The Boston Planning and Development Agency is “recalibrating” again as the city settles into its third mayoral administration within a year. 

Formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority, mention of the BPDA sparks mixed feelings across the city. In its earlier form, the agency oversaw the mid-century razing of the West End, and in more recent memory, the construction of the Seaport along the South Boston waterfront, often offered up as a cautionary tale of haphazard design and missed opportunities for inclusion for diverse Bostonians.

During Mayor Martin Walsh’s tenure, the agency was overhauled and rebranded, both to get its books in order and to incorporate broader planning efforts. According to the BPDA’s chief executive, Brian Golden, about 75 percent of the staff has been replaced since 2014, “disproportionately” in the planning division.

Dating back to 1957, when the BRA was created, “every mayor, from the very early days, had a different take on the agency and what it should be doing,” Golden said. “That’s no different with Mayor Wu. It was true of Mayor Walsh. It was true of Mayor Menino. Mayor Flynn. Mayor White. Everyone’s had something different they wanted to do, either policy-wise or structurally.”

Golden and other BPDA officials — Lauren Shurtleff, director of planning; Michael Christopher, director of development review; and Devin Quirk, director of real estate – sat down recently with the Reporter for a review of Dorchester and Mattapan planning initiatives and a look-back and ahead for the city’s planning and development arm.

Wu ran for office on a platform of transit equity, climate readiness, and development overhaul. Notably, she pledged to “abolish the BPDA,” which would require state legislation. 

Now with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over its future, waiting along with the rest of the city for Wu’s appointment of a cabinet-level chief of planning, the agency continues to drive new construction starts across the city.

In the interview, Golden cited hundreds of public virtual meetings during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to record permitting of 15.8 million square feet, “all through virtual engagement,” and maintaining Boston’s position as the city with the greatest percentage of deed-restricted affordable housing – 35 percent of all units permitted last year. 

“We’re really proud of the work we’ve been doing in recent years,” said Golden, “especially given the outrageous challenge of trying to do significant planning for the city to try to position us well for the future, and to do development review that’s going to serve the long-term best interests for the people of Boston, all during a pandemic. And not only are we getting the job done, I think we’re getting the job done well.”

The Walsh-era citywide planning effort, known as “Imagine Boston 2030,” itemized sections of Boston targeted for rezoning and development. It still serves as “an excellent guidepost,” Shurtleff said, though Golden acknowledges that one major shortfall in retrospect is “there’s not a lot in there about public health.”

In the early Wu administration, these planning efforts are still ongoing but with uncertain endpoints, in part due to ambiguity in the priorities of the new mayor and whomever she picks as chief of planning.

In Dorchester, a planning process began in 2017 to re-envision a swath of land between Savin Hill and Fields Corner centered along Dorchester Avenue. Currently, the area — known as Glover’s Corner— is dominated by the construction of the massive DotBlock development, which is being built out in two phases. But, after two years of public meetings, Shurtleff now describes the Glover’s planning initiative as paused, a halt brought about near the start of the pandemic.

Since then, she said, a number of projects have come along that “we have been able to use this kind of draft plan and efforts to guide.” One example came before the BPDA board this month and received approval: a mixed-use proposal for the former Van Shabu hot pot restaurant that planners said has a height, density, and transit-oriented conception consistent with a draft of the plan for Glover’s Corner.

In Mattapan, an ongoing planning effort is “incredibly unique,” according to Shurtleff. The study covers the vast majority of the neighborhood and is not seeing the pile-on of land purchases and development that the Glover’s area has from investors like billionaire Gerald Chan, who has been busy acquiring properties along Dorchester Avenue. 

“A lot of times when we do planning, immediately people start buying up land and immediately start building their projects,” Shurtleff said. “We’re not necessarily seeing that in Mattapan, and that’s not a bad thing because it means we’re able to more cohesively plan and think ahead about corridor planning, really think ahead about Blue Hill Ave., different nodes, so we can see what the actual community sees as its needs and hopefully stimulate future investment.” 

Shurtleff expects that an “existing conditions report” for the Mattapan planning area will be issued sometime this spring. The initiative’s call for artists, which led to murals on Blue Hill Avenue at the Carter Post and the Mattapan Teen Center, is currently looking to fund a third mural location. 

A plan for Newmarket is also underway, with a focus on the area surrounding the commuter rail station. This plan, too, is an “unusual creature,” because it is not sited in a primarily residential area. The focus is “mainly on identifying and preserving what 21st century industrial uses could be,” while also maintaining “legacy businesses” in the area. “We don’t want to see those things leave,” Shurtleff said, “because if they leave, they’re going far, far away.”

In Uphams Corner, a partnership between the city and the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) seeks to bring new housing, a new library, and new community spaces to a span of buildings that includes old banks and parking lots. The historic Strand Theatre sits nearby. Though initial community meetings envisioned the Strand as central to the project, “what we learned through the previous process is it was a bit too much to commingle both the development of a property for affordable housing and library uses with the long-term operations of the Strand Theatre,” Quirk said.

A new request for proposals (RFPs) from developers was approved by the BPDA board early this month. This RFP for the 555 Columbia Rd. and 559 Columbia Rd. sites does not include securing an operator for the Strand.

“It’s still a great vision” Quirk said. “It’s something that came from the community. It’s something we really want to deliver on, we’re just going to take those two pieces and make them two separate lines of work.” The city’s arts and cultural team will lead the Strand element, and the new RFP will focus on developing the vacant property for the other community uses.

One thing not to expect in the near future: a wholescale update of the Columbia Point Master Plan. The existing plan, which dates back to the Menino era, remains a solid guide for transit and density, Shurtleff said, but it did not consider climate resilience to the extent that the BPDA currently does.

“I’m not sure it warrants a full-scale re-envisioning,” Shurtleff said. “I think it’s more staying on top of and using our partners in other city agencies…and our partners in the environment department and think about how we cohesively plan for the future of this area.”

Several major developments in the area have prompted recent calls for new planning from local civic group members, notably the 36-acre Dorchester Bay City development and the proposed towers at 75 Morrissey, the former Channel 56 property. The $5 billion Dorchester Bay City project extended its public comment period until late March, after which more filings will be required from developers and the public process will resume.

The big demand in development at the moment is life sciences, as both Dorchester Bay City and 75 Morrissey show. Golden said that the BPDA will “continue to nurture life science clusters” and “all economic benefits that flow from that,” like tax revenues that can be leveraged toward affordable housing preservation. He expects record property tax revenues to flow from the record level of permitting, but the BPDA team said they are not signing blank checks.

“Everybody wants to do labs and life sciences right now,” Shurtleff said. “I look at it as we’re the guardians of where that is able to go.”