Cleary Square in Hyde Park. Photo courtesy of the BPDA

Boston Planning & Development Agency directors gave cautious support for Mayor Michelle Wu’s rezoning plan designed to encourage mid-rise housing construction near transit stops in 18 neighborhoods.

The Squares + Streets initiative would allow greater density, taller building heights and quicker reviews of multifamily development.

The first two studies have begun in Hyde Park’s Cleary Square and Roslindale Square, followed by Dorchester’s Fields Corner and Codman Square this spring. Each of the studies is expected to result in rezoning recommendations allowing more multifamily and mixed-use developments without requiring developers to obtain variances.

“These are different concepts and just drastically different than it was before,” BPDA Chair Priscilla Rojas said.

Acknowledging the high level of interest, including hundreds of pages of comment letters from residents and neighborhood groups, Rojas said the board won’t be a “rubber stamp” for the changes.

“We have a past as an agency, I realize trust is something that has to be earned,” she said.

The board’s vote doesn’t approve the final neighborhood rezoning plans, which will be voted on following six- to nine-month public engagement periods. It sent amendments to the Boston Zoning Commission creating new mixed-use districts, which will serve as a framework for the future small area plans in different neighborhoods. Residents will be asked to chose from a menu of six zoning typologies to apply to different parts of their neighborhood centers, which will eventually translate into zoning changes following more approval processes.

Squares + Streets is a centerpiece of Wu’s strategy to encourage housing production and attack Massachusetts’ affordability crisis. The process also is intended to simplify Boston’s zoning code and remove obsolete and contradictory language, and to provide a more consistent guideline for community benefits packages required of developers.

At-large City Councilor Julia Mejia asked the board to delay its vote, and reach out to residents who normally don’t participate in local politics.

“I am still getting tons of emails from constituents, asking us to slow down,” Mejia said.

Additional neighborhoods that will be included in the process are Allston Village, Brighton Center, Cleveland Circle, Egleston Square, Forest Hills, Four Corners, Grove Hall, Hyde Park Avenue, Jamaica Plain Centre, Mattapan Square, Packard’s Corner, Tremont Street in Mission Hill, Uphams Corner and West Roxbury Centre.