Rezoning, 'Squares and Streets' and displacement concerns dominate Planning Department hearing

Planning Department leaders used the May 12 Ways and Means hearing to describe ongoing zoning reforms — including Downtown/Chinatown zoning updates, Plan East Boston, and the Squares and Streets neighborhood zoning work — and to report early results from rezonings and code changes.

Kairo Shen, Chief of Planning, told the committee the department is pursuing zoning reform, a new design vision, modernization of Article 80 development review, and deploying public land for public benefit. Shen said the department has started implementing Article 80 changes and noted specific rezoning results: following an East Boston rezoning, the median number of days between an appeal application and a decision dropped from an average of 196 days to 73 days; staff also reported an increase in approved projects and a decrease in projects requiring variances since rezoning. In Mattapan, Shen said median days between application and permit issuance dropped by about 20 days and approval rates increased from 61% to 91% after rezoning.

Devon Cork, deputy chief, described the department’s design vision work and an expanded urban design team to produce neighborhood‑specific design guidelines and a database of community and cultural assets to inform review.

Public testimony and several councilors pressed planners on displacement risk tied to rezoning. Lori Radwin of the Roslindale Coalition testified that a city displacement‑risk map shows a local census tract with a 4.7 risk score and said she has documented speculative offers and outreach to property owners; she asked the council to require an affirmatively fair housing review before adopting Roslindale zoning. Radwin told the committee, “We want a fair housing review before zoning is put in place.”

Council members asked technical and policy questions. Councilor Colette Zapata and others asked about the role of sea‑level elevation in Plan East Boston zoning; Devon Cork said the base elevation used to measure building height is the 2,070 flood elevation so some new permitted building heights can appear taller than existing street level because they are measured from future‑proofed datum. Councilors also asked about impact advisory groups and proposals to form longer‑term community advisory teams (CATs); department staff said the proposal to replace one‑off IAGs with CATs had not reached consensus in engagement and would be advanced cautiously with companion training via the Planning Academy.

Shen stressed the department’s intent to revisit newly adopted zoning if implementation shows unanticipated problems and asked council members for ongoing collaboration on zoning fixes.