Background
On Wednesday, August 3, 2016 the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) approved the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s (BRA) request to extend the agency’s urban renewal powers in plan areas that cover over 3,000 acres of the city and include parts of Charlestown, the Fenway, Chinatown, the South End, Roxbury, the Downtown Waterfront, the West End, North Station area, and Government Center. The extension allows the BRA to maintain these powers, which are used for planning and economic development purposes, for another six years, until April 2022.
DHCD’s approval came after the BRA facilitated a robust, year-and-a-half long public engagement process to inform residents about the history of urban renewal and to solicit feedback about the future use of these tools in Boston. This effort included over a dozen community workshops, public meetings before the Boston City Council, and a first-of-its-kind website devoted to urban renewal information and resources.
As a result of stakeholder input, the BRA has created a two-year action plan to improve the level of transparency and accountability with respect to how urban renewal tools are used in Boston. Prior to the 2016 extension, Boston’s urban renewal plans were last reauthorized in 2005 for ten years.
Urban renewal dates back to the American Housing Act of 1949, when the federal government began to invest great sums of money to redevelop cities that were rapidly declining after World War II. Early urban renewal efforts attempted to tackle widespread blight by assembling land to develop massive infrastructure and public facilities, usually at the expense of displacing poor and marginalized residents. Today, urban renewal is used in a much more nuanced manner to help create vibrant neighborhoods.
Background information on the BRA’s 2016 urban renewal extension can be found here.
For additional information and general inquiries, please contact [email protected].
For further information, please contact the Suffolk Registry of Deeds.
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Recent Community Meetings
Charlestown Urban Renewal Plan Parcel R-11D-2a Public Meeting
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Meeting Video Recording & Presentation
Urban Renewal Community Meeting: Downtown Waterfront Faneuil Hall
Monday, July 26, 2021
Meeting Video Recording & Presentations
Urban Renewal Community Meeting: Park Plaza
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Meeting Video Recording & Presentations
Urban Renewal Community Meeting: Central Business District
Monday, May 17, 2021
Meeting Video Recording & Presentations
Minor Modification to Urban Renewal Plan (South End) Public Meeting
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Meeting Video Recording & Presentation
Urban Renewal Virtual Community Meeting: West End
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Meeting Video Recording & Presentation