Planning Initiatives

A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights is the final product of a Strategic Development Study of potential air rights development over the Boston extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike. This BRA initiative, announced by Mayor Thomas M. Menino in April 1998, involved several other City agencies, particularly the Boston Transportation Department (“BTD”), the impacted neighborhoods and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (“Turnpike Authority”). The air rights over the Turnpike, owned by the Turnpike Authority, are exempt from the City of Boston Zoning Code. The BRA brought in the consultant team of Goody, Clancy & Associates ("GC&A") to assist in the planning process.

In order to facilitate community and neighborhood input into the Study, Mayor Menino appointed a 26-member group of residents, business owners, and other community members as the Strategic Development Study Committee (“SDSC”) to work with the BRA, the City, GC&A consultant team, and the Turnpike Authority to create corridor-wide urban design principles and alternative development scenarios for Turnpike air rights parcels in Boston. The Study Area along the Turnpike included the Allston-Brighton, Audubon Circle, Fenway/Kenmore Square, Back Bay, Bay Village, South End, and Chinatown neighborhoods.

Following an 18-month planning process with extensive public participation, including over 30 public meetings held in the Back Bay, Fenway, Audubon Circle, South End, and Chinatown neighborhoods, and another 20 working sessions, the SDSC, BRA, BTD, and GC&A consultant team, developed a comprehensive vision for the Turnpike Air Rights Corridor with corresponding development guidelines and a recommended development process for the Turnpike Authority and City of Boston. In June 2000, Mayor Thomas M. Menino released the Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston.

The Civic Vision emphasizes four main points concerning the development of air rights and their use to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunity for all of the citizens of Boston:

• Fostering increased use and capacity of public transportation and decreased reliance on private automobiles.
• Reinforcing the vitality and quality of life in adjacent neighborhoods.
• Enhancing Boston as a place to live, work, and invest.
• Repairing and enriching the city’s public realm.

1. Filling the gaps between neighborhoods and along major public streets by lining these streets with shops (emphasizing local businesses, not national franchises), cafes, exhibit spaces, and other lively uses, creating a variety of new pedestrian links, public spaces and parks, and paying special attention to the ways in which buildings and public spaces can enrich the public realm.
2. Promoting use of public transportation by reducing parking provisions below levels prevailing at the time of this report and improving public transportation.
3. Creating architecture that combines respect for Boston's unique historic character and expression of the vitality and character of our era.

The Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston has received the following awards:

• Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association 2000 APA Outstanding Planning Award for a Comprehensive Plan.
• 2001 American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Excellence in Urban Design
• Inaugural 2001 Congress for New Urbanism Award
• 2001 Boston Society of Architects Award, Honorable Mention Urban Design Award

1. Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston