Ensemble Charlestown is one of two development proposals for city-owned property next to the neighborhood's Community College subway station. Image courtesy of DREAM Collaborative
Charlestown neighborhood activists portrayed their neighborhood as choking on traffic and overdevelopment in objecting to the Wu administration’s rezoning plan that could bring more high-density commercial projects and housing to areas around two subway stops.
The Boston Planning & Development Agency’s board of directors is scheduled to vote Sept. 28 on PLAN: Charlestown, authorizing new zoning including building heights up to 280 feet on the western side of the neighborhood between Rutherford Avenue and Interstate 93.
The lack of certainty about planned upgrades to transit and local road networks needed to accommodate millions of square feet of new development prompted demands that the plan be put on hold. At a virtual hearing Monday, speakers criticized the BPDA for counting on completion of projects that are controlled by state agencies to accommodate all of the potential new growth. They blamed recent development in Everett, Somerville and Cambridge for worsening congestion on Charlestown streets.
Boston Chief of Planning and BPDA Director Arthur Jemison defended the goals and thrust of the planning study, saying it’s designed to make permitting more predictable and distribute community benefits paid by developers more thoughtfully.
“There are a lot of developments proposed,” Jemison said. “We either can allow that development to happen on a one-off basis, or we can hopefully guide that development and maximize value to the neighborhood and the community.”
Major projects currently under review in Charlestown include the 503-unit One Mystic apartment tower, a 754,0000-square-foot life science and housing project at 40 Roland St. and a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development at the former Domino sugar factory on Medford Street.
In addition, two development teams have submitted plans to build up to 757 housing units at the BPDA-owned Austin Street parking lots.
More than 100 people attended a virtual presentation Monday in which BPDA staff presented last-minute updates to the 4-year-old planning study.
Representatives of local trade unions supported the changes, saying they will encourage development that creates jobs and affordable housing production to the neighborhood.
But fears new housing and commercial space overwhelming strained transportation networks drew repeated warnings from speakers.
Charlestown Preservation Society President Amanda Zettel criticized the absence of data on additional trip demand from development catalyzed by the rezoning.
“What does that do to our transit times? Is it going to take us five rounds of signals to get through an intersection?” Zettel said. “Those things are not clear.”
BPDA Transportation Planner Jim Fitzgerald pointed to state-sponsored projects such as reconstruction of the Gilmore Bridge and the MBTA Orange Line transformation project. The plan also recommends high-frequency bus lanes as part of the Rutherford Avenue reconstruction project scheduled to begin in 2027.
BPDA staff also unveiled several revisions to the earlier draft plan released in late July.
A potential housing development at the Bunker Hill Mall property will no longer be eligible for a planned development area approval, a mechanism that gives developers more flexibility to build on larger sites. In 2021, New England Development submitted plans to redevelop the 6-acre property at 27 Austin St. with 500 housing units. After residents complained about excessive size and density of the proposal, BPDA staff removed the site’s PDA eligibility.
And research and development projects such as life science labs will be a conditional use, requiring approval from the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal.
Jemison indicated that some of Monday’s comments will be incorporated into the final version submitted to the BPDA board for approval Sept. 28. Board approval would clear the way for the zoning changes to be adopted by the Boston Zoning Commission.
