All shock and no awe colors neighbor reaction to Point Breeze phase II
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Point Breeze Hotel owner Bob Matthews told the Planning Board Monday night about his intentions for phase two of his redevelopment plans, alarming those in attendance with its massive scale and plethora of amenities.

Matthews' plan for the eastern portion of the new Point Breeze compound calls for a 39-room hotel straddling the northwest corner of Easton and North Beach streets.

Five of the six cottages at this end of the property will be relocated to line Easton Street and will be renovated with second floors added to each. In their former locations, Matthews wants to build a 112-space underground parking garage with three tennis courts above that at ground level. Drivers would enter the garage from Easton Street.

This underground parking garage would negate the need for the proposed 14- space underground parking area already approved for phase one that would have been beneath the terrace connecting the restaurant and an addition to the main hotel. In place of this parking will be a 21-person spa.

Behind the main hotel at 77 Easton St. a structure known as the barn will house five more hotel units and a three-lane bowling alley. Apool will also be built nearby.

Additionally, the Captain's Corners guesthouse at 89 Easton St., which Matthews wants to buy, could house an asyet undetermined number of employees.

Since presenting a preliminary plan for phase two at the board's Aug. 27 meeting, and getting Planning Board approval for that, Matthews made three significant changes to the project that include: shifting the pool away from a wetland and neighbors; changing the entrance for the parking garage so that it goes directly from the turnout on Easton Street to the garage and cutting an interior path between the service area at the end of North Avenue to the barn for a golf cart to shuttle supplies on.

As Matthews' island attorney Sarah Alger explained to the board, her client is submitting his phase two plans as a major modification to his original major commercial development special permit, issued in July 2005, so the board and the public could deal with all aspects of both phases, as they are all interrelated. Phase one includes the renovation of the existing hotel building, reconstruction of the hotel restaurant and construction of the original hotel as a 4,091-square-foot addition to the current main building.

However, because Matthews had not submitted his definitive plans in time for Monday's meeting, the board asked what questions it could without seeing the plans and then asked for public comments. In addition to receiving letters and emails calling for development temperance, and a petition from 16 project supporters, on Monday night the board absorbed the full force of the neighborhood's opposition to phase two.

"We're very much in favor of what's happening with phase one, but we're very much concerned with the density of what's being proposed for phase two; it would cast a huge shadow on what is considered the entrance to the Brant Point area," said Brant Point Association board member Nancy Forster of 1 Swain St.

Many Point Breeze abutters and neighbors who had gradually warmed to Matthews' plans to renovate and expand the old Gordon Folger Hotel, aired new objections about phase two and about what they perceive as an exponential increase in the density of the hotel property. Despite the proposed 112-space parking garage, which drops Matthews'parking waiver request from 206 spots to 155, and his plan to widen Easton Street enough to allow two-lane travel with vehicles parked on both sides of the street, traffic congestion concerns bottlenecked at the public comment microphone on Monday night.

Dr. George and Kathleen Butterworth, who live at 23 North Water St., said that the hotel deliveries already clogging their street and the surrounding streets will only get worse with phase two, and can be avoided.

"These folks with their second phase have plenty of room to make an interior road on their property," Dr. Butterworth said. "The last thing I want to see is the tractor trailers parked on Easton Street with their compressors running."

Alger assured the board that the number of deliveries would not increase, and that Matthews would agree to a designated loading zone on Easton Street.

Planning Board member Barry Rector agreed with the neighbors' traffic worries, especially with those living along North Avenue where delivery trucks currently travel to the hotel's service area. Poking around for an alternative, Rector suggested that all deliveries could be made down in the parking garage that could include some public parking spots.

"Maybe make use of some of your parking and do some sort of the sticker system to remove some of the onstreet parking on Easton Street," suggested Rector. "North Avenue, I would like to see come off your radar. The only thing I would like to see in there is maybe some drainage."

Rector added that he also wants to see some sort of contingency included in Matthews' plans for removing the bump-out on the north side of Easton Street containing two American elm trees should the trees die or get blown over.

Planning Board Chairman Frank Spriggs complimented Matthews on his drainage plan to date, but urged him to work out the best possible solutions for housing his employees at the Captain's Corners building. Matthews' public hearing resumes on Sept. 24.