City Council Item · Attachment A CZ Opening Remarks

Attachment A Cathie Zusy Remarks before 6.2.26 NLTP Meeting about Cambridge St. Zoning Thank you all for being here today. As you all know, the City Council voted in new Cambridge St. zoning 1.26.26 and a Cambridge St. Active Use Zoning Petition 4.27.26. This built on CDD’s Our Cambridge Street Study of 2021 and 2022. So you might ask, why are we meeting about Cambridge St. again? Why is because many East Cambridge neighbors still felt that we needed to consider come additional zoning tweaks, especially relating to • setbacks impacting sidewalks and trees • stepbacks at the 4th floor for buildings on the south side of the street • wet labs, now as of right • incentivizing the creation of pocket parks, especially beside CHA’s Miller River • rear setbacks at 10’ so no dead zone • design review for buildings over 4 stories • that CDD produce and annual report on the impacts of the new zoning detailing how may housing units (affordable IZ and market rate) have been built, how many residents and local businesses have been displaced; and the impact on ground floor retail. Today CDD is back to share their thoughts about all of these things and for the Committee to discuss them. Again, I appreciate your all convening about this once again, to make Cambridge St., one of the sweetest and most vital retail streets in the City, even better.