Cambridge Zoning Board Approves Four Cases, Continues Signage Dispute at February Meeting

CAMBRIDGE -- February 8, 2024, Cambridge's Board of Zoning Appeals approved four cases and continued a fifth at its February 8 meeting, granting variances and special permits that included a new basement apartment at 83 Winter Street, a residential addition at 141 Otis Street, a dog daycare at 2154 Massachusetts Avenue, and a 6,500-square-foot restaurant variance for the Alewife Park development. The 83 Winter Street vote was 4-1, with member Wendy Leiserson dissenting over the board's use of citywide housing need as the legal basis for variance hardship, saying she had "trouble from a legal standpoint finding the hardship that's required within the zoning ordinance." The Otis Street variance passed unanimously after the applicant agreed to reduce a proposed front dormer from 15 to 13 feet. The dog daycare permit at the former Rockler Woodworking space was conditioned on building owner Charles Laverty's commitment to seal all rear windows acoustically and install a floor-to-ceiling interior noise barrier. The Alewife Park restaurant variance, backed by a Cambridge Planning Board letter calling it "consistent with planning objectives", will allow a restaurant more than five times the 1,200-square-foot single-establishment limit set in the district's SD-3 zoning, which was originally designed to block big-box retail.