BOSTON, Mass. — Buying an existing coffee shop or bakery in Boston could soon take weeks instead of months. Mayor Michelle Wu on Tuesday laid out a package of zoning and permitting changes aimed at clearing what she called red tape for people trying to open or take over a restaurant.
Wu announced the plan at Marabou Cafe in Mattapan. She told the crowd she once ran into the same hurdles herself while trying to open a small tea shop, an experience she said pushed her into government.
The first change targets a quirk in the zoning code. Takeout is now treated as its own use, so a new owner stepping into a restaurant that already sells takeout can be sent back through zoning review even if nothing about the business changes. The city wants to drop that extra review while keeping the Licensing Board in charge of oversight. City Hall says the switch could cut the wait for new owners from about four months to under two weeks, and Wu put the savings at around $20,000.
That change goes first to the board of the city planning agency and then to the Zoning Commission. A broader rewrite, to follow over the coming months, would let restaurants open by right in commercial districts where they now need relief from the zoning appeals board. It follows rezoning the city has finished over the past five years in East Boston, Downtown, Roslindale Square and Mattapan Square. The city also plans clearer online guidance on buying and opening a restaurant.
Wu also named Ava Callender Concepcion as the new head of the Mayor’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing and chair of both the Licensing Board and the Cannabis Board. She starts Wednesday, Nov. 4, succeeding Kathleen Joyce, who held the post for eight years.
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