City Updates Chinatown Zoning Plan

New zoning rules that will shape the land and sky in Chinatown have been years in the making, and progress on the plans were revealed at an April 28 city meeting in a black box auditorium of the neighborhood’s Josiah Quincy School.

As Chinatown residents and community leaders took their seats in the auditorium, this reporter could sense a feeling of anticipation in the air. For many, the meeting reflected months of hard work in effort to improve the conditions of their neighborhood.

The updated draft of proposed amendments to Chinatown zoning were presented by Boston Zoning Reform Planner Jack Halverson and Chief of Planning for the City of Boston, Kairos Shen.

Plans for Chinatown’s rezoning began in November 2024 when the first draft of the Chinatown Zoning Amendment was released as a part of the planning initiative “PLAN: Downtown” by the City of Boston Planning Department in hopes of creating “a framework for the growth, enhancement, and preservation of Downtown Boston,” according to Halverson.

Since then, a series of meetings were held to gather views from community members – business and community leaders and residents – about revisions and changes to the zoning rules that the city felt would better address the needs of Chinatown’s residents and businesses.

The updated draft builds on the earlier proposal from November 2024 that introduced new zoning districts and development guidelines aimed at accommodating growth while preserving Chinatown’s character, according to officials. Officials said over the course of meetings with community members, they were asked to consider how Chinatown helps “support new immigrants, elders, low-income families and individuals”; ensure plans are conducive to building more affordable housing and commercial spaces that can stay competitive; and to encourage more housing for “middle-income households who have strong cultural identity and affinity with Chinatown.”

Under the revised version, several big changes were made. One was an effort to accommodate the operation of family associations. Another was removing the former so-called Affordable Housing Overlay District, which is now replaced with a zone that has a maximum building height of 155 feet. In the new plan, residential areas are conditionally allowed more uses such as museums, social clubs, and small offices, to make it easier for family associations to operate within residential buildings.

The new plan breaks the neighborhood into the following districts: Two different residential districts, a community commercial area, a “Sky-Low” district; an institutional area (Chinatown has several hospital and university buildings at its center) and an air-rights section.

Source: City of Boston Planning Department

The “Community Commercial” district, under the revised plan, would increase the maximum allowed floor footprint per building story from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet to allow for renovations and to better represent lot and building sizes in these areas, according to the city. The new “Sky-Low District Downtown Historic Dimensional Overlay” subdistrict, meanwhile, replaces the previously proposed MU-10 subdistrict, which was originally designed to allow for larger, mixed-use developments. The Sky-Low-CT area maintains nearly identical land uses and dimensions to the old area, but forces large hotels to be conditional instead of allowed.

Even with updates listed above, along with revisions to institutional districts, flood resilience measures, and design guidelines, concerns still lingered over aspects of the new plans, with attendees appearing split over the new proposed changes. Some people at the meeting welcomed the zoning amendment updates as meaningful progress, viewing them as an important step in addressing long-standing concerns surrounding the neighborhood’s parking challenges.

“We really don't have enough parking, and a lot of residents have taken on delivery jobs as Uber, Amazon, or Panda drivers. It's a new kind of profession where they don't have to toil for 10 or 12 hours a day at the back of the restaurant – they have flexibility. They're able to bring home a much more sizable income. A car isn’t a luxury but a tool for them to be supported in the new economy where everything is at the convenience of a click,” said a person at the meeting afterward who works in Chinatown, but didn’t want to be named.

Another person at the meeting expressed concern about cannabis shops possibly opening in the neighborhood based on the new plan.

“I live in Allston, and there are tons of cannabis stores in Allston; many of these cannabis stores are close to the schools. Even though you make it sound like it’s difficult for cannabis stores to open, it is not difficult at all – not where I’m from. So I don’t want Chinatown to be taken over by cannabis stores,” said one attendee.

For more, see www.bostonplans.org/planning-zoning/zoning-initiatives/chinatown-rezoning-process#overview