Asked the City Manager to work with relevant staff to present a zoning petition to the City Council for consideration on maximum unit size

How it started

Mar 3, 2025 · Proposed by Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Azeem, and Councillor McGovern: a formal request from the Council to the administration.

What happened

Mar 3, 2025 · Held by charter right one member's right to pause; the item returns at the next meeting

Mar 17, 2025 · Amendment carried Moved by Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler; carried.

POR 2025 #25 by adding a third “Whereas” to read: “In particular for single family homes, a maximum gross floor area would not be legally permissible under state law, but other approaches such as a maximum FAR or maximum lot area per dwelling unit would be possible; now therefore be it” and to amend the first “Ordered” to read: “ That the City Manager be and is hereby requested to work with relevant staff to present policy options to the City Council for consideration to ensure that the City’s zoning ordinances incentivizes the creation of housing, such as a maximum FAR, maximum lot area per dwelling unit, or maximum unit size; and be it further”

The clerk's words, from the minutes of Mar 17, 2025, p. 19.

Aug 14, 2025 · Heard in committee: Neighborhood & Long Term Planning Committee testimony and discussion; any committee vote is in the committee's minutes

Mar 17, 2025 · ✅ Order adopted as amended. The Council's request went to the City Manager.

View the roll call

Present and voting at this meeting (9)

Burhan Azeem
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
Sumbul Siddiqui
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Paul F. Toner
Ayesha M. Wilson
Cathie Zusy
E. Denise Simmons

Adopted by voice vote. A voice vote records the outcome, not individual positions. No member's yes or no is on the record (though a member can ask to be recorded in the negative in the minutes). Showing the members who cast recorded votes at this meeting. Rule 6 requires a roll call for spending over $50 or on any member's request; state law requires one for every vote when a member participates remotely. · photos: City of Cambridge

What’s next

⌛ No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.

The document Agenda item attachment · 2 pages

🏛 This item on the city's site 📄 Download original PDF

O-9

Calendar Item # 2

WHEREAS: During discussion on the multifamily housing zoning petition, the City Council requested that an average maximum unit size of 2,000 square feet per lot area for new construction be put forward for consideration as an amendment to the petition; and

WHEREAS: Upon review by city staff, it was determined that this amendment could not have been added to the multifamily housing zoning petition without refiling it but that setting an average maximum unit size in new construction could be done as a separate petition; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with relevant staff to present a zoning petition to the City Council for consideration on maximum unit size; and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council in a timely manner.

History: 03/03/25

City Council

CHARTER RIGHT

Next: 03/17/25

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Mar 3, 2025

Public Comment (3)

3 written comments received (2025-03-17). Letter-writers are named in the city's own agenda and are not republished here, by policy.