Former Boston City Councilor Matt O'Malley, right, is sworn in as a member of the Boston Planning & Development Agency board. Photo courtesy of Matt O'Malley / Linkedin
A senior executive at a company hoping to build a business offering carbon-free heating and air conditioning to downtown Boston commercial buildings now has a seat on the Boston Planning & Development Agency board.
Gov. Maura Healey named Vicinity Energy Chief Sustainability Officer Matt O’Malley to the BPDA board, replacing former Gov. Charlie Baker appointee and South Boston financial adviser Brian Miller.
O’Malley represented Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury on the Boston City Council for 12 years, leaving his seat in 2022 for the Vicinity post. As a councilor, he was often allied with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, then an at-large councilor, and a leader on climate and sustainability issue. In 2021, he sponsored the city’s “BERDO 2.0” climate regulations which will force large commercial and multifamily buildings to monitor and dramatically curtail their carbon emissions by 2050.
“Matt O’Malley is a proven leader with a track record of engaging community in the work of building a brighter and healthier future,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. “His work in decarbonizing buildings through a just transition from fossil fuels continues to shape Boston to be more sustainable and resilient. I am grateful to Governor Healey for nominating him and to Matt for stepping up in service.”
Vicinity Energy owns the three co-generation plants in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, Boston’s Leather District and Back Bay that have traditionally supplied low-pressure steam to heat buildings in Kendall Square, Back Bay and Downtown Boston. Shortly before O’Malley joined the company, Vicinity announced it planned to rework its fossil fuel-powered plants to run on renewable energy, and began marketing its steam – which can also be used in air conditioning applications – as a way for buildings to meet Boston’s and Cambridge’s aggressive carbon emissions reduction goals.
The company installed its first renewables-powered boiler late last year at a ceremony attended by Wu and signed its first contract for fossil fuel-free steam, with the developers of the Fenway Center lab complex rising over the Mass. Pike, in late 2022.
“I am thrilled Governor Healey chose Matt to join our Board,” BPDA director and city Chief of Planning Arthur Jemison said in a statement. “His expertise in sustainability, his environmental advocacy while on City Council, and his love for the City of Boston will no doubt make him a wonderful asset to the Board, and help us become a more environmentally resilient city.”
While the BPDA board will soon cease to oversee the city’s main planning and development review functions under a reorganization crafted by Wu, it will still function as the city’s planning board and the final stop for any project that doesn’t need zoning relief to proceed. Four of the five board members are appointed by Boston’s mayor subject to confirmation by the Boston City Council, and one member is appointed by the governor. All serve staggered, five-year terms.
“As a born and raised Bostonian, it is an honor to be a part of the board that will grow Boston over the next few decades,” O’Malley said in a statement provided by the BPDA. “I’d like to thank Governor Healey for appointing me, and I look forward to working with my fellow board members to ensure Boston’s future is green and accessible to people from all walks of life.”
