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CMA 2026-113

A Cambridge Street Active Use zoning petition

How it started
Apr 23, 2026 · Submitted by Yi-An Huang, City Manager.
What happened
Apr 27, 2026 · ✅ Adopted: the Council approved it (Adopted as a city council zoning petition and referred to the ordinance committee and planning board for hearing and report, unanimous)

Voted yes (9), unanimous

  • Ayah Al-Zubi
  • Burhan Azeem
  • Tim Flaherty
  • Marc McGovern
  • Patty Nolan
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
  • Cathie Zusy
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
Roll call of Apr 27, 2026 · from the city’s record · photos: City of Cambridge
The document Agenda item attachment · 3 pages

Page 1 Petition: To amend the Zoning Map and Article 17.000 of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance as follows with the intent of strengthening active use requirements on Cambridge Street.

Amendments to the Zoning Map. See attached Zoning Map and descriptive text.

Amendments to Article 17.000. Amend Section 17.704.2.1 to read as follows: 17.704.2.1 Additional Height for Ground Story Active Uses.

The following limitations shall apply in addition to the Table of Height Limitations below: As set forth in the Table of Height Limitations, greater height shall be permitted for portions of buildings containing Residential Uses if the Ground Story is occupied by one or more Active Uses, as defined in Section 17.703.3, comprising at least 60% of the interior portion of the Ground Story that is within 50 feet of a Primary Street.

(a) On lots abutting one or more Primary Streets, residential uses shall be limited to 3 stories above grade and 35 feet above grade if the Ground Story is not occupied by one or more Active Uses, as defined in Section 17.703.3, comprising at least 60% of the interior portion of the Ground Story that is within 50 feet of a Primary Street.

(b) Upon granting a special permit, the Planning Board may approve modifications to the Active Use floor area and location standards in paragraph (a) above to permit residential heights up to those set forth in the Table of Height Limitations if the Board finds that all of the following criteria are met in addition to those in Section 17.707.2 and may impose conditions to ensure ongoing conformance: (i) Active Uses shall be provided in a manner that generally meets the intent of the requirement to provide for reasonably continuous active ground floor frontage along the Primary Street, and (ii) the total floor area of required Active Uses is not substantially reduced, and (iii) the modifications directly respond to unique site-specific conditions that make the application of paragraph (a) infeasible.

(c) Lots that do not directly abut a Primary Street shall not be subject to the additional limitations of paragraph (a) above; however, (i) within 50 feet of the street line of a Primary Street, the permitted residential heights shall not exceed the applicable limitations set forth in paragraph (a) above, and (ii) the limitations set forth in paragraph (a) above shall apply to the entire area of any lot that abuts a Primary Street on April 27, 2026, including any lots or portions of lots that are later subdivided so that they no longer abut a Primary Street.

(d) The additional limitations of this Section shall not apply to an AHO Project.

Page 2 Amend Section 17.704.3 to read as follows: 17.704.3 Table of Height Limitations.

CAM-6 CAM-10 CAM-12

Non-Residential Uses

📊 From here the report is project tables and figures, which don’t survive text extraction faithfully. Read them in the original PDF.
🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Apr 27, 2026
20260427 zngamend cambridge st active use boundary descriptions FINAL1 page📖 readable here📄 original (city portal)
20260422 zngamend active uses council memo FINAL6 pages📖 readable here📄 original (city portal)
CambridgeStActiveUse Proposed 8x111 page📖 readable here📄 original (city portal)