CURRENT STATUS OF CONSTRUCTION IN MASSACHUSETTS - APRIL 7
April 7, 2020
Written by Tom Nally, Senior Advisor
Wendy Gettleman of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in the midst of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, was looking ahead to maintaining construction progress on a project in Chestnut Hill and has found the requirements established for essential and non-essential work to be confusing, with the state and municipalities offering different interpretations.
A review of the list of construction workers accompanying the Governor’s emergency order “COVID-19 Order No.21” updated on March 31, 2020, the closest applicable reference defining essential workers is “construction workers who provide services…essential [to] operation of hospitals and health care facilities” [emphasis added] and not the construction of health care facilities; however, the description goes on to state “you may request designation as an essential business.”
In addition to the list issued by the state, there is a special note: “If the function of your business is not listed [above], but you believe that it is essential or it is an entity providing essential services or functions, you may request designation as an essential service.” There is a link to a brief form to be completed and submitted to the state on which an applicant can describe why a service not listed should be considered essential for the purposes of the emergency order. There is no further description on the form about the nature or timing of this designation process.
It is possible that one could make a case that construction workers working on a hospital project are essential. But the issue may be complicated by local restrictions.
A further complication is the actions of the unions. The carpenters union has decided that its members should not report to work starting on Monday, April 6, and as a result, there appear to be no carpenters on the Brookline High School Ninth Grade Academy construction site today where activity preparing concrete formwork was non-existent. The impact on this project’s schedule has not been determined, where occupancy has been planned for September 2021.
The City of Boston on March 16, 2020, posted in the Inspectional Services Department web site the following: “The only work that will be permitted moving forward will be emergency work, which will need to be approved by the City of Boston Inspectional Services Department. That essential work includes… work at public health facilities, healthcare facilities…”
At the Brookline Economic Development Advisory Board meeting on Monday night, April 6, the attorney representing the developer of the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel at 700 Brookline Avenue told us that the developer plans to seek a waiver to resume construction. The remaining work to complete the hotel construction largely consists of completing room interiors and final site landscaping. The target for completion is this coming summer. The basis for this waiver request is that many of the expected occupants of the hotel will be patients and families visiting hospitals in the nearby Longwood Medical Area, and that the hotel will meet an important need in the current environment. It should be noted that the Hilton construction project is a non-union job.
