The Boston Zoning Commission (BZC) will hold a public hearing on Dec. 10 regarding the adoption of two new zoning districts being proposed by the Planning Department as part of its Squares + Streets (S+S) planning and zoning initiative. If approved, they will be added to the six others that were adopted into the citywide code by the BZC in April of 2024.

This represents the latest milestone in what has been a long, contentious community process regarding City Hall’s proposed rezoning of Hyde Park’s Cleary/Logan Square business district.

S+S – applicable to any neighborhood downtown selected by City Hall – is marketed as a comprehensive quality-of-life improvement plan. However, its most controversial aspect involves rezoning those areas to encourage multi-unit residential development in them.

The S+S districts, and their loosened zoning requirements, would also eliminate binding community input from the development application process. They could also very likely lead to a significantly reduced business/commercial footprint in the Cleary/Logan Square planning area.

This, other issues, and the lack of meaningful community input during the S+S planning process was of such concern that a volunteer group of local residents formed in the summer of 2024 to prepare and submit a citizens petition to the BZC that proposed its own additional S+S zones as a more effective way to protect local business and its potential in downtown Hyde Park.

Over the next year, multiple drafts of the petition would go back and forth between the group and City Hall, eventually prompting the Planning Department to draft its own amendment proposing the two new S+S zoning districts now set to be voted on by the Zoning Commission.

The six existing S+S districts (S0-S5) step up from maximum heights of four, to five, to seven, to about 12 stories (145 feet) in varying densities and mixed-use proportions.

The two proposed zones are intended to serve as buffers to those existing districts.

The SC (Shopping and Commercial Nodes) district proposes four stories allowing (not requiring) active and commercial uses on the ground and upper floors. It would make dwelling units conditional (requiring special permission) on ground floor primary frontage, but it would allow them on non-primary lot frontage with at least a 4-foot front yard. It would go between the five-story S2 (Main Street Mixed Use) district and the seven-story S3 (Active Main Street) district.

The S3-6 district would be identical to the S3 district, but it would allow six stories instead of seven. Both would require at least half of their ground floor primary frontage to be for active use but would allow ground floor dwelling units on non-primary frontage with at least a 4-foot yard.

In response to the petition, early in 2025, the S+S zones were also amended to allow for expanded active use on ground and upper floors (mainly in S0-S2), and primary frontage ground floor dwelling units in S2 were made a conditional use. Additionally, through much of this year, there was a de facto pause in the community process for the S+S rezoning of Cleary Square.

The community process resumed on Oct. 28, when the two new districts were introduced at a virtual meeting. At the conclusion of that comment period, they were unanimously approved by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) Board on Nov. 13.

Two days later, a community-led mapping and blocking session was held in the Hyde Park Municipal Building/BCYF to familiarize participants, in a tactile way, with what S+S rezoning might look like in Cleary Square. The event’s opening remarks were given by some of those who had been part of the petitioning group, and they touched on the S+S process in its entirety.

While in favor of the two new zones, the speakers referenced the other community concerns originally addressed in the petition that had been dropped from it to give it the best chance of success. They include residential and business displacement (due to the neighborhood’s large number of lower income residents and BIPOC businesses), large-scale development (due to the few families who own most of Cleary Square’s real estate), traffic and parking (an area traffic study had been planned prior to the pandemic, but has since been shelved), and green space.

As at the last community-led mapping session held in March, several members of the Planning Department’s S+S team were in attendance, and they attempted to answer a few group questions from the 15-20 community participants. During the mapping exercise, they mostly clustered near one of the blocking and mapping tables, but they did interact with people when approached. However, their non-technical answers – at least in the group format – were predictably limited.

When asked about the timeline moving forward after the expected adoption of the two new S+S zones, Deputy Director of Comprehensive Planning Caitlin Coppinger said that no schedule had yet been set for early 2026 but that, when the time comes, a draft plan and zoning map will be released for public review, after which there will be community meetings, office hours, targeted sessions, and a comment period, after which revisions will be made, after which the revised draft plan and map will go for approval by the BPDA Board and then on to the Zoning Commission.

When asked what the mapping process will look like in relation to the three-dimensional interactive maps used in the community-led sessions, Deputy Director of Zoning Kathleen Onufer said that she thought there would be a draft map and a conversation about what it represents. She also emphasized getting out to meet local business and small property owners.

All of which sounds just like the Cleary Square S+S community engagement process thus far.

The Dec. 10 Zoning Commission hearing is at 9 a.m. and will be virtual. To register to attend or give testimony, visit https://bosplans.org/BZCDec1025. Comments and questions may also be submitted to zoningcommission@boston.gov. For more information, call Jeffrey Hampton at 617-918-4308 or visit www.bostonplans.org/planning-zoning/zoning-commission.

For Squares + Streets information, visit www.bostonplans.org and click on its quick link.