BRA Urban Renewal Zone Resource Page
Many NEWRA members want to learn more about the BRA's renewal of the Urban Renewal Zone covering much of the North End. We've collected some files, in the repository below, which provide useful background information.
By state law, oversight of the BRA is the responsibility of The Boston City Council and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (or DCHD, which reports to the Governor). These are the two entities who decided on Urban Renewal power renewal. The BRA had asked for 10-year extensions for 14 Urban Renewal Zones, covering a large percentage of the land in the downtown area including the southern and waterfront areas of the North End. The Council allowed 6 years, not 10. The extension approved by the Council has a few conditions and some more oversight opportunities extended to the Council. Note that the Council elected to exercise extended oversight largely because three 2015 audits of the BRA (see also below) found the organization seriously deficient in vision, process and management. To Director Brian Golden's credit, he and the Mayor commissioned these important studies and they both have acknowledged their negative results.
To understand more about where these Urban Renewal Zones are, click on the map graphic to the right and you can check out the various zones and BRA projects. You'll see that all of the North End Waterfront and all areas south of Fulton St. are in the Downtown Urban Renewal Zone. |
So, how does this Urban Renewal Zone affect you? Two ways to start:
1- Zoning decision made by the BRA in Urban Renewal Zones cannot be appealed in Superior Court, as can conventional Zoning Board decision here in Boston. So, if the BRA make a decision about a project in an Urban Renewal Zone(say, on Lewis Wharf), there's no citizens' right to appeal. With additional City Council oversight, the Council will have the opportunity to call additional hearings on more controversial projects like Lewis Wharf. However, the Council has no statutory control over appeal. This onerous usurpation of citizens' rights remains as long as the Urban Renewal Zone exists.
2- Housing set-asides (like the Land Disposition Agreement which created the North End Nursing Home) are supposed to be stronger in Urban Renewal Zones. The North End will be putting this power to the test shortly as Partner's seeks to close our nursing facility, the only one in the whole of downtown Boston. We have asked Brian Golden to strictly interpret and enforce to the LDA governing the nursing home parcel. Over the years, we have learned the the Mayor and the BRA Director have a certain latitude in interpreting LDA's in Urban Renewal Zones. NEWRA has reminded Brian Golden that this is a rare opportunity to show citizens how Urban Renewal powers can be used to stand up for what's right.
1- Zoning decision made by the BRA in Urban Renewal Zones cannot be appealed in Superior Court, as can conventional Zoning Board decision here in Boston. So, if the BRA make a decision about a project in an Urban Renewal Zone(say, on Lewis Wharf), there's no citizens' right to appeal. With additional City Council oversight, the Council will have the opportunity to call additional hearings on more controversial projects like Lewis Wharf. However, the Council has no statutory control over appeal. This onerous usurpation of citizens' rights remains as long as the Urban Renewal Zone exists.
2- Housing set-asides (like the Land Disposition Agreement which created the North End Nursing Home) are supposed to be stronger in Urban Renewal Zones. The North End will be putting this power to the test shortly as Partner's seeks to close our nursing facility, the only one in the whole of downtown Boston. We have asked Brian Golden to strictly interpret and enforce to the LDA governing the nursing home parcel. Over the years, we have learned the the Mayor and the BRA Director have a certain latitude in interpreting LDA's in Urban Renewal Zones. NEWRA has reminded Brian Golden that this is a rare opportunity to show citizens how Urban Renewal powers can be used to stand up for what's right.
Note that the Mayor, during his 2013 campaign, promised us a serious reorganization and reform of the BRA (see his campaign proposal below), yet despite those promises and the results of several audits, no serious reform to the broken community (IAG) process, to the arbitrary footprints of the Urban Renewal Zones, or to the languishing urban planning mission has happened to date. We are hopeful that the additional City Council oversight of the BRA, combined with the extra personal engagement by the Mayor during the UR extension campaign, will both serve to unlock real and needed reform to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.