Walsh unwraps ZBA reforms
Rules expand troubled board’s transparency
Mayor Martin Walsh announced changes to Boston’s zoning board in an effort to restore trust to the scandal-plagued body, taking recommendations from an independent investigation released hours later.
Walsh issued an executive order on Monday placing further restrictions on board members’ business dealings and seeking more financial disclosures from board members and applicants.
The order requires members and alternates of the Zoning Board of Appeal to disclose all properties that might come before the board in which they or their business partners have a financial stake. They also now must excuse themselves from ruling on any projects they’ve had interests in during a period of the five years before the application, and can’t have any dealings on projects they have voted on.
“The ZBA plays a critical role for our city, but to be effective in this role and maintain public confidence, the board must operate at the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and accessibility,” Walsh said.
The city will ask the Boston Planning & Development Agency to expand the disclosure requirements for applicants of larger projects to many smaller projects.
Walsh also vowed to enact changes that would take longer to put into place, including changes to the composition of the board. Currently, the city’s ZBA is made up of people recommended from groups with a stake in the process, like real estate professionals and architects.
A cascading series of issues with the ZBA came to light after the August guilty plea of 67-year-old former city real estate assistant director John Lynch to taking $50,000 in cash bribes to get a floundering project passed in 2018. The scandal reverberated through the Walsh administration, leading to the sudden resignation of a zoning board member and a leave absence for a top adviser.
The city commissioned two separate independent reports on the board’s operations. One, from former federal corruption prosecutor Brian Kelly, cleared the remaining board members in the Lynch case. The other, from firm Sullivan & Worcester about ZBA general practices, was released Monday and recommended many of the changes in Walsh’s order.
The 20-page report from law office doesn’t touch on the scandals, focusing instead on the nuts-and-bolts of current processes and of what the city should do to improve them. The report paints a picture of an overburdened, somewhat chaotic board that needs reforms to ease its caseload and make it easier for the public to navigate.
Councilor Lydia Edwards, who sponsored her own ZBA reform bill in city council, said, “It is critical that residents trust and have full and indiscriminate access to 21st century government. Today’s executive order takes critical steps by modernizing the Zoning Board of Appeal, promoting transparency and strengthening ethical standards.”