Plans for developing the Blair Lot in Roxbury's Nubian Square are currently moving through the Boston Planing and Development Agency's approval process. The empty lot has recently been transformed by the Nubian Square Public Art Initiative with murals like "Reflection Eternal," painted by ProBlak (Rob Gibbs) and Marka27 (Victor Quinonez).
Jeremy Siegel is co-host of Morning Edition at GBH News. Feedback? Questions? Story ideas? Reach out to Jeremy at jeremy_siegel@wgbh.org.
February 09, 2024
Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. In the city of Boston, there is one agency that might have more power than anything else over what you see around you: The buildings, parking lots, apartments and parks that shape your neighborhood. That agency is the Boston Planning and Development Agency, and for roughly 70 years, it's operated separately from the rest of city government. But Mayor Michelle Wu wants to change that, bringing it all under one roof, under one person. Arthur Jemison is the chief of planning for Boston and joins me now for more. Good morning.
James Arthur Jemison: Good morning.
Siegel: So Mayor Michelle Wu wants to take this agency and transfer it to City Hall. What will that change?
Jemison: What it will change primarily is it will allow there to be the oversight of democratically elected officials through the Boston City Council, something that hasn't been part of the way the agency's operated for almost those entire 70 years. And there's a level of trust that comes from knowing we have the oversight of the elected officials of the city, that isn't the same basis of the heritage and history of the agency as we are currently constituted.
Siegel: So the agency is at this crossroads with this ordinance being considered by the City Council at the moment. This also comes as the city itself is at a crossroads, with some major development in recent years, alongside skyrocketing housing prices, changing demographics in Boston. How do you promote growth while preventing inequity?
Jemison: So one of the big challenges we have is not just a challenge for Boston, but it's a challenge even outside of the city, which is creating a predictable system of development that allows the things that we need desperately — workforce housing and affordable housing — to be as of right, as we say in the development industry. Right now, that sort of network and system of rules and sort of the path of a successful development project are very complicated. And they're much more complicated here than they are in many other parts of the country. And so what we're trying to do is create zoning through, for example, a new initiative called Squares and Streets, through which we're trying to go to our transit-rich corridors and transit-rich squares, and allow there to be more housing produced there as of right, so there's fewer hold-ups and hang-ups through the zoning process.
Siegel: You've spoken about wanting to build more housing around transit centers in Boston, which is something that transit advocates, affordable housing advocates, of course, would celebrate, but also something that we've seen stiff opposition to, with people saying, I don't want my neighborhood changing. How do you navigate concerns like that?
Jemison: I think that there's got to be a way, and I think we're trying to show the path to do it. What citizens that I talk to are most concerned about is the feeling that they don't really have control over what happens, and there isn't an organized system through which they can give input. I can name meetings in just about every neighborhood we recently approved plans in, whether it's East Boston or Charlestown or Newmarket or Mattapan, where there's a sense that, you know, individual cases going to the ZBA is what's driving development. So creating a predictable system is something I hear a lot about from citizens. It's also something I hear a lot about from development interests who say, gosh, in order to get my project developed, I need to go through a series of complicated approval processes, and then I need to layer that on to a zoning pathway and delay it for years. What all these folks have in common is a desire for predictability. And I think what we're trying to do through Square and Streets, for example, is create that predictability through zoning.
Siegel: What does your dream Boston look like?
Jemison: Well, that's a big one. But I guess what I'd say is, I would love for there to be abundant housing at all levels for people in the city. I would love for us to have taken some of the steps required to protect our coastline from the effects of climate change and the way that water levels are going to rise. I'd love for us to do that in a way that creates the kind of edge between the our neighborhoods and the water that people can come to, congregate, celebrate in.
Siegel: Boston's chief of planning, Arthur Jemison, thank you so much for your time.
Jemison: Thank you.
Siegel: You're listening to GBH news.
In the city of Boston, there is one agency that might have more power than anything else over what you see around you: The buildings, parking lots, apartments and parks that shape your neighborhood.
That agency is the Boston Planning and Development Agency, also known as the BPDA. And for roughly 70 years, it's operated separately from the rest of city government. But Mayor Michelle Wu wants to change that, bringing it all under one roof, under one person.
“What it will change primarily is it will allow there to be the oversight of democratically elected officials through the Boston City Council, something that hasn't been part of the way the agency's operated for almost those entire 70 years,” said Arthur Jemison, the city’s chief of planning. “And there's a level of trust that comes from knowing we have the oversight of the elected officials of the city, that isn't the same basis of the heritage and history of the agency as we are currently constituted.”
The BPDA is at a crossroads with this ordinance being considered by the City Council. The city itself is at a crossroads too, with some major development in recent years, alongside skyrocketing housing prices and changing demographics in Boston.
“One of the big challenges we have is not just a challenge for Boston, but it's a challenge even outside of the city, which is creating a predictable system of development that allows the things that we need desperately — workforce housing and affordable housing — to be as of right, as we say in the development industry,” Jemison said.
“As of right” means that development can fall under existing zoning or bylaws, without requiring special permits or waivers to move forward.
“Right now, that sort of network and system of rules and sort of the path of a successful development project are very complicated,” Jemison said. “And they're much more complicated here than they are in many other parts of the country.”
Jemison cited an initiative called Squares and Streets, in which the city is trying to create zoning that allows for more housing in areas of the city that have more accessible public transit.
Building more housing around transit centers in Boston is something that most transit advocates and affordable housing advocates would celebrate, but also something that sometimes spawns stiff opposition from people who don’t want to see their neighborhoods changing.
“I think that there's got to be a way, and I think we're trying to show the path to do it,” Jemison said.
In his experience, he said, residents are most concerned about unwieldly processes over which they have no control or opportunity for input.
“I can name meetings in just about every neighborhood we recently approved plans in, whether it's East Boston or Charlestown or Newmarket or Mattapan, where there's a sense that, you know, individual cases going to the ZBA [Zoning Board of Appeal] is what's driving development,” he said. “So creating a predictable system is something I hear a lot about from citizens. It's also something I hear a lot about from development interests.”
The common thread, he said, is a desire for predictability in the development process.
So what does Jemison’s dream Boston looks like?
“I would love for there to be abundant housing at all levels for people in the city,” he said. “I would love for us to have taken some of the steps required to protect our coastline from the effects of climate change and the way that water levels are going to rise. I'd love for us to do that in a way that creates the kind of edge between the our neighborhoods and the water that people can come to, congregate, celebrate in.”
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