Cambridge Planning Board Declines to Endorse Active-Use Zoning for Mass Ave, Cambridge Street

CAMBRIDGE — June 2, 2026 — Cambridge Planning Board votes 6-0 to withhold endorsement of active-use zoning petitions for Mass Ave and Cambridge Street. The board, meeting June 2, declined to recommend adoption of either a petition that would require ground-floor retail in new buildings above four stories on North Massachusetts Avenue or a companion petition requiring active uses above three stories along Cambridge Street, instead transmitting comments to the City Council ahead of an Ordinance Committee hearing scheduled for June 16. Member Theodore Cohen argued that retail vacancy across the city made the mandate counterproductive: "Retail is in the toilet — mandating that there have to be active uses taking up a large portion of the first floor that could be housing just seems to me wrong." The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, represented by Executive Director Tom Evans and project team members Tess Hoffman and Kevin McGuire, warned that the Mass Ave petition would likely kill its planned six-story, 16-unit mixed-income condominium at 2326 Mass Ave, where ground-floor retail would be worth roughly half the value of a residential unit. On Cambridge Street, the board signaled support for the petition's formula-business special permit and O'Brien Highway rezoning provisions but unanimously preferred a four-story residential-only threshold over the council's proposed three stories. In a separate 7-0 vote, the board extended the decision deadline for the Healthpeak PUD special permit at Alewife to October 30, 2026.