This week, Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology has selected a software contractor to upgrade the City’s permitting and licensing system. The City currently issues 60 different types of permits, totaling approximately 86,000 permits annually.

In recent months, the Mayor has shown his commitment to improving the permitting process through hosting the City’s first-ever “Hubhacks Permitting Challenge” to reinvent the City’s online permitting experience. The City also created a streamlined ZBA process for small businesses and 1-2 family owner-occupied residential applications and doubled the hearing capacity for ZBA applications.

We applaud the Mayor for making permitting a priority. We look forward to seeing the improvements to the BRA Article 80 permitting process, especially as it relates to new commercial development.