The Planning Board and the City Council's Ordinance Committee held public hearings on the Climate Resilience Zoning Petition in 2023. The City Council adopted the zoning petition on February 27, 2023.
- See Zoning Amendments for information about the review process.
- The Planning Board's public hearing was held on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at 6:30 PM. See Planning Board Meetings.
- The Ordinance Committee's public hearing was held on Thursday, January 26, 2023, at 12:00 PM. See Open Meeting Portal (Select "Ordinance Committee" in the drop-down).
The Planning Board and members of the Climate Resilience Zoning Task Force met to discuss the draft Climate Resilience Zoning proposal at a virtual public meeting on November 15, 2022. The Planning Board voted to forward the draft text with clarifying amendments to the City Council as a Zoning Petition.
The proposal is based on the task force’s final recommendations:
Background
The City Manager appointed this task force in 2018. It brought together community stakeholders including residents and homeowners, institutional representatives, residential and commercial developers, and subject matter experts, supported by city staff and consultants.
The purpose of the task force was to recommend changes to the Zoning Ordinance that would help make development more resilient to climate change risks.
This task force built upon the City's 2017 Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA), which informed the Resilient Cambridge Plan, and other planning efforts including Envision Cambridge and the Douglas Brown, et al., Zoning Petition.
The task force met 19 times between January 2019 and April 2021. Two of these meetings were held jointly with the Health and Environment Committee of the City Council. All meetings were open to the public.
Meetings included presentations from City staff on the City's Climate Change Preparedness & Resilience planning efforts; basic zoning tools and strategies; anticipated flooding impacts due to sea level rise, storm surge, and precipitation; and heat impacts. Task Force members also participated in a walking tour of the Alewife area to see in-person examples of older and more recent development and to identify and discuss resilience issues in the context of buildings and sites. Based on this information, the Task Force drafted a set of principles and objectives to guide final recommendations.
The final report of the Task Force was released in February 2022.
- Meeting 1: January 23, 2019, 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Sullivan Chamber, Second Floor of City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 2: Wednesday February 27, 2019 5:30 – 8:00 P.M. – Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 3: Thursday March 21, 2019 5:30 – 8:30 P.M.- Walking tour of the Alewife area starting 5:30 P.M. at Russell Field MBTA Headhouse / Meeting at 7:00 P.M.at 150 Cambridgepark Drive
- Meeting 4: Wednesday April 24, 2019 5:30 – 8:00 P.M.- Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 6: Wednesday June 26, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 7: Wednesday July 31, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 9: Thursday October 10, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - 4th Floor Conference Room, 344 Broadway
- Meeting 10: Wednesday November 6, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - 4th Floor Conference Room, 344 Broadway
- Meeting 11: Thursday November 21, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Arts and Crafts Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 12: Wednesday January 29, 2020 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Ballroom, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 13: Thursday February 13, 2020 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - 2nd Floor Conference Room, 344 Broadway
- Meeting 14: Wednesday March 4, 2020 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Arts and Crafts Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
- Meeting 15: Thursday October 22, 2020 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Online via Zoom Webinar
- Meeting 16: Thursday November 19, 2020 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Online via Zoom Webinar
- Meeting 17: Thursday February 18, 2021 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Online via Zoom Webinar
- Meeting 18: Wednesday March 3, 2021 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Online via Zoom Webinar
- Meeting 19: Thursday April 1, 2021 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Online via Zoom Webinar
- Discussion of Draft Zoning Text at Planning Board: Tuesday November 15, 2022, 6:30 P.M.- Online via Zoom Webinar (see Planning Board Meetings for details)
- Planning Board Public Hearing: Tuesday January 10, 2023, 6:30 P.M.- Online via Zoom Webinar (see Planning Board Meetings for details)
Meeting 7: Wednesday July 31, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
Meeting 7: Wednesday July 31, 2019 5:30 - 8:00 P.M. - Ball Room, Senior Center 806 Massachusetts Ave
Residents
1. Doug Brown (Co Chair) - West Cambridge
2. Conrad Crawford - East Cambridge/Cambridge Redevelopment Authority
3. Ted Cohen - North Cambridge/Planning Board
4. Mike Nakagawa - North Cambridge
Union/Trades Rep
5. Louis Bacci Jr - Laborers Local 151/East Cambridge/Planning Board
Institutional/Non-Profit Representatives
6. Brian Goldberg - MIT Office of Sustainability
7. Tom Lucey - Harvard University
8. Margaret Moran - Cambridge Housing Authority
9. Craig Nicholson - Just-a-Start
Business Representatives/Property Owners
10. Jason Alves - East Cambridge Business Assoc.
11. Nancy Donahue - Cambridge Chamber of Commerce
12. Joe Maguire - Alexandria (through March 2020)
Rick Malmstrom - Alexandria (beginning October 2020)
13. Tom Sullivan - Divco West (through March 2020)
Mark Johnson - Divco West (beginning October 2020)
14. Mike Owu - MITIMCo
Subject Matter Experts
15. Tom Chase - Energy & Resilience Consultant, New Ecology
16. Lauren Miller - Climate Consultant, CDM Smith
17. Jim Newman - Resilience Consultant, Linnaean Solutions
City Staff
18. John Bolduc - Environmental Planner
19. Iram Farooq (Co-Chair) - Assistant City Manager for Community Development
20. Kathy Watkins - City Engineer/Assistant Commissioner