The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has agreed to ask the MBTA to extend the Green Line E train down South Huntington Avenue to Hyde Square or even farther into Jamaica Plain.

Extending the Green Line is one of a laundry list of improvements the city agency is considering as part of a comprehensive study to create guidelines for future real estate development along the South Huntington Avenue corridor that connects Huntington Avenue to Perkins Street.

The BRA announced its intention to query MBTA brass last night at the third public meeting the agency has held to garner feedback from area stakeholders about potential improvements to the roadway, which buzzes daily with buses, T trolleys, bicyclists and cars, not to mention pedestrians attempting to cross the busy thoroughfare.

For their part, the MBTA says there are currently no plans to extend the Green Line.

"The T cannot even discuss new projects other than the ones already in the pipeline before some action is taken to stabilize the T’s finances," said Joe Pesaturo, communications director for the MBTA. 

The corridor study began after residents responded with frustration to a development proposal from Cedar Valley Development LLC for a 12-story building with 195 residential units and a parking garage on a 1.1-acre wooded lot at 105A S. Huntington, as well as a $75 million proposal from Boston Residential Group, approved by the BRA, to replace the Home for Little Wanderers at 161 South Huntington with a 196-unit housing development.

While the Boston Residential project gained BRA approval, Cedar Valley has put its plans on hold until the city decides the height and density its new guidelines will allow, said Kairos Shen, the BRA’s chief planner.

For now, the agency is proposing a baseline of 11 stories as the maximum height, but there could be "special opportunities" for greater height and density. Several sites where increase height allowances could be appropriate were identified in the BRA’s presentation. One was 105A South Huntington. Another was the corner of South Huntington and Huntington Avenue, where the Citgo gas station at the corner was pinpointed as a potential redevelopment site in the presentation. Other areas included the area of the VA Hospital, near the Back of the Hill apartment building and in Hyde Square.

Another aspect of the potential roadway improvements is the potential to create gateways at highly visual intersections, with parks or plazas and historical or cultural markers located at the intersection of South Huntington and Heath Street or, again, South Huntington and Huntington. Those locations could also be ideal for new, safer Green Line T or bus stations, according to BRA planners.

However, until the designs for public improvements are drawn, they aren’t eligible for public funding, Shen said. So, the city could push the developer of 105 A South Huntington to provide funding for those designs. The BRA is also pushing Cedar Valley to go above and beyond the city’s requirement for 15 percent affordability in the housing it builds at the site, Shen added. He would not specify what percentage the city is suggesting.

"We’ve heard there is enough support in the neighborhood for the project to move forward," but residents want to know the developer will provide more affordable units, Shen told Banker & Tradesman.