A petition was received from Loren Crowe, requesting that the City Council ordain ordinance language relative to the creation and operation of Neighborhood Conservation Districts in the city

We invite you to join us in asking the City to improve the way that we create and operate Neighborhood Conservation Districts in Cambridge. Intended to serve the worthy goals of helping communities to preserve historic structures and maintain neighborhoods as they are, Neighborhood Conservation Districts have too often been exploited unfairly as a means by which tiny, unrepresentative groups of residents can exploit our city ordinances to control their neighbors’ choices and housing options.

Recently in Cambridge, we have seen small groups of homeowners initiate the process of establishing new Neighborhood Conservation Districts in order to raise their property values, settle interpersonal disputes, and restrict development potential below even that allowed by zoning. None of those purposes matches Cambridge’s values, and yet that behavior is currently enabled by our City ordinances.

The current ordinance language was drafted 40 years ago and needs to be updated to reflect modern community values related to diversity, access, equity, representation, and inclusion. The ordinance governing the creation and operation of Neighborhood Conservation Districts currently allows just ten unrepresentative residents to launch a lengthy study of a Conservation District in an area that might be home to thousands of residents and burden their homes with binding rules.

A study can be initiated by the appointed members Cambridge Historical Commission without any input or say so from our democratically elected City Council. A study places binding rules on a neighborhood from the Historical Commission that no one in the neighborhood outside of the Historical Commission’s Study Commission has approved of or consented to, and, according to an opinion issued by City Solicitor Nancy Glowa, those rules can remain in place for as many years as the Historical Commission wants to study them.

The membership appointed to the Neighborhood Conservation District Commissions in no way reflects the diversity of their neighborhoods with age, race, ethnicity, renter status, or a host of other factors, tending to confer additional power and privilege to the already powerful and privileged.

This petition proposes changes to the ordinance governing the creation and operation of Neighborhood Conservation Districts with a view to increasing the democratic legitimacy of our Conservation Districts by empowering the members of the neighborhoods they govern and by introducing essential democratic checks and balances to the process. The main goals of this petition are:

Increasing the democratic threshold required to begin a Conservation District Study Ensuring that the goals of Neighborhood Conservation District are balanced with other City goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all City neighborhoods and the need to address the housing supply and cost crisis Ensuring that the democratically elected City Council has a voice in starting a new study Ensuring that the Neighborhood Conservation District Commissions and the rules governing Neighborhood Conservation Districts are reflective of the diversity of our neighborhoods Ensuring that no binding rules are imposed on neighborhoods without the consent of the governed

We find no fault with the intent behind the original ordinance language, and we believe that it likely represented the best thinking of the times to solve a social problem of importance to the community. However, the world has learned a lot in the past forty years. Everyone in this city has learned a lot. And we believe that the ordinance changes proposed below will help to better accomplish the ordinance’s original goals by modernizing our Neighborhood Conservation Districts in accordance with our modern values and increased understanding of the moral requirement for diversity, access, affordability, equity, representation, and inclusion throughout community life.

We respectfully request ordination of the below changes to the language of Chapter 2.78 Article III. Underlined sections represent the petitioners’ proposed new wording and struck through sections represent proposed deletions.

The primary point of contact for this petition is Loren Crowe of 8 Museum Way, Apartment #508 Cambridge, MA 02141. He can be reached at [phone removed] or [email removed].

Chapter 2.78 - HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND LANDMARKS

Article III. Establishment of Neighborhood Conservation Districts and Protected Landmarks

2.78.140 Purpose.

The City Council finds it necessary to enact this article under Section 6 of the Home Rule Amendment in order to preserve, conserve and protect the beauty and heritage of the City and to improve the quality of its built environment through identification, conservation and maintenance of neighborhoods, areas, sites and structures which constitute or reflect distinctive features of the architectural, cultural, political, economic or social history of the City; to resist and restrain environmental influences adverse to this purpose in balance with allowing housing growth in all City neighborhoods to welcome a diverse set of residents; to foster appropriate use and wider public knowledge and appreciation of such neighborhoods, areas or structures; and by furthering these purposes to promote the public welfare by making the City a more attractive and desirable, desirable, affordable, diverse, equitable, accessible and inclusive place in which to live and work.

To achieve these purposes, the City may designate neighborhood conservation districts and landmarks to be administered as set forth in this article. (Ord. 1002 (part), 1983: prior code § 2-147(k)(1))

2.78.150 Definitions for Article III.

In addition to the terms defined in Section 2.78.080 of this Chapter, the following terms, when used whether or not capitalized in this subsection, shall have the meanings set forth in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: "Demolition" means the act of pulling down, destroying, removing or razing structures, or commencing the work of total or substantial destruction with the intent of completing the same. "Exterior architectural features" means and includes such portion of the exterior of a structure as is open to view from a public street, way, park or body of water, including but not limited to the architectural style and general arrangement and setting thereof, the kind, material and texture of exterior building materials, and the type and style of windows, doors, lights, signs and other appurtenant exterior fixtures. "Historic district" means an area so established under the authority of Chapter 40C of the General Laws. "Landmark" means any property within the City so designated in accordance with Section 2.78.180 of this article.