POR 2024-35
Asked the City Manager to work with the Law Department and Community Development Department to study whether the City Council could add maximum lot area per dwelling unit, maximum setback requirements, and minimum floor area ratios in some districts or as part of an overlay in the Zoning Ordinance and whether the City Council could require a special permit for a down conversion in developments that would result in a net loss of housing units
POR 2024 #35 by adding a third “Ordered” to read: “That the report/results from the Law Department be forwarded to the Housing Committee.”The clerk's words, from the minutes of Mar 25, 2024, p. 8.
View the roll call on the amendment
Voted yes (9)
Burhan Azeem
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
Joan Pickett
Sumbul Siddiqui
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Paul F. Toner
Ayesha M. Wilson
E. Denise Simmons
View the roll call
Voted yes (7)
- Burhan Azeem
- Marc McGovern
- Patty Nolan
- Sumbul Siddiqui
- Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
- Ayesha M. Wilson
- E. Denise Simmons
Voted no (2)
- Joan Pickett
- Paul F. Toner
O-5
Calendar Item # 1
Cambridge’s current Zoning Ordinance and the state building code in some cases incentivizes the tear down of existing multi-family homes such as triple-deckers and other types of more affordable housing and the replacement of them with multi-million dollar single unit dwellings; and
These down conversions result in a loss of much needed housing and a replacement of homes that are affordable for more Cantabrigians with housing that is out of reach for most residents; and
Cambridge’s Zoning Ordinance currently has minimum setback and lot area per dwelling unit and maximum floor area ratio requirements but not maximum setback and lot area per dwelling unit or minimum floor area ratio requirements; and
Cambridge’s Zoning Ordinance should incentivize housing affordability rather than the replacement of existing multi-family homes with new, expensive single unit dwellings or the creation of large, single unit dwellings on parcels where more affordable multifamily housing could be built; and
Adding maximum lot area per dwelling units and setback requirements and minimum floor area ratios in some districts would help disincentivize down conversions and the loss of affordable multifamily housing; now therefore be it
ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Law Department and Community Development Department to study whether the City Council could add maximum lot area per dwelling unit, maximum setback requirements, and minimum floor area ratios in some districts or as part of an overlay in the Zoning Ordinance; and be it further
ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Law Department and Community Development Department to study whether the City Council could require a special permit for a down conversion in developments that would result in a net loss of housing units.
History: 03/18/24
City Council
CHARTER RIGHT
Next: 03/25/24
Public Comment (1)
1 written comment received (2024-03-25). Letter-writers are named in the city's own agenda and are not republished here, by policy.