How long does a Boston ZBA variance take?
A Boston ZBA case takes a median of about 92 days from filing to hearing, and about 142 days (roughly 4.5 months) from filing to final decision. Those medians come from the City's own tracker — 13,947 and 14,632 cases respectively — not from a sample.
Filing → hearing (median)
92 days (n=13,947)
Filing → decision (median)
142 days (n=14,632)
Hearing → decision (median)
38 days (n=13,768)
The typical Boston Zoning Board of Appeal timeline runs about three months from filing to the hearing date, and about four-and-a-half months from filing to a recorded decision. These are medians across thousands of real cases — individual timelines vary with deferrals, community process, and board scheduling.
Cases that are deferred (continued to a later hearing) run longer. Planning for a four-to-five month window from filing is a reasonable default for most Boston projects.
Source: Verdwise — built on 11,593 unique Boston ZBA cases (2013–2026) from public City of Boston records. Statistical intelligence, not legal advice. Updated 2026-09-01.