Thread by @DotGrow

Coming to you live from the @BostonPlans final Squares + Streets zoning code amendment public meeting.

🧵 bostonplans.org/news-calendar/…

Usual formalities:
Everything not in quotation marks is a good-faith paraphrase
I regret I can’t do ALT text descriptions while going fast
I will make homophone mistakes
Stuff in [brackets] is DGT/my commentary
-- = “new public speaker”

For more info from BPDA on S+S, see



For DGT's letter of support and comment, see bostonplans.org/zoning/zoning-…

https://twitter.com/DotGrow/status/1752493624816713784

Tonight should be a presentation of the final form of the new language/amendments being made to the existing zoning code, but the new text, even after being adopted by the BPDA Board & Zoning Commission in the next few weeks, will NOT apply anywhere.

It is the building blocks for the localized updated mapping that will be done by the Small Area Plans, first Roslindale Village & Cleary Square, followed by Codman Square and Fields Corner in the spring, which will take between 6-9 months each.

Tonight is being translated live in Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, Spanish, Mandarin & Cantonese Chinese, & Vietnamese.

[This is an explanatory meeting of the final form of the amendment. Not expected that there will be any further language changes after tonight, but theoretically possible. Guarantee a large number of the dozens of folks spending Tues night in mtg are still hoping to stop it.]

Standard meeting etiquette review, plus this additional slide encouraging asking clarifying questions, etc.

They've had lots of outreach about timeline. These building blocks are necessary to have in the code. To be clear, no significant change of timeline.

Updated, annotated draft language will be released this week. Looks like they are NOT going to be on the Feb BPDA Board meeting, ceding basically one additional month. 3/14 BPDA & 4/10 Zoning Commission.

More office hours!

"This is a pencils down moment, no major revisions"

From the chat:"Through the feedback process, my neighborhood group has requested two additional form factors be incorporated into the Amendment, S0A and S1A, with S0 and S1 being relabeled S0B and S1B, respectively. What is the process for responding to these kinds of changes?"

Every comment/suggestions from the public will have a direct response from BPDA before the March meeting.

There have been SOOOO many meetings and opportunities to participate and comment, y'all.

Fall engagement summary report: bostonplans.org/getattachment/…

From chat: "Will you now confirm that these changes will apply city wide and not just in Mattapan and Roslindale?"

I can't tell if they mean replace all zoning everywhere or that there will be additional Small Area Plans done. It is NOT being applied to every lot in Boston.

Engagement template for Small Area Plans is similar in format to the engagement for the zoning code amendment process we are in now, extending bw 6-9 months.

"The squares and streets planning process is expected to be 6-9 months given the size of the planning area, which is 1/3rd of a mile around the square."

Showing Plan Mattapan which has a draft applying the S+S districts (S0-S4, no S5 for Mattapan (at this time)). Similar mapping is expected in the Small Area Plans.

Chat -- "what will community engagement look like during planning? What accountability measures will be in place to ensure that that engagement is meaningful (i.e. communities are heard and their input drives the project)"

[Loudest voices should not determine planning Citywide!]

REINTRODUCED S5🎉

Other changes

🎉🔥🎉🔥🎉

Chat -- "The folks representing the Community Input Board from Hyde Park want some clear metrics BEFORE the amendments are codified. At least 50% participation/knowledge of the proposal"

S5 restricted only by height, not height & floors

Clarification about what counts as outdoor amenities/uses

[The spoken words closely match what is on the slides.]

Modernization of land use regulation changes since Dec 5 version of the amendment. Added number of rooms as a metric for the sake of taking into account more micro units. Updated Lodging house definition.

Clarifications re office use and ground floor restrictions.

Disappointing re parking garages (as a standalone permitted use) expanding into S3.

Changes in response to comments from Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture.

Changes consistent with feedback from BTD.

Praise in the chat for Lodging house changes, which will allow operators like the Pine Street Inn more flexibility to be in our neighborhood and that is a GOOD we want to expand.

:praise be this commenter:

Soooo many more opportunities to talk at us and engage in good faith learning about what is up.

Kick off events for Rosi Village & Cleary Square

Sign up for the newsletter

What else are we up to?

Other zoning initiatives underway.

Using this slide to respond to chat comment: "Can you add net zero and passive house requirements, as well as green infrastructure/nature based solutions to the code please?? It is doable and has not been done. Can you address why it is not in the proposed code?"

Chat from BPDA: As a reference to all, the citywide changes to the city’s inclusionary development policy (including adjusted requirements for income-restricted affordable units) can be found at . This policy will also apply to Squares + Streets districtsbostonplans.org/projects/stand…

Mark McGonagle facilitating verbal Q&A

-- What is the actual extension period? Someone said the next step was "zoning protection," I'm not sure what that means?

He misheard, she said Zoning Commission. Extension is moving from Feb BPDA Board to March, so one month.

Answering question from the chat about what "form-based code" is -- dimensional requirements that help shape the form of the building, as relates to the lot it is on [as opposed to unit count].

Define building envelope, while providing significant room for an urban design team speak to unique design/vision/context of individual neighborhoods and their architectural vernacular.

-- basic process question: During these 6-9 month Small Area Plans, what is the criteria of what voices will affect the mapping? Is it simply a popularity contest? Will a minority comment be incorporated if they make a good point?

BPDA -- we have talked abou this a lot and ...

we have a deep commitment to get feedback from representative part of the community, incl in non-traditional formats [not high stakes awkwardly timed meetings hard to get to/incentivize participation that way]. Mentions planner embedded in community during process (local office)

-- Resident of Brighton/repping Alternatives for Community and Environment -- how will S+S address issues of displacement and affordability? Has there been any analysis of those issues?

Citywide interdisciplinary anti-displacement strategy. Will be part of each Small Area Plans

-- Can you say more about the front yard parking requirement changes being contemplated? This is currently forbidden. 2nd question -- will boundaries S+S be determined by you, or will there be community engagement of where none of this belongs, on the quiet side streets.

BPDA: We are forbidding front yard parking in ALL Squares + Streets districts, it will remain forbidden where it is and any new S+S mapped district where it was not already forbidden will newly be forbidden.

We intend to engage in the community engagement process in good faith.

[First mention of transient students making neighborhoods too lively! 🥂]

BPDA explaining the circles are about 1/3 of a mile while. Not everything in the circle will be rezoned. That is the starting point of consideration & conversation.

Also, an updated use table is setting a singular use table Citywide, but that doesn't mean that all uses will be allowed everywhere. We are defining all businesses the same in all places, not all allowed everywhere.

-- Are we compelled to pick from S0-S5 or can we decide we don't want any of them, we want to maintain the existing 35' height limits?

BPDA: This will not replace all commercial zoning Citywide. There will be places where S0-S5 are not mapped.

[But dude, no, they are not going to spend 6-9 months trying to come up with a map meant to increase housing supply and economic vitality and say, "hey, actually, NOTHING needs to change here. The code is bespoke and broken and needs to be modernized.]

Chat: Very important to determine what housing has been built in the past 10 years in a S+S area in approving future development. We do NOT want a condo canyon on a main street such as Centre Street in West Roxbury. ...

If recent developments have been constructed on one side of the street there should be a strong recommendation for construction on the opposite side.

Chat: where will working people buy gas- we are losing Hatoffs & other services till we get rid of cars & right now, bike users are 3% and so many drive AND BIKE-we need to work on transitions that address the needs of working families and the folks who are providing our coffee--

-- How is non-conformity defined going forward? In what circumstances will variances still be allowed?

Long complicated discussion about non-conforming use and I got distracted reading the chat and other things. This seems good faith and everyone just getting in the weeds.

Here’s a link to a calendar that shows the office hours- you can click on the individual meetings to sign up: bostonplans.org/news-calendar/…

-- Can you speak more to the RFPs you have out right now, like for a transportation consultant?

BPDA: Consultant will help us inform Small Area Plans with actual data and recommendations from experts. Not independently going to be affecting zoning, but support of S+S planning.

Chat: How is the team imagining down the road that a parcel/area is deemed S5 if it is not initially zoned so after the roll out of s + s? Can a developer petition the bpda/zba to get a lot upgraded to S5?

Chat: We’re unable to join most public meetings (young kids, evenings are very tough etc.) Just want to express our huge support for Squares & Streets zoning initiative. Across the country many cities are beating Boston in zoning reform and are seeing the results in affordability

and improved quality of life. To meet the challenge of our housing crisis, climate crisis, and transportation crisis, our neighborhood centers need to accommodate more residents and walkability.

Very excited to live in one of the focus areas (Egleston Square).

Live Q about displacement/worries re gentrification, renters do not have stability in the community, with all of these zoning changes, are you being intentional about this making the situation worse?

BPDA: AFFH will still apply to all Article 80 large project review

[Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing]

[I really want BPDA to say that more housing everywhere is the best long term tool to fight displacement.]

Article 80 large project review continues to include AFFH, if something is over 50,000 square feet, AFFH still applies, even if project as of right under S+S.

-- Hyde Park has no amenities. We chose to live here despite the lack of amenities because we expected to be able to rely on things not changing and wanted lower density neighborhood. How are you taking into account residents' prior reliance on what their n'hood will look like?

Chat: Boston is not like other American cities that have much more space and wider streets. Excessive density can create major problems with congestion that may push the middle class out of the city, and it may have dire consequences.

Chat: Has the BPDA and the Mayor considered the implications on local small businesses? Once developers start building these larger buildings, rents on the first floor of those building will be beyond what many of these owners can pay. It will increase rents across a district.

This is likely to shift our commercisl districts from being served by unique local business to national chains.

BPDA responding to explain what as-of-right means, and again emphasizing every parcel within the 1/3 mile circle will be mapped S0-S5

-- Cleary Square question -- Asserting all parcels in Cleary Square do conform to current zoning.

BPDA explains all of the many overlayers of current zoning, only 4.3% conform with all the existing rules. Swiss cheese model, almost everything fails on one factor or another.

Chat: BPDA should require that any new building approved should conform with the look of the surrounding houses/buildings so that a 5 story concrete box is not built in an area of one and 2 story homes with Victorian or colonial architecture.

-- How is this rezoning being funded? Our taxes keep going up and this will make them go up further, causing displacement.

BPDA: BPDA is primarily funded from revenue from parcel holdings. In the future, staff are being brought under the City's budget, as you may have heard.

-- when new development comes in, it increases the value in the neighborhood, for homeowners and rents for renters. Homeowners get a boost in equity, but renters suffer the negative side effects. nobody is building affordable housing for poor folks.

She is highlighting that most speakers on this call are homeowners.

Chat: The underlying assumption unleashing a lot of new development will make Boston affordable, but this will not materialize because new construction is expensive. Development itself makes area more expensive.

BPDA: Highlighting a variety of levers for affordability. Not just AFFH, and inclusionary zoning, but also City & non-profit owned existing affordable housing and extending their duration of affordability, programs that subsidize market rate units (like section 8).

Also, BPDA in chat: It is important that we clarify that people who rent are not inherently transient, nor is that how we consider renting versus homeownership as planners

Chat: I’m supportive of this work and stated objectives of S&S. But I’m not clear how this work on S&S dovetails with the need to address stormwater increasingly unable to drain due to capacity constraints.

From land use planning for temporary storage of stormwater to planning pump stations, as well as revising strategies for capture of stormwater as more land is developed, and as storms increase in frequency and volume.

BPDA response: We’re definitely thinking about this issue - as it’s crosscutting (much like some of the issues that will come up with electrification across the grid).

We’re working on mapping out with partners what are pieces that are in zoning, what’s in stormwater regs through BWSC, and what’s in resiliency regs. Would love to hear more of your thoughts as we make sure we map this out comprehensively -

I'm also supportive of S+S. Here in Allston Brighton we are getting so much development centered on labs. S+S seems like a way to grow our neighborhood in a reasonable way, with input from a wider group of people than those who can attend individual project meetings

nearly every night of the week. Planning process of 6-9 months focused on a particular area will allow more people to visualize and get a sense of possible changes and have a voice in that. Housing doesn't get cheaper by not building more housing - we need to plan for the future.

But for sure, addressing displacement will be important, and AFFH needs to be understood more widely.

Chat -- I want my children (bw 1 & 15yo) to have option of living here, renting or otherwise. Boston is so expensive currently, this is not a likelihood. Building more units overall (in smartly defined areas that s+s is promoting) will slow the overall growth of rent increases.

This is shown in other cities across the US. If we don't build anything, simple supply and demand will displace my children from Boston.

Someone directly responded to chat immediately above with, "the reality we can’t always afford to live where we want to. People live outside Boston and it’s not bad."

😒

As they closed things out, a lot of emphasis on this being different than prior planning, comprehensive/interdepartmental/with investments in infrastructure to support it. And concerns about displacement are heard and important; S+S is not the only tool we will have.

Ok folks, meeting adjourned.

We need all our Dorchester pro-housing advocates, no matter where you live exactly, to stay engaged for Codman Square & Fields Corner's Small Area Plans.

Sign up for our eblasts at actionnetwork.org/forms/join-dor…

A supermajority of Boston residents are broadly fine with or even solidly hope for growth and change, but they do not have the capacity (work, family, other commitments), information access (how meetings advertised, how accessible they are, whether the stakes are conveyed), ...

or incentive (they are fine with it, not passionate) to show up in a time-limited meeting to say so. The asynchronous outreach, translation availability, extended comment period, pop-up events, office hours, and tabling in the community and at transit stops for S+S so far ...

have been a huge step toward balancing feedback City gets to be more representative of City’s residents as a whole. But still going to be important to show up loudly in favor of these changes in some of the traditional meeting spaces too, to provide some deliberate balance.

/fin

* Will NOT be mapped. Hopefully that was clear from upthread.

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