Cambridge Ordinance Committee Advances North Mass Ave Zoning, Splits Cambridge Street Petition

CAMBRIDGE — July 7, 2026 — Cambridge Ordinance Committee advances North Mass Ave zoning changes and splits Cambridge Street petition ahead of September 14 expiration. The committee voted 7-1 Monday to send the North Massachusetts Avenue active-use zoning petition to the full City Council under the planning board's Alternative 1, which preserves an eight-story threshold for required ground-floor active uses in the Porter Square to Linear Park stretch — rejecting a more permissive 25,000-square-foot exemption alternative that failed 3-5. Assistant City Manager Melissa Peters told the committee that "no consensus would result in a worse outcome based on what we heard the goals of the council were," urging members to choose between the two close alternatives rather than let the petition expire. On Cambridge Street, the committee unanimously forwarded active-use requirements for the Leechmere and Webster-Windsor subareas under the proposed petition's three-story trigger, but a motion to advance the main Cambridge Street corridor under the planning board's four-story recommendation deadlocked 4-4, effectively leaving the bulk of the Cambridge Street petition to expire at the September 14 deadline.