City of Boston, MA

In Boston, Article 80 of the zoning code governs the city’s major development review process. Adopted in 1996, it established thresholds and procedures for large projects, planned development areas, institutional master plans, and smaller proposals. Over nearly three decades of incremental amendments, the Article had become a procedural archive—complex, inconsistent, and misaligned with Boston’s evolving goals for housing, equity, sustainability, and community-driven growth. Recognizing that challenge, Boston launched a comprehensive modernization effort in partnership with ZoneCo to transform Article 80 into a clearer, more transparent and effective tool.

Under Sean Suder’s leadership at ZoneCo, the project commenced with a rigorous diagnostic phase. The team mapped the full lifecycle of development review—from scoping to board vote to post-approval compliance—and identified key friction points: opaque thresholds, inconsistent public notice procedures, overlapping departmental reviews, and unpredictable community mitigation outcomes. Simultaneously, ZoneCo led broad stakeholder engagement: neighborhood leaders, developers, institutional campuses, and city staff participated in workshops, surveys and focus groups. Through this blend of legal/technical audit and inclusive listening sessions, the team distilled four guiding principles: clarity, consistency, inclusion, and responsiveness.

The proposed rewrite reorganized Article 80 into streamlined sections: large-project, small-project, institutional master plan and planned development areas. Use tables, definitions and procedures were consolidated. Procedural thresholds were recalibrated—for example, the threshold for the Boston Civic Design Commission review was raised from 100,000 sq ft to 200,000 sq ft to better align staff and community resources with projects of greatest impact. The revisions also modernized public-notice requirements, shifting to web-based notification and email alerts while retaining print access—responding to contemporary communication norms. The updated code text emphasized objective standards for decision-makers, tight timelines, and coordination among departments to reduce redundant review steps and increase predictability.

Equity and housing production formed a core strand of the reform. Boston faces persistent housing shortage and affordability crisis; the modernization aligns review procedures with the city’s goals to increase housing supply, preserve affordability and address displacement risk. By clarifying review tracks and reducing discretionary paths for projects that meet clear public-benefit requirements, the rewritten Article 80 enables more streamlined approvals for housing development aligned with city policy. Additionally, impact advisory boards and community engagement practices were revised to ensure meaningful inclusion of under-represented voices.

Implementation support was built into ZoneCo’s scope. Staff training modules, digital checklists, project-review dashboards, and plain-language guides accompany the new Article-80 text to ensure city teams and applicants can navigate the code efficiently. Early performance monitoring—tracking permit timelines, developer and community satisfaction, and board decision consistency—provides feedback loops for continuous improvement.

In sum, Boston’s Article 80 modernization, as led by ZoneCo, exemplifies how a mature, large-city zoning regime can be recalibrated to better serve both development momentum and community priorities. Through disciplined legal-planning revision, inclusive process, and design-sensitive regulation, the code rewrite creates a foundation for easier investment, clearer rules, and deeper alignment with equity and housing goals. For Boston’s next chapter of growth and change, the updated Article 80 is less a regulation obstacle and more a strategic enabler.