Cambridge Zoning Board Approves Six-Story Cambridge Street Housing Variance 5-0

CAMBRIDGE — April 30, 2026 — Cambridge zoning board clears six-story housing project over procedural objections at April 30 meeting. The Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal voted 5-0 on all three cases at its remote April 30 session, with the most contentious item a variance for 723-731 Cambridge Street, where owner Manny Barros seeks to add three stories to an existing three-story mixed-use building, producing 30 total rental units — six of them affordable — near the East Cambridge railroad crossing. Attorney James Rafferty argued structural hardship prevents a four-foot upper-floor stepback required by recently enacted Cambridge Street overlay zoning, and that the building's Marion Street facade falls roughly 106 square feet short of the 20 percent glazing threshold due to fire-code egress stairwell constraints. Member Wendy Leiserson warned that the city's Chapter 17 overlay explicitly routes such relief to the Planning Board, not the BZA, reading the applicability section aloud: buildings modified in ways that further violate the standards "shall not be" approved except "by special permit from the planning board." Rafferty disclosed he had informally contacted the Community Development Department and was told the Planning Board did not wish to comment. A letter from City Councilor Denise Simmons calling the project "a thoughtful and constructive effort to contribute to Cambridge's ongoing housing needs" was read into the record in full; the board also approved a 5-0 special permit for a rear addition at 41 Sherman Street and a 5-0 special permit for a BB&N robotics lab addition to a historic 1930s woodshop on the Jerry's Landing campus.