Without a doubt, many of our fellow developers have already read about and rejoiced over the recent ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) that essentially prevents neighbors of development projects from suing land-use decisions unless they can prove harm. But we want to again revisit why this is so important, not just for developers, but for everyone participating in the real estate market in Massachusetts.
Read MoreLast week, we wrote about Mayor Walsh’s vision for the next decade, particularly how he plans to add housing units to the city with the goal of making it more affordable for working people. Interestingly, this article from the Boston Business Journal reports that Governor Baker put a bill before the state legislature more than 8 months ago that would make it easier to rezone areas for housing. This bill would greatly help Mayor Walsh move forward on his housing plans for the city, so it’s time our state legislators get behind these visions.
Read MoreIf you ask any developer in Boston what they think of the zoning approval process, I would guess that one of their first comments would be about how “political” it can be. A recent report by researcher Amy Dain looked at the zoning laws of 100 communities around Boston and found that “over a two-year period from 2015 to 2017, only 14% of multifamily units in the greater Boston communities Dain studied were permitted "by right".” That means the other 86% of projects were subject to the discretion of zoning boards - zoning boards that are often influenced by local politics. For a quick overview of the report’s findings, check out this article. For the full report, click here.
Read More
