Boston council hearing spotlights plan to legalize triple deckers and expand ADUs as tools to add housing

Boston — The Boston City Council Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation heard testimony Nov. 18 on two related proposals to ease zoning restrictions: Docket 1632, to legalize triple deckers and other 2‑ to 4‑unit housing, and Docket 1718, to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) by right citywide. Chair Sharon Durkin opened the hearing noting the cases were sponsored by Councillors Henry Santana and Enrique Pepin and that public testimony would follow.

Planning staff told the committee that the city’s zoning no longer matches the buildings on the ground and that the mismatch forces many routine repairs and modest additions into the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal process. "If you look at the sort of when buildings were built…60% of the small scale buildings were built before there was any kind of zoning," said a planning presenter, and he summarized their analysis by saying nearly all residential parcels are nonconforming on at least one rule. Staff repeatedly cited one headline figure in their presentation: "99% of the homes in residential zone districts…you could not rebuild it without a variance," a…