Boston City Council Looks At Street Trees, Community Voice, Land Use & More

City Councilor-At-Large Michelle Wu publishes notes from Boston City Council meetings. Below are a few highlights from February 24, 2021 Boston City Council meeting. Please note that the Council did not meet on February 17.

VOTES

Special Commission on Ending Family Homelessness: The Council voted to pass an ordinance to create a Special Commission on Ending Family Homelessness, which will develop an actionable and measurable plan to end family homelessness in the City of Boston.

NEW FILES

Street Tree Removal: Councilors Flynn and Breadon called for a hearing to discuss the process for street tree removals in the City of Boston. The current process includes a public hearing to gather feedback before a removal, but there is no requirement to notify abutters, and when trees are removed prior to a development project entering into the permitting process, residents do not have the opportunity to provide input beforehand. This matter was assigned to the Committee on Environment, Resiliency and Parks.

Community Voice in Impact Advisory Groups: Councilor Mejia called for a hearing on community voice in Impact Advisory Groups (IAGs), which are groups of up to 15 individuals tasked with providing advice and feedback on large-scale projects proposed by the Boston Planning and Development Agency to ensure that these developments meet the needs of the community and do not contribute to displacement, gentrification and a loss of community character. This matter was assigned to the Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation. 

Community Notification Process: Councilor Essaibi George called for a hearing to review the procedures to alert a neighborhood to development-related meetings. The BPDA must publish documents related to a proposed document within 5 days and share with the local neighborhood council or to a similar community or civic organization, but there is no mention throughout the Zoning Code of a required period of time that the BPDA should notify residents of any upcoming public meetings. This matter was assigned to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation.

Developer Profiles: Councilor Essaibi George called for a hearing regarding the creation of publicly available developer profiles, which may include information like accurate contact information, information regarding anh partnered firms, average Boston Residents Jobs Policy (BRJP) score, number of market-rate units and affordable units, and the BPDA Project Manager, the total number of commercial and residential units, any past or present DND or BHA contracts, list of publicly knowable civil rights litigation, and basic developer history. This matter was assigned to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation.

Planning and Land-Use Tools for Public Good:  Councilor Bok called for a hearing regarding using planning and land-use tools for public good; for example, by building on past tradition and using BPDA tools to help secure more land for the community purposes and long-term affordability that community land trusts can ensure; writing ground leases to ensure the long-term value of public land is captured by the public; and structuring city deed restrictions and ground leases to provide preferential options for conversion to cooperative or community land trust structures whenever possible. This matter was assigned to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation.

UPCOMING HEARINGS (Streaming online at https://boston.gov/departments/city-council/watch-boston-city-council-tv) 

• Next City Council meeting will be on Wednesday, March 3rd at 12PM.

For complete notes of Boston City Council meetings, visit MichelleForBoston.com to sign up to receive Council Notes automatically.