By Michael Coughlin Jr.
On Tuesday, the City’s Planning Department hosted a public meeting in which staff delved into the Squares + Streets Zoning districts, which are slated to be employed in the ongoing Roslindale Square small area plan.
According to the presentation shared at Tuesday’s meeting, Squares + Streets is a planning and zoning initiative that, through small area plans — such as Roslindale Square’s — “will recommend policy, programmatic, capital project, and zoning tools to add, support, and improve housing, public space, small businesses, transportation, and arts and culture in transit-accessible areas.”
Moreover, Abdul-Razak Zachariah, a member of the City’s Planning Department, noted that “small areas” are defined as neighborhood centers and areas along main streets. He also indicated that these small area plans seek to make recommendations that can be implemented over the next five to 10 years.
“So far, we’ve been engaging with the Roslindale community since February of 2024, and we have had several engagement opportunities, public meetings as well as pop-up events, and specific engagements with specific groups, including business owners, youth,” said Zachariah.
Through this engagement, the Planning Department has heard several themes from the community, such as the need to enhance walkability and increase programming variety, concerns about potential displacement, housing affordability, and more.
To help achieve the initiative’s goals, six Squares + Streets zoning districts were created and ultimately adopted in April after a community process that began last fall and spanned several months.
“These six districts now exist as options in the code, which can be mapped in different areas after the planning and community processes,” said Zachariah.
“We’re now in the midst of our small area planning process for Roslindale Square, and the results of the planning process will be a small area plan document. That document will include what we are referring to as a land use framework, which will inform a recommendation for mapping some combination of the Squares + Streets zoning districts within the Roslindale Square area.”
These zoning districts, S0, S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5, have some similarities. For example, parking minimums are removed, they allow most residential uses, allow community uses like schools and publicly accessible open spaces, and forbid most industrial and vehicular uses.
Additionally, these zoning districts conditionally (need a conditional use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeal) or flat-out allow some commercial and active uses that are regulated by impact or size.
It should be noted that the presentation described commercial uses as establishments like banks or offices, while active uses were described as establishments like retail stores, restaurants, and more.
While there are some similarities across the districts, there are also several differences. On the surface, each district has its own land use regulations, determining what establishments are permitted in a specific district.
Further, each district has its own set of dimensional regulations, split into building envelope and lot standards. The latter regulates aspects such as a building’s lot coverage or yard size, while the former regulates aspects such as a building’s height and width.
To view the specific land-use and dimensional regulations in the Squares + Streets zoning districts, visit https://www.bostonplans.org/planning-zoning/zoning-code and go to Articles 8 and 26, respectively.
Other differences between the districts include whether active uses are required on the ground floor, whether there are minimums for front and side yard depths, and whether outdoor amenity space is required.
As the meeting progressed, Zachariah individually detailed each of the six zoning districts.
The first up was S0, also referred to as “Transition Residential District,” which Zachariah described as “a primarily residential district that provides a transition from lower-activity residential areas to mixed-use and high-activity squares and streets areas.”
S0 notably has the smallest building floorplate, smallest lot coverage requirements, and the largest yards of the six districts. Allowed uses include residential uses up to 14 units and civic uses like child care centers, while active uses like a small grocery store are conditionally permitted.
Uses like a small restaurant and small offices are also conditionally allowed but restricted to the ground floor.
S1, the “Main Street Living District,” is “principally residential but introduces more mixed-use activity and opportunities,” according to Zachariah.
While the allowed building floorplate and lot coverage requirements are larger in S1, the district still requires yards on all sides of a building. This district is also the first of the six to introduce a maximum building width.
Regarding land use, those active uses conditionally allowed in S0 are flat-out allowed in S1, some of which are restricted to the ground floor. Additional active uses, like museums, are permitted; other uses, like banks, are conditionally allowed on the ground floor.
S2, the “Main Street Mixed-Use District,” is “distinguished by small to medium scale mixed-use buildings that can fill the width of a lot to help create a more continuous and active main street environment,” said Zachariah.
This subdistrict is the first to allow a “zero-foot side lot condition” but also introduces an outdoor amenity space requirement.
The allowed uses are similar to S1, but some additional active uses are allowed, like medium retail stores. Other uses are allowed conditionally, such as small hotels.
In S3, the “Active Main Street District,” active uses are required on the ground floor, there are smaller lot coverage requirements on very large lots, and outdoor amenity space is also required.
S3 also allows most residential and active uses—some of which are only permitted on the ground floor—and the district also allows or conditionally allows most commercial uses.
The S4 or “Active Squares District” is similar to S3 in terms of dimensional requirements but has a broader variety of allowed uses.
Finally, S5, “the Placemaker District,” allows the largest scale of mixed-use buildings out of the six districts and enables a variety of uses like S4.
After highlighting the districts, Zachariah then detailed how the rezoning process of Roslindale Square would work.
Essentially, a small area plan document will be released, including the aforementioned land use framework. This framework contains visions for land use and built form that will then inform a proposed zoning map amendment released for public review and comment. The land use framework is targeted to be released by the end of the month.
It should be noted that Zachariah emphasized, “an entire square or street does not need to be mapped with the same Squares + Streets Zoning District.”
To close out the meeting, staff and attendees participated in a question-and-answer session on topics such as zoning, affordable housing, and more.
For those interested in learning more about the zoning in general and how it relates to the Roslindale Square process, visit https://www.bostonplans.org/planning-zoning/planning-initiatives/roslindale-square.