Climate Resilience Zoning Draft Available for Review

The City of Cambridge has released a Climate Resilience Zoning proposal for public review. 

Climate resilience means preparing the city for a future that will have higher temperatures, more rainfall, and rising sea levels. This proposal takes an innovative, forward-looking approach to setting climate resilience standards for buildings and landscaping. These standards are based on:

• Models of Cambridge's climate 50 years from now, updated on a regular basis according to scientific studies.
• Measures that will reduce impacts of extreme weather events.
• Using both requirements and incentives for property owners and developers to make their sites more resilient to benefit the future community.

This proposal was developed by a task force of community partners including residents, housing and commercial developers, institutions, climate change experts, and City staff.

The Planning Board and Climate Resilience Zoning Task Force will discuss the draft zoning at a special meeting on November 15, 2022. Send written comments to the Planning Board at planningboardcomment@cambridgema.gov.

The Climate Resilience Zoning is only one part of the city’s Resilient Cambridge planning effort. For more information, visit the Resilient Cambridge Plan page.