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Does anyone on earth have a more inflated sense of importance than members of made up neighborhood associations in Boston? The idea that the chief of planning owes you a personal phone call ahead of the general public to discuss new zoning is laughable. I don’t know how effective this new plan...

Serious question because I have very little if any knowledge of architecture. Is this design related to some cost-cutting/value engineering decision or is there an individual that actually thinks this looks good? At least with the value engineering I can see a rational explanation. I can't...

I would edit that slightly to "we get the city we allow for"

Interesting thought. It might also make sense to couple the requirement with interest rates. My larger point was towards whether inclusionary zoning "works." What is that definition? To take Boston as an example, it has one of the largest amounts of deed restricted affordable housing units by...

No matter how many times it is explained to local governments that inclusionary zoning does not work at 20% they just keep doing it. At this point advocating for this policy is akin to being a flat earther. It does not work mathematically and has failed in every city across the country that has...

To paraphrase a local sports radio host, I could re-zone Roslindale Square on the back of a napkin in an hour. Keep in mind this is only the plan to rezone, not the actual zoning plan. That involves another round of plans, meetings, workshops, and it goes on and on.

Bottom line: total defeat for Milton and any city or town refusing to comply based on Milton's position. The MBTA Communities Act is mandatory, and the AG can enforce it. In addition to wasting everyone's time with an argument they were repeatedly told was dead wrong, Milton taxpayers will be...

Really depressing states of affairs in Boston land use right now. The City is doubling down on endless community process, half-measures, and delay while a record low number of projects are starting and housing and hotel costs continue to skyrocket. This project is a no-brainer and like many...

This guy was so close but somehow still missed it. “It doesn’t sit really well within the community, from the people who I talk to,” South said. “They got rid of the street cars in the middle of the lane because more and more people were buying cars. Now we have more people, more cars; now...

A good place to start is the city's own analysis report below which, whether you agree with it or not, does a good job of outlining the complexity of the issue. https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/ff18ba95-e421-4385-90fa-92214ddcc72c

It's not just the real estate group that says this will decrease housing production, it has been demonstrated in multiple studies and papers all over the country that this will decrease both total housing production and affordable housing production. Unfortunately, the city believes that 20% of...

That definitely could be the case. Just my guess though, by the way this project was floated out last year at 700, followed by the mayor's office not outright saying no to the height but suggesting a "re-zoning", and then now coming in near 500 suggests to me they got some assurance of...

The lower height suggests the BPDA is already on board with this. I doubt RMR would have filed an LOI if they were going to lose another 200 feet in height during the permitting process.

Is the early commitment to a 4.3 FAR the maximum based on the open space requirements? If not, why are they limiting the FAR at the outset? Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but this site is in a 300-foot FAA zone, slightly higher than the rest of the 250–274-foot Fort Point/Seaport zone. There...

The city can do the following tomorrow, without seeking state approval. 1. Any business not serving alcohol is allowed to operate 24 hours a day, by right. 2. Any business serving alcohol is allowed to operate until 2am, by right. 3. Any business can offer live entertainment until 2am, by...

Zoning and NIMBYism cannot be separated as issues. To develop these vacant lots, the underlying zoning either needs to be changed (see PLAN: JP/ROX failing due to NIMBYism) or the developer needs a variance (see JP abutter lawsuits due to NIMBYism).

Those metrics were in response to the idea that businesses are pulling back from investing here and/or fleeing the state. I agree the area is unaffordable and that is the biggest problem we face. If we don't build more housing and that investment keeps coming in it is only going to get worse.

A lot of Boston doom and gloom in this thread - JLL disagrees. From its 2024 Innovation Geographies report: 1. Boston ranks 3rd in the world (behind the Bay Area and San Diego) in number of patents generated per capita; 2. Boston ranks 4th in the world in innovation output (behind the Bay Area...

Interesting comment on planning from Councilor Coletta, who opposed both "forward-looking planning efforts" in her district - PLAN: Charlestown outright and PLAN: East Boston before it was scaled back. What she means by planning is: cover most of the existing neighborhoods in historical...

Yes and no. The mayor appoints the BPDA board, the Zoning Commission, and the ZBA board (ideally) based on their expertise in land use, planning, architecture, etc. If city residents do not like the direction the city is going in regarding development/zoning, they can vote the mayor out. Beyond...