An informative public meeting hosted by the Dorchester Board of Trade this week brought together spokespeople for five major projects currently in motion or being planned: parochial school consolidation; Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) master plans for Dorchester Avenue and the Columbia Point peninsula; MBTA expansion of the commuter rail line through Mattapan and Dorchester to South Station; and the developing master plan for the University of Massachusetts.

The early evening presentation was hosted by New England Cable News (NECN) reporter Greg Wayland - himself an "OFD-er" from Neponset - and by Board president Bill Puddister, the manager of the Gallivan Boulevard office of Members Plus Credit Union.

Speakers included Dave Ferrolito of Suffolk Construction, the general contractor overseeing the conversion of seven Catholic parish schools into a four campus, Dorchester-wide Pope John Paul II Academy; BRA officials Tad Read, a planner on the Columbia Point peninsula, and Jeremy Rosenberger, the Dorchester planner for the Dorchester Avenue corridor; John Schwarz, MBTA design and construction department official overseeing the commuter rail projects; and Ellen O'Connor, UMass Boston Vice Chancellor who oversees the university ambitious Campus Master Plan.

Some of the major points made public included:

• The first phase of the parochial school project has begun, and substantial construction activity will take place this summer. In Phase Two, a "brand new building" will arise on the current campus of St. Mark School, Ferrolito said, and all the work is expected to be completed by 2010.

• The BRA's Tad Read said two community meetings on the Columbia Point master plan will be held, on "existing conditions" May 15 at the Harbor Point community building, and on "visioning" June 14 at BC High. A draft plan will be made public "in the fall," he said.

• The Dot Ave. project's design has another 20 months to go, said the BRA's Rosenberger. The study was commissioned in 2005 by Mayor Menino, and is expected "to be completed in December 2009," he said.

• Four new commuter rail stops - at Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, Talbot Avenue near Codman Square, Four Corners and Newmarket- will be added on the growing MBTA line, planner Schwarz said. Several bridges are under reconstruction, and others will be scheduled in the future.

• At UMass Boston, a campus master plan projects adding an additional 300,000 to 600,000 square feet of buildings to the current estimated 2.1 million square feet, said Vice Chancellor O'Connor. "We're really shoe-horned in," she said, explaining the plan envisions replacing the current Science building, constructing new classroom space, and renovating others, changing vehicular traffic patterns and adding walkways. The plan calls for 2000 beds of on-campus housing, all located on the northeast section of the campus, adjacent the Harbor Point residential community. "We can afford to borrow $250 million," she said, with the state adding additional funds up to $375 million, "and if we get really lucky, the Commonwealth might come up with more," she said.

The two-hour meeting was attended by about 50 persons, mostly local merchants and other members of the Dorchester business community.

"Tonight's event demonstrates that Dorchester has a strong and vibrant business community that is building for the future," said Board of Trade president Bill Puddister. "We are putting in place an infrastructure that will support growth of our transportation, education, housing and business sectors into the 21st century.

"These major initiatives and the many smaller development projects across our neighborhood make Dorchester and exciting, convenient and comfortable place to live, work and conduct business."

- Ed Forry