Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 7.00 - Air Pollution Control › Section 7.33 - MB City of Boston/South Boston Parking Freeze

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Applicability
.
(a)310 CMR 7.33 is applicable to the
			 Massachusetts Port Authority, the body politic and corporate, created by and
			 existing pursuant to St. 1956, c. 456, as amended, hereafter referred to as
			 Massport. Massport shall be responsible for administering the South Boston
			 Parking Freeze on all Massport owned property.
(b)310 CMR 7.33 is applicable to the City of
			 Boston which shall be responsible for administering the South Boston Parking
			 Freeze on all lands other that Massport owned property under the authority of
			 the Boston Air Pollution Control Commission (BAPCC). Under M.G.L., c. 111,
			 § 31C, BAPCC is responsible for administering local air pollution control
			 programs including parking freezes within the geographic and political
			 boundaries of the City of Boston.
(c)310 CMR 7.33 applies to the parking of
			 motor vehicles in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area. The South Boston
			 Parking Freeze area shall be divided into three zones defined as:
(1) the South Boston Piers Zone, (2) the
			 South Boston Industrial/Commercial Zone and (3) the South Boston Residential
			 Zone. These geographic areas shall be bounded as follows: The South Boston
			 Piers Zone:
Beginning at the point where Mount Washington Street meets the
				high water line of the Fort Point Channel and continuing in a westerly
				direction to the center point of the Channel; then northeasterly along the
				imaginary center line of the Channel to the Boston Inner Harbor; then
				continuing southeasterly along the high water line to the southern most edge of
				the Boston Marine Industrial Park property; then easterly in a straight line to
				the center point of the Reserved Channel and continuing westerly in a straight
				line along the Channel to the point where it meets Summer Street; then
				following Summer Street in a northwesterly direction to a point where it meets
				Fargo Street; then following Summer Street in a northwesterly direction to a
				point along Fargo Street where it meets B Street; then westerly along an
				imaginary straight line back to the point where Mount Washington meets the high
				water line.
The South Boston Industrial/Commercial Zone:
Beginning at the point where Southampton Street meets the
				railroad tracks and continuing northerly along the railroad tracks, to the West
				Fourth Street Bridge; then southeasterly along the Bridge to the center point
				of the Fort Point Channel; then north and northeasterly along the center line
				of the Channel to the point where it meets the imaginary line extending to the
				point of the beginning of the Piers Zone; then following along the southeast
				boundary line of the Piers Zone to its end point where it meets the imaginary
				line extending easterly along the center line of the Reserved Channel and then
				southerly in a straight line to the point where it meets the northeastern edge
				of the residential Zone boundary line; then following said boundary line
				westerly, northerly, and southerly back to the point where Southampton Street
				meets the railroad tracks.
The South Boston Residential Zone:
Beginning at the point where Southampton Street meets
				Dorchester Avenue and continuing in a northerly direction along Dorchester
				Avenue to West Second Street; then southeasterly along West Second Street to B
				Street; then northwesterly along B Street to West First Street; then
				southeasterly along West First Street to the point where it meets East First
				Street and continuing along East First Street to the point where it meets O'Day
				Boulevard; then easterly along O'Day Boulevard to the high water line of Boston
				Harbor; then along the high water line of Boston Harbor around Castle Island to
				the point where it meets the rock jetty enclosing Pleasure Bay and continuing
				along to the point where it meets O'Day Boulevard; then following along O'Day
				Boulevard in a southwesterly direction to the point where it meets Preble
				Street and continuing along Preble Street back to the point where Southampton
				Street meets Dorchester Avenue.
(2)
Definition of the Parking
			 Freeze
. There is hereby established a freeze on the availability
			 of motor vehicle parking spaces within the South Boston Piers Zone and the
			 Industrial/Commercial Zone and a freeze on the availability of remote parking
			 spaces within the South Boston Residential Zone within the South Boston Parking
			 Freeze Area. No owner, operator or tenant within the South Boston Parking
			 Freeze Area Piers Zone and Industrial/Commercial Zones shall allow for the
			 parking of motor vehicles in excess of the allowed number of motor vehicle
			 parking spaces established by the parking freeze. No person within the South
			 Boston Parking Freeze Area Residential Zone shall allow for the parking of
			 motor vehicles in excess of the allowed number of remote parking spaces
			 established by the parking freeze.
(3)
Parking Space
			 Inventory
.
(a) Not later than one
			 year from the date 310 CMR 7.33 is first published in the
Massachusetts
			 Register
, the BAPCC and Massport shall each submit to the Department,
			 an inventory of all existing motor vehicle parking spaces and motor vehicle
			 parking spaces which were part of any project submitted for review under the
			 Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act process set forth in
			 301 CMR
			 11.00 or the Federal Environmental Review Process set
			 forth in
			 42 U.S.C.
			 4321
et seq
. as of August 1,
			 1990 and remote parking spaces for each of their respective areas. Said
			 inventory shall include a map and supportive descriptive material of sufficient
			 detail to identify the type, location, and quantity of motor vehicle parking
			 spaces, including parking spaces for commercial, remote, employee, restricted
			 use, off-peak uses and parking spaces eliminated during the Central
			 Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project construction, located in the South Boston
			 Parking Freeze Area.
(b) Within 60
			 days of receipt of said inventory, the Department shall, after review and
			 consultation with interested parties including, but not limited to, the BAPCC,
			 Massport, Chairman of the Boston MPO, and the EPA, issue a finding of adequacy
			 or inadequacy in writing. If found adequate, the number of motor vehicle
			 parking spaces and remote parking spaces by zone shall be the
			 Department-certified parking freeze base number for the South Boston Parking
			 Freeze Area.
(c) If found
			 inadequate, the BAPCC and/or Massport, in consultation with the Department,
			 shall have an additional 60 days to resolve the inadequacies. If no agreement
			 is reached, the Department shall, at the end of the second 60 day period,
			 certify a parking freeze base number for the South Boston Parking Freeze Area
			 in writing. If within 60 days of receipt of said initial inventory, the
			 Department has not issued a finding of adequacy or inadequacy, the inventory
			 shall be deemed adequate.
(d)
Property Transfers
. In the event that Massport
			 acquires any interest in property in the South Boston Freeze area, Massport
			 shall assume responsibility for administering the freeze on the properties
			 acquired and shall amend the Parking Space Inventory submitted pursuant to 310
			 CMR 7.33(3).
(4)
Elimination of Parking Spaces During Central Artery/Third Harbor
			 Tunnel Construction
. Motor vehicle parking spaces removed or
			 eliminated permanently during the Seaport Access Road and Third Harbor Tunnel
			 construction project shall be incorporated into the parking space inventory
			 submitted pursuant to 310 CMR 7.33(3).
(5)
Establishment of Parking
			 Freeze Banks
.
(a) The number of
			 motor vehicle parking spaces in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area will be
			 limited to the base inventory of all motor vehicle parking spaces in each zone.
			 From this base inventory of motor vehicle parking spaces, parking freeze banks
			 shall be created equal to 10% of the base inventory of motor vehicle parking
			 spaces. The Parking freeze banks shall be administered separately by the BAPCC
			 and Massport and hereafter referred to as the BAPCC Bank and the Massport
			 Bank.
(b) Motor vehicle parking
			 spaces eliminated for use in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area shall be
			 credited to the appropriate parking freeze bank for reallocation and are not
			 privately transferrable.
(6)
Parking Freeze
			 Plan
.
(a) Not later than one
			 year from the date 310 CMR 7.33 is published in the
Massachusetts
			 Register
, the BAPCC and Massport shall each submit a plan to the
			 Department, with copies to the Governor, the Boston Metropolitan Planning
			 Organization and the Environmental Protection Agency Region I, a South Boston
			 Parking Freeze plan, developed in coordination and consultation with the Boston
			 Zoning Board of Appeals, the Boston Department of Transportation, the
			 Department and other city and state authorities as may be appropriate which
			 sets forth the procedures by which the South Boston Parking Freeze shall be
			 implemented and enforced and the permitting of parking facilities shall be
			 administered. The plans shall, at a minimum, include the following elements:
1. identification of the city agencies,
			 authorities or entities that will be responsible for the various components of
			 the Freeze and authority and responsibilities of the City entities supporting
			 the implementation and enforcement of each of the components of the South
			 Boston Parking Freeze;
2. a
			 description of modifications needed to local ordinances, rules, regulations
			 and/or policies to enable the city and Massport to implement and enforce the
			 freeze, and a schedule for their adoption;
3. procedures for allocation of motor vehicle
			 parking spaces from the parking freeze banks which includes methods for
			 determining the need for such spaces consistent with street and intersection
			 capacity; consultation procedures between BAPCC and Massport for allocation of
			 spaces; and incentives for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) parking;
4. proposed text of amendments to the current
			 BAPCC "Procedures and Criteria for Issuance of Parking Freeze Permits" and
			 similar procedures for Massport. These guidelines shall pertain to the
			 permitting of parking facilities, taking into consideration land use,
			 commitments to specific trip-reduction measures, and the availability of
			 improved transit;
5. A procedure to
			 relocate motor vehicle parking spaces from the South Boston Piers Zone to the
			 South Boston Industrial/Commercial Zone.
6. A procedure to ensure that motor vehicle
			 parking spaces designated as off-peak parking spaces pursuant to 7.33(4) are
			 not being utilized between the hours of 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM. Said procedures
			 shall be enforced by the BAPCC and Massport upon approval by the Department of
			 the Parking Freeze Plan required by 310 CMR 7.33(6).
(b) Within 60 days of receipt of said Parking
			 Freeze Plans, the Department, after review and a non-adjudicatory public
			 hearing shall issue a finding of adequacy or inadequacy, depending upon the
			 results of the review. If within 60 days of receipt of said Parking Freeze
			 Plans, the Department has not issued a finding of adequacy or inadequacy, the
			 Parking Freeze Plans shall be deemed adequate. If found inadequate, the BAPCC
			 and/or Massport, in consultation with the Department, shall have an additional
			 60 days to resolve the inadequacies. Failure to submit an acceptable Parking
			 Freeze Plan by the end of the second 60 day period may result in the Department
			 issuing a Parking Freeze Plan which the BAPCC and Massport shall proceed to
			 implement and enforce; provided, however that no parking spaces shall be
			 allocated unless a Department-approved or Department-issued Parking Freeze Plan
			 under 310 CMR 7.33 is in effect.
(c) Following approval by the Department, the
			 Parking Freeze Plans and Permitting Procedures shall be implemented and
			 enforced by the BAPCC and Massport.
(7)
Off-Peak Parking
.
(a) A minimum of 10% of the existing motor
			 vehicle parking spaces available in the South Boston Piers Zone shall be
			 designated for use as off-peak parking spaces and shall not be open for
			 entering customers between 7:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M.. At the opening of service
			 of the South Boston Transitway, 20% of the existing motor vehicle parking
			 spaces available in the South Boston Piers Zone shall be designated for use as
			 off-peak parking spaces and shall not be open for entering customers between
			 7:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M..
(8)
Completion of Central
			 Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel
.
(a)
			 At such time that the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project is open for
			 general public use, an inventory of existing motor vehicle parking spaces
			 available in the South Boston Piers Zone shall be submitted by BAPCC and
			 Massport to the Department following the procedures in 310 CMR 7.33(2).
			 Following Department re-certification of the parking freeze number for the
			 South Boston Piers Zone, 10% of the inventory of motor vehicle parking spaces
			 shall be added to the BAPCC bank in the South Boston Piers Zone. Nothing in 310
			 CMR 7.33(8) shall prohibit the Department from requiring Massport and/or BAPCC
			 to submit an updated inventory at any time prior to the opening of the Central
			 Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project.
(9)
RESTRICTED USE
			 PARKING
.
(a) Restricted Use
			 parking may only be provided in the parking freeze area administered by the
			 BAPCC in the South Boston Piers Zone or the South Boston Industrial/Commercial
			 Zone for up to ten days per year on the conditions of
			 310 CMR
			 7.24. Massport is prohibited from providing
			 restricted use parking in the South Boston Freeze area for any purpose. The
			 provision of restricted use parking shall require substantial documentation
			 including demand management plans and programs to be provided to the Department
			 by the BAPCC to explain such use and to document how such use will be avoided
			 in the future. The documentation requirements will be detailed by the BAPCC in
			 the "Procedures and Criteria for Issuance of Parking Freeze Permits".
(b) Restricted use parking spaces shall be
			 subject to the following monitoring and reporting provisions:
1. On December 31 of each calendar year BAPCC
			 shall submit to the Department a letter containing an estimate of the number of
			 days and dates on which the BAPCC anticipates the need over the following
			 calendar year to invoke the use of restricted use parking spaces, including the
			 estimated number and location of said spaces;
2. BAPCC shall monitor and track the use of
			 these restricted use parking spaces continuously throughout the year and on
			 March 1 of the following year shall submit a report to the Department
			 describing actual dates, locations, and numbers of restricted use parking
			 spaces used in the preceding calendar year.
(c) Should the actual number of days when
			 restricted use parking spaces is invoked by the BAPCC exceed six days by July 1
			 of any year, BAPCC shall submit to the Department on or before August 1, a
			 report outlining strategies the BAPCC commits to undertake during the remainder
			 of the calendar year so as not to have to invoke the use of the of restricted
			 use parking spaces more than the four additional days that calendar
			 year.
(d) Should the BAPCC invoke
			 the use of restricted use parking spaces for more than ten days during the
			 calendar year, BAPCC shall submit to the Department, on or before March 1 of
			 the following year, a report containing:
1. an
			 explanation of why the ten day limit on the use of restricted use parking
			 spaces was exceeded;
2. a
			 determination of whether this exceedance was temporary or may be expected to
			 continue into future years and technical support for this
			 determination;
3. a projection of
			 future need to use restricted use parking spaces in terms of the number of days
			 and the number of spaces;
4. a plan
			 and a schedule for initiating actions which will reduce the projected need
			 identified in 310 CMR 7.22(3);
5. a
			 commitment from BAPCC to implement the identified actions.
(10)
Relocation of
			 Parking Spaces
. Relocation of motor vehicle parking spaces is not
			 allowed into the South Boston Residential Freeze Zone or into the
			 Industrial/Commercial Freeze Zone from the South Boston Freeze Piers Zone. To
			 ensure greater flexibility in land use planning and development, a procedure
			 shall be developed by the BAPCC and Massport, which will enable the relocation
			 of motor vehicle parking spaces from the South Boston Piers Zone to the South
			 Boston Industrial/Commercial Zone.
(11)
Remote Parking
.
(a) Additional remote parking spaces over
			 and above the existing remote parking space inventory established in the
			 parking space inventory approved by the Department pursuant to 310 CMR 7.33(3)
			 shall not be allowed or permitted in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area.
			 Remote parking facilities already in use upon the effective date of
			 310 CMR
			 7.00 shall be allowed to continue.
(b) Remote parking spaces which are
			 eliminated for any purpose shall not be transferred to other owners, operators
			 or tenants within the South Boston Freeze Area and shall return to the BAPCC
			 Bank and Massport Bank for reallocation as motor vehicle parking
			 spaces.
(12)
"Procedures and Criteria for Issuance of Parking Freeze
			 Permits"
(a) Two years from the
			 date 310 CMR 7.33 is published in the
Massachusetts Register
,
			 the BAPCC shall amend the existing "Procedures and Criteria for Issuance of
			 Parking Freeze Permits", and submit these amendments to the Department for
			 review and approval.
(b) Two years
			 from the date 310 CMR 7.33 is published in the
Massachusetts
			 Register
, Massport shall submit procedures and criteria for issuance
			 of parking freeze permits to the Department for review and approval. Such
			 procedures shall contain a process by which Massport shall consult with the
			 BAPCC prior to allocating motor vehicle parking spaces from the Massport Bank,
			 and shall provide BAPCC with a period of up to 30 days to comment on any
			 proposed allocation of motor vehicle parking spaces from the Massport Bank.
			 Massport shall respond in writing to any comments from BAPCC which Massport
			 does not accept.
(13)
Record Keeping and Reporting
.
(a) On or before June
			 15th of each year following submission of the
			 parking freeze inventory pursuant to 310 CMR 7.33(3), BAPCC and Massport shall
			 each submit a report to the Department and EPA Region I detailing the progress
			 and status of each provision of 310 CMR 7.33 during the preceding calendar
			 year.
(b) Every third year
			 following the promulgation of the regulation, the annual status report
			 submitted to the Department shall include an updated inventory of parking
			 spaces in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area. The inventory conducted
			 immediately following the completion of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel
			 project shall establish a new three year reporting cycle.
(c) Copies of local ordinances adopted or
			 modified in support of the South Boston Parking freeze shall be submitted to
			 the Department as they become effective.
(14)
Prohibitions
.
			 In the event the BAPCC and/or Massport fails to submit "Procedures and Criteria
			 for Issuance of Parking Freeze Permits" by the date required pursuant to 310
			 CMR 7.33(12) or fails to follow a procedure once approved, no person shall
			 develop motor vehicle parking spaces regulated herein until such time that a
			 parking freeze permit is obtained in accordance with a permit program adopted
			 under 310 CMR 7.33.
(15)
Enforcement
.
(a) The
			 Department may enforce 310 CMR 7.33 under applicable law.
(b) The Department may enforce any
			 requirement of 310 CMR 7.33, including but not limited to, the requirements of
			 any Department approved parking freeze plan or parking freeze permit procedures
			 adopted by BAPCC or Massport to satisfy the requirements of
			 310 CMR 33.00 in the event
			 the BAPCC or Massport fail to do so.
(c) The failure of BAPCC or Massport to
			 adequately comply with the requirements of the section may be cause for the
			 Department to make a finding of nonconformity under Section 176(c) of the Clean
			 Air Act Amendments of 1990,
			 42 U.S.C.
			 7506(c).