Cambridge Planning Board Suspends In-Person Meeting Rule Through February

CAMBRIDGE -- January 18, 2022, Cambridge Planning Board unanimously suspended its in-person community meeting requirement and debated eliminating single and two-family-only zoning citywide. The board voted 9-0 at its January 18 remote meeting to waive Section 5.1 of its rules through February 27, 2022, following a city advisory directing all public meetings be held remotely amid the Omicron surge. Assistant City Manager for Community Development Iram Farooq and Community Planning Director Melissa Peters then presented an Envision Cambridge framework supporting the study of multifamily zoning citywide, citing a city target of nearly 13,000 new housing units by 2030. Board members broadly agreed that single and two-family-only zoning should be eliminated on equity grounds, but split on whether new market-rate construction would ease housing costs, member Hugh Russell argued that new Cambridge housing "goes either for subsidy or for high income market rates," while Chair Catherine Preston Connolly said inclusion alone justifies eliminating the restriction. The board expects at least two more sessions before presenting specific zoning concepts to the city council.