Boston Wants to Make It Faster to Open a Restaurant, Starting With Takeout and Sales
The city plans to drop extra zoning review for takeout and speed up ownership changes, so a sold restaurant could reopen in weeks.
Coffee shops, bakeries and ice cream places could get through the city’s red tape faster. On October 28, Mayor Michelle Wu announced zoning changes to make it easier to open and run a restaurant in Boston.
- No extra zoning review just for takeout. Today, offering takeout can set off a separate zoning review. The city wants to end that. The Licensing Board would still oversee it.
- Faster ownership changes. When only the owner of an existing restaurant changes, licensing is getting simpler. The city says that could cut the wait from four months to under two weeks.
- A new definition of “restaurant” that fits how places run now.
- More places restaurants are allowed, once the city updates zoning in commercial and mixed-use areas.
- Sign permits in 30 days or less, down from 150.
These are still proposals. The new restaurant definition goes to the BPDA Board and then the Zoning Commission, and the citywide zoning update starts “in the coming months.” The city hasn’t set dates. Keeping up with openings? Here are Boston’s new restaurants.
Sources: City of Boston.
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