CityOfBoston Official An official website of the City of Boston

This is the website for the City of Boston’s new Planning Department, which launched on July 1. The staff and many responsibilities of the Boston Planning & Development Agency have moved to the Planning Department of the City of Boston including planning & zoning, urban design, development review, and real estate divisions. Please excuse any misalignment you may see on our site as we transition to the City. Learn more

Article 51, Section 43 establishes five (5) Neighborhood Design Overlay Districts as overlays to Residential Subdistricts, within the Allston-Brighton Neighborhood District. The Neighborhood Design Overlay Districts are established to protect the existing scale, quality of the pedestrian environment, character of the residential neighborhoods, and concentrations of historic buildings within the Neighborhood Design Overlay Districts.

Per Article 80E-2.1(b)(iii): Design review has been triggered due to one or more of the following:

  • Change in roof shape, cornice line, street wall height, or building height of an existing building;
  • Erection/extension of a building > 300 or more s.f.;
  • Change in building massing or size/location of door or window openings, where such alteration affects three hundred (300) or more square feet of exterior wall area, or a smaller exterior wall area if expressly provided in the underlying zoning.

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