While public meetings for the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s (BPDA) planning initiatives, including PLAN: Charlestown, are currently on hold per guidance issued by Mayor Martin Walsh, planning staff are continuing to prepare and review planning materials, the BPDA said this week.
During this time, the BPDA said it recommends that stakeholders engage in the PLAN: Charlestown process through the website, where all planning study materials are posted. They also encourage the public to keep in touch with Planning staff by submitting comments directly to the PLAN: Charlestown team: http://www.bostonplans.org/plancharlestown.
Based on feedback received at the kick-off open house, the team has been working on materials for a workshop focused on the history of Charlestown’s built environment, to be scheduled once public meetings resume. This will include a review of the neighborhood’s historic assets, how the present condition relates to past planning and zoning initiatives, and a review of how Charlestown has been shaped by larger economic and social trends.
The workshop will begin by reviewing comments submitted at the last meeting and through the website. BPDA Planning staff will address Charlestown’s historic assists, development over time, and the history of the more recent planning efforts.
Chris Breen, BPDA Urban Renewal Manager, will build on remarks from his Urban Renewal Public Meeting in February about the history of urban renewal as a planning tool, and how its use has evolved over time.
The PLAN: Charlestown team is in the process of developing an exercise to be implemented during the aforesaid workshop to document the mental map of Charlestown, as it is understood by those who live, work, and go to school in the neighborhood. Participants will review and discuss which areas of the neighborhood are most rich in historic assets. The meeting will include time for questions and answers, as well as discussion of findings from the exercise.
The BPDA has also extended the PLAN: Charlestown Advisory Group Nominations to Friday, March 27.