Zoning in Boston is a nightmare. Upwards of 99% of small-scale residential lots across the city fail to comply with current zoning requirements, leading to a costly and time-consuming variance process for owners to expand, renovate, or add accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to their property. Even attempting to rebuild a porch can result in a flood of red tape and fees.

Boston Planning’s Neighborhood Housing Initiative seeks to update zoning to simplify the upkeep and renovation of existing homes, reduce the time and cost of renovations, and remove the case-by-case pattern in the current variance appeals process while maintaining consistency with statewide policy.

“The issue with a lot of zoning in Boston is that the rules don’t always line up with what’s there as a baseline, which makes any kind of change a little bit more complicated,” said Boston Planning Department’s Senior Planner Will Cohen during a January 13, community meeting. “The part that then we have to work on as we work towards initial recommendations is to have just enough wiggle room to make it possible to make additional renovations that are reasonable in scale and to allow things like ADUs to get built.”

The task of neighborhood housing is to establish a set of allowances so that renovations are doable “but also so that the restrictions in zoning still allow each neighborhood to have a level of character and understanding that reflects the neighborhoods that we know,” said Cohen.

A preliminary survey conducted by BPDA found that most neighbors sampled so far prefer no or minimal community feedback beyond the rules established by zoning. Additionally, neighbor feedback would be valued within proposals that add new structures, increase building height, or make changes to yards. Neighbors surveyed also preferred preserving trees to adding parking space, allowing taller homes to preserve more trees instead of keeping homes lower, wider, and with fewer yards, and allowing more freedom to renovate attic spaces, even at the expense of architectural features.

While the BPDA is not prepared to offer any recommendations today, proposed zoning alterations could include more straightforward and intentional triggers for design review. Triggers might include a new curb cut, additional parking spaces, or the addition of basement units.

Greater flexibility for home-based businesses and those that cannot afford or need a formal retail space is also being considered. Offerings would still be limited to what is commonly needed or desired within a residential area, including child care, therapy, or even a small cafe or deli.

Some attendants were critical of an alleged one-size-fits-all approach.

“Zoning was created for a reason. All neighborhoods within communities are not the same. The easy variances are always granted. The expense is the city’s fault. Just fix that,” said Larry Costello. As President of the West Roxbury Neighborhood Council, Costello’s concerns stem from his neighborhood already having a system for approving variances that he finds satisfactory.

“I know all the different parts of the city are different, but we have a process with the neighborhood council that seems to work fairly well, and we value community input,” he said, “It seems like you just want to get rid of all that because the edict from the city is housing, housing, housing.”

“I truly do not understand how this blanket zoning is fair. Every neighborhood differs. Some areas do not have open space. Parking is a deal breaker in [South Boston] as there is no parking for current residents,” said a community member under the screenname “E S.”

Altering zoning requirements will not affect safety standards, only allowing for more freedom on what can exist on any given lot.

Cohen additionally stressed that updating zoning will not immediately make changes to a lot. It will be up to owners to decide what changes to implement within the updated zoning structure. Changing zoning will only streamline the process of adding to or altering pre-existing structures at the owner’s discretion.

Preliminary work started in Mattapan last year. The first official phase will take place in parts of Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plane, which mainly consist of large lots before moving onto medium- and small-sized parcels across the city. A series of community meetings and feedback sessions will also be held first on larger city-wide issues before moving on to smaller community and neighborhood concerns.

An ADU guidebook is currently available online and at Boston Public Library locations.

The BPDA survey will accept responses until February 14.

 Photo by Matthew Dickey via Boston Preservation. 

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