Cambridge Planning Board Unanimously Backs Flexible Parking Corridor Zoning Petition

CAMBRIDGE — November 26, 2024 — Cambridge Planning Board backs flexible parking rules to offset projected loss of up to 900 on-street spaces. The board voted 6-0 Tuesday to recommend that the City Council adopt a zoning petition creating a "flexible parking corridor" designation, allowing property owners whose lots front designated bike lane and bus priority streets to share existing off-street parking more freely, without navigating district-by-district zoning restrictions or Board of Zoning Appeal special permits. Transportation Commissioner Brooke McKenna said the cycling safety ordinance, fully built out, is projected to eliminate between 800 and 900 metered on-street spaces, and that about 55 percent of the city's off-street parking sits along the proposed corridors. Ryan McKinnon, associate parking, transportation, and demand management officer, said roughly 2,000 registered spaces in small facilities along those corridors would become usable without a transportation demand management plan under companion PTDM ordinance changes. One public commenter, Heather Hoffman of 213 Hurley Street, called public outreach "beyond inadequate" and warned that facility operators could evict current users and mark up prices for the general public. The board also voted 7-0 to approve a special permit amendment allowing a two-story addition and shed dormer at 3 Michael Way in Linden Park, and 6-0 to file an innovation space confirmation for the Volpe site redevelopment, clearing a pre-construction condition in MIT's 2021 planned unit development approval.