Responsible Development Ordinance

At a glance

What: the Responsible Development Ordinance applies by contract to city incentive programs (commercial TIFs, HDIP, UCH-TIF), per Peter Dunn.
Where it stands: applied to the Lakeside UCH-TIF and expected for GreenTech Park end users.
Next: no change proposed.

50 percent Worcester resident workforce hours.
38 percent people of color and 10 percent women (derived from a disparity study).
Pre-construction conferences and monthly reporting down to subcontractors.

No project has come near 50 percent; successful ones have reached about 25 percent.
Figures are from auto-captions.

2026-09-22 - City Council — Central to the Optiline item at 274 Franklin St. The Carpenters Union (David Minasian), Fred Taylor and Margot Barnet (Worcester Community Labor Coalition, which says it fought for the ordinance adopted in 2023) urged enforcement; the Solicitor said the city reaffirmed Optiline's ineligibility and a breach would endanger the TIF. Khrystian E. King's order for a list of RDO-ineligible contractors adopted 11-0; Batista said the city has no current mechanism to notify developers and places due diligence on them. See Optiline Enterprises at 274 Franklin Street.
2026-09-16 - Economic Development Committee — Kathleen M. Toomey asked how compliance is ensured on the Lakeside and Garland Avenues UCH-TIF; Dunn described the goals and monthly reporting. Roberta Bryan noted it will apply at GreenTech Park TIF Zone.