Special to the Times-Free Press
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata (District 1) sponsored a hearing on July 15, to discuss the ongoing efforts to reform Article 80 in Boston’s Zoning Code, highlighting the need for transparency and larger community engagement. Co-sponsors of the hearing include Councilor John FitzGerald (District 3) of Dorchester and Councilor Tania Fernades Anderson of Roxbury (District 7). Those in attendance included Councilors At-Large Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy, Ruthzee Louijeune, Councilors Ben Weber, Ed Flynn, Sharon Durkan, Liz Breadon, Brian Worrell, and Enrique Pepén.
Article 80 was first launched in 1996 to allow communities to engage in the large development review process and extract adequate and fair mitigation. In 2023, through an Executive Order, Mayor Michelle Wu called for an update on the Article 80 process to improve community engagement and the development review operations. Previously, the Boston City Council had only received one briefing on the ongoing process in February 2024, from the Planning Department, then the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA).
During the hearing, Councilors highlighted the current process as flawed and lacking a clear assessment of community needs. Councilor Coletta Zapata called for a standardized mitigation formula to be regulated through the zoning code and informed by an analysis of existing neighborhood needs. She argued for both mitigation and community benefits to adequately address citywide issues like lack of access to affordable housing, varied public realm and infrastructure improvement, and climate resilience.
The Planning Department stated that through their study, they had drafted recommendations for core changes to include effective engagement by expanding community participation opportunities and establishing coordinated review through a transparent, sequential, and coordinated approval process. Highlights of the recommendations are introducing new engagement methods to reduce barriers to participation, replacing IAGs and task forces with new Community Advisory Teams (CATs), creating new zoning definitions, and updating the Article 80 eligibility criteria dependent on the project type.
“This hearing came from the need for public conversation and transparency on the ongoing efforts to reform the Article 80 process. There are few levers and checkpoints for city departments, community members, and councilors to advocate for fair and adequate mitigation,” said Councilor Coletta Zapata. “The Planning Department has made strides in the reform process but we can always do better. I’m hopeful that with the proposed recommendations the City will have a framework that understands community needs and sets a process to extract resources to address existing issues in respective communities.”
“I appreciate the work that the administration has put into engaging the greater community into larger development projects. As these reforms continue, I believe that this work must be expanded to facilitate greater dialogue around smaller scale community developments. These projects are by far the most common across our city, therefore they are more representative of what residents will engage with on a day to day basis. Through my former work with the article 80 process, I further caution against becoming too reliant on a formulaic approach when assessing community impact. I fear that such models may be used as a tool to bypass community input, and create projects in neighborhoods that are not built off of diverse community dialogue.” said Councilor FitzGerald.
Members of the administration present include:
• Arthur Jemison, Chief of Planning for the City of Boston
• Kristiana Lachiusa, Deputy Director of Community Engagement for the Planning Department
• Nupoor Monani, Deputy Director of Institutional Master Planning & Policy Development within Review for the Planning Department
Additionally, Councilors heard testimony from Chaton Green, member of Greater Boston Building Trades Unions (GBBTU),Victor Brogna, Steve Hollander, and Elvira Mora of Abundant Housing.
This docket was referred to the Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation chaired by Councilor Sharon Durkan (District 8) of Beacon Hill in January 2024. A recording of the hearing can be found at https://youtu.be/0CwbUXaDAyM
A copy of the Planning Department’s presentation can be found at www.bostonplans.org/projects/improving-development-review-process-article-80.
For additional information, including how to testify, please contact the Office of Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata by phone at (617) 635-3200 or by email at [email protected].