About 40 residents, small business owners, officials and media gathered at the Roslindale Substation with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to discuss how the city could best streamline the permitting process for small businesses.

The meeting was essentially a roundtable between Wu, Roslindale Substation co-owner Adam Rogoff, Acapella By X owner out of Dorchester Yancarlo Fernandez, restaurateur Seth Gerber, Roslindale restaurant Midnight Morning owner Virginia Brown, Douzo Modern Japanese owner Jenny Chow, and restaurateur Babak Bina.

Wu said the big push was to smooth out the permitting process for small businesses, which several of the panelists said can be a daunting task, especially when the different permitting organizations don’t really talk to each other. Wu said, however, that the new process will not decrease quality or safety of patrons and customers.

“Part of being such an old city – an historic city – is that many of the regulations can be directly tied to something that happened in the course of 400 years that then made it that we needed a bill permit or a TV permit,” she said. “So as we’re taking a fresh set of eyes in 2026, we’re taking a step back thinking how do we ensure that building safety, food safety, and the general welfare of the public is captured at several different angles, but you don’t have to feel like it’s you versus the array of departments one-by-one-by-one dealing with all of their specific requirements.”

Wu said they’ve made improvements already, including for special events in public spaces, building permits and construction, and business permits.

“This is the reason why I’m in government; I had the fortune and misfortune to experience what it was like to be a local entrepreneur, trying to help my family, trying to help my community and just feeling stuck,” she said. “Just trying to bust through every wall on your own.”

Wu said they’re starting with the most frequently-requested permits, the permits that take the longest, and most requested from small businesses. She said the city has streamlined some processes, like restaurants with fewer than 50 seats no longer has to have their inspections renewed every year, and no fees or paperwork for that. She said also that burn rate analysis would no longer be needed, as manufacturer standards would be implemented. Wu said the certificate of occupancy permit will be available completely online and all of the Boston Inspectional Services Department permits will be available online.

“I know in 2026, it feels a little archaic to celebrate everything being online, but it took a huge tech platform update and lots and lots of pieces,” she said.

Lastly, Wu said the city expanded staff capacity to more quickly take care of fire department inspections and reviews.

The consensus of the owners was that the faster and more predictable the city can make the process, the better. Fernandez said he has been going through the process to get approval for his fabrics from the Fire Department, as the city requires certain burn rates to increase safety during an emergency. Rogoff said the Substation was set up as a community space and coworking space. He said despite his training as a lawyer and at one point being on the government side of the process, just finding the right people to talk to was big challenge.

“Some of the details I experienced were challenging for me and took an incredible amount of time,” he said. “In the few years I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen things improve, but I think there is a lot of slow machinery to properly grease.”

Brown said her experience opening her restaurant, starting back in 2022, was complicated to say the least. She said they were taking over from a previously-approved business, the Birch Street Bistro, but regardless they still had to jump through many hoops she felt were extraneous.

“We had to come up with a whole plan with how the current owner would release his license to the city, and that was a lot,” she said.

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Brown then went through the different permitting processes they had to jump through, including but not limited to common victualler licenses, occupancy permits, fire safety permits, health department inspections and permits, and so on. And that’s not including the other necessities that went with purchasing an existing business.

“There were things I just wish I had known before, to be prepared, because for me, I wasn’t going to purchase this business if I don’t get the license or if one’s not available,” she said. “The landlord had to agree to contingencies, and also the seller, and that was September, October, November, December and January. I received the license at the end of December, but then I had to do all these other approvals, like a new egress plan, which was wild because I didn’t change anything in the space. I rotated booths, and that became a problem.”

One thing that all the panelists discussed was having a central place to start, with all the information needed to get all required permits in one place.

“Our neighbor in the Town of Brookline has a department that basically does this for you,” he said. “You go there, they guide you, they tell you what you need to do next and what you need to do then and so on and so forth. Having opened in Brookline, it was such a simple process, and what I didn’t know, I was told and I knew what to expect. I think that as already been explained, uncertainty creates costs, and some people can’t afford it and they are out of business before they even open. That, in the City of Boston in the 40 years I’ve been in business, hasn’t changed.”

Rogoff added that many new business owners are not savvy enough to know how to avoid these costs, and said, for instance, lease terms can include not paying rent until all permits are filed and approved.

“Most small businesses don’t know that and they are bleeding money from the start,” he said. “And the other piece of that is understanding the sense of urgency from the folks permitting. When you are calling the city asking for a specific piece of information, it is extraordinarily frustrating, especially if you are trying to get online, you’re not getting the help you need.”

Rogoff added he doesn’t think purchasing an existing business should reset the permitting process.

“I would think for the bucket of people who are acquiring a business that is already permitted, they shouldn’t be required to go through things that have already been approved,” he said.

For more information on the permitting process in Boston, go to https://www.boston.gov/boston-permitting