PLAN: Mattapan Adopted Plan & Executive Summary

Community Engagement

Most Recent Engagement

Workshop Materials

Summary & Goals

Guided by Imagine Boston 2030, PLAN: Mattapan is a City planning initiative that seeks to ensure that we preserve wisely, enhance equitably, and grow inclusively. Through these three principles of “preserve, enhance, and grow,” the City’s planning team will work with the community to create a comprehensive vision for the Mattapan planning area and guide future growth and investment.

PLAN: Mattapan has worked, and will continue to work closely with the community to review past planning efforts, and identify needs and opportunities for improvements which will support the long-term equitable growth and sustainability of the neighborhood. Focuses will include, though are not limited to, economic development (jobs and business) and the creation of transit-oriented market-rate and affordable housing growth while preserving the neighborhood’s character and unique attributes.

One important result of our conversations with the community is the creation of the following vision statement to guide PLAN: Mattapan.

PLAN: Mattapan envisions a future where:

  • Existing Mattapan residents are stable in their homes and new residents have affordable housing options
  • Mattapan residents have safe and reliable transit connections to jobs, schools, and community spaces in Mattapan and throughout Boston
  • Mattapan Square and other neighborhood nodes are home to vibrant, thriving local businesses and cultural spaces that reflect the needs of residents and uphold neighborhood identity

Learn more about our most recent engagement, and our 2018–2021 engagement. 

For updates and notifications on PLAN: Mattapan, please sign up for our email list under “Stay Connected” found in the toolbar.

PLAN: Mattapan Adopted Plan & Executive Summary

PLAN: Mattapan was adopted by the BPDA Board on May 11, 2023. An executive summary of PLAN: Mattapan and its recommendations is also available below.

The BPDA is planning to deliver new zoning to fulfill the plan recommendations within the next year as part of the citywide squares and corridors initiative and as part of a specialized zoning feasibility study focused on neighborhood residential areas in Mattapan to address ADUs.

Final Plan Documents

PLAN: Mattapan Appendices

Existing Conditions Report

The Existing Conditions Report summarizes the comprehensive research that the planning team did to better understand Mattapan's past and present. The data and analysis within this report, alongside community feedback, shed light on strengths and challenges within the neighborhood, informing the recommendations found in final PLAN.

A Guide to PLAN: Mattapan’s Transportation Planning and the Development Review Process

Through the PLAN: Mattapan process, community members shared that it was difficult to understand their role and ability to influence the Article 80 process related to transportation improvements and mitigation, as well as other City and state transportation projects. This guide is part of a larger BPDA initiative to build a more inclusive planning process and ensure plans and their implementations reflect the perspectives of a diverse group of stakeholders. It seeks to explain and illustrate government processes and equip residents, workers, and small business owners of Mattapan with planning concepts so they are able to better navigate and participate in these initiatives.

PLAN: Mattapan Public Art Project

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (“BPDA”) commissioned temporary murals in the Mattapan neighborhood. As a part of the PLAN: Mattapan initiative, the PLAN: Mattapan Public Art Project supports the creation of temporary public art in the Mattapan neighborhood. Two public art projects were completed as a part of this effort:

1. Call for Artists

Call for Artists

The BPDA will coordinate and collaborate with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (“MOAC”) during the Call for Artists Process and selection of the design for installation after the artist or team of artist selection. The BPDA has budgeted $15,000 for the Mattapan Public Art Project for mural installation at 1531 Blue Hill Avenue, Post 16, also known as the Carter Post.

2. Partnership with the Mattapan Teen Center

The Mattapan Teen Center was identified as a recipient of the funds because of their past experience working with youth to produce art. The murals were produced in collaboration with youth artists on the exterior of the Mattapan Teen Center. The mural was completed and unveiled on May 14, 2021. To see photos of the mural, including its process, visit the Mattapan Teen Center Instagram account.

Community Engagement

For a brief overview of what PLAN: Mattapan has been doing, view the Community Updates:

Most Recent Engagement

PLAN: Mattapan Final Overview & Discussion

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | 6:00 PM–7:30 PM

Presentation | Presentacion | Prezantasyon | Recording

PLAN: Mattapan Draft Release - Public Meeting

Thursday, October 20, 2022 | 6:00 PM–7:30 PM

Presentation | Feedback and Notes | Recording

PLAN: Mattapan Report at the GMNC Monthly Meeting

Monday, October 3, 2022 | 6:30 PM–8:00 PM

The PLAN: Mattapan team attended Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council’s October monthly meeting to unveil the Draft of PLAN: Mattapan. Attendees learned about some of the high-level aspects of PLAN: Mattapan and its recommendations organized in three geographic types: Nodes, Corridors, and Residential Fabric. The presentation of the Draft of PLAN: Mattapan was followed by a question & answer session.

Presentation - English | Presentacion Lanzamiento Preliminar para GMNC - Espanol | Prezantasyon Piblikayson Pwoje GMNC - Kreyol Ayisyen | Feedback and Notes | Recording

2018–2021 Engagement

The BPDA hosted the Open House Kick-Off for PLAN: Mattapan at the Mildred Ave Community Center in October 2018. Along with nearly 60 community members, this public meeting marked the beginning of creating a long term (10–20 year) plan and vision for Mattapan. Over the course of the following year, these conversations continued between the BPDA and engaged Mattapan residents, at nearly 10 public meetings. Two very important parts of the PLAN were determined from these meetings. First was the identification of 5 main themes that were determined to be worth studying in more detail: Jobs & Businesses, Open Space & Climate Resilience, Neighborhood Identity, Housing, and Mobility. The other important result of these conversations with the community was the creation of a vision statement to guide PLAN: Mattapan.

After nearly 4 years of process and over 100 engagements with the community, the PLAN: Mattapan team released its Draft of PLAN: Mattapan. The vision state was a driving force behind the recommendations in the document. However, PLAN: Mattapan is a flexible working plan, which holds the community’s values at its forefront and presents adaptable strategies of implementation for Mattapan’s future.

Click the meeting title below for more information and for all associated meeting materials.

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