Mayor signs order for planning agency
Wu vows new office will be transparent, but questions remain
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Tuesday celebrated securing a key plank of her agenda, as she signed an ordinance creating a new city planning department that would take over as Boston’s “primary land use agency” overseeing and managing planning and development.
Approved by the City Council last week in an 8-3 vote, with two councilors abstaining, the measure would move the staff, property, and power of the quasi-governmental Boston Planning & Development Agency under City Hall. Wu sees the ordinance as delivering on a key campaign promise to overhaul the agency, which historically has faced criticism for its role in overseeing development across the city and razing areas in the 1950s and 60s.
“The ordinance I’m signing today is the biggest step Boston has taken in 70 years to finally begin untangling a system of planning rooted in an outdated ideology that has left scars on our community,” Wu said Tuesday, making the case that under the purview of City Hall, the new planning department will be more “predictable, more transparent, and more trustworthy.”
But while Wu takes a victory lap, critics argue it doesn’t go far enough, and some experts say many questions remain on how, and if, the new department will function differently from the current BPDA.
“It’s really important to remember that nothing that the council passed last week affects the legal powers or responsibilities of the BPDA,” said Greg Maynard, executive director of the Boston Policy Institute.
A separate measure to dissolve the BPDA is awaiting approval by the state Legislature, which is not always responsive to city requests, known as home
rule petitions.
Maynard said many people will be watching to see how the revamped planning department operates with several other moving pieces — including Wu’s efforts to modernize the city’s outdated zoning code and development review process.
Rodney Singleton, a community activist and Roxbury resident for more than 60 years, said he opposes the ordinance because he said it falls short of policies Wu included in a 2019 white paper, which proposed ending the existing BPDA, and separating planning powers from development.
“It’s a rebranding, and you still get the same status quo,” said Singleton, echoing criticism from Councilor John FitzGerald, who worked for the BPDA until he was elected to the council, in last week’s meeting. “Structurally, you’re not changing anything, so what makes you think you’ll get better results with this ordinance?”
On Tuesday, Wu pushed back against that characterization, arguing that ongoing changes will lead to separate teams within the new City Hall planning department that focus solely on planning, development, design, or real estate, respectively, which she said is codified in the ordinance she signed Tuesday. She also added that as a city department, with its budget subject to City Council approval, it will be accountable to voters in a way that didn’t exist before.
“There was no oversight available from the City Council or from other democratically elected officials, and that basically was a way to override community voice and and sort of have extraordinary power live in one place.
This undoes that most important barrier,” said Wu.
In addition to transforming most BPDA staff into city employees on July 1, the measure includes some changes to the current BPDA’s reporting requirements.
The new planning department will be required to produce an annual, public report on how it is “achieving affordability, resilience, and equity;” provide an annual, public financial audit of its revenue and expenses — including property, leases, and developer mitigation funds; and submit to an annual City Council hearing, which could also involve an independent, third-party evaluation of the department’s performance.
The ordinance also requires council approval for any structural changes to the department.
Councilor Gabriela Coletta argued the changes would provide more transparency and accountability than currently offered at the BPDA, by offering community members opportunities to provide feedback at each annual review hosted by the City Council, and through the independent assessment of the department.
“As part of that process, we can bring in as many community voices as possible to the table to say, ‘This is what you’re doing, right, this is what you’re doing wrong. And here are our recommendations moving forward,’” Coletta said Tuesday.
Singleton, the Roxbury activist, said the opportunities for community feedback in the measure Wu signed are inadequate, and that he wanted to see community boards or neighborhood associations be given a formal role in the planning process.
“After-the-fact reporting has no teeth,” Singleton. “In order for there to be accountability, you have to do, literally, realtime assessing of the information, and then make changes when you discover there’s a problem . . . . Folks are on the ground, they know what’s happening in their own neighborhood.”
On Tuesday, Wu insisted the new planning department is the necessary first step toward improving how the city tackles planning and development.
“I really believe that this is the most fundamental way that we’re going to get it right in terms of how Boston grows,” said Wu.