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Boston Avenue Neighborhood Corridor District

At a glance

  • What: Paper 26-093, a new zoning district along Boston Avenue (Tufts area, Somerville line to Ball Square), with three subdistricts (BA-1, BA-2 with 2a/2b, BA-3), a use table, dimensional rules, development incentives, parking reductions, and new rules for Purpose-Built Student Housing.
  • Where it stands: Adopted September 15, 2026, 7-0, after an earlier version was reconsidered the same night.
  • Contested point: whether Purpose-Built Student Housing in BA-3 should need a special permit or be allowed by right. By right won on the second vote, 4-3.
  • Next: Legal counsel was asked to review two clean-up questions (see below). No date is recorded.

Proposal

  • Offered by Councilor Leming and President Bears; Community Development Board (CDB) recommendations were up for final Council approval. Director Hunt and consultant Emily Innes presented.
  • Subdistricts: BA-1 (3 stories, 38 ft base, +1 incentive story), BA-2a (4 stories, 50 ft base, up to 86 ft with incentives), BA-2b (3 stories), BA-3 (5 stories, 62 ft base, up to 86 ft). Minimum lot sizes 3,000 sq ft (BA-1, BA-2) and 5,000 sq ft (BA-3). Green Score minimum 25, ideal 30.
  • Active ground floor required (75 percent) on Boston Avenue and Auburn Street frontages; front setbacks sized to make a 12-foot sidewalk (10 feet if infeasible); 10-foot landscaped buffers next to residential districts; 45-degree height transition toward abutting residential districts.
  • Incentive stories for deeper affordability (65 percent and 80 percent of area median income), public amenities, community solar, public parking, streetscape, below-grade parking, below-market ground-floor rents for small local businesses or nonprofits, historic preservation, the Ideal Green Score and LEED Platinum.
  • Residential parking can fall to 0.8 spaces per unit for eligible historic buildings or projects that meet bike, loading, drop-off and transportation-association conditions; dual-use and multi-building shared parking by CDB special permit.
  • Pharmacy drive-through allowed in BA-3 by CDB special permit with queuing standards (three queue spaces per window, one combined window).

Purpose-Built Student Housing

  • New definition: a building not owned or operated by a college whose bedrooms are primarily for students enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution.
  • Standards: within one mile of a college; at least 150 beds and no more than two beds per bedroom; up to 20 percent of residents may be non-students (management documents this each semester and reports on request); ground-floor retail allowed; exempt from inclusionary housing and affordability incentives; 24/7 on-site professional management with monthly meetings with the host college; annual Certificate of Occupancy with a CDB-set fee; Operation and Management Plan; conversion to non-student housing needs CDB approval and inclusionary compliance.
  • Use table: not allowed in BA-1 and BA-2; allowed in BA-3 (special permit by the CDB in the original draft, by right after the amendment below). Dormitories are CDB special permit in BA-3; fraternity or sorority houses are not allowed.

Votes on September 15, 2026

  • Councilor Scarpelli moved (seconded by Councilor Tseng) to adopt the CDB recommendations, remove footnote 6 on the North Street stepback, and rewrite 94-9.8.5(3)(j) so that up to 20 percent of residents may be non-students and all others must be enrolled at an educational institution.
  • Councilor Leming (seconded by Vice President Lazzaro) moved to change Purpose-Built Student Housing in BA-3 from special permit to by right. It failed 3-4: for President Bears, Vice President Lazzaro, Councilor Leming; against Councilor Callahan, Councilor Mullane, Councilor Scarpelli, Councilor Tseng.
  • Councilor Scarpelli moved to refer to legal counsel the residency-language question (a specific residency or a specific school) and the by-right versus special-permit question, as part of clean-up zoning. Approved 7-0.
  • The original motion passed 7-0.
  • Councilor Tseng (seconded by Councilor Callahan) then moved to reconsider the whole Boston Avenue zoning. Approved 6-1, President Bears opposed.
  • On the second pass the by-right amendment passed 4-3: for President Bears, Vice President Lazzaro, Councilor Leming, Councilor Tseng; against Councilor Callahan, Councilor Mullane, Councilor Scarpelli. The legal-counsel referral (moved by Councilor Scarpelli, seconded by Councilor Callahan) passed 7-0, and the main motion as amended passed 7-0.

Public comment

Besides Director Hunt and Emily Innes, six people addressed the Council: Andrew Castagnetti, Jeremy Martin, Ralph Kline, David Roache, Harrison Greene and Simon Alcindor. The record lists names only and does not summarize positions.

Sources

Log

2026-09-15 - City Council

Adopted 7-0 after reconsideration. Purpose-Built Student Housing in BA-3 changed to by right (4-3) on the second vote; legal counsel asked to review the residency-language and by-right questions.