Vernon Woodworth, chairman of the Codes Committee at the Boston Society of Architects, hopes new Boston planning initiatives will foster greater use of public transportation.

It’s taken more than a decade, but the Boston Redevelopment Authority is nearing completion of the painstaking process of rezoning the entire city. The agency outlined what remains to be done at a recent meeting of the Codes Committee of the Boston Society of Architects.

The BRA began rezoning the entire city in the late 1980s, reworking a code originally drafted in the 1950s and last updated in the 1960s.

“Periodically, I’ll hear someone ask, ‘When will Boston rezone?’ And I’ll say, ‘Where have you been?’ Sometimes a development proposal is inconsistent with the district. The knee-jerk reaction is to say we need to rezone, but often it’s because the development is inappropriate,” said Linda Haar, BRA director of planning and chief of staff.

Now Hyde Park, Roslindale and South Boston are the only neighborhoods in the city that remain to be studied for zoning revisions. The rezoning of the Fenway area is in progress and is expected to be finished by the end of this year. And the BRA is in the process of completing overlay neighborhood districts in Dorchester and the Fenway/Kenmore area.

Also, two clear areas have been targeted for economic development: the North and South MBTA stations, both of which can accommodate growth. And some areas in the city will be viewed and rezoned with transit-oriented development in mind, Haar said.

What the BRA realized in this massive undertaking was that there didn’t seem to be any relationship between the built environment and where the neighborhoods were in terms of planning, development and protection, said Haar. The original zoning was based on an ill-fitting suburban model.

“So, we went neighborhood by neighborhood. It’s a very painstaking process. But one very important point is that we didn’t think a city the size of Boston should have broad-brush zoning,” said Haar.

Each neighborhood had to be treated as if it were its own little town. Block by block, the BRA has studied existing uses and characteristics and what the neighborhood – and the city – might like to see in the future. Typically it can take two to three years to fully study a neighborhood, said Haar.

“The whole point is taking the time, so that it’s a community-based process,” Haar said.

The fine-grain level of detail to the needs of each section of the city has been maintained with the help of the neighborhoods involved. Many have existing neighborhood councils. In other instances, the BRA will look to existing local groups to organize a public meeting.

“Typically we find 20 to 30 people who want to consistently be at the table,” Haar said.

“Zoning clearly defined a planning agenda; it really directs growth in a constructive way and protects certain areas,” she said. “It’s hard to defend zoning that’s 40 years old. Rezoning that’s a public process, with fine-grain planning, is much easier to uphold and define.”

In some cases, existing uses were spreading beyond their natural districts, so zoning had to be pulled back. The BRA also created a new kind of district, a conservation overlay district, which places serious controls on valuable, privately owned natural land.

“We know we must allow reasonable use of the land, but we’ve protected it as far as possible,” said Haar. “We feel we’ve achieved a balance. We haven’t prohibited growth where it can be accommodated.”

Mixed Uses
In some areas the BRA has put into place vertical zoning, where businesses are established on the first floor with residences above.

“The revised zoning allows more mixed use. It creates more visible neighborhoods, and provides for the more up-to-date lifestyles that people want,” said Vernon Woodworth, architect and consultant of the Sullivan Code Group.

As a former building official who used to enforce zoning codes, and as a current consultant on zoning matters and chairman of the Boston Society of Architects Codes Committee, Woodworth brings a unique perspective to the issue of zoning in Boston.

“The main thing that happens with the neighborhood overlay districts is that it allows residential and retail [uses] in the same areas,” Woodworth said. “The main thing we’ve learned since zoning was first enacted was that we don’t want six blocks of retail, followed by six blocks of residential, followed by