The staff of Boston’s Planning Department voted last week to form a union, nearly two years after Mayor Michelle Wu moved to bring its precursor, the quasi-governmental Boston Planning and Development Agency, under City Hall’s purview.
Out of 170 employees eligible to participate in the vote, 145 weighed in — with 90 voting in favor of forming a union, and 55 voting against, according to an internal email obtained by The Boston Globe.
The city will have to negotiate an employment contract with the newly unionized staff, at a time when City Hall is also striving to spur development to bring down housing costs, and is navigating the financial strain that comes with declining commercial property values. The department plans, reviews, and approves development in the city — meaning it decides what gets built and where.
Kairos Shen, Wu’s chief of planning, sent the note out to the department on Wednesday, sharing the results of the vote.
“We wanted to thank everyone who made their voices heard in this important decision,” Shen wrote in the email. “We will work with [the city’s office of labor relations] to identify next steps and will continue to do our absolute best to keep you informed of anything that could influence the terms of your employment.”
The department has seen some major changes in the past two years, as Wu sought to fulfill her campaign promise to “abolish the BPDA,” which she outlined in a 2019 white paper.
Wu took steps to create a new city Planning Department at the start of 2024, ultimately moving the staff and powers of the Boston Planning and Development Agency under City Hall’s jurisdiction. The agency had functioned separately from the rest of city government for about 70 years, with its budget and staff off the city books. The mayor, though, still had a measure of control over the agency, being responsible for appointing its director and most of its board members.
The department’s budget is now subject to City Council approval, and the vast majority of its employees are on City Hall’s payroll. The shift also came with internal restructuring, with divisions dedicated to planning, design, development review, and real estate.
Wu’s ordinance to create the new department also requires it to file an annual report on how it is “achieving affordability, resilience, and equity,” produce a financial audit of its revenue and expenses every year, and participate in an annual City Council hearing on its operations.
Wu has touted the change as a key step toward improving transparency, accountability, and predictability for the agency, which has long faced criticism for how it’s handled development in the city, particularly for its role in razing certain neighborhoods in the 1950s and ’60s.
Critics, though, have questioned whether the move meaningfully transformed the agency, or simply changed its name.
Wu is also seeking to modernize the city’s outdated zoning code and development review process.
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.