Table of Contents

Climate Change

The city’s zoning code includes policies to address climate change. It establishes a Coastal Flood Resilience Overlay District to protect people and infrastructure from the impacts of sea-level rise and storms associated with climate change (§25A). It presents regulations for all uses and structures (§25A-6) and requires a resilience review for any proposed project (§25A-7).

Green Building

The city’s zoning code outlines green building requirements for developments that are subject to a large project review. Criteria for this review vary according to whether located within downtown, neighborhoods, or Harborpark (§80-B2). The city’s green building policy requires Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for any development that is subject to a large project review (§37-4). Four required LEED points can be obtained from a list of Boston Green Building Credits (Appendix A to Article 37). 

Hazard Mitigation

The city’s zoning code establishes the Harborpark District to protect people and structures from rising sea levels and coastal storms (§42A). District standards require structures to be set back from the high-tide line and designate open space subdistricts.

Shared Mobility

The city’s zoning code includes policies that relate to the deployment of shared mobility services.

Within the Boston Green Building Credits program, the code allows the award of LEED points to projects that address transportation demand management strategies (TDM). TDM prerequisites and strategies include providing shuttle services to transit stations, providing parking spaces for rideshare capable of serving five percent of building occupants, and sharing information about carshare services (§37(4)).

The design guidelines for the Stuart Street District require proposed projects to include at least one (1) parking space for either carshare or rideshare services for every fifty (50) parking spaces in the development (§48-9.2(d)).

Food Systems | Urban Agriculture

The city’s zoning code establishes regulations and standards for urban agriculture activities within the city (Article 89). The code provides an extensive list of definitions and development and use standards for ground-level urban farms (§89-2, §89-4) and roof-level urban farms (§89-5). Standards address uses, maximum heights, setbacks, design review, and signage. Larger farms, or those in residential districts, require a stricter standard of review, including comprehensive farm review or conditional use approval. The code details comprehensive farm review criteria (§89-6).

The code also addresses composting (§89-8), accessory keeping of hens (§89-9), accessory keeping of honeybees (§89-10), aquaculture/aquaponics (§89-11), and farmers markets and farm stands (§89-12).