Boston ZBA Approves 14 Housing and Commercial Projects in Single Session

BOSTON -- May 5, 2026, Boston Zoning Board approves 14 projects across city, defers South Boston occupancy dispute. The Zoning Board of Appeal voted unanimously to approve all substantive cases at its May 5 remote hearing, adding roughly 100 units of housing and several commercial uses from the North End to Hyde Park. Notable approvals included a six-unit homeownership condo building at 133-135 North Washington Street, reduced from an original 13-unit proposal after neighborhood pushback, approved with a flood-elevation design-review proviso requested by City of Boston Planning Department's Jeff Hampton; a 24-unit residential conversion at 69-71 A Street for international exchange program participants by the Council on International Educational Exchange, which committed just under $1 million to the city's Inclusionary Development Fund in lieu of on-site affordable units; and a 42-unit building near Readville commuter rail at 1740 Hyde Park Avenue with seven affordable units, approved on a five-member board after the chair recused herself. The board deferred an occupancy interpretation dispute at 87 West 7th Street in South Boston to May 19 after Building Commissioner Mark Joseph testified he received a 1981 permit the day before the hearing that he said may require him to revoke his own two-family determination and restore a single-family designation, a move contested by the new owner's attorneys who argued the permit was never closed out with a certificate of occupancy.