Preparing for Boston's BPDA Hearing on Beacon Hill

State lawmakers are hearing from Wu administration officials for first time on proposed changes, additional changes are pursued in City Hall

On Monday the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business will hold a hearing to review the changes to the Boston Planning & Development Agency proposed by the Wu administration. The hearing is set for 11 am at the State House hearing room A-2. 

This is the first time the Wu administration will be able to make their case directly to state lawmakers for this policy change. Convincing lawmakers is essential because both the State House and State Senate must pass the bill and then the Governor must sign it in order for the changes in the home rule petition to go into effect. Among those asking questions at Monday’s hearing will be five lawmakers from Boston who serve on the Joint Committee:

• Committee Vice Chair & State Senator Nicholas Collins (D- 1st Suffolk); 

• State Senator Liz Miranda (D- 2nd Suffolk); 

• State Representative Brandy Fluker-Oakley (D- 12th Suffolk); 

• State Representative Samantha Montano (D- 15th Suffolk); and 

• State Representative William MacGregor (D- 10th Suffolk). 

The home rule petition calls for significant changes to one of the most important economic development agencies in the state, but it is not the only change being pursued by the Wu administration. There are five changes laid out by the BPDA itself in a year-end report, and while the home rule petition requires approval by the state legislature, other changes are moving forward:

1. Filing an ordinance “in the beginning of 2024” that will create the new City department, and bringing the vast majority of BPDA staff onto the City of Boston’s payroll on July 1st, 2024 - the ordinance has not been filed as of January 19, 2024

2. Creating the Planning Advisory Council, done with an executive order signed by Mayor Wu in 2023 and led by the chair BPDA Executive Director Arthur Jemison and Executive Director, Katharine Lusk

3. Updating the Article 80 development review process, which is the BPDA’s approval process for large projects - this means projects for 15 units of housing, or larger than 20,000 square feet

4. Launching a city-wide rezoning initiative called Squares + Streets - this is already facing opposition from neighborhood groups

5. Passing the home rule petition on Beacon Hill, which the Wu administration wrote and the City Council passed in the wake of the BPDA board’s rejection of an executive order issued by the Mayor - this petition is the subject of Monday’s hearing & you can watch the Boston City Council’s 2023 hearing here

Some of these changes, including the staff movement and rezoning initiative, were also mentioned in the Mayor’s State of the City address earlier this month.

While Monday’s hearing is the first action on BPDA in 2024, it is not the last. An ordinance from the administration is expected to be filed with the Boston City Council in the coming weeks and moving BPDA’s staff to the City’s payroll will feature in the Council’s budget hearings this spring.