That the City Manager is requested to work with DPW to restore Linear Park by re-using the existing award-winning design, to create, publish and implement a climate resilience-based maintenance plan and minimize the embodied carbon of the project by re-using, wherever possible, the existing lamps and lamp posts

O-9 FIRST IN COUNCIL October 16, 2023 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR NOLAN MAYOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR TONER COUNCILLOR ZONDERVAN WHEREAS: The City of Cambridge Community Development Department Transportation Division is redesigning Linear Park by widening and straightening the already “AASHTO” compliant shared path, which design would approximately double the paved area, would require excavating, moving, and replacing the elegant lighting fixtures (unnecessarily generating waste and pollution), and could endanger over eighty (80) mature trees; and WHEREAS: Linear Park has received four (4) Landscape Design awards and was designed (in part) by Deneen Crosby who has lived in North Cambridge for many years, received the 2018 “Women in Design Award of Excellence” from the Boston Society for Architecture, and, with her company, designed Magazine Beach Park; and WHEREAS: There is interest in the community in amending the plan by restoring it instead of a major redesign and path widening proposed by the city, as evidenced by a petition signed by over 230 Cambridge residents; and WHEREAS: On August 7, 2023, the council passed Policy Order 2023 #136 requesting that the City Manager “determine whether there are opportunities to minimize new or additional pavement and encourage using permeable surfaces in public and private construction throughout the city”; and WHEREAS: On September 13 2021, the council passed Policy Order 2021 #164 requesting that the City Manager “will go out of their way to prevent the removal of significant trees on City property”; and WHEREAS: The Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) 2020 – 2025 Action Plan states: 1. Our first priority must be to remove fewer trees unnecessarily; 2. To extend the lives of our trees through improved management practices; 3. Redesign streets and sidewalks to make room for more trees; 4. Add (not remove) trees to parks; 5. Add new parks; 6. City Council with the City Manager and various departments are all to participate in the UFMP implementation; and WHEREAS: With 2023 again setting global heat records, and an emphasis on equity and social justice in every city decision, the city should provide cooler and shadier routes for people who have no choice but to use the MBTA buses at Rindge Ave and at Massachusetts Ave or the Red Line at Alewife and Davis stations; and

WHEREAS: Sound climate policy mandates minimizing the embodied carbon of all projects, which means re-using existing materials as much as possible, and minimizing destruction of trees, which sequester carbon in their bodies and through the soil; and WHEREAS: Climate Change makes it increasingly difficult to preserve existing mature trees or to successfully grow additional trees as evidenced by recent droughts and anticipated future extreme weather events; and WHEREAS: Safety on the multi-use path, is critical, and would not be compromised by a slight widening instead of major redesign, since the path has been successfully shared for over 35 years between pedestrians, bicycles, and all users, and safety, is enhanced by the traffic calming supplied by the current curves and its width that matches the Somerville and Belmont paths; and WHEREAS: The plans for linear park call for a 14 foot wide path (plus 2 feet on either side of stone dust), a dramatic increase from the current 10.5 foot width, and which is the widest width within state guidelines for shared use paths of 10-14 feet and a width of 10-12 feet in an urban area where open space is scarce, seems adequate; and WHEREAS: The path needs to be repaired and maintained, but dramatically increasing the paved area, combined with planned tree removal and tree damage, will lead to additional heat island effect impacts; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with DPW to restore Linear Park by re-using the existing award-winning design, including retaining the existing pavement footprint, or consider making the entire path non-pavement as some other multi-use paths are, and using wood chips/mulch instead of stone dust to provide extra space for pedestrians, with the top priority being to extend the life of all existing trees using all best practices; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with DPW to create, publish and implement a climate resilience-based maintenance plan for Linear Park that would protect and enhance the tree canopy by, at the minimum, restoring the irrigation system, de-compacting the soils, amending the soils, and blocking short-cuts within the Critical Root Zone of the trees; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with DPW to minimize the embodied carbon of the project by re-using, wherever possible, the existing lamps and lamp posts, and keeping them in their existing locations, and by taking all other possible actions to minimize waste and reduce embodied carbon.