planning; she and Kane said mitigation and sequencing will be part of later design phases.

After roughly two hours of questions and public comment, the Select Board voted to transmit the board’s support for the 25% design and the Design Review Committee’s recommendations — including the wayfinding component and the Brookline Village parking/curb-use study — to the Transportation Board, with the expectation that parking and curb-use analyses and advisory-group engagement inform the 75% design milestone. The board’s decision was not unanimous; one member expressed substantive objections to the proposed protected bike lane configuration in Brookline Village and asked for additional study of the transition at Station Street.

The project team recommended continued public comment via the project website and said the 25% submission to MassDOT will include documentation of the public input received to date. The preferred alternative and outreach materials are posted on the town’s Washington Street project page for review.