Cambridge Zoning Board Approves Three Residential Special Permits in December

CAMBRIDGE -- December 12, 2024, Cambridge zoning board approves three residential permits, leaves contested Clinton Street height case unresolved. The Board of Zoning Appeals voted 5-0 on each of three uncontested residential special permits at its December 12 meeting, covering a rear addition and dormer at 43 Cameron Avenue, window and door modifications at 203-5 Pemberton Street, and a widened basement window at 23 Ellsworth Avenue Unit 1. Chair Jim Monteverde also announced that Chapter 238 of the Acts of 2024 rendered a vote unnecessary on a pending variance extension at 41 Hampshire Street, as the Permit Extension Act automatically extends such permits to two years. The board spent the bulk of the meeting on 18 Clinton Street, where attorney Sarah Radigan of Trilogy Law LLC described how an unexpected groundwater discovery had prompted the contractor to raise the rear addition's foundation above the water table under a mistaken belief that city flood resilience rules permitted the change as of right; the revision produced a one-foot overall height increase but added four feet of wall surface on a side elevation facing neighbors at 20 Clinton Street, who filed objections. The transcript ended before the board voted on that case.