East Boston Kicks Off Series of New Neighborhood Plans

"The Boston City Council’s Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation held a public hearing on a neighborhood zoning initiative and master plan Monday night in East Boston," reports Karen Morales.

The East Boston effort is one in a series of new neighborhood planning initiatives. Mayor Martin Walsh's office announced the East Boston planning process at the same time as plans for Mattapan, Downtown, and Newmarket, as reported by Morales in a June article. Mayor Walsh considers the neighborhood plans to be an extension of the Imagine Boston 2030 plan, launched in 2015.

The hearing this week gave local stakeholders a chance to offer their opinions on the PLAN: East Boston effort. East Boston's current planning regulations were set in 2000. Rental housing makes up 70 percent of the housing stock in the neighborhood. Like many other parts of the city and country, housing prices have been rising quickly in recent years.