There is a bill wending its way through Beacon Hill that would drastically curtail where and how big developers could build so as to prevent shadows over parkland. It's like the bill passed in the early 1990s that covered, if you will, construction by the Common and Public Garden; the Esplanade; the Commonwealth Avenue Mall; Copley Square Park; Back Bay Fens; Christopher Columbus Park in the North End; and Magazine Beach Park in Cambridgeport.
The real estate industry, not surprisingly, is none too happy about new anti-shadow legislation that would prohibit new buildings from casting shadows on the aforementioned parks the first hour after sunrise or before 7 a.m. and in the last hour before sunset. Industry folk told a legislative committee recently that such regulations would halt nearly all new development in Back Bay, the South End, and elsewhere. And that's a lot of development. Many residents, on the other hand, are quite keen on further shadow restrictions.
Stay tuned: Similar legislation stalled last session. But the sun always rises.
· Fight Over Shadows, Boston Development Returns [Globe]
· Back Bay May Get 35 More Floors; Only the Shadows Know [Curbed Boston]
· Our Updated Residential Heatmap: 66 Projects and Counting [Curbed Boston]
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