By Jim O'Sullivan

Packing the fall docket for Dorchester civic associations are efforts to curb traffic congestion, regulate development parcels, keep an eye on the progress of Red Line stations, and address a host of other issues that likely will keep the after-work coffee circuit busy through another season of community activism.

September is always the busy season for civic groups, said Marlea Mesh, a founder of the relatively new Tuttle-Hartland Neighborhood Watch. Neighbors returning from summer vacations have had a few months to let the issues simmer, and church basements and community centers become the forums for stop-sign debates and urban planning.

A survey of local civic leaders preparing for their first meetings after the summer break revealed loud concerns about traffic snarls created largely by construction, woes that many seasoned observers think will worsen as the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) continues rehauling infrastructure along Dorchester Avenue and as the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) moves forward with its plans to renovate the Ashmont, Shawmut, Fields Corner, and Savin Hill stations.

"Traffic seems to always come up at our meetings," Mesh said, adding that the issue usually tops the agenda and dominates conversation for the first several minutes. Her Tuttle St. group, she said, will lobby for a stop sign at the end of Tuttle, repaired potholes along Sydney St., and improved street-sweeping along Savin Hill Ave. between Dorchester Ave. and Pleasant St.

Paul Nutting, who will inaugurate his tenure as president of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association at Monday's Little House meeting, said the sewer seperation project's disruption of traffic at the intersection of Sydney and Crescent ranks high on the agenda of one of Dorchester's largest and most influential groups.

Nutting said that an "overwhelming vote" against the proposed UMass-Boston dormitories last year is unlikely to change. He said, "I'm hopeful that we can try to improve the relationship with the university."

Long-awaited renovations of Savin Hill, Fields Corner and Shawmut T Stations, are slated to begin this year, and uncertainties about the project's timetable and its side effects are causes for concern, Nutting said. He said design details and the specifics about the station closing necessary for the construction have some neighbors worried.

Uphams Corner, Fernando Bossa said links between neighbors and local businesses are a chief priority in Uphams Corner. Bossa, assistant director of the Uphams Corner Main Streets program and a member of the Groom-Humphrey Association, said youth employment is on a lot of locals' minds.

"Right now, it seems like jobs, jobs seem like the big thing," Bossa said. "We don't know yet what the response [from companies] is going to be, but we know that most of the kids are going to be out in the streets again." Bossa called for a "bridge with the business district."

Hal Cohen, president of the Groom-Humphrey group, said local merchants had been angered two weeks ago by a raid by the city's Inspectional Services Department that closed businesses immediately before the Uphams Corner Street Fest, usually a financial windfall for them.

Barry Mullen, executive board member of the St. Mark's Area Civic Association, said a residential and commercial development long in the works was the big news along that stretch of Dorchester Ave. this fall. Mullen said 14 units of housing and commercial spaces are going into Banton St., with the approval of the neighborhood.

The community nod goes to developments off Washington St., too, said Bill Loesch, vice president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Council. A Subway sandwich shop is planned on the 500 block of Washington, Loesch said, with a meeting between the locals and corporation representatives set to take place Wednesday, after the Reporter went to press.

Housing parcels along Norfolk St. and Talbot Ave. are underway, Loesch said. Approximately 20 units are being prepared for 49 Norfolk St., and three or four units for 308 Talbot Ave., Loesch reported.

Matt Strauss, president of the Jones Hill Civic Association, said the MBTA's Fairmount Line was a flashpoint for residents there, but predicted a relatively calm civic season. Neighbors are still debating the proper course of action regarding a cell phone tower atop St. Mary's women's center.

Development potential along Dorchester's two eastern boulevards has charged up heavy-hitting groups like the Cedar Grove Civic Association and the Pope's Hill Neighborhood Association. In Adams Village, John O'Toole, Cedar Grove president still has an eye trained on the Sax property adjacent to Pope John Paul II Park, and said the dynamic face of the bustling commerce center at the intersection of Adams St. and Gallivan Blvd. worries him.

"There's just so much more potential for down there," O'Toole said. "It certainly, certainly needs a facelift."

The storefront where Adams Sports once resided is one example O'Toole cited. With a stop-work order on the door as of Wednesday morning, the planned chiropractor's office appeared on hold, but O'Toole is holding out for something different. On his wish list are a bookstore, ice cream shop, or café, redrawing the stretch of Adams St. more like Jamaica Plain's Centre St., he said.

To the north and the east, Pope's Hill president Phil Carver said he is focused on advocating for a proactive approach to new developments.

"We have to try to elicit responses, to steer smart growth, instead of responding to it," Carver said.

A kick-off meeting Thursday night will give neighbors a chance to discuss Columbia Circle expansion by Boston College High School, Greater Media, and the Boston Globe, all of which have planned construction projects in the pipeline.

Carver said Stop & Shop's initial construction plans, calling for a parking garage, recently have been axed, with the supermarket giant instead offering incentives to employees not to drive.

The planned rebirth of breakfast spot Linda Mae's is "a good sign," Carver said, but he added that he had heard from neighbors concerned about the future of vacant sites along Morrissey and in Neponset, including the Bradlees, an empty warehouse on Norwood St., the Burger King, and what Carver termed, "the world's largest ATM."

On the eastern side of Morrissey, John Krall, past president of the Neponset-Precinct 10 group, said pricing out has vexed area residents for more than a decade. New housing units, he said, are "a constant theme of concern down here."

"We're a bit afraid of gentrification to the extent of strangulization," Krall said,

But others said they were heartened by an injection of fresh faces.

Savin Hill's Catherine O'Neill said she has noticed an influx of new neighbors, calling it "a good sign.

"It shows that we're reinvigorating ourselves," O'Neill said. "I think the real estate values are a testament to what we've known all along, those of us who have stayed. This is a great place to live."

O'Toole said he will push this year for increased involvement from the newer residents.

"The issues aren't going away," O'Toole said. "There's a lot of young people who have chosen to live in the neighborhood, which is super. But if anyone has a notion of getting involved, please do it, because the more people we have, the more we can do."

Lower Mills Civic Association, which has been in a sort of self-imposed hibernation since the spring of 2002, does not have any plans to meet this fall, according the Michael Skillin, former president of the group. Skillin and Michael Sand are being personally sued by real estate developer Louis Hadaya, a dispute that stems from the civic group's opposition to a Washington Street office building that Hadaya had proposed.

Skillin said this week that the civic group's "main focus is to deal with the lawsuit." An appeals court judge is expected to take up the case in the coming months, Skillin said.