Globe Editorial - Boston zoning code should be revamped
A recent Boston Globe editorial agrees with Mayor Wu's assessment that the city's zoning code is “long, dense, and internally inconsistent in ways that make planning confusing, unpredictable, and costly.’’The consultant from Cornell who analyzed Boston's arcane code (and who is being hired to spearhead the revamping) gives the following example:“A homeowner who wishes to put a gabled dormer on a roof or a small business owner who wants to add a takeout component to their restaurant may pay $10,000 and undergo a six-month review process to achieve what in other places might have a one-day approval turnaround time and cost less than $100. The costs of zoning compliance make Boston less affordable, because those costs get internalized or passed on, including to tenants and customers.’’The Globe editorial writers agree that the code is a problem but also wonder if there is the political will in the legislature to change it. The editorial notes that "every line in that 3,791-page code is there because someone had the political muscle to put it there or today benefits from it."
Wu to overhaul Boston's arcane zoning code
Boston's Mayor Wu has proposed a wholesale overhaul of the city's complex zoning bylaws. She announced it a Chamber of Commerce speech, signaling that she believes the changes will be helpful to business. The news was reported in the Boston Globe.Rather that the current neighborhood-based model, the new zoning will focus on "squares and streets," making mixed-use hubs along main corridors near transit - sometimes straddling two neighborhood.The BPDA will look at reforming zoning by-laws so that fewer projects would require a variance and would instead be granted by right.A Cornell professor who consulted on the review and will work on the revision called Boston's current zoning "bloated, outdated, inconsistent and inequitable" and says Boston's code - at 4,000+ pages long - is too much. Nashville's zoning bylaw is 349 pages long and Portland, Oregon's is 1,830 pages.Neighborhood groups and individual owners are concerned. Right now they can kill a project they don't like or at least stall it with complaints to the Development Review Board. With more uses provided by-right, they will lose that veto power and with it, the power to have a say in how their neighborhood develops.
ADUs can help the housing crunch, says builder
Scott Bailey, a co-founder of Bequall, a California based building firm that specializes in constructing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), published an editorial in the Boston Globe recently. In the piece, he lists changes he wants made to an ADU bill put forward in the MA Legislature in 2023.He takes issue with five components of the bill as it stands. The minimum lot size is too large and he suggests using setbacks as the main zoning requirement to keep the character of the neighborhood. The bill only allows for ADUs for family members with disabilities and seniors, rather than having anyone be able to use them. He says the minimum build size of 450 SF is "arbitrary" and should be increased. The bill requires owner-occupancy in ADUs, and he disagrees with that requirement. Lastly, he'd like the parking space requirement lifted, as many ADUs could be built close to public transit.Wonks and officials have been saying "Massachusetts needs 200,000 new housing units in the next eight years" and this is, says Bailey, a good way to get there.
Weymouth brewhouse plans
In 2019, Weymouth approved a zoning overlay district in the downtown area, in hopes of revitalizing some blighted areas.The owner of the Union Brewhouse in Weymouth had proposed a redevelopment of his site from a single-family and bar/restaurant into a 36-unit apartment building with a 3,000 SF restaurant, spread over two new buildings.Fire officials objected to the original plan, because they wouldn't have enough access to the sides of the buildings. Jennings came to the zoning board again with new plans for one, four-story building with 28 apartments and a ground-floor restaurant (the Union Brewhouse, which will be twice its current size), plus two large roof decks.He is requesting variances for the height (he'd like to exceed the height limit by two feet) and number of stories (he'd like 4, the zoning says 3 is the maximum).The hearing is scheduled for July 12.Read the Patriot Ledger article here: Changes made in plans to redevelop Weymouth brewhouse site
Matta-plan
The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) recently released a detailed report with zoning and planning recommendations for Mattapan, as part of the sweeping "Imagine Boston 2030" planning revision. The BPDA vision for Mattapan encompasses a neighborhood where “a resident can obtain all their basic needs and material wants within a 10-minute walk” according to the 93-page long PLAN: Mattapan document. The idea of being able to reach “all basic and material needs and wants” in just ten minutes is upping the ante on the idea of the “15 minute city” a current favorite concept of urban planners around the world. In the UK, the idea of the 15 minute city (15mC or FMC to the cognoscenti) is also paired with strong feelings about the urgent need to reverse climate change by reducing automotive emissions. City planners in Oxford (England) were shocked to find that there was vehement opposition to their proposal to create 15 minute zones, which severely limited where residents could and couldn't drive their cars. People driving outside of their allotted 15 minute radius would be fined 70 pounds (about $85) when driving outside of the allowed zones. Thousands of Oxford residents signed petitions protesting the enforced no-drive zones and the planners were simply astonished that residents felt their rights were being impinged upon and took to calling those opposed to the plan conspiracy theorists and "flat earthers".PLAN: Mattapan believes that the way to reach the 10 minute walkability goal is to implement significant zoning changes, including allowing more business development in residential neighborhoods (outside of the Mattapan Square area where business is now concentrated and also by adding residential development in the Square).The proposed zoning changes will also allow ADUs by right, encourage microunits, and expand multi-family zoning throughout the neighborhood, especially around transit hubs, which supports the walkability goal.One such development has already happened. The Loop at Mattapan Station, built on a former parking lot, opened in April 2023. It contains 135 affordable apartments, all of which are reserved for households earning less than the area median income (which is $112,150 for a family of four). The Loop at Mattapan Station also contains 10,000 SF of storefront retail and a 2,000 SF fitness room for residents. There are plans, according to the Globe to build a second building with nine affordable condo units.PLAN: Mattapan touts itself as having been created with significant community input, unlike the top-down Oxford 15 minute zones. Mattapan residents have often felt left out and left behind when it comes to businesses and infrastructure. “Greater Mattapan didn’t get to where it is overnight,’’ said Fatima Ali-Salaam, chair of the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council in a Globe article. “It’s a buildup of decades of neglect.’’ PLAN: Mattapan envisions an urban planner’s utopia – ample bike and pedestrian access, abundant public transit (by extending the Mattapan T line into Readville and electrifying the Fairmount Line, plus increasing bus traffic), more open space, larger front setbacks for new development, and trees planted along the sidewalks. It has a vision “to proactively shape development and investment” and prioritizes small local businesses over national chains.Many of the zoning changes are in effect in other Boston neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods, such as Neighborhood Shopping (NS) and Multi-Family Residential (MFR) zones, that allow increased residential and business density along key neighborhood corridors.The plan goes into very minute details of how to improve Mattapan, such as by hanging public banners that “honor and affirm residents’ cultural identity”. The BPDA is going through the same process in other neighborhoods in the city and we can expect more planning and zoning changes in the next few years. The last time the city's zoning laws were revised (city-wide) was 50 years ago and the "Imagine Boston 2030" initiative is an attempt to bring the city's planning and zoning regulations into the 21st century.
The History of Zoning & How It Exacerbates the Housing Crisis
An April 2023 newsletter by Peter Coy of the NY Times reviews Robert Ellickson's 2022 book "America's Frozen Neighborhoods: The Abuse of Zoning" which Coy calls "a valuable contribution to the growing movement against NIMBYism." NIMBYism is a favorite target of many New Urbanists who are pro-city, pro-density, and anti-single-family zoning. Coy says that today's housing crunch started a century ago under the Hoover administration. President Herbert Hoover thought that in asking municipalities to create local zoning, they would encourage what he thought would be ideal communities - safe, affordable housing for workers, good access to roads and good businesses nearby. But municipalities had different ideas of what they wanted in their communities: namely suburban single-family homes: to bring in more property tax revenues and keep poor people out.Coy highlights some of the key points of Ellickson's book, which analyzes zoning regs in Austin, New Haven, and Silicon Valley to show how their zoning laws have impacted each community. The conclusion of the book, per Coy and per Paul Krugman, also of the NY Times, is that bigger cities are better (more economically productive) and thus more density is a desirable outcome.
Is the MBTA Communities Zoning Plan Realistic?
Former MA Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a requirement for all Eastern and Central MA communities served by public transit (MBTA, commuter rail, or bus station) to create a high-density zoning district by right, within a half-mile of a train or bus station. The high density districts must be of at least 50 acres, 25 of them contiguous and allow multi-families by right.Charlotte Kahn published an excellent analysis of the problem with this plan back in March 2022, while the public comment session was still open.Some of the main critiques are:
The plan calls for massive numbers of new residential units in towns that are already quite dense. For example, Somerville is required to construct 9,067 new units. 13,477 are required in Cambridge, and 12,642 in Worcester.
There is no requirement about affordability of these units, so towns that are already prone to high-end market rate units will just get more, which may push out lower earners.
"Upzoning" to these densities will mean displacement of existing residents and businesses and the destruction of green space and historic buildings.
When first proposed, towns were allowed to opt-out, with the understanding that they would not be allowed to access funding through the Housing Choice, Local Capital Projects, or Mass Works streams. These are major public funding sources for some communities and not used at all by others.But this year, Massachusetts has a new Governor and a new Attorney General, who have now ruled that there is no opt-out option. "Compliance with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law is mandatory," said AG Andrea Joy Campbell.The AG press release goes on to say how important safe and affordable housing is to the state government, yet the MBTA law says nothing about affordability or the rational behind the plan.This topic seems to be flying under the radar of major news organizations, but we at Daly Appraisal Services will continue to monitor it and share updates.