The Manager's report back on recommendations for the refinement and improvement of the housing permitting process

1. Housing is a Key City Priority 2. Goals of Permitting and Review Process 3. What has been done to streamline permitting 4. Additional Improvements 5. Fees 6. Details on Process – Building Permit 7. Details on Process – Special Permits 8. Conclusions / Next Steps

1. Housing is a Key City Priority Increasing housing supply and housing affordability are key goals of the Cambridge community and the City Council, and crucial to fostering a vibrant and inclusive community. Ensuring access to a range of housing options helps to support diverse populations, from students and young professionals to long-time residents and low-income families. By addressing our community’s housing needs, we aim to promote social equity, economic stability, and enhance the overall quality of life for all residents.

In recent years, the City Council and City staff have worked on policies to support and facilitate the development of affordable housing citywide. We are now working with the Housing Committee to propose updates to the Zoning Ordinance to eliminate exclusionary zoning and facilitate the development of a range of housing types throughout the city, with the goal of ensuring that Cambridge remains a dynamic and equitable city where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

It is important to recognize, that the development of housing is impacted both by zoning and the permitting process. In this memo, we provide information on the housing permitting process in Cambridge, as well as recent and ongoing efforts to streamline the process.

2. Goals of Permitting and Review Process All development, redevelopment, and building renovations require permits from the City to ensure they meet City, State and Federal requirements. In the last number of years, the City has incorporated many new requirements, ordinances and regulations in both the municipal code and the zoning ordinance around tree protection, green buildings, green roofs, fossil fuel free construction and resiliency zoning. These ordinance changes add additional complications, cost and time to the permitting process, but also ensure that projects meet city goals and prepare us for the future.

The complexity of the permitting and review process increases as projects get larger, but in general, the process aims to ensure that projects:

A. meet state requirements, such as a. State Building, Plumbing and Gas, Electrical, and Mechanical Codes b. State Sanitary Code c. Massachusetts Architectural Access Board Regulations d. State Stretch Energy Code e. Massachusetts Fire Safety Code and National Fire Prevention Association Standards

B. meet City Zoning Ordinances

C. have adequate and reliable utility service

D. mitigate additional sewage flows into the system, which could otherwise cause backups for other properties or increase combined sewer overflows the Charles River and Alewife Brook

E. properly manage stormwater

F. minimize and mitigate any additional traffic associated with the development

G. demolishing an existing building, or part of an existing building, that is in excess of 50 years old have the proper approvals

H. located within an Historic District or Conservation District have proper approvals

I. meet city urban design standards and are consistent with neighborhood and city planning documents

J. meet city sustainability requirements including a. Green Building Requirements b. Green Roofs Requirements c. Flood Resilience Standards d. Green Factor Standards e. Tree Protection Ordinance f. Fossil Fuel Free Construction

Many of these standards apply to larger-scale developments or new construction and tend not to apply to smaller-scale projects or rehabilitation projects. Part of the permitting process is to confirm if the project is subject to these requirements, and if so, does the project meet the requirements. Ensuring that projects meet all of the applicable requirements and can be approved for permits is complicated and involves staff from multiple departments.

Smaller projects that meet zoning requirements get reviewed through a Building Permit. While Larger projects and certain types of buildings and uses must receive approval from the Planning Board or the Board of Zoning Appeals before applying for a Building Permit. See Sections 6 and 7 for more details on these processes.

3. What has been done to streamline permitting? Understanding the importance of the permitting process, as well as the challenges and complexity of navigating the permitting system, staff have been working and continue to work on improvements to streamline the process, while ensuring projects meet the various federal, state and local requirements identified in Section 2.

A. Zoning Changes a. Recognizing that housing is a critical need in Cambridge, our zoning in many districts allows residential buildings to be taller and larger than non-residential buildings.

b. The Affordable Housing Overlay was adopted in 2020 to reduce special permits or variances for affordable housing development. Projects go through an advisory review process that does not carry the risk of denial or appeal. This approach makes the process and outcome more predictable. Since 2021, seven projects containing a total of 700+ units have gone through the AHO review process.

c. Current discussions with the City Council’s Housing Committee on proposals to promote multifamily housing include simplifying dimensional requirements, which would make it less likely that developments would need to seek zoning relief.

d. Another topic being discussed at the Housing Committee is changing the thresholds for special permits, so that only projects that are especially large would need to obtain a special permit and smaller-scale developments could proceed as-of-right, possibly with advisory review.

B. One-Stop Permitting through Viewpoint In 2018, the City implemented permitting in Viewpoint. This permitting system allows applicants to submit Building Permits on-line and all the departments reviewing permits to review permits and communicate with applicants in a collaborative and coordinated fashion.

In 2022, the City modified the Viewpoint system to allow concurrent reviews to occur, which has significantly reduced the review timeline for applicants. Previously one department reviewed the plans and the next department couldn’t begin their review until the first department was completed. This caused significant delays in the process. Now multiple departments are reviewing the plans at the same time, which is improving the process and reducing delays.

For example, Additional/Alteration Permits have been reduced from 22 days in 2018 to 10 days in 2023. Some examples of these permits would include a Lab Renovation, a Restaurant Renovation, a dormer on a single-family home, or a new kitchen or bathroom.