CMA 2026-224 · Agenda item attachment · Aug 3 2026

344 Broadway, Cambridge [phone removed] cddat344@cambridgema.gov Melissa Peters | Assistant City Manager for Community Development Sandra Clarke | Chief of Administration & Operations Jennifer Caira | Deputy Chief of Planning To: From: Date: Re: Yi-An Huang, City Manager Melissa Peters, Assistant City Manager for Community Development August 3, 2026 Streamlining the Residential Permitting Process (POR 2025 #163 / AR-26-05) Supporting new development—particularly housing—is a critical priority for the City, with direct implications for affordability, economic vitality, and the City’s long-term fiscal health. In recognition of these concerns, the City Council adopted Policy Order POR 2025 #163 requesting that the City Manager work with the Community Development Department and the Inspectional Services Department to pursue opportunities to streamline the permitting process. Per our response in March, we are now following up with the results of our interviews and analysis. In an economic environment where projects struggle to pencil and margins are especially thin; it is increasingly important to evaluate regulations and processes to reduce bottlenecks and regulations that add more cost than value. In the last several years the City Council has both removed significant hurdles to building housing with zoning changes such as the multifamily zoning and added additional layers of regulations related to tree protection, fossil fuel free construction, green buildings and green roofs, and resiliency. Remaining opportunities to reduce regulations lie mainly around identifying those that are duplicative, in conflict, or unclear. The permitting process is also naturally going to be more complicated in an urban environment like Cambridge, than it is in a less developed environment, like many Sunbelt cities. However, a review of recent permitting data shows that incomplete or incorrect permit submissions can delay the permit ten times as long as the average. The goal of this effort is to balance important code requirements related to health and safety and the city’s commitments to climate resilience, historic preservation, and quality design, while making the process easier and clearer for both staff and applicants. CDD staff met with both internal and external stakeholders (staff, developers, architects) that are involved in the permitting process to identify challenges in the process. External stakeholders had high praise for city staff, stating they were professional, knowledgeable and genuinely want to move the process forward. The pain points identified by both staff and developers/architects generally fell into three categories:

City of Cambridge Community Development Department Streamlining the Residential Permitting Process (POR 2025 #163 / AR-25-68) August 3, 2026 Page 2 of 2 • Policy – regulations that lack clarity, conflict with other requirements, and/or would benefit from more flexibility • Process – processes that are unclear or add significant time • Communication – lack of a clear roadmap for applicants Key takeaways included: • The process has improved significantly in the past few years, due both to regulatory changes and process changes. The OpenGov permitting portal is an improvement over the prior system. • As a result of eliminating most discretionary processes for new multifamily development, an applicant’s first interaction with staff may now be at the building permit application, often leading to confusion around the process and requirements. • Staff repeatedly request the same documents, and significant time is lost due to incomplete building permit applications. • Some regulations are adding both building and time costs without a clear benefit, such as the redundancy of green building zoning requirements for projects already required to be fossil fuel free and required by the building code to meet Passive House. • Some regulations would benefit from flexibility, such as building and site plan requirements in section 19.50 of the zoning ordinance and bicycle parking design standards. • Some regulations lack clarity or conflict with other priorities. For example, green roof zoning requires that all roof areas not used for mechanical space be a green roof when green factor requirements already incentivize green roofs and sometimes roof space could be better utilized for solar panels or as a cool roof. • Coordination across City staff has improved. There’s a strong desire for more coordination between applicants and staff prior to filing a building permit application. The attached presentation outlines the proposed recommendations focused on construction of multifamily housing and categorizes them by what can be accomplished in the short, medium, and long term. Staff are already working on short-term items and those that require additional study. In addition to the policy and process updates proposed, a top priority is to provide clear materials and additional education up front to reduce submission errors. The proposed recommendations build upon prior efforts to improve the process and increase housing production and represent a step forward in streamlining the permitting process.