Community Development Department staff have had a series of ongoing discussions to gather feedback, including outreach to business associations, an online survey to businesses, and meetings with the City Council’s Economic Development and University Relations Committee. Staff have also researched past Board of Zoning Appeal (BZA) cases to identify typical zoning issues for small businesses.
April 14, 2021
The Ordinance Committee will conduct a public hearing on the Retail Uses Zoning Ordinance petition and the Home Occupations Zoning Ordinance petition
Click here to review zoning petition materials.
Click here for more information.
March 9, 2021
The Planning Board will conduct a public hearing on the Retail Uses Zoning Ordinance petition and the Home Occupations Zoning Ordinance petition.
Click here to review zoning petition materials.
Click here for more information.
December 17, 2020
The Ordinance Committee will conduct a public hearing on the Retail Uses Zoning Ordinance petition and the Home Occupations Zoning Ordinance petition. Please note that this session was cancelled due to weather.
Click here to review zoning petition materials.
Click here for meeting information.
December 1, 2020
The Planning Board will conduct a public hearing on the Retail Uses Zoning Ordinance petition and the Home Occupations Zoning Ordinance petition.
Click here to review zoning petition materials.
Click here for more information.
October 19, 2020
The City Council voted unanimously to refer the following to Planning Board and Ordinance Committee for hearing and report.
See additional meeting information.
September 30, 2020
The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing for the purpose of receiving an update on the Retail Land Use Initiative and Retail Table of Land Use update.
See additional meeting information.
July 30, 2020
The Economic Development and University Relations Committee will conduct a public hearing for the purpose of receiving an update on the Retail Land Use Initiative and Retail Table of Land Use update.
See additional meeting information.
February 13, 2019
The Economic Development and University Relations Committee conducted a public hearing to discuss updates from the Retail Strategy Plan.
Location: City Hall Sullivan Chamber, 795 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Additional information and remote viewing of the meeting is available through the City's Open Meeting Portal.
Community Development Department (CDD) engaged with planning consulting firm Community Opportunity Group, Inc. to develop the Commercial Land Use Classification Study, providing recommendations to the City on ways to update, consolidate, and clarify commercial classifications in the Zoning Ordinance.
In 2017, the City’s Retail Strategic Plan consultant recommended that the City incorporate recommendations from the Classification Study to allow for more flexible and new retail uses, and as a way to make Cambridge more supportive and friendly environment for small businesses and to reduce regulatory barriers for entrepreneurs.
The goal of the Retail Land Use Initiative zoning change is to target retail uses in the commercial section of the current table of uses in the Cambridge zoning ordinance in order to fulfill the Retail Strategic Plan and Commercial Land Use Classification Study recommendations.