Who are abutters and how does notification work for a Boston ZBA case?
Abutters are property owners within the statutory notification radius (about 300 feet) of a proposed project; Boston ZBA applicants must notify them, and owner-occupied abutters are far more likely to appear and oppose than absentee landlords.
Massachusetts zoning requires that abutters — the neighbors within roughly 300 feet of the subject parcel — be formally notified of a ZBA hearing so they can weigh in. The number of abutters, and how many are resident owners versus absentee landlords, shapes how much organized opposition a project is likely to face.
Owner-occupied neighbors turn out to hearings far more than absentee owners, so a parcel with many resident-owner abutters faces a higher engagement risk. Verdwise computes the real abutter count and owner-occupancy share for any Boston address.