Voices in English, Cantonese and Mandarin overlapped and echoed throughout a theater room at the Josiah Quincy Upper School on Jan. 18 at a city-sponsored meeting on rezoning plans for Chinatown. Property owners, business owners, and community leaders had various – and often conflicting – opinions about the rezoning proposal. One of the most contentious issues was a set of plans to dramatically change zoning heights for some types of buildings in Chinatown, which has seen several high-rise luxury housing towers proposed and built over the past couple decades. The neighborhood is currently reviewing a 25-story hotel proposal at the site of the old See Sun grocery store. Proposed zoning changes would allow 350-foot heights for some types of “affordable” housing projects and 150-foot limits for some other types of projects.

This rezoning effort is part of the implementation of “PLAN: Downtown (2018-2023)” and a citywide effort to rezone many areas, according to City of Boston planner Jack Halverson.

The proposal separates Chinatown into several categories based on use and focuses on changes in four zoning districts, residential-1 (R-1), community commercial (CC), residential-10 (R-10), and mixed-use 10 (MU-10).

In R-1, residential buildings under 15 units and ground floor small grocery stores would be allowed. The maximum building height would be lowered from 80 feet to 45 feet, the maximum square footage would be 1,500, and some small “backyard” additions could be possible. According to the proposal, this is all an effort to “downzone” and put dimensional regulations in place to maintain row houses and small businesses.

The community commercial regulations include a maximum building height of 80 feet, as it is now, and a 2,000 square foot maximum, and high building lot coverage. City officials say this is to “focus on maintaining what’s there today and encouraging commercial activity with zoning rules that allow it.”
In R-10, or residential-10, the proposal aims to increase affordable housing by increasing building height, with 350 feet allowed for housing and 150 feet for other uses. It also says, “Buildings must reduce size above 70 feet, or to the height of an abutting historic building.”

For mixed use buildings – or MU-10 – the building heights would also be allowed to rise to 350 feet for affordable housing sites and 150 feet for other uses.
“Buildings must reduce size above 155 feet, or to the height of an abutting historic building,” the proposal says.

During the comment period, Roman Chan, president of the Chinatown Business Association, said rebuilding would be expensive and would not help convince people that left Chinatown due to high rent to move back.

“A lot of our members have their opinions regarding the restrictions,” Chan said to a Sampan reporter. “Especially the height and the way they split this small so-called business district into two sub-districts.”
One Chinatown resident and real estate broker said that reducing the building height meant limiting the growth opportunities for property owners. He compared it to telling high school students they were going to college and then later taking that opportunity away from them.

Another concern that several people brought up was the low-quality, unsafe, and expensive state of many of the residential buildings now.
One speaker brought with him newspaper clips displayed on a board and annotated copies of the Chinatown rezoning. He called attention to existing building conditions. He said the only way to improve housing is to increase affordable housing.

“In Chinatown, many of the houses are dilapidated. We need to rejuvenate,” he said, to which he was met with applause. He spoke directly to City Councilor Ed Flynn, who was present, telling him to walk into any basement on Hudson or Tyler Street to see the poor state of the buildings; he also expressed concern about increased crime in Chinatown.

His speech stirred up many people at the meeting, and voices began to swirl around the room.
“I’m not going to allow division and personal attacks on anyone,” Flynn interrupted during the meeting. “Because whether you agree with them or disagree with them, I expect a respectful meeting.”
City officials said meetings on the rezoning effort, which would also remove the “adult entertainment” district from the neighborhood and call for other changes, will be ongoing. More information can be found at https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/e6052842-d5b3-4ac6-9072-bdc3b857b851 .