Chinatown Zoning Rules OK'd

Boston's Zoning Commission has adopted new zoning rules for Chinatown on June 17 that the Boston Planning Department says will make it "easier for people to open small businesses, protect the historical row houses in the neighborhood, and improve the climate resilience" of the historic and cultural section of Downtown.

"We have been asking for community-scaled zoning for about seven years, so overall we are glad to see that the city has adopted moderate zoning heights that curb real estate speculation and recognize the displacement threats facing working class residents and small family businesses in Chinatown," said Lydia Lowe, a longtime activist and executive director of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, in an email to Sampan. "We would have preferred a lower allowable height for the institutional subdistrict and continue to believe that there should be no Adult Entertainment Zone adjacent to Chinatown." 

Under the recent changes, the zoning puts the neighborhood into several districts: two residential sections; a community commercial section; a "Sky-Low" district that overlays with downtown historical areas of Beach, Essex and Washington streets as well as Harrison Ave.; an "institutional" area where hospitals and university buildings exist that would have a maximum building height of 300 feet; and air rights section near Albany Street and the Turnpike. There are also very small sections guiding open space areas. The city has said it wanted to accommodate the operation of family associations and to create a residential zone that has a maximum building height of 155 feet and allow additional uses such as museums, social clubs, and small offices. In some subsections of the residential areas, zoned heights have been lowered to 45 feet from 80 feet, according to the city.

Boston's Chief of Planning Kairos Shen called the new rules as well as new updates to business signage rules a "win" for Chinatown.

“Updating zoning in Chinatown will make it easier to open small businesses, and modernizing our sign regulations will save small businesses time and money by eliminating long review wait times. In addition, the new zoning in Chinatown will protect its historic row houses, while also reinforcing the need for new types of housing in other parts of the neighborhood,” said Shen in a statement.

The years' long process of updating the neighborhood zoning has included a series of meetings and will shape how the neighborhood could potentially be built out in the coming years. The city's planning department said it took community "feedback" in consideration when making the changes that it says would make zoning rules more "restrictive" in sections of the neighborhood that have still retained their iconic and historic row houses, some of which date back to the late 1800s. The zoning also includes "citywide districts for institutional uses," which would include areas that have long been occupied by Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center.

Staff file photo by Adam Smith

“After an extensive community process, I believe the resulting Chinatown Rezoning will provide better protections for working families and small businesses, particularly in the newly created rowhouse zones and the commercial center of Chinatown,” said executive director of the Asian Community Development Corporation Angie Liou in a press statement.

On the same day, the city also OK'd new citywide zoning for commercial signs, marking its first major change in a half century.

This is a developing story...