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On February 24, the Planning Department held an advisory group meeting to share the updates of the Enterprise Research Center District (ERC) and Greenway Plan.

The meeting was held ahead of the draft plan release, which is expected to occur in early March. Following the release, the Planning Department will hold two public meetings along with a thirty-day review. The first meeting will be held virtually on March 11, and the second will be held in-person at the Charlesview Community Room on March 26. 

Matthew Hussmann, an urban planner for the City of Boston, says that although the Planning Department is aiming to release a draft plan for early March, there is no specific date of release, meaning that the public meeting dates are subject to change. 

The anticipated release date for the draft plan is a year behind schedule based on the milestones proposed at the last meeting held in February 2025. At that meeting, the Planning Department had originally planned to release a draft plan by March 2025 and a final ERC district and Greenway Plan by late 2025. 

The study on this plan, which was launched in 2023, was a response to residents voicing the need for a more coherent vision when it comes to the Enterprise Research Center, which most recently completed its first phase.

“Establishing this kind of shared framework is essential to ensure the future development aligns with neighborhood goals,” says Hussmann during the meeting.

The plan establishes the Enterprise Research Center as a “mixed-used innovation district,” split into three types of uses: a third of area going to commercial uses, a third of area going to housing and a third going toward flexible uses. 

The meeting also focused on height transitions for the ERC where the height of buildings drops as developments move from the taller buildings at the district core toward Stadium Road, Cambridge Street and more residential parts that lie at the edge of the ERC. 

The plan also commits 20 percent of developable land to accessible open spaces, which will make up the Greenway — a continuous linear park running northward from Raymond V. Mellone Park near the Honan-Allston Library to the Western Avenue Bridge. 

Hussmann emphasized that the draft plan is a “set of guiding principles” rather than a “parcel-by-parcel prescription.” 

“It’s meant to set expectations for how the district really should evolve, but allows room for detailed planning in the future,” he says.

The draft plan and the public comments will be used to inform the final Master Planned Development Area, which will provide more specific information regarding the zoning, design guidelines and phasing for ERC development. From there, the Planning Development will work to put together a Development Plan, which will include parcel-level design guidelines. 

The release dates for these future stages, however, have not been determined.