Flexible Parking Corridors

The City of Cambridge’s Community Development Department (CDD) and Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department (TP+T) are hosting an Information Session and two Scheduled Office Hours to allow anyone interested in finding out more about Flexible Parking Corridors to ask questions and how they can start sharing their parking spaces.

Join Us:

• Information Session and Q+A: Thursday, March 20 from 5:30-6:30 PM on Zoom.
  • This is a virtual meeting, and you can register in advance here.
• Scheduled Office Hours: Tuesday, March 25 from 3-5 PM on Teams
  • Schedule your 30-minute meeting with Community Development and Traffic, Parking, and Transportation here. Please provide us with a property address or anything helpful we should know going into the meeting.
• Scheduled Office Hours: Thursday, March 27 from 5:30-7:30 PM on Teams
  • Schedule your 30-minute meeting with Community Development and Traffic, Parking, and Transportation here. Please provide us with a property address or anything helpful we should know going into the meeting.

Key changes for properties along the Flexible Parking Corridors include:

• All parking facilities:
  • Parking facilities in existence as of December 23, 2024 are allowed to be used as shared parking spaces serving uses that are also located along Flexible Parking Corridors. New Commercial Parking still requires a Commercial Parking Permit. No new parking spaces can be created, rather only existing parking made available to others under a different use.
  • Vacant lots on which all buildings have been abandoned or not used since December 23, 2022 may temporarily provide parking for a period of two years.
    
    
• Existing facilities with 5-19 total non-residential spaces:
  • No PTDM Plan required. Facilities with a Small Project PTDM Plan approved prior to December 23, 2024, are no longer required to follow that Plan.
  • For commercial parking: A commercial parking space permit is still required. No TDM plan required in commercial parking space permit application.
    
    
• Existing facilities with 20 or more non-residential spaces:
  • No new PTDM plan is needed for facilities converting to commercial parking. A commercial parking space permit is still required.

     

Note: The City aims to make better use of underused parking but can't guarantee off-street parking access. It only manages off-street parking in its own facilities. There are no plans to buy new parking lots to replace on-street spaces. Also, off-street parking may have different costs, time limits, and distances compared to on-street parking.

1. Build Cambridge’s bike and bus networks while mitigating parking impacts,
2. Respond to business and resident parking needs,
3. Make it easier for owners of off-street parking to use their existing parking more efficiently, and
4. Avoid inducing new driving trips, undermining the City’s transportation goals, or limiting the effectiveness of the PTDM Ordinance in other areas of the city.

In 2022, the City of Cambridge conducted a study about how people use car parking. The purpose was to evaluate how well parking policies and regulations for cars support both community needs and City goals. The 2024 Flexible Parking Corridors rules respond to two recommended actions from this study:

• Strategy 1/Action 2: Develop detailed zoning amendment recommendations to allow and encourage the use of existing underused accessory and principal use parking spaces where a loss of metered on-street spaces is anticipated, and;
• Strategy 4/Action 12: Evaluate the PTDM Ordinance for changes, including how to provide TDM strategies to Cambridge residents and workers who are not covered by the PTDM Ordinance.

You can learn more about Cambridge’s Parking Engagement Study and view the final report here.


Other ways that the Flexible Parking Corridor rules fit into Cambridge’s transportation goals include:

• Improvements like bus lanes and separated bike lanes provide safer, faster, and more reliable alternatives to driving. These changes make it easier and more comfortable for people to get around without cars, helping reduce reliance on driving and parking. Making it easier to share off-street parking along streets where on-street parking needs to be removed can help ease the transition.
• Creating more flexibility for using existing parking could reduce long-term demand for new parking. Less new off-street parking means more space for other uses and a better pedestrian experience along these corridors.
• The number of newly shared parking spaces will likely be in the ballpark of the number of on-street spaces that will be removed. Some property owners were already sharing spaces, and some will not be interested in sharing even though the new rules make it easier.
• While parking facilities that convert from another type of parking to commercial parking will not need a new PTDM Plan, charging for parking is already one of the strongest Transportation Demand Management measures available.
  

The Flexible Parking Corridors’ rules help mitigate the short-term impact (loss of on-street parking) of changes that reduce the long-term demand for parking (a complete bike and bus network). Ultimately, these changes help create a city where there is less need for driving and parking by prioritizing convenient and sustainable transportation options.  

To share existing parking with new users (but not commercial parking):

• 1. Use the map provided on this webpage to find your parking facility and the location of any new users. For example, if you want to share your parking with your neighbors’ employees, look up both your property and your neighbor’s property.
  • If both properties are on highlighted parcels, the Flexible Parking Corridor rules apply.
  • If one or both properties are not on a highlighted parcel, the normal Zoning rules apply.
  • If the parking facility is on a highlighted parcel, the Flexible Parking Corridor rules for PTDM apply.
  • If the parking facility is not on a highlighted parcel, the normal PTDM rules apply.
  • If you’re not sure or have questions, you can reach out to Mason Wells for help.

• 2. If the Flexible Parking Corridor rules apply, determine whether the facility has a PTDM Plan.
  • Facilities with Small Project PTDM Plans will receive a letter soon confirming that their PTDM Plan no longer applies.
  • If your facility has a Large Project PTDM Plan (a plan number beginning with F), contact Ryan McKinnon to discuss adding new users.
    • If the new users are the same type covered by your Plan, the Plan applies to the new users.
    • If the new users are a different type, your PTDM Plan will need an amendment. You will also need to update your parking registration.
  • If your facility does not have a PTDM Plan, determine whether you need to make any changes to your parking registration to accommodate the new users. If you do, you may need a PTDM Plan. Parking registration information is available from TP&T ashulman@cambridgema.gov.

To convert some or all of your existing parking to commercial parking (parking available to the public for a fee):

• 1. Use the map provided above to find your parking facility.
  • If your parking facility is located on a highlighted parcel, the Flexible Parking Corridor rules apply.
  • If your parking facility is not located on a highlighted parcel, the normal Zoning and PTDM rules apply.
  • If you’re not sure or have questions, you can reach out to Mason Wells for help.

• 2. If the Flexible Parking Corridor rules apply, determine whether the facility has a PTDM Plan.
  • If the facility does not have a PTDM Plan, you do not need to create a PTDM Plan for the conversion to commercial parking spaces.
  • If the facility has a PTDM Plan and you are converting all spaces to commercial spaces, the PTDM Plan will no longer apply.
  • If the facility has a PTDM Plan and you are converting some spaces to commercial spaces, the PTDM Plan still applies to the non-commercial spaces. Contact Ryan McKinnon to determine whether your PTDM Plan needs an amendment to remove requirements related to commercial parking.

• 3. Apply for Commercial Parking Space Permits for the spaces you intend to convert to commercial parking. The Commercial Parking Space Permits Ordinance describes what needs to be included in an application. If you have any questions, please contact ashulman@cambridgema.gov.
  
  

For property owners interested in a combination of these approaches, please contact Ryan McKinnon for help determining what’s required.

Vacant Lots

Most new or expanded parking is not eligible for the additional flexibility of the Flexible Parking Corridor rules. However, the Flexible Parking Corridor zoning allows vacant lots on which all buildings have been abandoned or not used since December 23, 2022, to temporarily provide parking for a period of two years.

Contact

If you’re interested in making changes to existing parking along Flexible Parking Corridors, you can also contact CDD's Zoning team at cddzoning@cambridgema.gov and Brooke McKenna, Transportation Commissioner, at bmckenna@cambridgema.gov.

The PTDM (Parking and Transportation Demand Management) Ordinance, adopted in 1998 and made permanent in 2006, promotes sustainable transportation by encouraging walking, biking, and public transit while reducing traffic congestion and air pollution. Property owners must comply with PTDM requirements when adding parking above the registered amount for their property.

Learn More About the PTDM Ordinance

A new or amended PTDM Plan is still required when:

• A property owner creates new parking in a facility where the total number of non-residential parking spaces is 20 or more. Commercial parking created through new construction or expansion still requires a PTDM Plan, even after these changes to the ordinance were made. All commercial parking will still need to be approved by the Commercial Parking Control Committee and licensed by the License Commission.
• A property owner changes the type of parking in their facility to non-commercial (available to the public without a fee), customer, employee, patient, student, client, or guest parking.

Parking Registration 

• A net increase in the number of parking spaces or,
• A change in the number of spaces allocated to commercial, non-commercial, customer, employee, patient, student, client, or guest use, even if there is no increase in the total number of spaces (i.e. for changes from one category to another).
  

To check the number of registered parking spaces on your parcel and determine whether you need to submit an updated parking registration form, please contact Adam Shulman in the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department at (617) 349-4745, ashulman@cambridgema.gov.

Interdepartmental Parking Facility Registration Form

License Commission Requirements

Please contact the License Commission with any questions about their requirements related to parking.

Planning Board Special Permit Requirements

Changes to the Zoning, PTDM, and Commercial Parking Space Permits Ordinances do not affect Planning Board Special Permit requirements or conditions. If the Special Permit for your site includes conditions related to TDM, those conditions still apply.