A public works project to improve and expand an MBTA facility next to Ashmont station is receiving a fresh round of criticism from abutters, who claim the construction is disrupting their lives and potentially damaging their properties.

Their grievances were aired out at a meeting of the Ashmont-Adams Neighborhood Association last Thursday at the Plasterer’s Union Hall on Minot Street, where residents of Huron Circle, a circular side-street of about 25 homes off Gallivan Boulevard, were the most vocal participants.

They claim that they were not properly engaged by MBTA planners and their contractors ahead of the $116.6 million project, which has now been underway for about 18 months. They say planners may have engaged with neighbors on other streets near the facility, but did not do so with Circle residents.

A photo from this week of the track work being done adjacent to Huron Circle as part of the Codman Yard Rehabilitation Project.
Seth Daniel photo

The work, which includes the noisy pounding of piles and other heavy work, is aimed at expanding the tracks and other infrastructure inside Codman Yard, the storage and maintenance facility at the Ashmont end of the Red Line branch.

“[The MBTA] did not include our street on any construction map or do any outreach,” said one neighbor who spoke at the meeting. “It was just waking up one morning to the sound of heavy equipment and wondering what was going on. All of a sudden they are pounding, digging up our street, and that’s not acceptable.”

“This has been going on since October 2023 and I think I’m going to hire an attorney and try to stop this, put a stop work order on Huron Circle,” said Alison McCormack, who also lives there.

Roodly Dorleans, a project manager for the MBTA, was at the meeting and countered the abutter’s claims, saying that pre-construction survey letters were sent to six homes on Huron Circle. Only one responded, he said.

But other neighbors, saying they never received any communications about construction, are worried that their home’s foundations might be impacted.

Huron Circle’s Lenny MacKoul, who has organized neighbors in an email chain, said one major source of contention is the eastern side of the enclave, closest to the MBTA tracks, where trees that provided a sight and sound buffer have been removed. The prospect of those trees being replaced is not in question, but now there’s a worry that there will be no greenery along the tracks, and instead only stonework.

“We know it won’t look like it did, but it’s extremely important we get that green space back and get some trees and get some buffering,” said MacKoul.

His neighbor, McCormack, emphasized that point: “They need to find it in the budget to address things on our street and what they are doing to the trees here. We were never included in any of these plans.”

Other complaints raised at the meeting included allegations of inattentiveness by the State Police detail, lack of follow-through by the contractor, Barletta, not baiting for rats, dust issues, and better project communication online.

Councillor John FitzGerald attended the meeting and said the MBTA needed to address the issue immediately, particularly for folks worried about possible damage to their homes.