BPDA Board Adopts Chinatown Zoning, Awards Four Roxbury Homeownership Sites in Dense Session

BOSTON — May 14, 2026 — Boston's BPDA board adopted sweeping Chinatown zoning regulations, awarded four Roxbury homeownership sites, and authorized a citywide sign code overhaul at its May 14, 2026 meeting, taking more than two dozen unanimous votes across a joint EDIC and BRA session. Vice Chair Raheem Shepard presided, with Chair Rojas joining partway through. The Chinatown zoning package — two years in the making, drawing over 700 written comments — creates six new sub-districts and reduces maximum building height in the neighborhood's historic row house areas from 80 feet to 45 feet; one board member challenged the down-zone, saying "I'm going to vote for this, you haven't sold me," while planner Jack Halverson defended it as a right-sizing that protects naturally occurring affordable housing from displacement pressure. The Welcome Home Boston Phase 3 program yielded tentative designations for four BPDA-owned Roxbury parcels targeting households earning 120 to 135 percent of area median income, with all nine Phase 3 RFP sites advancing — a 100 percent award rate compared to roughly half in prior phases, expected to yield 41 total units. The sign code modernization, condensing 16,000 words of 1972-era regulations into 4,500, is projected to cut small business sign permitting time by 80 percent, saving an estimated 100 cumulative years of permitting time annually across all applicants, with implementation targeted for mid-summer 2026.