In March, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) begins the next phase of a Downtown Waterfront and Greenway District Zoning planning initiative.
This follows the BRA’s adoption of the Greenway District Use and Development Guidelines in July 2010, and will result in both Greenway District zoning recommendations for the area from Causeway to Kneeland Streets (the approximate footprint of what had been the Central Artery), as well as a new Downtown Waterfront District Municipal Harbor Plan for the area from the Evelyn Moakley Bridge to Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park.
This next phase of work by the BRA and its consultant, Utile Inc., is particularly timely, given the changes that have occurred in the Greenway District and along the waterfront since completion of the Greenway District planning study in 2009. An area once almost exclusively commercial and tourist-oriented, the Greenway District has become a vibrant, much-desired place for workers and residents.
With the dismantling of the Central Artery and the extensive programming by the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, Boston Harbor Island Alliance and others, the opportunities for linking neighborhoods with the waterfront now seem limitless.
The waterfront properties within the Greenway District are subject to the state’s Chapter 91 Tidelands Act, which sets specific building heights, setback and open space requirements to ensure a proper public purpose and to foster water-dependent uses. Some flexibility from these requirements is provided through the development of a municipal harbor plan approved by the state’s Coastal Zone Management program. If substitutions to the state’s Chapter 91 standards governing building heights, setbacks, and/or open space are proposed, the downtown waterfront municipal harbor plan will need to incorporate offsets to mitigate any adverse impacts caused by the substitution provisions.
As these waterfront planning and Greenway District zoning efforts continue, we ask that attention be given to the following:
Recognition of the ever-expanding residential community in the Greenway District and along the waterfront. Where once decorative and ornamental landscaping next to office buildings and hotels sufficed as open space, the addition of thousands of new residents and families to the district will require new parks, ball fields, tot lots and related public amenities along the HarborWalk. The recently renovated Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, with its playground and spray fountain for children, is a popular destination for North End and local families. However, the park’s amenities, developed more than three decades ago, were never intended to serve a residential community as large as now contemplated in the Greenway District and along the waterfront.
The non-profit Greenway Conservancy has done an excellent job of initiating year-round programming on the Greenway, from weekly events for neighboring residents to large-scale programs and festivals that draw thousands from the region to the Greenway and waterfront. Steady funding continues to be needed to support such programming.
To offset any adverse impacts from substitutions to Chapter 91 standards, the municipal harbor plan should incorporate funding for enhanced parks, playgrounds, and ball fields, as well as for the programming of activities along the Greenway and HarborWalk.
Greater activation of the watersheet. The downtown waterfront area has three active water transportation hubs, located at Rowes, Central and Long Wharves, serving both commuters and visitors. While water transportation services are currently available to parts of the South Shore, North Shore, harbor islands and the Charlestown neighborhood, the municipal harbor planning process can help to identify additional funding for enhanced water transportation linking together Boston waterfront neighborhoods as well as with other communities.
Hopefully, the plan will also identify opportunities for expanded facilities for harbor cruises, water taxis, and recreational boaters, including transient berthing, to ensure that the maximum number of people have access to enjoy and use Boston Harbor and the islands.
Planning for climate action. Mayor Thomas Menino’s call for climate action and preparedness earlier this month will no doubt be a key element in both the Greenway zoning recommendations and in the municipal harbor plan. As noted in The Boston Harbor Association’s report, “Preparing for the Rising Tide,” property owners can begin now to assess their vulnerability to more frequent and intense storm surges and sea level rise from climate change, and take appropriate actions to increase resilience to coastal flooding over time. Consistent with the mayor’s call for action, the Greenway District zoning recommendations and the downtown waterfront municipal harbor plan will help set the standard for waterfront properties’ climate change preparedness.
These are important issues that will affect residents, workers, and businesses in the years ahead. We urge broad citizen and business involvement as Boston launches the next phase of its Greenway District zoning and downtown waterfront municipal planning processes.
Vivien Li is president of The Boston Harbor Association, www.tbha.org
Email: vli@tbha.org
