City Council - Planning, Development, & Transportation Committee Hearing on Docket #1316

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I just want to let you know that the council is experiencing some technical difficulties, but she should be on shortly.

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Hi everybody, I just want to thank you for your patience. The conference will be on shortly. Thank you for watching!

I do believe these meetings should be in person, but what's my own personal opinion?

Boston City Council Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation. Today is August 4th and the exact time is 1212 p.m. In accordance with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, modifying certain requirements of open meeting law and relieving public bodies of certain requirements including the requirement that public bodies conduct It's meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public. The City Council will be conducting this hearing virtually via Zoom. This hearing is being recorded. It is being livestreamed at boston.gov backslash city-council-tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8 RCN Channel 82, Piles Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.plandev at boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all councillors. A public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing. Individuals will be called on in the order in which they have signed up and we'll have two minutes to testify. If you wish to sign up for public testimony, and if not done so please email our central staff liaison Shane Pack

at shane.pac.boston.gov for the Zoom link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket 1316, message in order for the confirmation of the appointment of Lisa Jock as a member of the Blossom Planning Development Agency Board for a term expiring August 15th, 2029. This matter was sponsored by the Mayor's administration and referred to the committee on July 8, 2024. Today I am joined by my colleagues in order of arrival Ed Flynn, Councilor Aaron Murphy. It's nice to see our Secretary Volhemus is on as well and we have a letter of absence from Councilor Lucy Louijeune I'm so sorry for my lateness the My computer decided it was a great time to update right as the hearing started, so I really apologize and want to thank my staff for their help getting my computer up and going. Good afternoon.

We are joined by Secretary Bohemis, the Executive Director and Secretary of the BPA, and our nominee, Felicia Jacques. Thank you so much for all the work that you do and for being with us today. I'm honored to have the opportunity to chair this discussion on an important position with such a distinguished candidate. This position is one of four members of the BPA Board appointed by Mayor Wu and confirmed by the City Council. While the fifth member is appointed by the governor. The BPDA board plays an important role in shaping the future of our city and serving as a final authority on development projects, planning decisions, and zoning initiatives. As the chair of the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation I have seen first hand how over the past few years just how important these decisions are because they shape the lives of our residents in so many ways. Right now Boston is at a challenging moment Housing costs are at all-time highs, and we desperately need new housing production and growth to meet the needs of presidents today and in the future. That's why I'm incredibly excited to have Felicia here with us today.

You have an incredibly accomplished career and decades of direct leadership in development and zoning, you also currently work in affordable housing development and you've led successful completion of many affordable housing developments across our city. So I know that you understand both the urgency of housing production, and the barriers and challenges standing in the way of these projects. In addition to that work, you have also spent years engaged in civic life and in our communities, serving on boards focused on development planning and historic preservation including the CPA Preservation Committee, Historic Boston Inc., Citizens Housing & Planning Association, and the Boston Landmarks Commission. It is clear that you are exceptionally well prepared to approach development decisions with a focus on supporting housing production and meeting the needs of residents today and in the future, and preserving the historic resources that make our neighborhood so special.

Obviously you're more than qualified for this position, but I'm really excited to hear from my colleagues and hear any questions that my colleagues may have. And I have a number of questions for you today as well. But with that I'd like for Felicia, I'd love for you to introduce yourself and then we will get into questions and anything else. And then Secretary Fulhemus if you'd like to give an opening statement as well that would be great. Awesome. Yeah, Felicia would you like to go first?

Wonderful yes thank you. Thank You Councilor Chair Durkan I think as the chair has mentioned, my name is Felicia Jacques and I've been a resident of Boston since 1995. I'm very pleased and honored to be before you as a nominee BDA, and I'm grateful for the mayor's submission and the councilor's acceptance. My interest in affordable housing and economic development has been informed by the fiscal responsibility and the high design which spans decades from my work beginning in San Antonio, Texas to New York City and to land in Boston as I said in 1995. And the city is beloved in my heart and all of the work that I do. My resume reflects my experience in developing thousands of affordable units with attendant commercial space throughout the state.

Earlier in my career, several thousand have been in Boston and more recently outside My interest in joining the BPA allows me the opportunity to be at the nexus of development planning, design, financial feasibility and community process. All of these components are necessary to continue to contribute to the built environment in this historic, yet always evolving city. I look forward to working with VPDA and board members along with Mayor and the City Council as we tackle this generation of work to secure Boston's future in housing, community, climate resiliency all while maintaining the economic engine it is known for. Thank you to the mayor and to the councillors for the continued opportunity to hold a commission seat both on the BLC and the neighborhood commission, the South End Landmarks District.

Thank you to Councilor Durkan, Councilor Flynn and Councilor Murphy for your leadership on the CPA committee as my tenure's chair of CPA has allowed us to fund work nearing $100 million in every neighborhood in the city with the council's approval. Thank you again for this opportunity and I welcome your questions.

Thank you. Any opening statements from Councilor Flynn or Murphy?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I had the opportunity to work with the nominee and I know she would be a tremendous asset to the board, an outstanding selection Well-qualified, exceptional experience. And Felicia you mentioned the Community Preservation Act. I think it's one of the most important programs and City Government. And it's really a way to bring residents together through this CPA program, but I just wanted to highlight and outstanding person that I've worked with for many years there, Fadine Brown. Her team does exceptional work but I know Felicia that you've been

An important supporter as well of CPA, but I don't necessarily have anything more to say other than the fact that I know Felicia will do a tremendous job and I'm looking forward to supporting her.

Thank you so much Councilor Flynn. Councilor Murphy?

Yes, thank you. Thank you Theresa for being here but more importantly Felicia thank you for putting yourself out there and your resume says a lot and you already show up for the community and do great work so Don't need to keep you any longer, but just saying thank you. Wanted to make sure I was on to hear what you had to say, read your resume and know that you'll be a wonderful addition so Looking forward to working alongside you as soon as we get to vote and hopefully, which I'm pretty sure we will pass this vote this week coming up. So thank you so much.

Thank you. And we've been joined by Councilor Ben Weber. Ben, you were just giving opening statements which I know you love.

I wanted to just echo my colleagues and thank Felicia for her service and for stepping up for this important position. And I'm just glad we could have this hearing and move this forward. Thanks.

Thank you, Councilor Weber. And Secretary Fulhamus, I don't know if you had any opening statement as a panelist?

I would just like to say that, um, I'm really excited to be here to support Felicia's nomination to the board. She is clearly uniquely qualified for this role and I'm excited for the expertise she's going to bring to the Board into the Planning Department

Thank you so much, Secretary Paul Pimas. And I guess as I do with most of these hearings, I will just ask you a couple questions that I think would be important for any Boston resident that ends up watching this or Any senior home that has this channel turned on. Wanted to ask you a couple questions just about what perspective do you think needs to be brought to this work right now? to address the development challenges Boston is facing right now.

Thank you, Councillor Durkan. That is a really interesting question. What I've most been impressed by with the City of Boston and the planning and development and the elected officials' perspective and bringing Boston to the forefront and addressing the challenges that we all face is the openness and willingness to listen to the community, Give proposals sort of the critical overview and review that they need, while at the same time making sure that everyone feels has been heard. And so I think the perspective right now that we are really facing is that with the onslaught of new challenges, climate resiliency being one of them Financial Feasibility, everything that the city is looking at right now to maintain that open perspective and willingness to look at

Proposals that are put forth with again a very critical and creative eye. all with a goal of advancing the city within both the economic and built environment, but also addressing and acknowledging every resident's needs and concerns.

Thank you. And what drives your interest and passion for this work? Obviously, looking at your resume, you've done a lot. I've read and been party to a lot of conversation about community builders and other things that you've worked on, so it's really nice to meet you. And nice to see you get to know the face behind a lot great work that's happening around affordable housing What was the spark that ignited your passion for this work?

Well, as you can see from my resume, my initial spark was really sparked by architecture. So my undergraduate degree is in architecture and that sort of really opened up the entire world for me again around you know what makes a city a city sort of honing in on the real estate aspect of it really allows for the fruits of your labor to really be So in each project, no matter how small or how large it is that I'm working on there is some unique feature that can really contribute to the landscape and you sort of Sussing out that uniqueness of each of those projects is really what keeps me very, very interested.

I'm just curious sort of, in this new role you'll be at the center of a lot of planning and decision making. You know, you're there from the beginning when it's being thought about but also at those sort of tough moments that there are a lot of voices and there is a lot How will you balance the need for the city to grow with the need there be preservation and other sort of Stabilizing forces in our neighborhoods to keep our neighborhoods vibrant and to have the neighborhood character that people have grown to love and cherish.

One of the more unique things from being in Boston, from my other work and other cities is that Boston is a city of neighborhoods. And the passion and commitment to preserving each of those neighborhoods really speaks I think to the way that the city moves its projects forward. So yes, I understand that having been at the beginning on some very large residential initiatives and working with each of the neighborhood groups it's really important again I think to keep an open mind that doesn't mean that everything is going to be Thank you for joining us. and consider what is put forth, I think with sort of balance

and knowing that the objective is really about allowing each project in its own way to move the city. ahead and to address and help to support the goals of the City of Boston.

And I'm sure you've been watching this from the outside, but I'm just curious sort of what you know or what you think about sort of the city's efforts to modernize Article 80 given you know obviously it's kind of a behemoth there's a lot to think about and there's been a couple of different focuses one of my priorities has been to maintain the sunset clause in article 80 which i think maintains some optionality for our neighborhoods that might have I'm just curious, anything that you can reflect upon with article 80 modernization that's going on right now and any thoughts you have to that effect.

Well, it is a bikini and I've sort of dealt with it from the small project reviews to large project reviews. So I had experience in really very many aspects of the article editing process It is something that I think is a living, breathing document and hopefully it can continue to sort of evolve and morph to meet the needs of the city at the moment, which it's being utilized but also to be able to accept Thank you very much. The planning tool of the city that is very alive and vibrant and has to be able to

Thank you. And thank you so much for stepping up to serve. I think, I really love that on the background is that you've been on the Landmarks Commission and you've done other service in this city. This is obviously a huge A huge bit of service and I do try to attend all the BPA meetings myself when i have a position so you'll definitely see me often mostly at the beginning of the meeting with my thoughts on different projects in my district. But I'm really grateful to you for stepping up to serve. I wanted to open it up for any of my colleagues who may have any questions for the candidate. Councilor Flynn?

Yeah, thank you Madam Chair. Madam Chair before I begin Could you just tell me, or maybe Theresa might be able to help me. It's an open position but who is the person that left?

Dr. Todd Landsmark. OK. Yeah, retired with distinction.

Well, I've been friends with Ted Landsmark for 45 years and I know that's an important historic not necessarily seat. I won't call it a seat but You know, you're following in footsteps of a tremendous civil rights leader and a wonderful person, educator, and friend. and I know he's missed in the city. But what I liked about Ted besides the fact that I've known him for years, First time I ever went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Ted took me as a kid. But what I liked about Ted though is he was independent at times and if he thought...

You know, he didn't necessarily have to always vote as a team or as a group. Would you envision yourself if you wanted to vote a certain way and your colleagues in the board might be voting a different way. Would you still vote the way you think is best or would you support what your colleagues think is, is best?

Well, I think it's a balancing act. I think the role is for someone to take their experience, apply that experience While at the same time taking into consideration all of the different voices at the table, but the idea of sort of maintaining your own individuality I would I think that is a strong characteristic, very much like Everyone around the table, maintaining one's integrity and their individual characteristics would allow for there to be an open-mindedness to folks voting and many more.

I would think that more often than not, there is a consensus. But the idea of an individual vote for an individual project if it does If it needs to sit with that individual, again, there would be openness and acknowledgement for that kind of individual vote.

Well, that's an excellent answer. Thank you, Felicia and I'm looking forward to enthusiastically supporting you when it comes for a vote. And I know the board in this city will benefit greatly because of your background, experience and your vision and your leadership and your integrity. So I'm looking forward to supporting you when it comes to a vote. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, Councilor Flynn. And thank you for that answer on that question to our nominee because obviously we often come as district councilors and it's interesting we're all district left on here right now but as District Councilors, we often come like to the board with a specific proposal or you know with this specific idea of what is right. and so I remember I There was a time when I did advocate for a project to be tabled, and I remember the vote was split. But it did actually end up getting tabled. And it was because of You know, people on the board saying like you know people have made a case here and I think it sometimes is important for that case to be rendered even when everyone feels like everything When the project is good to go, sometimes there is a compelling reason why it's not ready to go.

But that being said I do think once the project has VPDA board approval That should encompass all city departments having weighed in. and that once that, I don't think there should be city departments advocating against a project once it gets that approval because I think it's really important that you know once it goes to The ZVA should have the city's de facto sort of support after it's gone through the BPA board. That's something that I think is a really important part of Article 80 modernization, Having a board vote means something, you know and so on behalf of the city. So especially with the changes to the planning department being underneath the city now So I'm grateful to you for stepping up to serve. I want to ask my colleague, Councilor Weber if he has any questions for you and then we'll go see if there's any public testimony.

Weber.

Yeah, thanks. I guess Felicia in terms of like is there anything that you would like to see change In the housing that is being proposed or built in terms of if there's any areas you think you'd like to see us improve on, whether it's like the numbers, the design. I don't know what are your thoughts on our you know sort of the things you think we need to do better on?

Oh well I think that The city does a tremendous job balancing all of the different kinds Objectives and goals and interests. The way that I look at that is really from the perspective I think maybe Councilor Durkan described it a little bit stepped away. There is a lot that needs to be considered, and I think each of the aspects and characteristics are typically considered in a way All different interests were acknowledged and respected, heard. That being said...

Knowing the fact that I've lived here since 1995 and have raised kids here, and have sort of looked at the way that the city has grown I think if there is any way that the process can be streamlined in a way to allow for more housing, The crisis that I think the city of Boston is experiencing along with the state of Massachusetts is very real, but I also want that coupled and many more. Thank you very much. You'll hear my historic preservation hat come out quite a bit. But to preserve what is notable,

but at the same time, not preserve an Amber and allow for the city to grow and evolve to sort of meet its higher purpose.

Okay yeah thanks a lot thank you chair.

Thank you Councilor Weber And we have a letter of absence, which I will read an abbreviated version of. Dear Chair Durkan, I regret to inform you unable to attend today's hearing regarding the appointment of Lisa Jock as a member of the Boston Planning and Development Agency Board. Please accept this letter For the record, in support of her confirmation I overwhelmingly approve of her nomination and her willingness to serve the City of Boston. The BBPA Board helps guide decisions that shape our neighborhoods, our economy and the future of our city, I believe she is well-prepared to take on that responsibility. This is from Councilor Lucille Eugène. And then Felicia do you have any last words you'd like to say to the council before we adjourn?

Again, I just want to thank each and every Councilor member for attending today. My experience has really mainly been with Flynn, and Councilor Murphy. But I am looking forward to... And their leadership has been very useful and very helpful As we sort of move CPA awards through the city, I think again that notable comment that we have been able to fund projects in every single Thank you so much for joining us. with the mayor and the BPDA staff, but also each and every one of the councilors as we again move to advance

This very historic city and the evolving built environment that we will all be responding to for the future. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Felicia and we've received a letter of absence as well from Councillor Pepen I wanted to read that into the record. And this isn't a normal thing to do, but a dear friend of mine who used to comment on development passed away this morning, Helen Cox and the Fenway was a huge proponent of affordable housing, an incredible leader. Was on the board a founder of The Fenway News was on the board of Fenway Forward, incredible friend of mine just during this meeting in her memory because she did so much with development and it's a long time Fenway resident. So, thank you so much and thank you to Teresa. Thank you to Shane our central staff liaison as well as my council colleagues and Felicia we look forward to moving for your nomination at the next meeting This hearing on docket 1316 is adjourned. Thank you.