Special to the Times
Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards has filed a hearing order to discuss the implementation of reforms to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) that she proposed and were implemented by Mayor Walsh in an executive order in February of 2020.
“The ZBA continues to be one of the main sources of constituent calls and emails to my office,” said Councilor Edwards. “Last year I filed some reforms that the Mayor implemented through an executive order. We’ve made some progress in making the board more accessible and transparent, but not all of the commitments have been met and the pandemic has added new challenges to accessibility. We need to check in and have a conversation about what we can do to ensure residents have a voice when projects in their neighborhood are going through the process.”
The hearing will also address financial disclosure requirements that were required as part of the executive order.
“I filed a hearing order recently on the inclusionary development policy because we need to be exploring all options to create and preserve affordable housing. It’s more important now than ever,” added Councilor Edwards. “Being able to know who owns what will be key as we move forward with affordable housing reforms.”
The hearing order will be introduced at Wednesday’s council meeting and assigned to a committee. A public hearing will then be scheduled where members of the public will be able to testify.