City Council — Regular Meeting, November 21, 2022

City Manager's Agenda (7)

• CMA 2022 #228A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to Policy Orders 2022 number 290 & 291, regarding continuing the outdoor dining season and considering the extension of the reduced fee schedule
• CMA 2022 #229Transmitting Communication from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of the FY23 Local Cultural Council grant made by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) in the amount of $33,500 to the Grant Fund Public Celebrations (Arts Council) Other Ordinary Maintenance account, funds will be used to support the Arts Council’s Artist Grant Program which provides financial grant opportunities and partnership from Cambridge Artsarts
• CMA 2022 #230A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 21-90, regarding a request for various City departments in coordination with the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority to identify spaces in Central Square that would support the creation and protection of cultural and human servicesarts📖 read
• CMA 2022 #231A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Reports Items Numbered 16-111, 18-38, and 20-61, regarding Municipal Property Inventory. CHARTER RIGHT EXERCISED BY COUNCILLOR ZONDERVAN IN COUNCIL NOVEMBER 21, 2022affordable-housingartshousing-generalschoolstransit-traffic📖 read
• CMA 2022 #232Transmitting Communication from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $200,000 from Free Cash to the Public Investment Fund Community Development Department Extraordinary Expenditures account to be used for professional services related to a Central Square area municipal property needs assessment and planning study
• CMA 2022 #233A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the City of Cambridge resuming the use of the city-owned water supply on November 19, 2022
• CMA 2022 #234A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 22-77, regarding a review of the proposed language for Ordinance #2022-18, the Incentive Zoning Rate Study Petition, as amended in Committee and report of findings back to the City Councilzoning📖 read

Communications (21)

21 resident communications received for this meeting — transit traffic (16) · bike lanes (9) · schools (5) · climate (4) · budget (2). Individual letters are summarized in the city's agenda and are not republished here, by policy.

Policy Orders (17)

• POR 2022 #292ORDERED: That the Rules of the City Council be amended by substitution to replace Rule 21 with the following language: Rule 21. All matters of whatever description, except Applications and Petitions, which require action by the City Council at its meeting shall be presented to the City Clerk by 12:00 p. m. on the Thursday preceding the regular meeting. During a week in which a legal holiday falls on a Friday, said matters shall be presented to the City Clerk by 12:00 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding the regular meeting. Communications submitted later will be held over for the next regular meeting, except that where the City Manager believes that emergency or exigent circumstances require him or her to present to the City Council a matter which was not presented to the City Clerk by the 12:00 p.m. deadline, the City Manager may present such matters to the City Council at its meeting in writing as part of a Supplemental Agenda of the City Manager
• POR 2022 #293That the Rules of the City Council be amended by adding Rule 21A to read: Applications and Petitions which require action by the City Council at its meeting shall be presented to the City Clerk by 3:00 p. m. on the Wednesday preceding the regular meeting. During a week in which a legal holiday falls on a Friday, said matters shall be presented to the City Clerk by 3:00 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding the regular meeting. Applications and Petitions submitted later will be held over for the next regular meeting
• POR 2022 #295That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 22 be amended by adding “The City Clerk shall include with the minutes of the meeting any Communications from the public that were received at the meeting during Public Comment.” at the end
• POR 2022 #296That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 24B be amended to strike the words “not limited to” from the first sentence and replace them with “no more than”labor
• POR 2022 #297That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 27, Economic Development and University Relations Committee be amended by substitution
• POR 2022 #298That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 27, Housing Committee be amended to delete the language in the first bullet and replace it with the following language: To develop policies for the maintenance and development of housing, with an emphasis on affordable housingaffordable-housinghousing-general
• POR 2022 #299That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 27, Civic Unity Committee be amended to add a new bullet under purposes, at the end to read: This committee shall strive to work towards promulgating policies, practices, and procedures that promote Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity throughout our community
• POR 2022 #300That the Rules of the City Council be amended to add Rule 32D to read: Rules for Public Comment should be posted in a visible and prominent place both in person and online for the benefit of those wishing to participate in Public Comment
• POR 2022 #301That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 38 (8) be amended to add a new sentence at the beginning of Rule 38.8 to read: Every person addressing the City Council should speak into the microphone and should state the person’s name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record
• POR 2022 #302That the Rules of the City Council be amended to add Rule 40.1 to read: HOME RULE PETITIONS, Rule 40. 1. That Home Rule Petitions are sent to the entire Cambridge delegation
• POR 2022 #303That the rules of the City Council be amended by removing the words “he” and “she” and replacing them with gender neutral language
• POR 2022 #304That the Rules of the City Council, Rule 24C.1b be amended by substitution to read: Procedure: An individual may signup to speak before the City Council on-line via the City’s website from 9:00 a.m. on the Friday before the meeting until 6:00 p.m. the day of the meeting or via telephone to the City Council office on the day of the meeting from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. On the day of the meeting, between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., a computer terminal will be available to the public in the City Council Office for on-line signup. There will also be a signup sheet in the Council Chamber from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. The individual should indicate on the signup sheet their name, address, and which item(s) they are planning to address. Individuals will be heard in the order that they signed up whether they are participating in person or remotely📖 read
• POR 2022 #305Rules of the City Council, Rule 15 be amended by substitution
• POR 2022 #306Amendments to the Affordable Housing Overlayaffordable-housinghousing-generalzoning📖 read 📄 PDF 📄 PDF
• POR 2022 #307The City Manager is requested to work with the Finance and Assessing Departments to determine how the City could adopt G.L. c. 40, sec. 60B, created under the Municipal Modernization Act, which allows cities and towns, through their respective legislative bodies, to provide for Workforce Housing Special Tax Assessments Zones (WH–STA) as an incentive to create middle-income housinghousing-general
• POR 2022 #308Roundtable on Open Space Planning and Programming including the Public Space Lab
• POR 2022 #309That the memo from Charles Sullivan regarding Comments on Citizen’s Petition to Amend Ch. 2.78, Article III, Neighborhood Conservation Districts and Landmarks and the memo from Charles Sullivan regarding the Proposed Friendly Amendments to Ch. 2.78, Art. III be forwarded to the full City Council with the recommendation to refer said memos to the Ordinance Committee for further discussionarts📖 read 📄 PDF

Resolutions (9)

• RES 2022 #300Congratulations to Deputy Superintendent Rick Riley on his retirement from the Cambridge Police Departmentpolice-safety
• RES 2022 #301Happy 90th Birthday to Xonnabel Clark
• RES 2022 #302Resolution on the death of Henry Rosovsky
• RES 2022 #303Resolution on the death of Kathleen R. Norris-Kenney "Kathy Foote"
• RES 2022 #304Resolution on the death of Lucille N. Salvato
• RES 2022 #305Resolution on the death of Lorna Rose Rossi
• RES 2022 #306That the City Council formally go on record in extending its deepest condolences to the family of Ora Themea for their loss
• RES 2022 #307Congratulations to Josef Messer
• RES 2022 #308That the Cambridge City Council go on record extending its deep gratitude for the tireless work of Cambridge SE-PAC parents and volunteers

Applications & Petitions (4)

• APP 2022 #56An application was received from Heritage Flag American Repertory Theater requesting permission for a eight (8) temporary pole banners on Broadway and eighteen (18) along Massachusetts Avenue on Electrical poles announcing ARTS's upcoming production of Life of Pi, from December 1, 2022 through January 31, 2023arts📖 read
• APP 2022 #57An application was received from Sam Batchelor, requesting permission for a curb cut at the premises numbered 309 Pearl Street; said petition has received approval from Inspectional Services, Traffic, Parking and Transportation, Historical Commission and Public Works. Response has been received from the neighborhood associationtransit-traffic📖 read
• APP 2022 #58An application was received from Raymond Thill representing Blank Street Coffee, requesting permission for a projecting sign at the premises numbered 1380 Massachusetts Avenue approval has been received from Inspectional Services, Department of Public Works, Community Development Department and abutter proof of mailing has been provided📖 read
• APP 2022 #59An application was received from Jason Parillo representing The Engine, requesting permission for a projecting blade sign at the premises numbered 750 Massachusetts Avenue. approval has been received from Inspectional Services, Department of Public Works, Community Development Department and abutter proof of mailing has been provided📖 read

Other Business (8)

• AR-22-79Report on meeting with and receiving input from residents living on the streets in the impacted area to discuss strategies to mitigate and reduce overflow and cut through traffic, including the aforementioned proposals, or other traffic calming or traffic diversion methodstransit-traffic
• AR-22-80Report on providing a comprehensive list of current Cambridge policies that impact the cost of local commercial and residential development and those that are known to be in the pipeline, to note whether similar policies exist in the neighboring cities of Boston and Somerville
• AR-22-81Report on setting a goal for participation in Green Plus and how to improve marketing and communication efforts for the CCE program and consider door to door outreach, and mailings which have been effective for other efforts to be sent to all Cambridge CCE participants marketing the 100% renewable optionclimate
• AR-22-82Report on extending the Outdoor Dining Policy and continue to allow winter outdoor dining as has been the case in the last two years

• information from the School Committee
• a response of City of Cambridge to Open Meeting Law Complaint of John Hawkinson dated November 7, 2022 📄 PDF
• an update regarding legislative activity 📖 read 📄 PDF 📄 PDF 📄 PDF
• POR 2022 #294 : That the Rules of the City Council be amended by adding Rule 21B to read:

In the event of City Hall closure the City Clerk, after consultation with the City Manager, may change the deadlines accordingly for when matters must be presented to the City Clerk for inclusion on the agenda

Committee Reports (2)

• Health & Environment Committee hearing of 2022-10-12 — Accepted [Unanimous]
• Neighborhood & Long Term Planning Committee hearing of 2022-10-25 — Accepted [Unanimous]