Coming to Cambridge City Council: Zoning, homeless visitors, nonprofit home and utility bills
Discussion of zoning fills the City Council meeting agenda for Monday, but also appearing are updates on visits by the unhoused to a Porter Square church garden and on the Lowell Street home of arts nonprofits; and an upcoming advice session with Eversource on rising utility bills. Here’s what to look out for:
Zoning changes: The city proposes a short-term update to zoning to align with state laws on which institutional uses – such as religious, educational, child care and government – are allowed automatically in any district. Once that’s taken care of, the city can look in the longer term at whether to bring back something like the Dover Amendment, which regulated development by institutions such as universities or religious groups in residential areas. That exemption from 1979 and 1980 ended Feb. 10, when the City Council enacted a Multifamily Housing Ordinance to encourage the construction of homes, only to see a religious group seize the opportunity to also expand nonhousing uses.
Two revised zoning petitions for Cambridge Street and Massachusetts Avenue aim to support mixed-use development, require more active ground-floor uses and keep public open space accessible. Massachusetts Avenue could see up to 12 stories of residential uses along its length, and up to 18 stories of residential in Porter Square in exchange for increased open space requirements and minimum retail density; Cambridge Street could see up to eight stories of residential uses along its length, and up to 10 stories in parts of Inman Square; up to 12 in the Webster Avenue and Windsor Street area; and up to 15 stories in the Lechmere area…