Across the country, cities are abandoning their parking minimums and hoping to end up with fewer parking lots and walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods. The local rules have been used to ensure new developments can accommodate residents with cars and do not overwhelm on-street public parking. But urbanists have argued that the requirements gobble up land that could be used for more housing and drive up construction costs.
zoning
Posted inBallot Questions
Dueling housing ballot measures collide with frustrated lawmakers
While rent control proponents acknowledged the need for more housing production, they argued that the state cannot build its way out of the crisis and that supply-oriented solutions like the starter home proposal are not sufficient on their own. Rezoning proponents, meanwhile, warned that if lawmakers did not enact the lot size change, voters may opt for price controls on rents they say would stifle the housing production market.
Posted inOpinion
The growing case for single-staircase buildings as one answer to our housing crisis
Nearly every other state in New England — Vermont dating back decades, and Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut more recently — has either changed or committed to changing its building code to allow four stories to be served by a single stairway.
Posted inOpinion
The MBTA Communities law was a good start. But it won’t deliver transit-oriented development – or solve our housing shortage.
The MBTA Communities law is better understood as a leveling up exercise, or a fair-share zoning law.
Posted inHousing
Boston’s broken land use system blocks the homes we desperately need
Rather than reflecting some sort of democratic ideal of local control, Boston’s process empowers those who already have housing to block housing for those who do not.
Posted inThe Saturday Send
The long-term affects of Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy and four more stories
Hallie Claflin does a deep dive into the long-term affects of Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy filing, and what hospital closures could mean for the Healey administration going forward. Plus: Universities and businesses grapple with the prospect of lower international enrollment in Boston-area schools, permitting can’t catch up to demand for new housing, state senators question sheriff spending, and more.
Posted inHousing
Marblehead voters overturn multifamily housing zoning
Tuesday’s outcome places Marblehead among the 38 communities that have not yet achieved compliance with state law, risking loss of eligibility for competitive state grant programs potentially worth over $10 million.
Posted inOpinion
Rethink governance of the East Boston waterfront
THERE’S A NEW KIND of “tragedy of the commons” occurring on the shores of East Boston. It pits fear of luxury condo development against public access and climate resiliency measures. […]
Posted inOpinion
Getting the details right on transit oriented development law
PASSING AMBITIOUS LEGISLATION matters for obvious reasons, but so too does the rule-making process that follows a law’s passage. Final language often leaves state agencies with tremendous leeway, and real-world […]
Posted inOpinion, Race/Racism
Zoning is major artery of systemic racism
LAST WEEK, US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson announced the administration would be ending Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) regulations, referring to them as “a waste of […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Walsh looks to get past zoning board scandal
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH signed an executive order Monday to limit potential conflicts of interest on the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal, an effort to put behind him a scandal that […]
Posted inThe Download
Walsh looks to get past zoning board scandal
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed an executive order Monday to limit potential conflicts of interest on the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal, an effort to put behind him a scandal […]
Posted inOpinion
Zoning – the good and the bad
HOVERING BY THE FAIRY TALE playground, by the pumpkin carriage and turreted castles, behind the swings, was a wall of murky glass, an abandoned factory. There were no other factories […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Following the money through City Hall
THERE ARE several loose threads spilling out from the case of John Lynch, who pled guilty in September and is currently scheduled to be sentenced in January for accepting bribes. […]
Posted inUncategorized
All politics is local
Though he made his biggest mark in Washington as speaker of the House, famous son of Cambridge Tip O’Neill’s most quoted aphorism was his claim that “all politics is local.” […]
Posted inThe Download
All politics is local
Though he made his biggest mark in Washington as speaker of the House, famous son of Cambridge Tip O’Neill’s most quoted aphorism was his claim that “all politics is local.” […]
Posted inEconomy
Following Lynch scandal, zoning review may not be enough
BOSTON MAYOR Marty Walsh is launching a review of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal after a Boston Planning and Development Agency official agreed to plead guilty to accepting a […]
Posted inThe Download
Following Lynch scandal, zoning review may not be enough
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is launching a review of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal after a Boston Planning and Development Agency official agreed to plead guilty to accepting a […]
Posted inEconomy
Baker renews call for housing bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER doubled down Wednesday on legislation to make it easier for cities and towns to relax zoning restrictions to facilitate the construction of new […]
Posted inEnvironment
A towering battle
A month ago, the Conservation Law Foundation signaled its concern over state approval of a waterfront zoning plan that would allow a 600-foot tower on the edge of Boston Harbor […]
