Endicott Street health facility nears Planning Board approval

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Public access to the Endicott Pear Tree and synchronized lights are among the user-friendly details presented by Partners HealthCare to the Planning Board Tuesday night for its new Endicott Street health care facility.

In a third round Tuesday night, the team representing the developer continued discussion about traffic, storm water management and the historic tree.

The new, $108 million ambulatory care facility and cancer treatment center at 100 Endicott St. is a collaboration between Mass General Hospital and North Shore Medical Center, members of Partners HealthCare. The team had already unveiled the contemporary facility design earlier this month. However, concerns over traffic, signalized access to the property and the possibility of a public walkway along the riverfront required more detail.

The historic Endicott Pear Tree sits on the 49-acre property. Preserving its future has been of particular interest for many in town, including members of the Preservation Commission.

The developer has taken measures to protect the pear tree and has redesigned storm water management plans for the property in that effort, Mark Wixsted, project manager from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin said.

Walter Sherwood, Preservation Commission member, came to the meeting Tuesday and relayed his approval of measures in place to take care of the tree.

Providing access to the tree and the possibility of developing a public walkway along the riverfront behind the tree has been in negotiations between the town and the developer, said Nancy McCann, attorney for project. There has also been talk with representatives from Brightview Gardens, a new assisted living facility planned at 50 Endicott St., to connect public walkways on both properties along the river, McCann said.

More details on the public walkway will be included in a “mitigation” plan document to be presented at the board’s April 10 meeting, Jeanne Graham, spokesman for North Shore Medical Center, said Wednesday.

“We are very interested in that mitigation plan document,” Margaret Zelinsky said Tuesday night.

Engineers from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin have been working with Mass Highway to ensure that increased traffic on that portion of Endicott Street from the Route 128 ramps flows without overburdening the neighborhood. It appeared engineers and the board agreed that linking a communication between two sets of traffic signaling systems could prove instrumental in that effort.

There are four or five sets of traffic lights already linked from the Route 128 ramps up to Sylvan Street, said Vinod Kilikera, traffic engineer from VHB. Two signalized intersections that will run in front of the medical facility, too, will be linked, he said, in order to keep traffic moving.

The key, Kilikera said, is to get the two separate systems to communicate; however, his team and Mass Highway recently determined that the communication link is not functioning.

Board members agreed that restoring that link is critical and will work in a “tri-party agreement” with the town, state and developer to fund that process, all agreed.

Town Planner Evan Belansky said the town has money obtained from Kohl’s, Stop and Shop and Dick’s Sporting Goods it could use in funding the restoration of the link.

A handful of residents turned out for Tuesday night’s meeting and most expressed a specific interest in how much additional traffic would be generated by the ambulatory care facility.

“I want to see some real figures,” Precinct 3 Town Meeting member Ann Marie Ruotolo said.

In all, the new facility is expected to add 1,500 cars daily, Kilikera said, which was an estimate on the high side.

Of those cars, 65 cars were expected to travel east to Water Street during peak travel times, Kilikera said.

McCann assured the board and residents that all marketing materials, including appointment reminders for patients and information on the facility’s Web site, would direct them to access the facility from Routes 114 and 128 in an effort to discourage travel on Water Street.

Residents expressed concern with traffic backup already existing on Water Street at the signalized intersection with Endicott Street. Although the town is already studying that intersection separately, the developer assured residents of its commitment to help.

Engineers made revisions to storm water management plans, per the town engineer and the board’s request, and submitted those plans Tuesday night.

A new natural filtration system, or “bio retention cell,” was of particular interest for some board members. Wixsted explained the necessity for such a system, which utilizes grass swails and vegetation to clean storm water, given the close proximity of an underground gas pipeline on the riverfront, which prohibits mechanical filtration.

“The state proposed we treat the water this way,” Wixsted said. “Otherwise, there would not be access to the pipeline.”

Admitting the natural filtration system was relatively new to his firm and this area, Wixsted he has personally designed at least one other project using this type of system.

Such a system will require quarterly inspection and maintenance, if needed, which may require the replacement of vegetation at most, Wixsted said.

The medical group is due back before the board on Tuesday, April 10, when they expect final site plan approval.