Photo courtesy of the office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh signed an executive order tightening ethical standards for the Zoning Board of Appeal, following the revelation last year that former City Hall aide accepted a $50,000 bribe from a condo developer.

The Planning & Development Agency staff member John Lynch was sentenced to 40 months in prison in January after pleading guilty to accepting the bribe in exchange for helping the developer get an extension for the condo project permit.

The executive order aims to bring greater transparency to the process and imposes new ethical standards for board members, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

Board members now must submit annual statements of their financial interest in projects around the city, and the order also requires members to undergo ethics training.

It also prevents board members from voting on projects in which they had a financial interest within the last five years. Board members also are barred from having substantial business dealings on projects they voted on for two years after the vote.

The Boston Globe noted in a story about the executive order that board member Craig Galvin, a real estate agent in Dorchester, resigned from his position on the board following reports of his work with Lynch on real estate projects in the city. The story notes that none of the board members have been accused of wrongdoing.

Walsh said he also will continue work on crafting a home rule petition to the legislature that would bring more members to the board.

“The ZBA plays a critical role for our city, but to be effective in this role and maintain public confidence, the board must operate at the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and accessibility,” Walsh said in the press release. “The changes we are making today will go further than state ethics laws that currently govern the board and its members, modernize the function of the board to make it more accessible and transparent to the public, and I will file legislation to change the membership of the board to ensure that it is reflective of our neighborhoods and their concerns.”