City to speed up zoning process for homeowners, small businesses

Mayor Walsh announced today that the Zoning Board of Appeals will start holding bi-weekly sessions to hear zoning requests from homeowners and small businesses.

And unlike regular zoning-board hearings, which are held during working hours, the new hearings - to be conducted by a board subcommittee, will be held in the evenings.

The goal is to help decrease a ZBA backlog that had gotten up to six months between requests for hearings and the hearings.

The first hearing of the ZBA Small Business and Owner-Occupied Residential Subcommittee will be September 11, 2014. Staff is currently examining ZBA cases scheduled for September, October and November, and contacting applicants eligible for the streamlined process. Applicants interested in having their appeal heard through the subcommittee should contact 617-635-5300.