Cambridge Planning Board Backs Ending Single-Family Zoning but Faults Six-Story Proposal

CAMBRIDGE -- December 17, 2024, Cambridge Planning Board sends mixed housing guidance, backs eliminating single-family zones. The board voted 6-0 at its December 17 meeting to transmit planning comments to the City Council on two sweeping multifamily housing zoning petitions, strongly endorsing the elimination of exclusive single- and two-family districts while stopping short of formally recommending the petitions as filed. Most members said they preferred a four-story base with a two-story bonus for inclusionary projects over the proposal's six-stories-as-of-right standard, citing conflicts with the city's Urban Forest Master Plan and the risk of abrupt massing in established neighborhoods. Staff projections presented by Chief of Planning Strategy Melissa Peters showed the six-story scenario would yield roughly 1,630 new residential-district units by 2030, compared to about 1,500 under the four-plus-two scenario and as few as 900 under a flat four-story limit; rezoning squares and corridors, not part of the filed petitions, could add another 4,900 units by 2030. The board also called for retaining meaningful setback requirements, questioned raising the special permit threshold from 50,000 to 75,000 square feet, and asked the council to commission a tree canopy impact analysis. The City Council's Ordinance Committee was scheduled to begin deliberations December 19, with a council vote required by mid-February 2025.