Design Review

In order to ensure that the City's built environment makes Boston a desirable place in which to live, work and visit, the Boston Zoning Code requires that the City's planning agency, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), review the design and impacts of real estate developments that affect the surrounding community and the City as a whole.

The BRA reviews development proposals through four types of review procedure: two for the review of individual projects, and two for the review of comprehensive development plans. They are:

For projects:

• Large Project Review
• Small Project Review

For comprehensive development plans:

• Planned Development Area Review
• Institutional Master Plan Review

The regulations for all four types of review appear in Article 80 of the Zoning Code.

Download Article 80

Boston Civic Design Commission

Click here to read more about the BCDC

BCDC's purpose, as stated in Article 28 of the Boston Zoning Code, is to provide a forum for the general public and the professional design community to participate in the shaping of the city's physical form and natural environment. Although the Commission has provided a forum for discussion of urban design issues, its primary function has been as design advisors, both to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and to project proponents.

The BCDC review criteria includez:

• new or rehabilitated structure over 100,000 square feet,
• projects of special significance or projects that, by the determination of the BCDC members, will have a special urban design significance in the City,
• civic projects involving changes to parks, civic or cultural centers or monuments, and
• district design guidelines to be adopted by the BRA.

Article 28 of the Boston Zoning Code sets the parameters and procedures for BCDC review.

Comprehensive Sign Design

The Comprehensive Sign Design (CSD) review procedure has been included in the Zoning Code as a vehicle to encourage the imaginative integration of signage into the framework of the new or existing building and define where it is to be located.

Under CSD, the height and the total area of signs on a sign frontage may exceed the amount permitted by the Zoning Code provided the Urban Design staff of the Boston Redevelopment Authority approves the design for the sign(s) and any change to the building façade. Signs must conform to the Zoning Code in all other respects, and must be processed and approved by the Zoning Section of the Building Department in the usual manner.

CSD approval may be for an individual business establishment, a building, or a group of buildings with more than one owners. The total exterior design treatment for the façade must be presented. Achieving a complementary and harmonious relationship between the signage and the architecture of the building is the principal criteria for determining appropriateness of signage through SCD.

The application to be filed with the BRA Urban Design Department for Comprehensive Sign Design approval should include:

• A scale elevation drawing of the entire building façade(s) including location of sign(s)
• Proposed signs clearly delineated on the elevation drawing, plus detail drawings, as necessary, indicating proposed color and style of lettering.
• Submitting photomontages showing the proposed sign(s) in its proposed location is recommended, along with photographs showing existing condition.
• A copy of the Building Department application form.