Asked the City Manager to direct the Community Development Department to commence the public process with the Port neighborhood and surrounding communities to determine the future use of the 35 Cherry Street parcel for affordable housing, and in conjunction with the community, determine the type of housing that would meet the most pressing needs in the area

O-2 CAL-1

Increasing the availability of affordable housing is a major community need and remains a primary goal of the City Council; and

The City’s comprehensive plan, Envision Cambridge, reiterates increasing affordable housing as a community goal and includes an action item to prioritize using City and other public property available for disposition to develop affordable housing; and

As part of a 2013 agreement related to the PUD-5 rezoning, MIT conveyed the parcel at 35 Cherry Street (Assessor’s Lot #75-118) to the City; and

This agreement stipulated that use of the property shall be determined through a public process conducted by the Community Development Department; and

There is a variety of different types of housing that would be beneficial to the neighborhood and the city as a whole, ranging from workforce housing, to LGBTQ+ friendly housing, to transitional housing, to family sized housing and homeownership units; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to direct the Community Development Department to commence the public process with the Port neighborhood and surrounding communities to determine the future use of the 35 Cherry Street parcel for affordable housing, and in conjunction with the community, determine the type of housing that would meet the most pressing needs in the area; and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Council formally go on record in urging that this community process be truly inclusive, and that every effort is made to engage with diverse voices throughout the community in these discussions.

In City Council November 9, 2020. Order Adopted by a yea and nay vote:- Yeas 9; Nays 0; Absent 0. Attest:- Anthony I. Wilson, City Clerk

A true copy;

ATTEST:- Anthony I. Wilson, City Clerk

History: 11/02/20

City Council

CHARTER RIGHT

Next: 11/09/20 11/9/20

City Council

ADOPTED