Former state Rep. Marie St. Fleur was sworn in and attended her first meeting as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeal on Tuesday. Along with the six other members of the board, St. Fleur heard requests for change in occupancy, interior and exterior renovations, basement remodeling, among others across the city.  

“I learned a lot,” she told the Reporter after the meeting. “Honestly, it was really about observing and watching the flow of the membership. For me, it was really good. It was good to see the variety [of cases] that came before the board today.”

St. Fleur was appointed by Mayor Martin Walsh last month and the city council voted to approve her shortly after. St. Fleur has been a vocal supporter of Walsh, particularly with his re-election efforts in the Haitian community. 

“While I may bring this community lens and maybe the legal lens from being an attorney for a number of years, I was sitting there asking all sorts of questions,” said St. Fleur, who served the Fifth Suffolk District from 1999 to 2010. The seat is now occupied by state Rep. Evandro Carvalho.

“I’ve been living in my neighborhood since I was 7 years old. I was born in Haiti, but this has been my home. Public service has always been part of my trajectory, and while I don’t want to do it full-time anymore, this was an opportunity to give back in a real way, and it’s an opportunity to really serve,” St. Fleur said.

“You get a chance to understand the dimension of the developments that are going on in the city both at a micro and at a macro level,” she said.

St. Fleur served as Chair of The Advisory Council for the Haiti Fund at The Boston Foundation and was appointed the Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investment for the City of Boston by Mayor Thomas Menino in 2010.  She has seen development change neighborhoods, particularly Dorchester, dramatically and in a positive way due to zoning regulations, St. Fleur said.

“I’ve watched this as a kid. Dorchester Ave. used to be a series of car mechanic places for decades, that’s what it was. And I saw how [development] came down the avenue and they shifted that. Now you have a vibrant spine, a commercial space— and people participated in that,” she said. 

St. Fleur said her decades of experience will inform her decisions as a board member.

“I have been before the board with my community group, concerned about density. I’ve been before the board as a state rep representing the community and some of the concerns,” she said. “I love the fact that the little guy can come in here. It’s good to see that things are slowed down in order to get the right question asked and that some direction is provided.”

“I bring in the lens of someone who understands the need for development and that it needs to be tempered with regards to quality of life,” St. Fleur said.