Eric Porter v. Boston Planning & Development Agency (SPR 20202057)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 29, 2020 SPR20/2057 Ms. Teresa Polhemus Executive Director/Secretary of Boston Planning & Development Agency 1 City Hall Square #9 Boston, MA 02201 Dear Ms. Polhemus: I have received the petition of Eric Porter appealing the nonresponse of the Boston Planning & Development Agency (Agency) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Eric Porter requested “[a]ll documents received by and between the Boston Planning and Development Agency with community representatives that contributed to the development and finalization of Boston Zoning Board’s Article 51 for the local neighborhood district of Alston-Brighton which was enacted in 1991. All finalized documents agreed upon by the BPDA(BRA), the citizens of the community that contributed to the development, and the City of Boston/Mayor’s office. All finalized changes and/or amendments made to Article 51 that were made in the years following 1991.” Claiming to not yet have received a response, Mr. Porter petitioned this office and this appeal was opened as a result. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § l0(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Despite being notified of the opening of this appeal and a communication from a member of the Public Records Division staff, no response has been provided. Accordingly, the Agency is ordered to provide Mr. Porter with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Ms. Teresa Polhemus Page 2 SPR20/2057 October 29, 2020 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Eric Porter