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Developing Wetlands Regulations

The Boston Wetlands Ordinance gives the City greater authority to protect its wetlands by expanding protections beyond those identified in the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. Protecting our wetlands also means protecting Boston’s neighborhoods and ensuring access to natural areas throughout the City.

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Our wetlands are crucial to controlling flooding, mitigating extreme heat, and protecting the quality of the City’s water. Protecting wetland resources and natural areas is critical to preparing our neighborhoods and ecosystems for the impacts of climate change. These regulations should enable residents and ecosystems to thrive side by side.

Wetland resource areas perform many ecological services, such as:

  • storing floodwater,
  • providing wildlife habitat,
  • filtering stormwater run-off,
  • producing oxygen, and
  • reducing the "urban heat island" effect.

These areas are protected under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and the Boston Wetlands Ordinance. The local ordinance provides guidance for creating local regulations that can protect wetland resources from climate change and enabling these natural areas to protect residents from the impacts of climate change. Due to their complexity, the development of regulations has been separated into three phases.

Phase I & II

In August 2020, Phase I of the wetlands regulations were adopted by the Conservation Commission. This phase included procedural and administrative regulations and outlined the process for submitting an application under the local ordinance and receiving a permit from the Commission.

In February 2022, Phase II of the wetlands regulations were adopted by the Conservation Commission. This phase identified wetland resource areas that are either not protected under state law or do not have performance standards for projects to meet. The following resource areas are protected under these regulations:

  • Isolated Vegetated Wetlands (IVW), which are freshwater wetlands that do not border open water
  • Vernal pools and vernal pool habitat, which are small, shallow water bodies that fill with water seasonally, as well as their adjacent land, and 
  • Land Subject to Coastal Storm Flowage (LSCSF), which share the boundaries of the 100-year floodplain.

Community engagement and feedback from stakeholders were critical in developing Phase II regulations. You can review the process and all of the materials considered by the Commission below. 

 

Read the Regulations

Phase III: Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice

Phase III regulations will explicitly address these components of the Ordinance: climate resilience, extended riverfront, climate equity, and environmental justice.

Focus areas for Phase III

Climate risks are not new to Boston, but they will continue to increase as the global climate changes. These risks include an increase in:

  • precipitation - increased intensity, duration, and frequency of storms;
  • prolonged droughts;
  • sea-level rise
  • coastal storm events, and
  • extreme heat.

Every dollar spent preparing the City for climate change today can save about six dollars in the future. The City of Boston is acting now to ensure that Boston evolves and thrives in the coming decades despite the threat of climate change.

The City is working to protect its residents and infrastructure from future coastal flooding. We plan to establish a Coastal Flood Resilience Zone (CFRZ). This will identify and help to protect areas of the City that will be in  (or already may be part of) the 100-year floodplain in the future. There is existing zoning in place for the Coastal Flood Resilience Overlay District, which is likely to cover the same area.

While Boston is a coastal city, several of its neighborhoods experience inland flooding. Inland flooding is primarily caused by heavy rainfall or extreme weather events, including nor’easters and hurricanes. Low-lying areas and places with impervious surfaces are particularly susceptible to inland flooding. We plan to establish an Inland Flood Resilience Zone (IFRZ) that will help identify and protect areas of the City that will become (or already may be) subject to inland flooding.

Under the MA Wetlands Protection Act, the Riverfront in Boston extends 25 feet from the mean annual high water line (310 CMR 10.58(2)(a)(3)(a)). The Ordinance permits the Conservation Commission to extend any portion of the Riverfront Area up to two hundred (200) feet from any river stream, brook, or creek.. The Riverfront Area provides many benefits, including:

  • Protecting groundwater,
  • Providing flood control,
  • Preventing storm damage,, and
  • Protecting wildlife habitat.

We plan to establish an Extended Riverfront Area. This will enable the Commission to increase the Riverfront Area by up to 200 feet in areas where broader protection is deemed especially important.

Climate change is already impacting the City’s most vulnerable populations more than others. The Ordinance allows the Commission to issue regulations and guidelines addressing climate equity and environmental justice.

Regulation Development

The regulation development process has been shaped by community and stakeholder input.

The Phase III process:

In 2021, a Community Advisory Board was formed to help guide the process of developing the third phase of regulations. Residents of Brighton, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Mattapan, the North End, Roslindale, and West Roxbury provided initial input on the regulations. 

In 2025, the process to finalize the Phase III regulations was restarted with three key groups shaping the process:

  • Equity Council - Local residents, advocates, and community leaders who will shape the development of the environmental justice framework
  • Technical Advisory Group - Professionals with experience in rivers, harbors, and wetlands, as well as climate adaptation, who will guide the creation of the resilience regulations
  • Interagency Team - City staff from other departments who will provide feedback on the regulations based on the policies, plans, and projects they are working on 

Draft regulations for each of the Phase III focus areas will be published for public review and comment later in 2025. 

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