Boston City Council Grills Planning Department on Transparency Nine Months After BPDA Transition

BOSTON -- March 25, 2025, Boston's new city Planning Department faced its first formal council oversight hearing nine months after absorbing the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Committee on Government Operations Chair Gabriela Coletta Zapata convened Tuesday's session, with Chief of Planning Kairos Shen, Deputy Chief Devin Quirk, and Executive Director Theresa Polhemas testifying before six councilors. Polhemas confirmed that approximately $26 million has been transferred from the BRA to the city to cover departmental expenses, and that a pension fix for roughly 160 former EDIC employees, who cannot buy back their agency years of service at roughly 11 percent of salary plus interest, depends on a home rule petition still stalled in the state Senate. Councilor Julia M. Mejia demanded structural evidence that the transition had shifted planning power toward communities historically harmed by displacement, pressing officials on whether engagement events are "performative" rather than binding. Public commenters from the Roslindale Coalition testified that white residents comprised more than 80 percent of documented Squares and Streets participants in a neighborhood that is less than 50 percent white, and demanded the department pause the rezoning pending a fair housing audit not yet funded or launched.