Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
In an attempt to eliminate confusing and unpredictable reviews of developments that can delay groundbreakings, Boston officials are set to approve a new process for approving project designs.
The draft Design Vision report is scheduled for discussion at the December meeting of the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s board of directors. It recommends a series of changes to a process that can be confusing to developers and misses opportunities to design projects that benefit occupants and surrounding neighborhoods, according to the findings of a study and public engagement process that began in mid-2023.
“We heard time and time again that the design review process was a real expense for developers,” Deputy Chief of Urban Design Diana Fernandez Bibeau said. “Having greater transparency and predictability would be a real value-add for them to execute some production for them in [housing] production.”
Preserving neighborhood character was a common thread in public comments, even as the Boston Planning Department moves forward with its Squares + Streets studies that could rezone up to 17 districts for higher-density development.
“The goal was to be able to say, `Yes, we’re going to be upzoning. We’re going to be allowing for new growth and density, but doing so in a way we are preserving some of those key features,” Fernandez Bibeau said in an interview.
The report lists a set of goals that the city will use when reviewing projects, including design details that reflect the architecture of the specific neighborhood.
The report cites approved projects that reflect some of the goals in the study, including a planned redevelopment of Charlestown’s former Domino Sugar refinery property by The Flatley Co. The 25-acre project’s design includes a large flood barrier on the Mystic River designed to project surrounding properties, a 5-acre waterfront park and 13 acres of open space.
The Boston Planning Department also is in the midst of proposed changes to Article 80, the zoning article that governs project reviews.
An Article 80 reform study recommends changes to the Boston Civic Design Commission, an appointed group that makes recommendations on buildings’ appearance and public realm.
The report noted that the design commission has an unpredictable timeline for reviewing projects, ranging up to 385 days, and that the length of the reviews had no correlation to the size of the project. It recommended streamlining the BCDC review process, including the elimination of subcommittee meetings and switching to written public comments.
The design study also acknowledges the need to do case studies on projects that include design changes after their board approval. Typically, developers submit final construction documents to planning department staff after the board approval, but before issuance of a building permit.
Agency Landscape + Planning, DREAM Collaborative, Isador Studio and Consult LeLa formed the consulting team on the report.
A public comment period runs through Nov. 29, including a public meeting on Nov. 13.
“We want to provide developers with flexibility in terms of how [the goals] translate. The goal is to say: these are the parameters and the range of design features that are valuable to the community’s and the city’s priorities,” Fernandez Bibeau said.
