January 14, 2002
Richard Shaklik
Deputy Director for Zoning
Boston Redevelopment Authority
City Hall
Boston, MA
Dear Rick:
Thank you for speaking at our January 10 ABN meeting; our members found the session very informative, and I hope hearing their concerns was helpful to you as well. Many more question went unasked due to lack of time, and we hope you can return sometime in the future to continue the discussion.
The group was especially interested in the proposed Downtown IPOD zoning changes, which have not been publicized. We appreciate your receptive response to our request for a public information meeting on this proposal prior to a Boston Zoning Commission hearing, during which a build-out analysis could be presented to the community. You agreed to convey our request to the appropriate parties at the BRA.
The IPOD proposal is significant not only because it would increase the height limit in a large part of downtown Boston from 155' to 350', but because it would create a new category of self-zoning, a half-acre Planned Development Area, to be known as a Residential Development Area. The implications of this for zoning, planning, and project review in the city have to be clearly understood before it is implemented. It would transform the center of the city, and create enormous economic pressures for redevelopment of historic fabric that is not specifically legally protected. Further, it would set significant precedents for the process by which zoning is done in Boston (i.e., without public notification) and for the way planning objectives (e.g., increasing housing in target areas) are achieved.
Public process is at the heart of ABN's mission, and so we are deeply concerned with this proposal. Individual neighborhood associations are concerned, some because they will be directly affected by the changes, but all, whether or not they are near the proposed rezoning area, because of the precedent for unilateral zoning changes by the BRA.
We trust that the BRA will be responsive to the public's call for a systematic and public review of this proposal Our request echoes that of the Boston Civic Design Commission, as well as the Boston Landmarks Commission, the Boston Preservation Alliance and the Conservation Law Foundation, all of whom testified to that effect at the December 19 hearing of the Boston Zoning Commission. On that date, the BZC postponed hearing this proposal, but even with the delay, the public cannot testify in an informed manner without more analytical information from the BRA.
Please let me know the date of the public information meeting on the IPOD, and we will notify our members.
Sincerely,
Daniel Cushing
President, Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods
Cc: Mayor Thomas M. Menino
Mark Maloney, Director, BRA
Rebecca Barnes, Chief Planner for the City of Boston, BRA
Boston Zoning Commission c/o Jeffrey Hampton
Ellen Lipsey, Boston Landmarks Commission
Joan Goody, Chair, Boston Civic Design Commission
David Carlson, BRA, BCDC staff
City Council
Albert Rex, Boston Preservation Alliance
Stephanie Pollack, Conservation Law Foundation
Steve Bailey, The Boston Globe