TheCambridge Record
Agenda ItemsPolicy Orders

POR 2023-78

Asked the City Manager to work with CDD, Law Department, the Assessor’s Office, and any other relevant departments to produce final draft ordinance language for the BEUDO amendments based on the CDD proposal as amended by the Ordinance Committee at its April 26, 2023 hearing; and that the City Manager report back on this matter, including presenting final draft language to the City Council no later than May 31st, 2023

How it started
May 1, 2023 · Proposed by Councillors Zondervan and McGovern: a formal request from the Council to the administration.
What happened
May 1, 2023 · ✅ Order adopted. The Council's request went to the City Manager. (unanimous · one absent)

Voted yes (8), unanimous

  • Burhan Azeem
  • Dennis Carlone
  • Marc McGovern
  • Patty Nolan
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Paul F. Toner
  • Quinton Zondervan
  • Sumbul Siddiqui

Absent (1)

  • Alanna Mallon
Roll call of May 1, 2023 · from the council’s minutes · photos: City of Cambridge
What’s next
No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number (AR 2023 #29 open, 1,207 days). Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.
Order adopted, 8–0May 1, 2023
Referred for reportAR 2023-29May 8, 2023
Awaiting answer⏳ pending1,207 days and counting

The item's path through the council, every recorded step. How the request pipeline works

The document Agenda item attachment · 1 page

AMENDMENTS ADOPTED IN COMMITTEE ON APRIL 26, 2023

Amendment Category from CDD table

Proposed Amendments

1 Threshold Over 100sf (w/2 or less owners) 2 Exemptions

Charge the Review Board with approving

all decarbonization plans and carbon offsets

Codify that of the 9 review board members there shall be 2 climate activists and 5 technical experts who understand the urgency of climate change. 3a Offsets

Insert AVID+/PAVERE framework into

the ordinance so that only quality offsets may be used

Require that if available, local/regional offsets must be used before any other offsets 3b Offsets Develop a pool of local/regional credits (pre-approved by the Review Board with CDD assistance) that BEUDO owners can incorporate into their decarbonization plans. 4

Policy Review

Change completion date of initial review from 2032 to 2028

Additional details not included in the CDD framework, to be clarified with ordinance language:

Improved Campus Definition

Improved Emissions Factors Definition

Delete Net Zero Definition

Add additional “Purpose” language

Adjust Baseline Emissions Calculation

Adjust Compliance Schedule for commercial buildings

Alternative Compliance Pathways

Create External Compliance Credits

Embodied Emissions

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: May 1, 2023