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WELCOME TO THE MARCH 31ST, 2026 MEETING OF THE CAMBRIDGE PLANNING BOARD.
MY NAME IS TOM SAVICH, AND I'M THE CHAIR PURSUANT TO CHAPTER TWO OF THE ACTS OF 2025, ADOPTED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT AND APPROVED BY THE GOVERNOR, THE CITY IS AUTHORIZED TO USE REMOTE PARTICIPATION AT MEETINGS OF THE CAMBRIDGE PLANNING BOARD.
ALL MEMBERS, APPLICANTS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL STATE THEIR NAME BEFORE SPEAKING.
ALL VOTES WILL BE TAKEN BY ROLL CALL.
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE KEPT ON MUTE UNTIL IT'S TIME FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.
I WILL GIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AT THAT TIME, AND YOU CAN ALSO FIND INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CITY'S WEBPAGE FOR REMOTE PLANNING BOARD MEETINGS.
THIS MEETING IS BEING VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORDED AND IS BEING STREAMED LIVE ON THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE'S ONLINE MEETING PORTAL AND ON CABLE TELEVISION CHANNEL 22 WITHIN CAMBRIDGE.
THERE WILL ALSO BE A TRANSCRIPT MADE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS.
I'LL START BY ASKING STAFF TO TAKE BOARD MEMBER ATTENDANCE AND VERIFY THAT ALL MEMBERS ARE AUDIBLE.
THIS IS JEFF ROBERTS FROM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, EACH THEODORE COHEN.
ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT AND VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
MARY FLYNN, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? UH, PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
MARY ECKER, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
MARY DIEGO MACIAS, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
ASHLEY TAN, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
CAROLYN, ZERN, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
CAROLYN, ASSOCIATE MEMBERS, DAN ANDERSON, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? YES.
JEFF PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
JOY JACKSON, ARE YOU PRESENT? AND IS THE MEETING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU? PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE.
JOY AND THOMPSON VIC, CAN YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU'RE PRESENT IN THE MEETING? IS, IS VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE TO YOU PRESENT, VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE? THANK YOU, TOM.
WE HAVE SEVEN PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT AND, AND, UH, TWO ASSOCIATE MEMBERS.
UH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, JEFF.
UM, THE FIRST ITEM IS AN UPDATE FROM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT.
I'LL ALSO INTRODUCE ANY STAFF THAT MAY BE PRESENT IN AT TONIGHT'S MEETING.
UH, AND LEMME JUST TAKE A, I HAVE TO MOVE MY SCREEN TO SEE WHO'S PRESENT.
I'M THE DIRECTOR OF ZONING AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT WITH ME, UM, FROM MY TEAM IN ZONING AND DEVELOPMENT.
WE HAVE SWATHI JOSEPH, AND WE HAVE EMILY HUTCHINGS, AND WE HAVE FROM THE URBAN DESIGN TEAM, ERIC KELSON, UM, THAT I BELIEVE DOES IT FOR STAFF.
UH, JUST AS A, UH, A LITTLE BIT OF AN, UH, WHAT'S TO COME AT THE PLANNING BOARD TONIGHT.
WE JUST HAVE ONE SMALL PIECE OF GENERAL BUSINESS, AND THEN WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT, WHICH IS A, UM, SOMETHING WE'LL WE'LL GET TO IN JUST A SECOND.
SO ANYONE WHO'S TUNED IN FOR THAT, JUST, UH, BEAR WITH US.
WE'LL BE GETTING TO THAT SHORTLY.
UM, WE ONLY HAVE ONE MEETING PLANNED IN APRIL AT THIS POINT, AND IT'S WAY AT THE END OF APRIL, UH, APRIL 28TH.
AND WE HAVE TWO ITEMS ON, UH, THE AGENDA FOR THAT MEETING.
WE HAVE, UH, THE FIRST, UH, HEARING ON THE PUD APPLICATION FOR THE HEALTH PEAKS, UH, DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL IN THE, UH, ALEWIFE QUADRANGLE DISTRICT.
SO THE BOARD HEARD ABOUT THIS LAST MONTH AT A PRE-APPLICATION CONFERENCE, AND THEY'RE, THEY'RE, THEN THE, THE NEXT STEP IS MOVING FORWARD WITH THEIR APPLICATION.
SO THIS WILL BE THE FIRST HEARING ON THAT.
AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE AN ITEM SCHEDULED, UH, RELATED TO A, A CITY, A SALT SHED FACILITY, ACTUALLY A REPLACEMENT OF SALT SHED THAT'S, UH, PROPOSED IN DANEE PARK.
AND THE REASON WHY THAT COMES TO THE PLANNING BOARD IS BECAUSE THERE IS A PROVISION IN THE ZONING, KIND OF A LESS WELL-KNOWN PROVISION THAT SAYS THAT A NON-OPEN SPACE USE IN AN OPEN SPACE ZONING DISTRICT, OF WHICH DANY PARK IS, IS AN OPEN SPACE ZONING DISTRICT, HAS TO COME TO THE PLANNING BOARD FOR A HEARING AND, UH, AN ADVISORY REPORT.
SO THERE'S NO, UM, THERE'S NO DETERMINATION OR, OR ACTION OR PERMIT THAT'S REQUIRED FROM THE PLANNING BOARD.
THE BOARD IS JUST REQUIRED TO, TO HAVE A HEARING AND, UM, MAKE A REPORT THAT GOES BACK TO THE CITY, UM, ON THAT PROPOSAL.
SO WE'LL BE DOING THAT, BOTH OF THOSE ON APRIL 28TH.
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IT'LL BE A LONG TIME.UH, AND THAT BASICALLY, THAT'LL BE THE ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL.
SO THAT'LL BE A FAIRLY, A FAIRLY BUSY AGENDA.
BUT, UM, UH, BUT NOTHING ELSE BEFORE THAT, SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR STRENGTH.
UM, OTHER THINGS OF NOTE THAT ARE HAPPENING, UH, THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF ZONING RELATED DISCUSSIONS HAPPENING AT CITY COUNCIL, UH, IN RECENT WEEKS, AND THERE ARE SOME FOLLOW-UPS THAT ARE PLANNED.
SO NEXT MONDAY ON UH, APRIL 6TH, THERE WILL BE, UH, A FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION TO TALK ABOUT, UH, ACTIVE USES ON MASS A AND CAMBRIDGE STREET.
THIS IS FOLLOWING UP ON A POLICY ORDER THAT CAME WHEN THE CITY COUNCILS CONSIDERING AMENDMENTS TO, UM, THE, UH, REZONING OF MASS AVE AND CAMBRIDGE STREET, WHICH THEY ADOPTED, BUT WITH SOME ADDITIONAL ITEMS THAT THEY WANTED STAFF TO LOOK AT.
SO THERE, THERE WAS A DISCUSSION ABOUT THAT A COUPLE WEEKS AGO, AND THERE'S GONNA BE A FOLLOW UP ON MONDAY, NEXT TUESDAY, UH, APRIL 7TH.
THERE IS A FOLLOW UP DISCUSSION AMONG THE, UH, BOTH THE HOUSING COMMITTEE AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD LONG-TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE, UH, A FOLLOW UP ON THEIR DISCUSSION OF THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT, WHICH, WHICH WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT IN A SECOND.
UM, THE AGENDA FOR THAT IS, IS A LITTLE BIT, UH, UP IN THE AIR, SO YOU CAN, YOU CAN LOOK AT THE MEETING PORTAL TO SEE AS, AS INFORMATION GETS POSTED ON THAT.
IT WON'T, WE WON'T BE PRESENTING AT THAT MEETING, BUT IT'LL BE FOR THE COUNCIL TO MAYBE HEAR FROM OTHERS AND, AND DISCUSS ISSUES THAT THEY WANNA GET INTO.
SO, UH, SO THAT'S A, A HEARING ON THE SEVENTH.
AND THE COUNCIL, UH, ALSO THE, UH, HOUSING COMMITTEE OF THE CITY COUNCIL HAD A, A, A HEARING TO TALK ABOUT CENTRAL SQUARE ZONING AND THE, THE PLANNING WORK ASSOCIATED WITH THAT, WHICH WAS CONDUCTED IN, UM, 2024 AND, UH, THE, THE, THAT, THAT, UH, MEETING ENDED, UM, WITH SOME DISCUSSION AND THERE'LL BE A FOLLOW UP TO THAT MEETING.
BUT THAT'S, I, I BELIEVE TO BE SCHEDULED AT THIS POINT.
I DON'T THINK THERE'S A DATE ON THAT, UH, BUT LOOK FORWARD TO THAT.
SO, UH, THOSE THREE THINGS, UH, AND, AND MORE GOING ON AT CITY COUNCIL, UH, IN APRIL.
AND THE FINAL THING I WANTED TO NOTE, UH, IS JUST RECENTLY, UM, THE CITY RELEASED A REPORT OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST.
I ACTUALLY HAVE A, A COPY OF IT HERE ON MY DESK.
UM, IT'S A NICE, UH, LITTLE PUBLICATION, YOU CAN GET IT ONLINE AS WELL.
UM, AND IT'S, IT'S A REMARKABLE REPORT.
AS, AS, AS PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS KNOW, HAVING BEEN INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS AND WORKING WORK AROUND THE, UM, AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY, IT'S BEEN A, A REALLY REMARKABLE FIVE YEARS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
AND SO THIS REPORTS A REALLY, UH, A REALLY IN-DEPTH AND, UM, AND THOROUGH SUMMARY.
UM, NOT JUST OF THE PROJECTS, BUT ALSO THE FINANCING AND, AND ALL OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT GOES INTO MAKING AFFORDABLE HOUSING HAPPEN, UM, HERE IN THE CITY.
AND THIS WAS, UH, WAS RELEASED AT A, A MEDIA EVENT, WHICH TOOK PLACE AT 52 NEW STREET, WHICH IS THE, THE SECOND, UH, AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY PROJECT TO BE COMPLETED.
AND IT'S, IT'S STARTING TO, UH, GET, UH, IS STARTING TO OPEN UP TO, UH, TO RESIDENTS, UM, IMMINENTLY.
SO, UH, SO I RECOMMEND CHECKING THAT OUT.
THAT'S, UH, ALL FOR MY UPDATES.
I'LL TURN IT BACK TO THE CHAIR.
ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS FOR JEFF FROM BOARD MEMBERS? IF SO, SAY YOUR NAME.
YEAH, JEFF, CAN WE RECEIVE HARD COPIES OF THAT REPORT? UH, I WILL CHECK.
I, I WOULD, I WOULD SAY SEND, SEND US A MESSAGE IF YOU'D LIKE.
I DON'T KNOW IF WE'LL SEND THEM TO ALL THE P BOARD MEMBERS.
IF I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE, ARE, LIKE I AM, ARE GENERALLY PAPER FREE, THIS WAS AN EXCEPTION IN MY CASE OF PICKING ONE UP.
UM, BUT YOU CAN SEND US A MESSAGE IF, IF, UM, AND WE CAN LOOK TO SEE IF, IF THERE'S EXTRA COPY SOMEWHERE WE CAN SEND TO YOU.
UM, THE NEXT I THANK YOU, JEFF.
THE NEXT, UH, ITEM ON THE AGENDA HERE IS THAT APPROVAL OF SOME MEETING MINUTES.
THE BOARD HAS RECEIVED CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPTS FOR THE MEETINGS HELD ON FEBRUARY 24TH AND MARCH 3RD, 2026.
ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS FROM BOARD MEMBERS THROUGHOUT THE TRANSCRIPTS OR CORRECTIONS? UH, PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME BEFORE SPEAKING.
SEEMS THERE A COMPLETE AS USUAL? UM, ONLY FOR FULL BOARD MEMBERS WILL ACT ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM.
IS THERE A MOTION TO ACCEPT THE TRANSCRIPT AS THE MEETING MINUTES? UH, REMEMBER TO SAY YOUR NAME BEFORE, UH, BEFORE MAKING THE MOTION.
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SO MOVED.TED ROLL CALL ON THAT, PLEASE.
THAT'S ALL MEMBERS VOTING IN FAVOR.
UH, SO AGENDA ITEM NUMBER ONE FOR TONIGHT.
THE NEXT ITEM IS A REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO APPLY FOR A BUILDING PERMIT ON PLANNING BOARD CASE PB DASH 4 0 2 AT EIGHT 15.
UM, CDD STAFF WILL PROVIDE AN UPDATE.
JEFF, CAN YOU, UH, EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS BEFORE US? YES, THIS IS JEFF AGAIN.
SO THIS IS A SPECIAL PERMIT THAT WAS GRANTED ON APRIL 25TH, 2024.
UM, THE SPECIAL PERMIT WAS TO MODIFY BUILDING AND SITE PLAN REQUIREMENTS FOR, UH, THE ALTERATION OF AN EXISTING BUILDING IN EXCESS OF 25,000 SQUARE FEET, UH, IN GROSS FLOOR AREA TO ACCOMMODATE A NEW USE.
AND THE SPECIAL PERMIT REQUIRES THAT THE PERMITEE OBTAIN A BUILDING PERMIT WITHIN TWO YEARS OF THE SPECIAL PERMIT BEING GRANTED.
AND THE PERMITEE HAS PROVIDED A LETTER REQUESTING A TWO YEAR EXTENSION OF THAT TIME UNTIL APRIL 25TH, 2028.
UM, ARE THERE QUESTIONS FROM THE BOARD ABOUT THIS MATTER? SEE, NO ONE'S INDICATING SUCH.
SO IS THERE A MOTION TO AGREE TO THIS EXTENSION OF TIME? AND REMEMBER TO SAY YOUR NAME BEFORE, UH, PROPOSING THE MOTION? UH, THIS IS MARY FLYNN.
I I MOVE THAT WE GRANT THE EXTENSION OF TIME.
AND A SECOND ON MARY'S MOTION.
THAT'S ALL MEMBERS VOTING IN FAVOR.
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER TWO HERE TONIGHT.
UH, THE NEXT AGENDA OF ITEM IS A DISCUSSION OF THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT.
THE BOARD WILL HEAR A BRIEF PRESENTATION FROM THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, AND AFTER THAT, THE BOARD WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS AND ASK QUESTIONS, UH, AFTER WHICH WE MAY TAKE PUBLIC COMMENT.
WE'LL DISCUSS THAT, UH, AS A BOARD WHEN WE GET TO THAT POINT.
UM, UH, JEFF, IF YOU, UH, COULD BEGIN WITH SOME BACKGROUND AND AN OVERVIEW ON THE PROCESS, UH, AND GIVE THE PRESENTATION ON THE REPORT.
UH, SO THIS IS, UH, SOME, THIS IS AGAIN, WE, UH, PRESENTED THIS TO THE HOUSING COMMITTEE AND NEIGHBORHOOD JOINT AND NEIGHBORHOOD LONG-TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE OF THE CITY COUNCIL LAST WEEK.
AND, UH, I, I, I'LL, I'M GONNA GO THROUGH IT AGAIN THIS WEEK.
I, I THINK THAT, UM, IT'S A, UH, IT'S A FAIRLY, I'LL JUST SAY IT'S A, IT'S A LOT OF MATERIAL, AND SO WE MADE SURE THAT BOARD MEMBERS GOT IT IN ADVANCE, AND HOPEFULLY YOU'VE HAD A CHANCE TO REVIEW IT.
UM, I'LL TRY TO GO THROUGH IT, UM, SOMEWHAT QUICKLY.
I'LL TRY TO BE THOROUGH, BUT WON'T GO OVER EVERY DETAIL.
UM, BUT, AND, AND I, I PROMISE THAT WE WOULD TAKE A FEW PAUSES TO ASK QUESTIONS AS WE GO ALONG, BUT CERTAINLY IF, IF ANYBODY HAS A QUESTION AND, AND WANTS TO JUMP IN WITH A RAISE HAND WITH A, A CLARIFICATION, UM, OR OTHER, OTHER IMMEDIATE QUESTION AS WE GO THROUGH, FEEL FREE TO DO THAT IN THE CHAIR.
YOU SHOULD FEEL FREE TO INTERRUPT ME AS WE, AS WE GET INTO IT.
SO THAT'S JUST THE PROCEDURAL SETTING.
UM, SO WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? UH, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A, A PROVISION IN THE ZONING ORDINANCE THAT WAS, UH, ADDED AS PART OF THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING.
UM, UNLIKE THE REST OF THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, THIS WASN'T SOMETHING THAT CREATED OR AMENDED REGULATIONS, UH, OR POLICIES DIRECTLY TO SUPPORT HOUSING OBJECTIVES.
BUT, UM, IT IS SOMETHING THAT WE THOUGHT WOULD BE A VALUABLE, UH, PIECE OF OUR HOUSING PROGRAM.
UH, IT'S A PROVISION THAT SAYS THAT WE, WE'LL PROVIDE THIS ANNUAL REPORT.
UM, THIS WILL HELP TO BUILD A RESOURCE OF DATA THAT WE CAN USE TO INFORM POLICY CONSIDERATIONS AND DECISIONS IN THE FUTURE AS WE GO FORWARD.
UM, AND IT'S, IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE
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ARE, UH, IT, IT PROVIDES THAT WE PROVIDE THIS REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL.BUT, UH, WHEN WE WERE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION FOR MULTIFAMILY, ALSO, THE, UH, THE PLANNING BOARD HAD ASKED THAT WE GET THIS INFORMATION.
SO WE DECIDED IT WAS IMPORTANT TO SHARE IT WITH BOTH THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE PLANNING BOARD.
UH, AS A REMINDER, THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT, OR THE ANNUAL HOUSING REVIEW IS A, UM, IS ONE PIECE OF THE, THE OVERALL HOUSING REVIEW PROGRAM.
THE OTHER PIECE IS A, UH, AN EVALUATION, WHICH HAPPENS ON A FIVE-YEAR CYCLE.
SO BEGINNING IN 2030, THERE'LL BE A MORE, UM, UH, KIND OF EXTENSIVE EVALUATION OF, UH, OUR HOUSING POLICIES AND, UM, AND THE, THE EFFECT THAT THEY'RE HAVING OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
SO THERE'S A, THERE'S A LOT THAT'S NOT REALLY WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS ANNUAL HOUSING REVIEW, BUT WE, WE ARE, WE'RE BUILDING, UH, THE RESOURCES TO BE ABLE TO, TO DO A MORE THOROUGH EVALUATION WHEN, UH, MORE TIMES ELAPSED FOR THIS FIRST REPORT, WE SET A FEW SPECIFIC GOALS FOR WHAT WE WANTED TO DO.
THERE WAS ACTUALLY A LOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO GO ABOUT, UM, PUTTING TOGETHER THE INFORMATION TO, TO MAKE AN ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT.
UM, SO SOME OF WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO WAS TO TRY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IN DIFFERENT WAYS AND FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.
WE REALIZED THAT THERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS THAT WE, WE WANT TO ANSWER, AND WE CAN'T ANSWER ALL THOSE QUESTIONS JUST BY SHOWING ONE AGGREGATE SET OF NUMBERS.
YOU KNOW, THERE, THERE ARE SOME AREAS WHERE WE HAVE TO LOOK A LITTLE BIT MORE QUALITATIVELY OR, OR LOOK AT NUMBERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS IN ORDER TO, TO GET AT SOME OF THOSE ISSUES.
WE ALSO, WERE TRYING TO BE MINDFUL OF, UH, COLLECTING AND PRESENTING INFORMATION IN A WAY THAT COULD BE REPLICATED IN FUTURE YEARS, SO THAT OVER TIME WE'RE BUILDING A, A ROBUST TIMELINE OF DATA, UM, THAT WILL BECOME MORE VALUABLE TO US THE MORE TIMES WE DO IT.
UH, WE INCLUDED A FEW NOTES, WHICH I WON'T GO OVER ALL OF JUST ABOUT, UH, THE DATA, THE SOURCES.
UM, I'LL JUST HIGHLIGHT A FEW THINGS THAT COME UP THROUGHOUT THE PRESENTATION THAT WE'LL, WE'LL PROBABLY END UP GOING BACK TO.
UM, ONE IS, IS JUST SOME TERMINOLOGY THAT WE'RE USING, UH, WHEN WE REFER TO NEW UNITS.
UM, AND WE'RE, WE'RE ALL, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HOUSING UNITS THROUGHOUT THIS.
WE'RE, WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT OTHER KINDS OF, OF DEVELOPMENT.
UM, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, UH, HOUSING UNITS, ALL OF THE HOUSING UNITS THAT ARE COMING INTO EXISTENCE.
SO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ANYTHING, ANY UNIT THAT DIDN'T EXIST BEFORE THAT EXISTS NOW, OR THAT'S BEING CONSTRUCTED NOW, WE CONSIDER A NEW UNIT.
UM, THERE'S A DISTINCTION BETWEEN THAT AND NET NEW UNITS.
SO, UH, NET NEW UNITS WOULD SUBTRACT OUT UNITS THAT MIGHT BE DEMOLISHED OR OTHERWISE REMOVED BEFORE CONSTRUCTION.
SO, UM, FOR EXAMPLE, DEMOLISHING TWO UNITS OF HOUSING AND BUILDING THREE UNITS OF HOUSING.
THERE'S THREE NEW UNITS BEING CREATED, BUT IT'S ONE NET NEW UNIT THAT'S, UH, THAT'S BEING CREATED COMPARED TO WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE.
UM, ANOTHER IMPORTANT CAVEAT WITH THIS DATA IS THAT IT'S INHERENTLY A LITTLE BIT MESSY.
UM, WE REALIZE AS WE GET INTO THIS, THAT DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS ARE EACH THEIR UNIQUE, UM, EACH HAVE THEIR UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES THAT MAKE THEM, UM, HARD TO AGGREGATE IN A, IN A, UM, PRECISE WAY.
SO, UH, IT CAN SOMETIMES BE HARD TO FIT THINGS INTO SPECIFIC CATEGORIES, BUT WE DID THE BEST WE COULD TO PROVIDE A ACCURATE ACCOUNTING OF, OF WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING IN HOUSING.
WE REALIZE IT WON'T BE PERFECT IN EVERY CASE, AND THAT, AND EVERYTHING IS ULTIMATELY SOMEWHAT APPROXIMATE.
AND, AND WE NEED TO, UM, YOU KNOW, AS YOU GET INTO THE DETAILS, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT MORE NUANCE.
THERE'S THREE MAIN PARTS TO THIS.
UM, FIRST WE THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO COVER SOME HIGH LEVEL TOPICS, INCLUDING A REMINDER OF SOME OF THE MAJOR POLICY CHANGES THAT AFFECTED HOUSING IN THE PAST YEAR.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE PLAN TO DO EVERY YEAR AS WE DO THIS REPORT.
UH, THE SECOND SECTION IS FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS.
SO, UM, ANYTHING THAT SORT OF COMES TO OUR ATTENTION THROUGH A, UH, A CITY REQUIRED REVIEW PROCESS IS SOMETHING THAT WE, UM, MADE NOTE OF AND PROVIDED INFORMATION ON.
UM, WE REFER TO THIS SOMETIMES AT THE PIPELINE BECAUSE THESE ARE PROPOSALS THAT ARE STILL IN AN EARLY STAGE OF REVIEW.
WE, WE WON'T NECESSARILY SEE THOSE GOING INTO CONSTRUCTION SOON, BUT IT GIVES US A PICTURE OF WHAT WE ANTICIPATE MOVING FORWARD IN COMING YEARS.
AND THEN IN THE LAST PART, WE LOOK AT ACTUAL BUILDING PERMITS THAT HAVE BEEN ISSUED.
SO THIS IS MORE IMMEDIATE, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S ACTUALLY BEING BUILT AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
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ADDITION TO BUILDING PERMITS, WE LOOK AT SOME RELATED ACTIVITY THAT, YOU KNOW, TYPICALLY PROCEEDS, YOU KNOW, IMMEDIATELY PROCEEDS A BUILDING PERMIT.UM, AND THAT GIVES US MORE OF A SNAPSHOT OF WHAT'S BEING, UH, OF WHAT'S BEING PERMITTED AT A SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME.
UM, AS I GO THROUGH EACH OF THESE SECTIONS, I'LL, I'LL TAKE A BREAK, UH, BETWEEN THEM TO SEE IF WE HAVE ANY, ANY QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSION.
SO, JUST JUMPING INTO THE FIRST SECTION, A LOT OF THIS IS GONNA BE NOT NEWS TO THE, THE PLANNING BOARD.
I THINK YOU'RE ALL FAMILIAR WITH A LOT OF, A LOT OF THE POLICY, UM, DISCUSSION THAT THAT'S BEEN GOING ON OVER THE PAST YEAR.
WHAT, WELL, SO, UM, SO SOME HIGH LEVEL INFORMATION.
MOST OF THIS IS, YOU KNOW, WE'LL GET INTO MORE DETAIL IN FUTURE SECTIONS, BUT JUST TO GET, GET A SENSE OF THE SCALE OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT, UM, WE CONTINUE TO SEE PROPOSALS MOVE INTO THAT PIPELINE THAT I MENTIONED BEFORE.
UM, SO THERE ARE SOME PROPOSALS THAT ARE CLEARLY RESPONDING TO THE, THE ZONING REFORMS, WHICH, WHICH TOOK PLACE LAST YEAR.
UM, WE, SO THAT THAT'S, YOU KNOW, ONE, ONE SET OF THINGS THAT WE SAW.
WE SAW ABOUT 50 BUILDING PERMITS, UH, FOR HOUSING ISSUED LAST YEAR.
IT'S A SOMEWHAT HIGHER NUMBER OF BUILDING PERMITS, BUT STILL KIND OF WITHIN THE SAME BALLPARK AS, UH, BUILDING PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED IN 2024.
UM, THERE WERE A FEW KEY DIFFERENCES IN THE TYPES OF, OF PERMITS THAT WERE, WERE ISSUED AND THE TYPES OF, OF PROJECT WE SAW PERMITTED.
UM, SPECIFICALLY A SHIFT AWAY FROM, UM, UH, UH, SMALLER OR AT LEAST AMONG THE SMALLER PERMITTED PROJECTS, A SHIFT AWAY FROM PROJECTS THAT WERE, UM, REDUCING THE NUMBER OF UNITS TOWARDS PROJECTS THAT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF UNITS.
THAT'S REALLY ONE OF THE KEY TAKEAWAYS.
BUT, UM, OTHER THAN THAT, IT'S A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE, GIVEN THAT THE, THE BUILDING PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED IN 2025 WERE GENERALLY FOR SMALLER DEVELOPMENTS.
THERE WEREN'T ANY BIG PROJECTS THAT GOT, UH, UH, BUILDING PERMITS IN 2025.
AND GOING ALONG WITH THAT BIG PICTURE, WE ALL ACKNOWLEDGE THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT AND THE CONDITIONS THAT ARE, THAT WHERE WE FIND OURSELVES IN RIGHT NOW.
THE PAST FEW YEARS HAVE BEEN EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSING, UM, LOCALLY, REGIONALLY, AND NATIONALLY.
UM, LOCALLY AT LEAST IT'S BEEN A DIFFICULT TIME FOR ALL KINDS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENTS.
SO NOT JUST FOR RESIDENTIAL, BUT FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL USES.
COMMERCIAL USES IN PARTICULAR.
A LOT OF THIS IS DUE TO HIGH CONSTRUCTION COSTS, HIGH INTEREST RATES, A GREAT DEAL OF UNPREDICTABILITY IN HOW ECONOMIC FACTORS, UM, BOTH, BOTH REGIONALLY AND NATIONALLY ARE CHANGING.
UM, SO DESPITE THIS, THERE STILL, UH, APPEARS TO BE A STRONG DEMAND FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT IN CAMBRIDGE.
PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN BUILDING IN CAMBRIDGE AS WE'RE STILL SEEING THINGS GO IN, STILL SEEING THINGS GO INTO THE REVIEW PROCESS.
UM, AND SO, UH, YOU KNOW, WE, WE EXPECT TO STILL HAVE DEVELOPERS INTERESTED IN BUILDING IN CAMBRIDGE.
WHEN WE DID THIS FIRST ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT, WE THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING TO LOOK AT THE, UH, AS I JUST MENTIONED, THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY, WHICH IS A, A SIMILAR KIND OF HOUSING REFORM, WHICH HIT ITS FIVE YEAR MARK IN 2025.
UM, IT, UH, PROVIDES A LITTLE BIT OF HELPFUL CONTEXT IN TERMS OF LOOKING AT THE EFFECTS OF A ZONING CHANGE AND HOW, YOU KNOW, WE MIGHT NOT KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT'S GONNA LOOK LIKE A YEAR OUT, BUT WE START TO GET A FULLER PICTURE AS WE START TO ADD UP INFORMATION OVER, OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.
SO, JUST TO GET A SENSE OF THAT FIVE YEAR TRAJECTORY OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY, YOU KNOW, KNOW A YEAR AFTER IT WAS ADOPTED, IT WAS ADOPTED LATE 2020 A YEAR AFTER IT WAS ADOPTED.
WE, WE HAD A FEW PROJECTS THAT WERE IN THE CONCEPTUAL STAGE, BUT NOTHING THAT HAD COMPLETED THE DESIGN REVIEW PROCESS YET.
UM, BY 2022, WE SAW SEVERAL PROJECTS HAD THAT HAD COMPLETED DESIGN REVIEW, BUT NOTHING YET IN CONSTRUCTION.
AND THEN AS TIME WENT ON, YOU CAN SEE HOW THE TRAJECTORY HAS CONTINUED TO STAY STEADY WITH, WITH U MORE UNITS BEING, UH, ENTERING THE REVIEW PROCESS AND COMPLETING THE REVIEW PROCESS, TRACKING WITH PROJECTS THAT ARE ENTERING THE BUILDING PERMIT PHASE AND GOING THROUGH CONSTRUCTION.
WE FINALLY SAW THE FIRST HOUSING UNITS DELIVERED FROM THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY IN, UH, IN 2025 LAST YEAR.
AND, YOU KNOW, WE JUST EARLY THIS YEAR SAW, SAW AS I, AS I MENTIONED, WE SAW MORE.
SO THIS GIVES A LITTLE BIT OF, OF A SENSE OF HOW A ZONING CHANGE KIND OF PLAYS OUT OVER TIME AND, AND HOW IT CAN BE AFFECTED BY, UM, YOU KNOW, BOTH, BOTH JUST THE, THE LENGTH OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, BUT ALSO ECONOMIC FACTORS AND OTHER OTHER FACTORS, WHICH IN THE CASE THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY WAS, WAS FAIRLY FAVORABLE BECAUSE, UM, THERE'S A, UH, IN ADDITION TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY, A, A PRETTY, A STRONG DEDICATED FUNDING STREAM FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
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2025 WAS A BIG YEAR FOR ZONING.UH, THERE WERE SOME AMENDMENTS THAT DRAMATICALLY TRANSFORMED HOW ZONING IS REGULATED.
UM, WE ALSO NOTED, UH, 'CAUSE WE WANTED TO BE THOROUGH ABOUT, ABOUT CHANGES THAT THERE, THERE WERE SOME CHANGES TO ZONING HAVING TO DO WITH FLOOD RISK.
UM, THERE WAS THE UPDATE TO THE FEMA FLOOD DATA AS WELL AS THE ZONING CHANGE, WHICH, UM, NO LONGER REQUIRED A SPECIAL PERMIT FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE FLOODPLAIN.
AND THERE WERE ALSO SOME UPDATES TO THE CITY'S OWN LONG-TERM FLOOD ELEVATION DATA, WHICH, WHICH HAS AN IMPACT ON, UM, ON DESIGN OF, OF HOUSING UNDER OUR, OUR FLOOD REGULATION.
SO NOT MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THAT, BUT, UM, IMPORTANT TO, TO KIND OF TRACK THESE CHANGES WHEN THEY OCCUR.
UH, THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, UH, WAS REALLY THE BIG, UH, EFFORT OF LAST YEAR.
UM, IT'S IMPORTANT TO RE REMIND US ALL WHERE WE STARTED WITH THAT, THAT, THAT THE CITY COUNCIL AS THEY, UM, THE, IN THE LAST COUNCIL TERM AS, AS THEY, UH, WERE ESTABLISHING THEIR PRIORITIES SET THIS, UH, AGENDA OF REFORMING ZONING TO END EXCLUSIONARY ZONING TO BASICALLY, UH, PROVIDE GREATER EQUITY IN HOW WE ZONE ACROSS THE CITY.
NOT SORT OF SELECTING SOME NEIGHBORHOODS FOR MORE, MORE RESTRICTIVE TREATMENT THAN OTHERS.
UM, TO PROMOTE THE CREATION OF MORE MULTIFAMILY HOUSING UNITS WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE INCLUSIONARY HOUSING PROGRAM.
AND TO JUST GENERALLY, UH, REMOVE SOME OF THE BARRIERS, UH, THAT EXIST WHEN WITHIN ZONING TO HOUSING IN ORDER TO MAKE IT, UH, MAKE BOTH EXISTING HOUSING MORE CONFORMING AND TO, TO REMOVE BARRIERS THAT WOULD ADD COSTS TO, UH, TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSING.
UM, UH, IT'S FAIR TO SAY IT'S, IT'S ONE OF THE BIGGEST ZONING CHANGES THAT WE HAVE HAVE UNDERTAKEN.
UM, IT CHANGED THE MAP IN TERMS OF, UH, REMOVING OUR, OUR SINGLE FAMILY AND TWO FAMILY ZONING DISTRICTS MAKING THE NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE EAST PART OF THE CITY AND THE WEST PART OF THE CITY ALL, UM, ZONED, UH, TO ALLOW MULTIFAMILY USE.
UH, IT CHANGED THE WAY THAT HOUSING IS, IS REGULATED FUNDAMENTALLY REMOVING DENSITY LIMITATIONS AND, UM, MOVING TO A SYSTEM OF JUST DE MORE DIMENSIONAL BASED REQUIREMENTS OF HEIGHT, SETBACKS, AND OPEN SPACE IN ORDER TO SIMPLIFY THE, THE DESIGN AND, AND THE, UM, AND THE, THE KIND OF REGULATORY PROCESS.
AND IT CHANGED HOW HOUSING IS REVIEWED, WHEREAS HOUSING PREVIOUSLY HAD REQUIRED IN MANY CASES, SPECIAL PERMITS.
IN SOME CASES, YOU KNOW, MANY CA IF IT, THE SPECIAL PERMIT WASN'T REQUIRED, OFTEN A VARIANCE MIGHT HAVE BEEN NEEDED, UM, TO A SYSTEM THAT RELIES LESS ON DISCRETIONARY PERMITTING AND INTRODUCES MORE ADVISORY REVIEW.
UM, FOR, UH, FOR, FOR DEVELOPMENT, THE HEIGHT LIMITS WERE INCREASED.
UH, RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS WERE ALLOWED UP TO FOUR STORIES OF HOUSING WITH AN INCREASE TO SIX STORIES FOR PROJECTS THAT MEET INCLUSIONARY HOUSING REQUIREMENTS.
OTHER ZONING DISTRICTS, UM, INCREASED THE HEIGHT LIMITS TO SIX STORIES FOR HOUSING IN SOME CASES WHERE THE PREVIOUS ZONING WAS HIGHER.
IT ALLOWS, CONTINUES TO ALLOW TALLER HEIGHTS AND THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY CONTINUES TO ALLOW HEIGHT INCREASES ABOVE THE BASE ZONING FOR ALL AFFORDABLE DEVELOPMENT.
UM, SO TOWARDS THE END OF THE LAST COUNCIL TERM, THE, THE CITY, UH, CDD BROUGHT FORWARD SOME OTHER, UH, MAJOR ZONING REFORMS. THESE WERE, WERE REZONING EFFORTS IN TWO OF OUR MAIN CORRIDORS.
THEY'RE BASED ON PLANNING WORK THAT WE HAVE DONE IN THOSE CORRIDORS ARE, UH, BETWEEN, YOU KNOW, OUR STAFF AND PRIMARILY THE COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DESIGN DIVISION WORKING ON, UH, RECOMMENDATIONS FOR, FOR THESE AREAS.
UM, BOTH, UH, THEY WERE, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF THE PLANS AND, AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT THE OVERALL GOALS WERE SIMILAR.
BOTH WERE INTENDED TO ALLOW TALLER HEIGHTS FOR HOUSING, UH, NO CHANGE IN TERMS OF THE, UH, UH, THE DENSITY OR, OR HEIGHTS FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT.
UM, BUT WHILE ALLOWING MORE HOUSING, ALSO ENCOURAGING ACTIVE GROUND FLOORS AND, UM, DESIGN STANDARDS TO SUPPORT THE, THE, THE SORT OF THE GOALS OF, OF CREATING A, AN ACTIVE STREET SCAPE.
AND, UH, THE, THE FINAL RESULTS OF THOSE, UM, EFFORTS WERE A REZONING OF MASS AVE, WHICH NOW ALLOWS RESIDENTIAL USE UP TO 12 STORIES THROUGHOUT MASS AVE.
UM, AND, UH, PROMOTES ACTIVE GROUND FLOOR USE IN PORTER SQUARE.
THERE'S ALLOWANCES FOR UP TO 18 STORIES WITH A, UH, UNDER A-A-P-U-D, UM, PROCESS.
CAMBRIDGE STREET, THE HEIGHT FOR MOST OF CAMBRIDGE STREET WAS, WAS, UH, REMAINED AT SIX STORIES.
UM, BUT IN CERTAIN AREAS, LIKE THE CORNER OF, AT
[00:30:01]
THE CORNER OF WEBSTER STREET AND THEN AT THE, UH, LEACH MIRROR AREA, ADDITIONAL, UH, TALLER HEIGHTS FOR HOUSING WERE ALLOWED.AND FINALLY, UH, JUST TO HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE WORK THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING, UH, NOT JUST AT CDD, BUT AMONG VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS INCLUDING ISD, HISTORICAL, UM, THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT, UM, THE, UH, COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DESIGN AND, AND MANY OTHERS.
UM, WE'VE BEEN WORKING TO STAND UP, UM, SOME OF THE NEW PROCEDURES THAT WERE CREATED FROM THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, PARTICULARLY WORKING OUT HOW THE ADVISORY PROCEDURES WOULD WORK, BOTH AT THE PLANNING BOARD AND, AND AT STAFF LEVEL, UM, WORKING ON, UH, IMPLEMENTING THE NEIGHBORHOOD NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES.
THAT'S SOMETHING I'LL, I'LL TALK ABOUT AS WE, WE GET A LITTLE BIT INTO THIS, UH, REPORT.
UM, AND WE, WE NOW HAVE A, AN ONGOING MONTHLY MEETING AMONG THOSE, THOSE DEPARTMENT I MENTIONED, UM, JUST TO TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING IN TERMS OF HOUSING PROPOSALS AND TO, TO COORDINATE ON, UM, ANY KIND OF IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES OR OTHER, UM, OTHER ISSUES THAT WE NEED TO FOCUS ON AS WE, UM, AS WE WORK TO, UH, TO REVIEW HOUSING OVER TIME.
SO WHY DON'T I TAKE A PAUSE HERE TO SEE IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS OR, OR DISCUSSION.
UH, JEFF, UH, DAN ANDERSON, JUST, UM, ON SLIDE 11, WHICH WAS THE FIVE YEAR PRO, UH, PROGRESS ON THE A HO, UH, JUST A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS WE'RE ON THE, UM, UNITS COMPLETING DESIGN REVIEW.
ARE THOSE CUMULATIVE? THOSE AREN'T PER YEAR, CORRECT? MM-HMM
YEAH, THIS IS, THIS IS A CUMULATIVE, UM, ACCOUNTING, SO THE GRAPH IS SHOWING.
SO AS, AS, UH, AS I MENTIONED, THERE WAS, UH, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A LOT OF INTEREST JUST FROM THE JUMP IN A WAY WITH THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY.
SO THAT FIRST YEAR SAW SEVERAL, SEVERAL, UM, PROPOSALS KIND OF COME INTO EXISTENCE.
UM, AND THEN SINCE THEN IT'S BEEN A, A MORE OR LESS STEADY, UH, PIPELINE OF, OF NEW PROPOSALS COMING INTO THE REVIEW PROCESS.
AND THEN, AND THEN KIND OF THE, WITH THE, WITH THE CONSTRUCT WITH THE FI, WHAT WE DIDN'T PUT ON THIS REALLY WAS THE FI ON THIS WAS THE FINANCING.
SO THERE'S THE DESIGN REVIEW, THEN THE FINANCING, THEN THE CONSTRUCTION, THEN THE, THE DELIVERY OF THE UNITS.
I GUESS ONE, ONE THING THAT I'M INTERESTED IN, AND MAYBE YOUR FU THE, I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING IN THE FURTHER SLIDES, BUT, UM, IT REALLY HAS TO DO WITH VELOCITY.
SO, YOU KNOW, OF THE 492 MAYBE THAT WE'RE SEEING IN 2022, UM, WE'VE, YOU KNOW, 1, 2, 3 YEARS LATER, WE NOW HAVE 62 UNITS, UM, WITH C OF O.
SO, YOU KNOW, KIND OF UNDERSTANDING THE, THE, UH, THE TRAJECTORY OF THOSE, 'CAUSE IT COULD BE SOME FROM 2023 THAT JUST MOVE MORE QUICKLY.
UM, I'M, I'M KIND OF CURIOUS ABOUT HOW, UM, HOW THE VELOCITY OF, OF FROM INITIAL REVIEW TO CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY GO.
AND, UM, I WAS LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THAT, BUT YOU ANSWERED MY QUESTION.
YEAH, WELL, I THINK THAT'S TRUE AND WE, WE CERTAINLY COULD DO, WE COULD DO A MORE ELABORATE GRAPH IF WE, IF WE WANTED TO OF THIS.
BUT, UM, I CAN JUST SAY ON REFLECTION, YOU'RE RIGHT, THAT IT'S NOT A, YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT JUST A ONE-TO-ONE.
YOU KNOW, EVERYTHING IS PACED EXACTLY EVENLY BECAUSE WITH THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY, WE'RE SEEING A PRETTY WIDE RANGE OF DEVELOPMENT.
THERE'S SOME, I THINK THERE'S, YOU KNOW, IF YOU THINK ABOUT JEFFERSON PARK, 250 PLUS OR MINUS UNITS IN THAT DEVELOPMENT, WHICH INVOLVES A LOT OF SITE, YOU KNOW, WORK AND RECONSTRUCTION.
SO THAT'S A, THAT'S A, THAT'S A DEVELOPMENT THAT'S TAKING A LOT MORE TIME.
UM, THE FIRST ONE WAS, UH, THE DEVELOPMENT ON NORFOLK STREET, WHICH IS A, A SOMEWHAT SMALLER PROJECT.
IT'S A COMBINATION OF RENOVATION AND, AND ADDITION.
UM, WHICH I, I DON'T REMEMBER IF THAT, IF THAT WAS ONE OF THE PROJECTS THAT COMPLETED DESIGN REVIEW IN 2022 OR 2023, BUT CERTAINLY A, A MUCH SHORTER CONSTRUCTION TIMEFRAME THAN SOME OF THE OTHER, UM, DEVELOPMENTS THAT WERE PERMITTED EARLY OR WERE, THAT WENT THROUGH DESIGN REVIEW EARLY IN THE, THE A HO.
I, I JUST WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT TWO THINGS.
UH, DAN, THANK YOU FOR POINTING TO SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY HAD ENOUGH OF A TIMELINE TO BEGIN TO AT LEAST SPECULATE ABOUT, UH, TRAJECTORY OR CHANGE.
GIVEN THAT THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR'S REPORT, IT'S VERY HARD TO CONCLUDE ANYTHING NECESSARILY.
UM, BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS
[00:35:01]
YOUR ATTEMPT TO BENCHMARK AND SAY, OKAY, HERE ARE THE THINGS THAT WE'RE GONNA MEASURE.I, YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT ON SLIDE EIGHT HERE, WE'VE GOT A, AT LEAST A HOPEFUL SIGN THAT, YOU KNOW, UM, THERE'S, ON THE SMALLER SCALE PROJECTS, THERE'S A SHIFT AWAY FROM DECREASING UNITS TO INCREASING UNITS.
SOMETHING'S WORKING OUT THERE.
'CAUSE THE GOAL OVERALL IS TO INCREASE THE HOUSING STOCK.
UM, MY OTHER QUESTION ACTUALLY PROBABLY MOVES INTO PROCEDURE BECAUSE, UM, UH, THIS POINT ABOUT YOUR ONGOING INTER DEPARTMENTAL, UH, MEETINGS TO FIGURE OUT HOW YOU SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
WE KNOW THAT, UM, THE HISTORIC COMMISSION IS SEEING A HUGE, UH, VOLUME OF WORK, AND I'M WONDERING HOW, HOW THEY'RE DOING.
BUT MAYBE WE JUMP, YOU CAN ANSWER THAT WHEN WE GET, GET FURTHER INTO THE DECK.
WE'LL, WE'LL GET IN THERE, UH, WHEN, WHEN WE GET TO IT.
AND I, I SHOULD HAVE ALSO MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING THAT ALL OF THOSE DEPARTMENTS I MENTIONED WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN PUTTING THIS REPORT TOGETHER.
AND, UH, IT'S JUST, JUST ME AND EMILY, UH, WAS ALSO A, A KEY, UH, REALLY ON, ON MY TEAM WAS THE KEY DRIVER OF PUTTING ALL THIS TOGETHER.
SO WE CAN TRY TO REPRESENT A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT WE'VE, YOU KNOW, HEARD IN, IN WHAT, WHAT'S BEEN PROVIDED JUST BY THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
BUT WE, YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T SPEAK DIRECTLY FOR THEM.
BUT MAYBE THAT'S, THAT'S A CONVERSATION WE COULD HAVE AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE.
SO IF, IF THERE'S NOTHING ELSE WE CAN, WE CAN GET RIGHT INTO IT AND WE'LL, WE'LL TALK ABOUT ALL OF THOSE ISSUES, YOU KNOW, MORE AS WE GET INTO THE DETAILS.
UM, SO THIS, THIS IS AGAIN, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S HAPPENED, UM, IN 2025.
AND WE'VE ALSO, YOU KNOW, WE'VE ALL KIND OF GONE INTO 2026 INTO, UH, TO THE PRESENT DAY.
'CAUSE THE IDEA HERE IS, UM, THE WAY I'VE DESCRIBED IT IS TO GET YOUR HEAD INTO IT.
IMAGINE YOURSELF STANDING AT ONE POINT IN TIME AND LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD AND, YOU KNOW, WHAT DO WE SEE COMING DOWN THAT ROAD? SO IT IS NOT EXACTLY, YOU KNOW, A, A A TIMELINE, BUT IT'S MORE, YOU KNOW, WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT DO WE ANTICIPATE, UM, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE NOT SURE EXACTLY WHEN, WHEN WE'RE GONNA GET THERE.
UM, WE, UH, ALL OF THESE ARE, UH, NEW.
WE TALK ABOUT NEW PROPOSALS THAT HAVE COME OUR WAY AS OF 2025.
UM, WE ALSO LOOK BACK IN SOME CASES TO PROPOSALS THAT ARE, ARE OLDER THAT CAME BEFORE 2025, BUT HAVEN'T YET GONE INTO CONSTRUCTION.
UM, SO WE'RE TRYING TO KIND OF PROVIDE A COMPLETE PICTURE BECAUSE THERE ARE, THERE IS AN AWFUL LOT OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT THAT, YOU KNOW, HAS BEEN PERMITTED IN SOME WAY OR WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, AND HAS BEEN IN PLACE, YOU KNOW, BEFORE ALL OF THESE ZONING CHANGES, UM, WHICH IS, IS PART OF THAT OVERALL PICTURE.
UM, WE, UH, UH, THESE PROJECTS DON'T NECESSARILY ALL HAVE BUILDING PERMITS YET, SO I'LL JUST, I'LL KIND OF REITERATE THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
UM, AND IT WAS REALLY HARD FOR US TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO, HOW TO PRESENT ALL THIS INFORMATION BECAUSE IF WE FOCUSED, WE REALIZED IF WE FOCUSED JUST ON BUILDING PERMITS, WE WEREN'T GONNA CAPTURE ALL THE PROPOSALS THAT WE'VE SEEN AND ALL THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE HAVE HEARD ABOUT.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME, YOU KNOW, WE ALSO, WE, WE DO WANT TO GET TO JUST FOCUSING ON BUILDING PERMITS BECAUSE MANY OF THESE PROJECTS ARE, UM, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THESE PROJECTS WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD.
AND SOME OF THEM WE KNOW ARE NOT GONNA MOVE FORWARD IN THE FORM THAT WE'VE SEEN THEM, UM, ALREADY.
UH, BECAUSE THERE, YOU KNOW, HAVE BEEN CHANGES THAT HAVE, THAT HAVE, UH, THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE.
UM, SOME OF THE PROJECTS ARE PROBABLY GONNA CHANGE.
UM, SOME OF THEM WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT NUMBER OF UNITS, A DIFFERENT TYPE OF UNIT, UM, YOU KNOW, BEING PROVIDED.
SO IT, IT'S, IT'S NOT, UH, WE CAN'T TAKE THIS SECTION AS A, A PERFECTLY PRECISE PREDICTION OF WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
BUT IT, IT'S, IT'S JUST KIND OF A SENSE AND AN OVERVIEW OF, OF WHAT WE SEE COMING.
UM, AND IT, IT ALL IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
UM, I WON'T READ THIS WHOLE LIST, BUT THIS IS AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT'S COVERED.
I'M GONNA GO SECTION BY SECTION.
UM, IN ORDER TO, TO KIND OF FILL THIS SECTION OUT, WE, WE CHOSE, UM, DIFFERENT TYPES OF REVIEW PROCESSES THAT ARE EITHER MANDATED BY ZONING OR BY BY OTHER ORDINANCES.
IN THE CASE OF, UM, THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION REVIEW, UM, IT'S A COMBINATION OF BINDING AND NON-BINDING REVIEW PROCEDURES.
ALL OF THESE HAVE DIFFERENT PURPOSES AND FUNCTIONS.
WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT, UH, THE PURPOSE OF ALL THESE REVIEWS AND WHAT THEY'RE FOR.
THE BOARD IS, IS FAMILIAR WITH A LOT OF THEM.
UM, BUT WE'RE, WE'RE JUST USING THIS AS A WAY TO, TO KIND OF STRUCTURE THE REPORT AND TO COME UP WITH A, A SET OF, OF PROPOSALS THAT WE CAN REALLY LOOK AT MORE CLOSELY.
SO WE START, UH, WITH PLANNING BOARD SPECIAL PERMITS.
UM, SOME OF THESE ARE, ARE NOT DIRECTLY BASED ON THE, THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING IN, IN TWO CASES.
UM, THE 7 45 CONCORD AVE PROJECT, WHICH WAS REVIEWED IN, IN, UH, EARLY IN 2025.
AND THE HEALTH PEAK PUD, WHICH THE BOARD IS GONNA BE REVIEWING LATER IN APRIL, UM, ARE PART OF THE, THE PREVIOUS ALEWIFE ZONING THAT WAS ADOPTED.
UM, OR THEY'RE, THEY'RE BASED ON THE ALEWIFE ZONING THAT WAS ADOPTED.
[00:40:02]
UM, THE 7 45 CONCORD AVE HAD RECEIVED ITS SPECIAL PERMIT AT THIS POINT.IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE MOVING FORWARD, BUT THAT PERMIT IS STILL VALID.
IT, IT COULD OR, OR SOMETHING COULD MOVE FORWARD.
THAT'S STILL A, UM, A VIABLE DEVELOPMENT SITE.
AND HEALTH PEAK OF, OF COURSE, WILL WE'LL BE GOING UNDERGOING REVIEW.
UM, THE FIRST PRO PROPOSAL, THE PLANNING BOARD, WE EXPECT TO WE'LL SEE AT SOME POINT IN, IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE IS A PROPOSAL, UM, ON BIR STREET AND BAYSTATE ROAD IN A A C ONE A DISTRICT.
THEY'VE DONE THEIR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, UM, PROCESS.
AND THEIR NEXT STEP WOULD BE SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION TO THE PLANNING BOARD.
SO THIS IS ONE THAT, UM, WOULD EXCEED THE, THE NEW SPECIAL PERMIT THRESHOLD FOR, FOR PROJECT REVIEW.
AND, UH, HERE ARE ALL OF THE, UM, SORT OF OLDER PLANNING BOARD SPECIAL PERMIT CASES THAT HAVE NOT GONE INTO CONSTRUCTION YET.
UM, A LOT OF THESE, YOU KNOW, WILL BE FAMILIAR TO MANY BOARD MEMBERS.
YOU KNOW, PUD DEVELOPMENT IN THE CASE OF, UH, NORTH POINT OR CAMBRIDGE CROSSING THAT ONE HAS, HAS, HAS ALREADY BUILT A LOT OF ITS HOUSING, BUT THERE'S A LOT MORE HOUSING YET TO BE BUILT.
UM, THE VOLPE SITE DEVELOPMENT IS YET TO ENTER, ITS, ITS RESIDENTIAL PHASES.
AS, AS, UH, IS THE CASE WITH CAMBRIDGE SIDE.
UM, 75 FIRST STREET IS ONE WHERE, UM, THE BUILDING PERMIT IS NOW.
IT, IT, IT WAS, UH, IT WAS SLOWED FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, BUT THE BUILDING PERMIT IS NOW UNDER REVIEW.
SO THAT'S WHEN WE EXPECT, UM, WE'LL BE GOING INTO CONSTRUCTION, UH, IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE.
AND THEN THERE ARE SOME OTHER CASES THAT, UM, RECEIVE A SPECIAL PERMIT THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY, THEY, THEY MAYBE ARE NOT GONNA BE MOVING FORWARD.
BUT AGAIN, THOSE ARE, ARE ALL POTENTIAL, UM, REDEVELOPMENT SITES AND REDEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES.
THEY WERE ALL PERMITTED BEFORE THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING CHANGES.
AND IN ONE CASE BEFORE THE, THE CHANGES TO THE MASS AVE ZONING.
SO, YOU KNOW, THERE MAY, THERE MAY BE SOME REFORMULATION OF, UM, WHAT'S PLANNED TO HAPPEN ON SOME OF THOSE SITES.
UM, I'M NOT GONNA READ THROUGH ALL THE TAKEAWAYS 'CAUSE MOSTLY THESE ARE, ARE THINGS I'VE ALREADY REVIEWED, UM, LOOKING AT THE SLIDES.
BUT THE, UM, THE KEY THING HERE TO NOTE IS, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU LOOK AT JUST SHEER NUMBER OF UNITS, THE THE THREE PUD PROPOSALS, THE ONE THAT, UM, HAS NOT BEEN REVIEWED YET, AND THE TWO THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN PERMITTED, THOSE, THOSE MAKE UP, UH, PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL, UH, PART OF THAT, UH, MARKET HOUSING PIPELINE, UH, AS WE LOOKED AT THE LONG TERM.
BUT IN MANY CASES, THOSE PROPOSALS ARE GOING TO, UM, ARE GONNA TAKE A VERY LONG TIME TO BUILD OUT.
SO, UM, THIS IS THE CATEGORY THAT THE PLANNING BOARD IS, IS MOST PROBABLY MOST FAMILIAR WITH, IS APART FROM THE SPECIAL PERMITS, WHICH IS THE PLANNING BOARD ADVISORY CONSULTATIONS, UM, IN, UH, OUR PREVIOUS ZONING, UM, THIS IS A PROCESS THAT APPLIED ONLY TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY DEVELOPMENT AND ONLY FROM THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING.
UM, UH, DID THE, THE PLANNING BOARD SORT OF TAKE JURISDICTION OVER, UM, SOME, UH, MARKET RATE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, WHICH IS SUBJECT TO THIS, UH, THIS REVIEW PROCESS BY VIRTUE OF BEING BETWEEN 50 AND 75,000 SQUARE FEET IN GROSS FLOOR AREA.
SO THE BOARD'S FAMILIAR WITH, UM, MANY OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY DEVELOPMENTS THAT HAVE COME THROUGH, UM, OVER THE PAST YEAR.
UM, THERE'S THE 1740 MASS AVE DEVELOPMENT, WHICH, UH, THE PLANNING BOARD HAD ITS FIRST CONSULTATION SESSION FOR, UM, IT'S THE FIR THAT'S THE FIRST ONE THAT THE PLANNING BOARD HAS, UH, REVIEWED.
THE FIRST MARKET RATE PROJECT THAT THE BOARD HAS REVIEWED UNDER THE PLANNING BOARD ADVISORY CONSULTATION.
IT'LL BE COMING BACK FOR ITS SECOND REVIEW SESSION IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE.
UM, PORTER STREET 1628 PORTER STREET WAS ONE THAT HAD BEEN PLANNED FOR A CONSULTATION.
UH, WE, WE NOW KNOW BECAUSE IT'S BEEN ANNOUNCED THAT THE SITE IS UNDER CONTROL, UH, OF THE CAMBRIDGE HOUSING AUTHORITY.
SO WE EXPECT THAT THAT WILL BE, UM, RETHOUGHT AND WILL LIKELY BE, UM, COMING FORWARD AS AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPOSAL.
IT, IT PREVIOUSLY WAS, WAS BEING, UM, CONCEIVED AS A, A MARKET RATE WITH INCLUSIONARY, UH, PROPOSAL.
BUT SO THAT'S ONE THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'LL, IT'LL STILL BE ON THAT LIST SOMEWHERE, BUT IT'LL, IT'LL BE A DIFFERENT, I GUESS, DIFFERENT COLOR BECAUSE WE'VE, WE'VE KIND OF, WE'VE CODED SOME OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY DEVELOPMENTS TO MAKE THEM THEM EASIER TO, TO SEE IN THE CHART.
AND THERE ARE A COUPLE OF, UH, AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY PROJECTS THAT WENT THROUGH REVIEW, UM, PREVIOUSLY IN, IN 2024.
AND BOTH OF THOSE, WE EXPECT TO BE GOING INTO THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
THE, THOSE ARE KIND OF IN THAT IN BETWEEN PHASE THAT I MENTIONED BETWEEN DOING THE, COMPLETING THE DESIGN REVIEW AND, AND, UH, AND THEN GETTING THEIR PERMITTING, UH, OR I'M SORRY, GETTING THEIR FUNDING SECURED SO THAT THEY CAN THEN MOVE FORWARD.
[00:45:02]
UM, SO THE, THE BROAD POINT HERE IS THAT WHILE, UM, OR ONE OF THE BROAD POINTS HERE, IF YOU WERE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ZONING DISTRICTS, IS THAT SOME OF THESE LARGER PROPOSALS ARE COMING FORWARD IN, IN RESIDENCY ONE DISTRICTS AND SORT OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD DISTRICTS, WHICH WERE THE FOCUS OF A LOT OF THE MULTIFAMILY DISCUSSION.BUT WE'RE ALSO SEEING PROPOSALS IN, IN MANY OTHER ZONING DISTRICTS AND, UM, AND KIND OF SCATTERED THROUGH, THROUGH DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY.
UM, THIS IS SOMETHING, UH, WE'VE ACTUALLY ALWAYS HAD, WE, WE SORT OF RENAMED IT AS PART OF THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, BUT THIS IS A PROCESS THAT, UM, OF STAFF REVIEW THAT HAS ALWAYS KIND OF APPLIED IN SOME WAY TO, UH, PROJECTS THAT ARE 25 TO 50,000 SQUARE FEET.
AND WE'VE SEEN SEVERAL OF THEM COME THROUGH THE REVIEW PROCESS, UH, SINCE 2025.
UM, THEY ARE, UH, AGAIN, IN, IN, IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY, UH, EAST CAMBRIDGE AND WEST CAMBRIDGE, AND, AND IN THE MIDDLE, UM, SOME OF THEM HAVE, UH, UH, MO OR MOST OF THEM ARE ON SITES WITH NO EXISTING UNITS OR ONE EXISTING UNIT.
SO THEY'RE PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO THE NUMBER OF UNITS FOR THAT PARTICULAR SITE.
UM, AND A COUPLE OF THEM ARE ALREADY IN THE BUILDING PERMIT REVIEW PHASE.
SO, UM, THOSE ARE ONES THAT, THAT COULD BE GOING INTO CONSTRUCTION SOON.
UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, THOSE THO THE, THIS REVIEW PROCESS, THE STAFF ADVISORY REVIEW PROCESS IS ONE THAT SEEMS TO BE, UM, YOU KNOW, MOVING PROPOSALS, UH, THROUGH THE PROCESS FAIRLY, UM, UH, FAIRLY EFFICIENTLY.
THE, UH, ONE CASE THAT WE SAW, UM, UH, OF A PUBLIC ADVISORY CONSULTATION.
SO AGAIN, THIS IS A PRE-EXISTING PROCESS WHICH APPLIES TO NEARLY ALL NEW CONSTRUCTION, UM, OR SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONS IN WHAT WE CALL AREAS OF SPECIAL PLANNING CONCERN.
SO IN THIS CASE, UM, BOTH PRO OF OF 32 3 22 PROSPECT STREET, BOTH PROSPECT STREET AND UM, NOW CAMBRIDGE STREET ARE, UH, CONSIDERED AREAS OF SPECIAL PLANNING CONCERN.
THAT WAS ONE OF THE CHANGES THAT WAS PART OF THE CA SO THIS IS A PROPOSAL, WHICH UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF PROPOSAL OF NINE UNITS WOULDN'T UNDERGO, UH, REVIEW.
BUT BECAUSE IT'S IN ONE OF THOSE AREAS OF SPECIAL PLANNING CONCERN, IT WENT, IT UNDERWENT A REVIEW, WHICH REQUIRED A PUBLIC MEETING, UM, TO, UH, TO GET INPUT INTO THE PROPOSAL.
ALL OF OF THIS AGAIN, IS ADVISORY AND, AND NON-BINDING.
AND THIS IS ALSO NOW IN THE BUILDING PERMIT REVIEW PHASE.
SO, UH, IN THIS, UH, SORT OF RANGE OF, OF SIZES WE ARE STILL SEEING OR OR SCALE OF, OF DEVELOPMENT, WE ARE STILL SEEING INTEREST.
UM, ONE OF THE REFLECTIONS THAT WE'VE HAD IS THAT, UM, HAVING, UH, SOME CONTACT WITH STAFF, UM, FOR PROPOSALS THAT, THAT DON'T OTHERWISE HAVE TO GO TO THE PLANNING BOARD OR, OR GO THROUGH A A DISCRETIONARY REVIEW PROCESS, IS THAT IT'S HELPING DEVELOPERS UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ZONING REQUIREMENTS ARE FOR A PROJECT OF THAT SCALE.
AND THAT'S, UM, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, THERE, THERE ARE PROJECTS AT THIS SCALE THAT ARE SUBJECT TO GREEN BUILDING REQUIREMENTS, OR IN SOME CASES THEY'RE IN FACT IN, IN ALL CASES, EVEN FOR SMALLER DEVELOPMENT, THEY'RE SUBJECT TO GREEN FACTOR REQUIREMENTS.
AND IT'S, IT'S BEEN HELPFUL TO COVER THESE ISSUES BEFORE IT GETS INTO THE BUILDING PERMIT REVIEW STEP.
AND THAT SEEMS TO BE HELPING RESOLVE SOME ISSUES AND SMOOTH OUT THE PROCESS AS, AS THE PROJECTS, UH, GET DOWN THE ROAD.
UM, AND SO NOW WE'RE, WE'RE SHIFTING A LITTLE BIT TO HISTORICAL REVIEW.
SO THIS IS TOTALLY SEPARATE FROM ZONING.
UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, WE, WE'VE, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE FOUND IS THAT PROPOSALS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO HISTORICAL COMMISSION REVIEW HAVE TENDED TO START THEIR PROCESS AT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
SO IN MANY CASES, THESE PROPOSALS HAVEN'T YET MADE IT INTO ZONING REVIEW.
IN, IN SOME CASES THEY, THEY WOULDN'T BE SUBJECT TO ADDITIONAL ZONING REVIEW FOR, FOR THE SMALLER SCALE DEVELOPMENT.
BUT FOR SOME OF THESE LARGER SCALE DEVELOPMENTS, WE EXPECT THEY'LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ONE OF THE REVIEW PROCESS THAT WE'VE ALREADY MENTIONED, WHETHER IT'S STAFF REVIEW OR PLANNING BOARD ADVISORY REVIEW, OR, UM, THE SPECIAL PERMIT PROCESS.
ALTHOUGH I, I DON'T KNOW THAT ANY OF THESE, UH, EXCEED THE, THE PROJECT REVIEW SPECIAL PERMIT THRESHOLD.
UM, SO, UH, THIS PARTICULAR LIST, UH, LOOKS AT HOUSING PROPOSALS THAT HAVE GONE THROUGH DEMOLITION REVIEW.
SO THESE ARE, WE'LL TALK ABOUT THIS MORE A LITTLE BIT LATER, BUT THESE ARE PROPOSALS WHERE THE DEMOLITION OF THE EXISTING BUILDING WAS DEEMED SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH THAT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION HAD TO REVIEW IT.
UM, AND, UH, ALL OF THESE ARE ACTUALLY IN, IN RESIDENCY ONE, WHICH IS, WHICH IS SOMEWHAT INTERESTING.
ALL OF THE PROPOSALS OR MOST OF THE PROPOSALS ARE RELATIVELY SMALL, UM, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ONE PROPOSAL ON WESTERN AVENUE, WHICH IS LARGER.
AND THAT'S, THAT'S A, UH, THAT WAS A NOTABLE PROPOSAL THAT THAT WENT THROUGH HISTORICAL COMMISSION REVIEW.
UM, WE DON'T KNOW THE EXACT SIZE OF THE PROJECT AGAIN 'CAUSE IT HASN'T
[00:50:01]
GONE THROUGH ZONING REVIEW.THERE'S, THERE'S A LOT OF DETAIL THAT HASN'T BEEN PROVIDED IN TERMS OF LIKE GROSS FLOOR AREA AND OTHER DIMENSIONAL, UM, CHARACTERISTICS.
UH, BUT IT WILL LIKELY NEED TO GO THROUGH AT, AT THAT SCALE EITHER A PLANNING BOARD ADVISORY CONSULTATION OR, OR SOME OTHER KIND OF REVIEW BEFORE IT GETS TO THE BUILDING PERMIT PHASE.
AND THERE'S ALSO, UM, SOME PROPOSALS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH A REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS, UM, BASED ON BEING IN HIS EITHER HISTORIC DISTRICTS OR NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICTS.
UM, AND ONE, UH, THE BOARD MEMBERS OF, YOU KNOW, WERE PAYING ATTENTION, WERE PROBABLY AWARE THAT THERE WERE THREE DIFFERENT, UH, PROPOSALS THAT WERE RELATIVELY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER IN MID CAMBRIDGE THAT, UH, WENT THROUGH REVIEW BY THE MID CAMBRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT COMMISSION.
UM, IN ADDITION TO THOSE, THERE WERE SOME PROPOSALS IN OR NEAR HARVARD SQUARE, UM, INCLUDING ONE PROPOSAL THAT WAS, UH, UH, COMBINATION OF A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING AND A HOTEL.
UM, THESE PROPOSALS SIMILARLY HAVE NOT GONE THROUGH ANY OF THE APPLICABLE ZONING MANDATED REVIEW.
SO, SO THERE'S A LOT OF DETAILS WE'RE NOT SURE ABOUT.
UM, BUT SOME OF THESE WILL, UM, GO THROUGH SOME OF THOSE REVIEW PROCESSES, THE PLANNING BOARD OR, OR STAFF REVIEW.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, SOME OF, I GUESS SOME OF THESE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN LARGER AND, AND SOME OF THEM WERE, YOU KNOW, SMALLER, UM, BECAUSE THESE CASES WERE SUBJECT TO PUBLIC HEARINGS AND, AND BINDING REVIEW, UH, THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND THE NCS RECEIVED A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON THESE CASES.
UM, THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, CONCERNS RAISED, UH, ON, ON A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT ISSUES.
SOME OF IT WAS, UH, AROUND COMPATIBILITY WITH THE SURROUNDING AREAS, WHICH, YOU KNOW, THAT WERE, WERE THINGS THAT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION COULD, UH, WORK WITH THE PROPOSALS TO TRY TO IMPROVE THE DESIGN.
AND THEY, THEY DID, YOU KNOW, WORK THROUGH A LOT OF THESE PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE THE DESIGN IN SOME CASES, UM, ENCOURAGING A SHIFT AWAY FROM A, A DEMOLITION AND RECONSTRUCTION TO A PRESERVATION AND, AND ADDITION, UM, TYPE OF APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT.
UM, BUT THERE WERE ALSO, UH, UH, COMMENTS AT, UM, AT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND, AND THE NCS ABOUT OTHER KINDS OF DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS THAT AREN'T SQUARELY IN THE PURVIEW OF, OF THE CITY'S HISTORICAL COMMISSION HAVING TO DO WITH THINGS LIKE PARKING AND, UM, AND GREEN SPACE.
UM, SO I, I MENTIONED EARLIER ONE OF THE ADDITIONS FOR THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, AND THIS WAS ONE THAT I'M NOT SURE THAT THE PLANNING BOARD WAS VERY INVOLVED 'CAUSE THIS CAME LATE, UH, OR LATER IN THE, THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING HEARING PROCESS.
IT WAS SOMETHING THAT THE COUNCIL ASKED TO BE INTRODUCED.
UM, AND THIS IS A NEIGHBORHOOD, UH, NOTIFICATION PROCESS.
IT APPLIES ONLY IN RESIDENCY ONE DISTRICT.
SO I DIDN'T BREAK THIS DOWN BY ZONING DISTRICT.
IT'S ALL RESIDENCY ONE, AND IT'S ONLY FOR PROPOSALS ABOVE THREE STORIES.
AND WHAT THE REQUIREMENT SAYS IS THAT THE APPLICANT NEEDS TO NOTIFY IMMEDIATE ABUTTERS AND HOLD A MEETING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AND, AND GET FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PROPOSAL.
UM, THIS WAS INTENDED AS, AS KIND OF A, A LOWER LIFT ENGAGEMENT EFFORT.
UM, THE COUNCIL WANTED TO SIMPLY MAKE SURE THAT A DEVELOPER WAS TALKING TO THE NEIGHBORS BEFORE, UM, PROCEEDING WITH THE, THE DEVELOPMENT.
UM, CDD IS NOTIFIED WHEN A MEETING IS SCHEDULED AND ADVERTISED SO THAT WE CAN POST ON OUR WEBPAGE, BUT OTHERWISE WE'RE NOT REALLY DIRECTLY INVOLVED.
THERE'S NO STAFF ADVISORY REVIEW.
UM, THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF THESE, UH, UNLESS IT, IT OTHERWISE TRIGGERS STAFF ADVISORY REVIEW.
AND SO FAR WE'VE SEEN 27 OF THESE NEIGHBOR NOTIFICATION CASES.
MOST OF THESE ARE RELATIVELY SMALL, UM, ALMOST ALL THREE OR FOUR STORIES.
IN FACT, THE ONE PROPOSAL ON THIS LIST THAT'S SIX STORIES IS ACTUALLY JUST PARTLY IN A RESIDENCY.
IT'S MOSTLY IN A, UH, A MIXED USE, UH, COMMERCIAL DISTRICT.
SO IT'S A LITTLE BIT UNIQUE COMPARED TO THE REST.
UM, JUST UNDER HALF OF THESE PROPOSALS ARE NOW IN CONSTRUCTION.
UM, AND THE OTHERS ARE, ARE STILL KIND OF IN THE, IN THE REVIEW PROCESS.
AND THE MAJORITY OF THEM, SORT OF BY, BY ABOUT A TWO TO ONE MARGIN, ARE ON LOTS THAT ARE LESS THAN 5,000 SQUARE FEET.
UH, AND THERE IS, UH, SOME OVERLAP WITH THESE, WITH THE PROPOSALS THAT WERE REVIEWED BY HISTORICAL.
SO THERE ARE SOME CASES WHERE THERE WAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION REVIEW, UH, OR, OR DEMOLITION REVIEW OR, UM, THEY WERE CONSERVATION DISTRICT REVIEW, BUT THEY ALSO HAD TO DO THE NEIGHBORHOOD NOTIFICATION UNDER ZONING
[00:55:01]
SO HERE'S A SUMMARY FROM THE PREVIOUS SLIDES, JUST GIVING US AN IDEA OF WHAT THE FUTURE PIPELINE OF DEVELOPMENT, UH, MIGHT LOOK LIKE.UH, WE DELIBERATELY DIDN'T CREATE A TOTAL ON THESE BECAUSE AS I MENTIONED, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF OVERLAP, BUT ALSO, AS I NOTED AT THE BEGINNING, WE DON'T HAVE A GUARANTEE THAT ALL THESE PROJECTS WILL MOVE FORWARD IN THEIR CURRENT FORM.
AND, AND THEY'RE ALL KIND OF ON DIFFERENT, UM, POTENTIAL TIMELINES.
SO THERE'S, THERE'S REALLY NOT MUCH WE CAN DO TO CREATE A, A CLEAR KIND OF AGGREGATE PICTURE, BUT WE CAN KIND OF COMPARE, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE NUMBERS LOOK LIKE IN THESE, IN EACH OF THESE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES TO GET A SENSE OF HOW, UM, THE PROPOSALS OF DIFFERENT TYPES AND DIFFERENT SCALES LINE UP WITH EACH OTHER AS FAR AS THE NUMBER OF UNITS THAT ARE EXPECTED.
UM, AND FINALLY, JUST LOOKING AT HOW THESE MAP ACROSS THE CITY, THEY'RE PRETTY SPREAD OUT, UH, EAST TO WEST.
UM, THERE'S SOME NEIGHBORHOODS THAT MORE HAVE MORE PROPOSALS THAN OTHERS.
UM, NOT NECESSARILY A A PATTERN THAT'S ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANYTHING THAT I CAN TELL, BUT, BUT MAYBE MORE DUE TO WHERE REDEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES HAVE APPEARED, IF THERE WERE, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU KNOW, UH, ONE ENTITY OWNING MULTIPLE SITES THAT THAT THEN CAME ON THE MARKET AT A SIMILAR TIME.
UM, AS WE LOOK AT THIS IN FUTURE YEARS, WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS, BUT AT THIS POINT IT'S, UM, STILL FAIRLY DISPERSED.
AND, UM, SOME OF THE BIG TAKEAWAYS, UH, BEFORE I TAKE ANOTHER PAUSE, SIX STORY PROPOSALS ARE, ARE A THING NOW, YOU KNOW, UNDER THE ZONING, A LOT OF THE ZONING WAS BUILT AROUND THIS IDEA OF, OF THE SIX STORY MULTIFAMILY PROPOSAL BEING, UM, ONE OF THE MORE KIND OF ECONOMICALLY ADVANTAGEOUS APPROACHES TO, TO BUILDING HOUSING UNITS.
UM, SO WE'VE SEEN, UM, A NUMBER OF PROPOSALS, NOT ALL OF THEM IN THE RESIDENCY ONE DISTRICT, UM, AND, UH, NOT NECESSARILY ALL BUT MOST BELOW THAT SPECIAL PERMIT THRESHOLD.
SO WE THINK THAT THE, THE SETTING OF THE, THE SPECIAL PERMIT THRESHOLD AND ONLY HAVING ADVISORY REVIEW BELOW THAT THRESHOLD IS, IS HAVING AN EFFECT ON HOW DEVELOPERS ARE APPROACHING, UM, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT, AT, UH, UH, WHAT CAN BE BILLED ON A PARTICULAR SITE OR, OR WHAT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH FOR A PARTICULAR SITE.
UM, AND AGAIN, MOST OF THESE HAVE NOT PROCEEDED THE BUILDING PERMIT STAGE, UM, BUT THEY, YOU KNOW, SOME PROPOSALS OF THAT SCALE SOMETIMES TAKE A LITTLE BIT MORE TIME.
AS WE SAW WITH THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY.
IT TAKES, TAKES A LITTLE BIT OF TIME FOR, FOR PROPOSALS TO MOVE FROM, FROM THE DESIGN PHASE INTO THE, THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE.
UM, THE, UH, I GUESS THE FINAL POINT IS THAT ALTHOUGH FUTURE'S ALWAYS UNCERTAIN, IT SEEMS LIKE FOR NOW THE PIPELINE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT THAT WAS SET UP FOLLOWING THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY IS NOT SLOWING DOWN.
SO WHILE WE'VE BEEN SEEING MORE COME THROUGH IN THE WAY OF MARKET DEVELOPMENT, WE'RE ALSO SEEING, CONTINUING TO SEE A LOT OF, UH, PROPOSALS COME THROUGH IN, IN THE AFFORDABLE, UH, DEVELOPMENT WORLD.
AND, AND AS WE SAW WITH THE EXAMPLE THAT I MENTIONED ON PORTER STREET, THERE'S, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE EVEN SEEING SOME, SOME PROPOSALS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN MARKET RATE SHIFTING TO, TO INCLUDE OR SLIPPING TO, UM, TO AFFORDABLE.
SO I'LL GO BACK TO THE MAP AND MAYBE PAUSE HERE TO SEE IF THERE'S ANY, UH, QUESTIONS.
JUST 'CAUSE IT'S A NICE PICTURE, ED.
OH, AND I'LL, AND JUST, I'LL, I'LL LET, UM, I'LL LET THE CHAIR FACILITATE THE QUESTIONS.
PROBABLY BECAUSE I, I CAN'T NECESSARILY SEE ALL THE HANDS.
UM, THE WAY I HAVE MY SCREENS WILL DO, WILL DO.
JEFF, I HAVE A COUPLE QUESTIONS THAT PROBABLY WERE OUTSIDE THE PURVIEW OF THE STUDY AND THE REPORT, BUT, UH, YOU'VE BEEN TOUCHING ON THINGS AROUND THEM.
UM, WHEN WE WERE DOING THE MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING REVIEWS, THERE WAS A LOT OF CONCERN ABOUT, UH, IT MAY BE USED TO ENLARGE EXISTING HOMES AND GET MCMANSIONS.
AND I WAS WONDERING FROM THE REVIEW OF BUILDING PERMITS, DO YOU SEE THAT AS OCCURRING OR IT'S NOT HAPPENING AT ALL? UM, THANKS FOR THE QUESTION.
I, WE'LL PROBABLY GET INTO THAT IN THE NEXT SECTION WHEN WE GET INTO BUILDING PERMITS.
DOESN'T SAY THIS ISN'T THE END.
THIS IS JUST KIND OF PAUSING ON PROPOSALS THAT HAVE COME THROUGH THE REVIEW PROCESS, BUT NOT NECESSARILY INTO THE BUILDING PERMIT PROCESS.
WHEN WE GET IN AND, AND MOST OF THIS IS, YOU KNOW, LA LARGER SCALE FOR THE MOST PART.
UM, WHEN WE GET INTO BUILDING PERMITS, WE'LL SEE A LOT OF THE BUILDING PERMITS ARE, ARE DEALING WITH SOME OF THOSE SMALLER SCALE, UM, SITE DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS.
AND, AND WE'LL GET IN, WE'LL GET VERY DIRECTLY INTO THAT QUESTION.
UH, I'LL SAVE MY OTHER QUESTION, WHICH IS JUST REALLY TOTALLY OFF THE WALL IN CONNECTION WITH THIS STUDY.
I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT.
WELL, YOU PROBABLY JUST SAY THERE'S,
[01:00:01]
IT'S TOO EARLY TO SAY YOU HAVE NO INFORMATION ON IT.UM, DAN, YOU HAD YOUR HAND UP, BUT, BUT YOU'VE DROPPED IT.
UM, YEAH, I HAD A, I HAD A SIMILAR QUESTION, UM, TO TED'S AND I, I DID NOTICE JUST UNDER THE, THE DEMOLITION PIECE THAT THERE ARE TWO, THE HISTORIC REVIEW DEMOLITION.
THERE ARE TWO ANYWAY, THAT ARE GOING FROM ONE UNIT TO ONE UNIT.
SO THERE ARE AT LEAST EXAMPLES RIGHT THERE THAT WE KNOW SOME OF, SOME OF THAT IS HAPPENING.
UM, MY OTHER QUESTION WAS, UH, IN TERMS OF THE STAFF AND PUBLIC ADVISORY CONSULTATIONS, UM, YOU MENTIONED, YOU KNOW, THAT IT WAS HELPFUL FOR STAFF TO CLARIFY FOR DEVELOPERS SOME OF THE REQUIREMENTS LIKE THE GREEN BUILDING FACTOR.
UM, I'M CURIOUS AS TO HOW FOLKS ARE REACTING TO DESIGN GUIDELINES.
AND, UM, AND PROBABLY FOR THE DISCUSSION LATER ON, I'M CURIOUS AS TO TRYING TO FIND OUT A WAY TO, UM, SORT OF ACCUMULATE THE QUALITATIVE DATA.
'CAUSE, YOU KNOW, A BIG PIECE OF THESE REZONINGS HAS BEEN THE CHANGES IN THE REVIEW PROCESSES AND THE, AND THE PERMIT.
AND, YOU KNOW, CLEARLY IT'S HELPING TO MOVE THE PIPELINE ALONG.
BUT I'D LIKE TO GET A SENSE OVER TIME, AND, YOU KNOW, MAYBE IT'S A LITTLE TOO SOON, BUT OVER TIME AS TO, YOU KNOW, JUST HOW IS IT, IT'S STARTING TO SHAPE THE, THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT.
UM, SO FOR NOW, IF YOU COULD JUST GIVE US A SENSE OF, YOU KNOW, HOW MUCH TIME OR, YOU KNOW, FOCUS IS SPENT ON DESIGN REVIEW ON SOME OF THE, SOME SMALLER PROJECTS THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
UM, SO I, I CAN, I CAN POINT OUT JUST, UM, FOR THE, FOR THE BOARD'S, UM, SAKE, OR JUST AS A REMINDER, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE ALL PROPOSALS, I GUESS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PORTER STREET, WHICH, WHICH HASN'T REALLY MADE IT, UM, PROPOSALS THAT CAME TO THE PLANNING BOARD.
AND SO THE PLANNING BOARD IS, HAS SOME FAMILIARITY WITH THE ADVISORY REVIEW PROCESS AND, AND HOW IT WORKS WITH, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LOT OF FOCUS ON DESIGN, BUT ULTIMATELY IT'S NON-BINDING.
SO, YOU KNOW, YOU, YOU HAVE A BIT OF A TRADE OFF WHERE, YOU KNOW, YOU, WE MIGHT BE MAKING COMMENTS TO A DEVELOPER AND YOU KNOW, THEY, YOU KNOW, WE, YOU, YOU CAN SEE AT THE PLANNING BOARD, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE A TWO HEARING PROCESS OR A TWO MEETING PROCESS.
SO YOU CAN SEE THE COMMENTS AND YOU CAN SEE HOW THAT'S SHAPING THE PROPOSAL.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, JUST ABOUT EVERY ONE OF THESE PROPOSALS HAS BEEN, UM, HAS KIND OF GONE IN THAT DIRECTION OF, YOU KNOW, SEEING SOME, SOME SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT, YOU KNOW, AS A RESULT OF THE DESIGN FEEDBACK, BUT MAYBE NOT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE SOME THINGS STILL NOT NECESSARILY BEING RESOLVED AND A LOT OF THAT MAYBE HAVING TO DO WITH THE COST AND, YOU KNOW, OTHER FACTORS THAT ARE, ARE AFFECTING THE PROJECT.
SO I JUST POINT THAT OUT, THAT, TO, TO NOTE THAT AT THE STAFF REVIEW LEVEL, AND, YOU KNOW, WE'VE SEEN HERE ARE THE, THESE ARE THE PROPOSALS WE'VE SEEN AT THE STAFF, YOU KNOW, LEVEL, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT IS A SIMILAR KIND OF PROCESS.
YOU KNOW, WE DON'T HAVE, UM, WE DON'T HAVE TWO REQUIRED MEETINGS.
UM, IN SOME CASES WE'VE HAD SOME, YOU KNOW, USUALLY, YOU KNOW, ONE KIND OF FORMAL MEETING AND THEN SOMETIMES A LITTLE BIT OF BACK AND FORTH FOLLOW UP.
SO, SO IN ADDITION TO TALKING OVER THINGS LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE THE GREEN FACTOR REQUIREMENTS AND, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S THE PROCESS AND HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH IT, WHICH I THINK IS HELPFUL.
YOU KNOW, THE, THE URBAN DESIGN STAFF IS INVOLVED IN THESE REVIEWS AND THEY'RE GIVING, THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE POINTING TO THE GUIDELINES.
WE'RE GIVING THEM THE GUIDELINES, YOU KNOW, BEFORE THEY, UM, YOU KNOW, AS SOON AS WE HEAR FROM THEM, REALLY WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE PROVIDING THEM WITH THE GUIDELINES AND, YOU KNOW, GIVING 'EM A HEADS UP OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT.
AND SO FAR WE'VE SEEN, YOU KNOW, THE TOP TWO ON HERE, HAVE THEY, THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH PROCESS WHERE WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO SEE, YOU KNOW, WHAT CAME TO US AND THEN, YOU KNOW, KIND OF HOW THE PROJECT ADVANCED THROUGH THE BUILDING PERMIT PHASE.
AND, YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAVE BEEN SEEING IMPROVEMENTS, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE, I THINK WHERE DEVELOPERS ARE ABLE TO MAKE CHANGES WITHOUT, YOU KNOW, DRASTICALLY AFFECTING THE, THE PROPOSAL.
UM, SOME OF THE, THE, THE LAST TWO ON THE LIST, WE HAVEN'T, YOU KNOW, FULLY SEEN YET.
ONE, WE'VE, YOU KNOW, WE, WE'VE COMMENTED ON, BUT IT, IT HASN'T, HOW IT KIND OF HASN'T COME BACK AROUND TO US TO SEE HOW THE, HOW THE DESIGN HAS EVOLVED.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THERE'S ONE THAT WE HAVEN'T REALLY LOOKED AT YET.
UM, SO THERE'S REALLY NOT A LOT OF EXAMPLES, BUT I THINK SO FAR WE WE'RE SEEING A SIMILAR KIND OF TRAJECTORY TO WHAT THE PLANNING BOARD HAS SEEN WITH ADVISORY REVIEWS, THAT THERE'S, UM, IT'S, IT'S HELPFUL.
THERE ARE IMPROVEMENTS THAT ARE BEING MADE, BUT IT'S, IT'S NOT, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, IT, IT, IT'S, IT'S NOT DRASTIC CHANGES TO THE DESIGN.
I THINK THE DEVELOPERS ARE STILL, THEY KIND OF HAVE THEIR, THEY HAVE THEIR PROFORMA, THEY'VE KIND OF FIGURED OUT WHAT THEY WANT TO DO.
[01:05:01]
UM, AND SO THE DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS ARE, ARE MEANINGFUL, BUT NOT, YOU KNOW, DRAMATIC.DIEGO, UH, JUST PROBABLY THIS OTHER QUESTION, BUT CAN WE GO BACK TO THAT SLIDE THAT WE WERE JUST ON 28? I DON'T KNOW IF I'M MISSING THE, THE CONTEXT HERE, BUT IS THAT CORRECT? LIKE THE UNITS TO THE GROSS FLOOR AREA? 'CAUSE IT SEEMS KIND OF A LOT RELATIVE TO THE OTHER ADDRESSES.
Y YEAH, SO THAT'S ONE THING I GUESS WE'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT OF AS WE GET INTO THE BUILDING PERMITS.
BUT, YOU KNOW, YEAH, THE, THE GROSS AREA TO UNIT RATIO IS A LITTLE BIT MORE, UM, VARIED THAN, UM, THAN MAYBE WE'RE USED TO SEEING.
I THINK A LOT OF TIMES WE SEE THINGS HOVERING, YOU KNOW, RIGHT AROUND THAT, LIKE, YOU KNOW, ONE UNIT FOR EVERY THOUSAND TO MAYBE 1100 TO 1200 SQUARE FEET OF GROSS FLOOR AREA.
UM, BUT WITH SOME OF THESE PROPOSALS WE'RE SEEING LIKE, YOU KNOW, FOR SHERIDAN STREET, IT'S A, YOU KNOW, IT'S A BIGGER, BIGGER FLOOR AREA, BUT NOT QUITE AS MANY UNITS.
AND OF COURSE, WE DON'T KNOW WHAT, THIS IS ALL JUST WHAT'S KIND OF PROPOSED AT THE STAGE THAT WE'RE SEEING IT SO THAT THESE COULD ALWAYS BE TRANSFORMED AND, AND ADJUSTED AS THEY GET TO THE BUILDING PERMIT PHASE.
UM, SO THAT'S SORT OF A CAVEAT, BUT YEAH, YOU CAN SEE THERE, THERE ARE SOME CASES WHERE THE, THE NUMBER OF UNITS IS, UM, IS RELATIVELY MAYBE A LITTLE LOWER COMPARED TO THE GROSS FLOOR AREA.
SOME CASES WHERE IT'S, YOU KNOW, THE UNITS ARE MUCH HIGHER COMPARED TO THE GROSS FLOOR AREA.
SO I THINK IT JUST SPEAKS TO DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE PROGRAM OF THE, OF THE DEVELOPMENT.
YEAH, THIS IS ANOTHER ONE THAT'S ONLY BE A LITTLE BIT MORE KIND OF ON PAR WITH WHAT, WHAT WE'RE USED TO SEEING.
AND, UH, ANY OTHER, UH, QUESTIONS AT THIS POINT? OTHERWISE WE'LL HAVE JEFF MOVE TO THE THIRD SECTION OF THE SLIDE DECK.
JEFF, WHY DON'T YOU PROCEED? ALL RIGHT, I'LL GET INTO IT.
THIS IS, THIS IS SORT OF THE INTERESTING PART BECAUSE IT'S NOT, IT'S THE PART WHERE IT'S, IT'S, UH, NOT NECESSARILY WHAT WE ARE SEEING ON A, A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS IN CDD, BUT IT'S, YOU KNOW, KIND OF PULLING, UH, MORE PRECISE DATA FROM THE, THE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATION RECORDS IN TERMS OF WHAT, WHAT'S ACTUALLY BEING PERMITTED AND WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOING INTO CONSTRUCTION.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, WHILE THE LAST SECTION I TALKED ABOUT, YOU KNOW, STANDING AND LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD AND WHAT'S COMING IN THE FUTURE, THIS IS MORE LIKE A SNAPSHOT OF JUST LIKE A POINT IN LIKE TAKING A PICTURE OF LIKE A POINT IN TIME AND, AND WHAT'S, WHAT'S COMING AT THAT SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME.
UM, THIS IS, UH, IT'S HELPFUL.
ONE OF THE HELPFUL THINGS ABOUT DOING THIS IS THAT IT ALLOWS US TO BUILD A SORT OF YEAR BY YEAR, UM, YOU KNOW, CONSISTENT TRACKING OF DATA SO THAT WE CAN KIND OF SEE HOW TRENDS EMERGE OVER TIME AND WHERE WE COULD, WE TRIED TO COMPARE THIS DATA TO 2024.
WE REALIZED THAT IN SOME CASES THAT 2024 DATA IS A LITTLE BIT HARDER TO TRACK DOWN.
UM, BUT WE'RE HOPING THAT, YOU KNOW, AS WE BUILD THIS OUT IN THE FUTURE, WE'LL WE'LL HAVE A PRETTY ROBUST, UH, A TIMESCALE.
WE LOOK AT A COUPLE OTHER THINGS TOO, WHICH, WHICH I'LL KIND OF GET TO AS, AS WE GET INTO IT, WHICH ARE NOT EXACTLY BUILDING PERMITS, BUT ARE, ARE SOMEWHAT RELATED.
AND THE FIRST ONE OF THOSE, YOU KNOW, WE, WE START WITH SORT OF THE EXCEPTION, UM, TO THE RULE.
WE, WE GO BACK TO THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, BEFORE WE, WE GET INTO ACTUAL PERMITS, UH, BEFORE A PROPOSAL GOES THROUGH, UH, A DEMOLITION PERMIT REVIEW, IT, IT, UM, WILL GET REVIEWED BY THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION, UM, FOR SIGNIFICANCE.
AND THIS IS ANY, ANY BUILDING THAT'S, UH, UH, 50 YEARS OLD OR MORE.
AND WHAT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION DOES IS THEY, THEY, FIRST THE STAFF MAKES A DETERMINATION OF WHETHER IT'S SIGNIFICANT OR NOT SIGNIFICANT, AND THEN IF IT'S CONSIDERED SIGNIFICANT, IT GOES TO THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION, WHICH MAKES A DETERMINATION ABOUT WHETHER IT'S, UM, PREFERABLY PRESERVED OR NOT.
AND THAT'S, THAT'S THE, UM, THAT'S THE SECTION THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN THE PRE PREVIOUS SECTION OF THE REPORT.
UM, BUT WHAT'S SORT OF NOTABLE ABOUT THE, UM, THE, THESE DETERMINATIONS OF SIGNIFICANCE IS, UM, THE, THE REALLY SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN REQUESTS THAT STAFF IS, HAS RECEIVED, YOU KNOW, THIS IS WHAT WE, WE'VE KIND OF BEEN HEARING ABOUT THIS FROM THE HISTORICAL OMISSION FROM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.
UM, AND A LOT OF THOSE REQUESTS ARE, UM, YOU KNOW, THEY, THEY, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT NECESSARILY IN ALL CASES A, UM, PRECURSOR TO A DEMOLITION PERMITT APPLICATION.
SOMETIMES IT'S JUST A REQUEST FROM A PROPERTY OWNER OR A PROSPECTIVE BUYER TO SORT OF UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, WHAT WOULD THE PROCESS BE IF WE WERE GONNA, YOU KNOW, SELL THE SITE OR TRY TO REDEVELOP THE SITE.
UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT WOULD IT KINDA HAVE TO GO THROUGH WITH HISTORICAL COMMISSION?
[01:10:01]
UM, AND SO THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT, YOU KNOW, INCREASE IN, IN THAT, ALTHOUGH WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO THE NUMBER OF THE, THE BOTTOM LINE OR THE FINAL NUMBER OF, UH, DEMOLITION PERMIT APPLICATIONS THAT WERE APPROVED BY HISTORICAL, IT'S, IT HAS ALSO GONE UP FROM 2024 TO 2025.BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME SCALE OF INCREASE AS, AS THE NUMBER OF REQUESTS THAT THAT HAVE COME THROUGH WHEN WE LOOK AT DEMOLITION PERMITS THEMSELVES.
AND, AND IN TERMS OF FOCUSING ON, AND THESE ARE THE ONES THAT ARE, ARE ISSUED BY ISD, AND THIS IS A FOCUS JUST ON DEMOLITION PERMITS THAT INVOLVE REMOVAL OF RESIDENTIAL UNITS.
SO NOT THE, YOU KNOW, NO LIKE ACCESSORY STRUCTURE, DEMOLITION OR PARTIAL DEMOLITION OR SOMETHING.
THIS IS WHERE, YOU KNOW, UNITS ARE BEING ENTIRELY REMOVED.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE NUMBERS OVERALL ARE, ARE LOWER, YOU KNOW, THAN, THAN THE REQUESTS THAT GO TO HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
UM, BUT THERE HAS BEEN A, AN INCREASE, YOU KNOW, IF YOU LOOK THE, JUST A PERCENTAGE INCREASE FROM 12 TO 18 AND THE NUMBER OF, UM, THE NUMBER OF DEMOLITION PERMITS ISSUED AND THE NUMBER OF UNITS, UH, THAT ARE, UH, THAT WERE APPROVED FOR, FOR DEMOLITION IS SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER.
BUT, UM, THE, THE MAJORITY OF THOSE UNITS ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO, UM, THE RIVERVIEW, UH, CONDOMINIUM BUILDING 22, 21 MOUNT AUBURN STREET, WHICH IS, IS, UH, YOU KNOW, ONE THAT'S, THAT'S ATTRACTED A BIT OF ATTENTION AND, AND I THINK MANY ON THE BORDER FAMILIAR WITH THAT.
UM, BUT THAT WAS 66 UNITS THAT WAS, UM, YOU KNOW, IN A BUILDING THAT WAS DETERMINED TO BE STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND AND, AND HAD TO BE DEMOLISHED.
SO THAT'S A, A RELATIVELY UNIQUE CASE, YOU KNOW, UH, RESULTING IN A, UM, UH, AN ATYPICALLY HIGH NUMBER OF UNITS BEING DEMOLISHED, UH, IN, IN LAST OR PERMITTED FOR DEMOLITION IN LAST YEAR.
UM, I THINK I COVERED ALL THESE POINTS.
SO, UM, THIS NEXT CHART IS KIND OF A TRICKY ONE.
UH, IT REQUIRES SOME EXPLANATION.
I THINK IT SAYS A LOT TO SOME OF THE, THE QUESTIONS LIKE THE, THE QUESTION THAT YOU WERE, UM, RAISING TED.
UM, SO WE, WE TRIED TO TAKE ALL OF THE BUILDING PERMITS AND DEMOLITION PERMITS AND GIVE A, A, A BROADER PICTURE OF WHAT DO REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS LOOK LIKE NOW, LIKE A, A REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT ON A SITE COULD BE, COULD INVOLVE MULTIPLE DIFFERENT PERMITS.
THERE COULD BE A DEMOLITION PERMIT, THERE COULD BE MULTIPLE DEMOLITION PERMITS, THERE COULD BE ONE BUILDING PERMIT, THERE COULD BE MULTIPLE BUILDING PERMITS.
UM, BUT WE TRIED TO KIND OF AGGREGATE ALL OF THAT FOR A SITE AND GIVE A SENSE OF LIKE, JUST OVERALL WHAT'S HAPPENING, YOU KNOW, HOW CAN WE DESCRIBE WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THAT SITE? UM, AND YOU KNOW, AGAIN, THESE ARE PROJECTS THAT RESULT IN, UM, NEW UNIT, NEW UNITS BEING CREATED.
SO NOT NOTHING THAT'S JUST LIKE A, A RENOVATION OR, OR ALTERATION THAT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE CHANGES THE SIZE OF A BUILDING OR THE SIZE OF UNITS, BUT DOESN'T ACTUALLY AFFECT THE NUMBER OF UNITS.
AND, UM, BECAUSE WE'RE LOOKING AT ALL OF WHAT'S HAPPENING ON A SITE, WE, WE CAN LOOK AT THE NET CHANGE IN UNITS.
SO THIS IS WHERE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, LIKE I MENTIONED, NET NEW UNITS RATHER THAN JUST, UM, JUST, YOU KNOW, PURE NEW UNITS BEING CREATED.
AND, UM, THERE'S A FEW DIFFERENT THINGS TO POINT OUT IN THIS.
THERE'S SOME, SOME KIND OF OBVIOUS THINGS TO NOTE, YOU KNOW, ONE IS THAT THE NUMBER OF UNITS, UM, MOST, YOU KNOW, PRETTY MUCH DUE TO THAT TOP LINE, UM, THE NUMBER OF UNITS RECEIVING BUILDING PERMITS IN 2024 COMPARED TO 2025 IS VERY, IS IS MUCH HIGHER.
UM, THAT IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO, UH, 1 21 BROADWAY.
SO THAT'S A, THAT WAS A PROJECT FOR, UH, WHICH THE PLANNING BOARD REVIEWED, UM, IN KENDALL SQUARE, THAT'S PART OF THE, UM, MXD DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT.
THAT'S THE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING 439 RESIDENTIAL UNITS, WHICH ACCOUNT FOR, YOU KNOW, PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRE DIFFERENCE IN, IN UNITS, UH, PERMITTED BETWEEN 2024 AND 2025.
UM, SO THAT'S ANO THAT'S AN IMPORTANT POINT, WHICH THAT A, A BIG MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT CAN, YOU KNOW, REALLY ECLIPSE ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE THAT'S HAPPENING, UH, IN TERMS OF BUILDING PERMITS FOR HOUSING IN A GIVEN YEAR.
UM, SO THAT'S ONE THING THAT'S, THAT'S NOTABLE IS JUST THAT, THAT SORT OF TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS, AS I MENTIONED, THE NUMBER OF REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, YOU KNOW, HAS, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT RECEIVED SOME BUILDING PERMIT HAS CHANGED, YOU KNOW, IN INCREASED, BUT IS STILL KIND OF IN THE SAME BALLPARK FROM, UM, JUST UNDER 40 TO JUST UNDER 50, UH, JUST OVER 50.
AND, UM, THE TYPES OF PROJECTS ARE, ARE, UM, FAIRLY CONSISTENT.
YOU KNOW, THEY'RE ALL VERY SMALL NUMBERS, SO YOU CAN'T REALLY SAY ANYTHING THAT'S STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT ABOUT THEM.
UM, BUT THERE HAS BEEN, UM, SOMEWHAT INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS THAT INVOLVE THE DEMOLITION OF A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW RESIDENTIAL BUILDING.
[01:15:01]
THERE, THERE WERE 16 OF THOSE IN 2025 COMPARED TO SEVEN IN 2024.WE SEE THE, THE NET NUMBER OF UNITS, UM, WHILE IN 2024, THAT WAS A NET NEGATIVE NET DECREASE IN UNITS RESULTING FROM THOSE PROJECTS.
IT'S BEEN A NET INCREASE IN UNITS, UM, ALTHOUGH SINGLE DIGITS.
UM, SO IT'S NOT, NOT A VERY SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE JUST IN THE NUMBER OF UNITS BEING CREATED WHERE THERE HAS BEEN A MORE SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE IF YOU LOOK RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS CHART.
UM, TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE CITY COUNCIL AND, AND THE PLANNING BOARD HAD HAD TALKED ABOUT A LITTLE BIT IS THIS IDEA OF SORT OF DOWN CONVERSIONS VERSUS UP CONVERSIONS.
WHEN EXISTING BUILDINGS ARE BEING ALTERED.
ARE WE SEEING THOSE ALTERED IN A WAY THAT REDUCES THE NUMBER OF UNITS? ARE WE SEEING THEM BEING ALTERED IN A WAY THAT INCREASES THE NUMBER OF UNITS? AND WE'VE SEEN A PRETTY, UM, SUBSTANTIAL FLIP, UM, FROM 2024 TO 2025, WHEREAS, YOU KNOW, IN 2024, THERE WERE 17 PROJECT ADDITIONAL ALTERATION PROJECTS THAT DECREASED UNITS AND ONLY ONE ADDITIONAL ALTERATION PROJECT THAT INCREASED UNITS IN 2025.
THERE WAS 19 THAT INCREASED UNITS AND FIVE THAT DECREASED UNITS.
SO WE'VE SEEN, AGAIN, A SWING FROM, UM, YOU KNOW, A, A NET DECREASE, UM, OF, YOU KNOW, 26 UNITS FROM THOSE, THOSE SORT OF DOWN CONVERSION PROJECTS TO A NET INCREASE IN 20, UH, TO OF 20, 25 UNITS IN, UM, UH, THOSE PROJECTS THAT INCREASE UNITS.
SO THE NUMBERS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, AGAIN, COMPARED TO SAY A A 439 UNIT MULTIFAMILY BUILDING ARE, ARE NOT VERY SUBSTANTIAL, BUT IT'S, BUT WITHIN THOSE SMALLER SCALE REDEVELOPMENTS, IT'S, IT'S A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT SHIFT.
THE OTHER, THE LAST PIECE THAT'S, THAT I THINK IS SIGNIFICANT IS, UM, CONVERSION OF NON-RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE.
SO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ON THE PLANNING BOARD FOR A LONG TIME KNOW THERE'S BEEN, THERE'S A LONG HISTORY OF HOW THOSE CONVERSION PROJECTS CAN BE USED TO CREATE UNITS.
UM, I THINK THERE WAS A PERIOD OF TIME WHEN WE WEREN'T SEEING AS MANY OF THOSE, UM, PROPOSALS THERE, THERE WERE IN 2024, THERE WERE ONLY TWO PROPOSALS RESULTING IN, UM, THREE, YOU KNOW, A NET, UH, INCREASE OF THREE UNITS.
BUT IN 2025, WE SAW A, A MORE SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF PROJECTS, UM, 69 NEW UNITS OR NET NEW UNITS CREATED THROUGH CONVERSION.
UM, A LOT OF THAT I THINK WAS DUE TO, UH, LESLIE UNIVERSITY AND, UH, THE SALE OF, OF MANY OF THEIR BUILDINGS, THEIR ACADEMIC BUILDINGS AND DORMITORIES THEN BEING, UM, KINDA REHABBED AND CONVERTED INTO TO HOUSING.
ALSO, THE, UM, THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT ON SIXTH STREET, WHICH THE PLANNING BOARD REVIEWED THE FORMER CONVENT, UM, UH, REHAB WAS ALSO ONE OF THE PROJECTS THAT RECEIVED A BUILDING PERMIT.
SO, UH, I TALKED ABOUT ALL THAT.
SO IN THIS ONE, WE'RE LOOKING JUST AT, WE'RE WE'RE KIND OF TAKING ALL THE DEMOLITION PERMITS AND PUTTING THEM ASIDE AND JUST LOOKING AT BUILDING PERMITS, SO BUILDING PERMITS FOR NEW BUILDINGS AND HOW MANY UNITS ARE BEING CREATED.
AND WE LOOKED AT THOSE IN TERMS OF WHERE, UH, THEY, WHAT ZONING DISTRICTS THEY'RE IN, BOTH THE CURRENT ZONING DISTRICT AND ALSO IN RESIDENCY ONE, LOOK BREAKING IT DOWN BY WHAT USED TO BE IN A RESIDENCE, A ONE, A TWO OR B OR C ZONING DISTRICT.
AND THE CHANGES WE'VE SEEN HERE, THE NOTABLE CHANGES WE'VE SEEN, APART FROM THE ONES I ALREADY TALKED ABOUT, UM, UH, MORE, UH, PRO MORE BUILDING PERMITS IN RESIDENCE B DISTRICTS, WHICH YOU WOULD IMAGINE BASED ON THE FACT THAT THAT WAS, UM, UH, THAT WAS A, A, A MAJOR ZONING CHANGE IN THOSE DISTRICTS TO, TO GO TO RESIDENCY ONE AND AN INCREASE IN UNITS IN RESIDENT C ONE DISTRICTS, A DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF BUILDING PERMITS AND AN INCREASE IN, UH, SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF, OF HOUSING UNITS.
AND WHAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT THAT, WE, THIS IS ONE WHERE WE HAD TO LOOK A LITTLE BIT CLOSER AT THE DATA TO TRY TO EXPLAIN, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOING ON.
AND WHAT WE FOUND WAS GOING ON IS THAT IN, IN 2024, A LOT OF THE BUILDING PERMITS THAT WERE BEING ISSUED WERE FOR MULTIPLE SINGLE FAMILY OR TWO FAMILY BUILDINGS ON A LOT.
SO EVEN THOUGH C ONE ALLOWED MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT, THERE WERE, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE OF, UM, DIMENSIONAL RESTRICTIONS AND OTHER OTHER REQUIREMENTS, A LOT OF DEVELOPERS WERE CHOOSING TO BUILD MULTIPLE BUILDINGS ON A LOT RATHER THAN BUILDING, YOU KNOW, UM, YOU KNOW, SINGLE MULTIFAMILY BUILDINGS OR TOWNHOUSE BUILDINGS.
AND SO IN, IN THE, UNDER THE 2025 ZONING, WE'VE SEEN A LOT MORE, UH, MULTIFAMILY AND TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT.
SO THEREFORE SMALLER NUMBER OF BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED, BUT MORE, UM, UNITS BECAUSE THERE'S MORE UNITS PER PER BUILDING, BASICALLY MORE UNITS PER BUILDING, UM, COMPARED TO BEFORE.
AND IN OTHER DISTRICTS, YOU KNOW, HIGHER DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS OR OTHER DISTRICTS.
SIMILARLY, WE'VE SEEN, YOU KNOW, NOT MUCH CHANGE, BUT, UM, IN OTHER
[01:20:01]
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS AND AN INCREASE IN THE NU AGAIN, IN THE NUMBER OF UNITS PER PERMIT, UH, BEING ISSUED AND IN, IN NON-RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS, YOU KNOW, A DECREASE IN THE NUMBER OF UNITS BASED ON THAT.UH, THE 1 21 BROADWAY, UM, BUILDING THAT I MENTIONED.
UM, SO THIS NEXT PIECE WE LOOKED AT IS, UM, JUST AGAIN, LOOKING, LOOKING AT, UH, BUILDING PERMITS, BUT ONLY AT BUILDING PERMITS THAT INCREASE, UH, AND, AND ADDITIONS, ALTERATIONS THAT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF HOUSING UNITS.
SO YOU, YOU'VE PROBABLY PICKED UP THAT THE TOTALS ARE DIFFERENT IN A LOT OF THESE CHARTS, AND A LOT OF IT HAS TO DO WITH REALLY WHAT'S WRITTEN AT THE TOP AND, AND THAT THE, THE UNIVERSE OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT IN EACH CASE.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, HERE AGAIN, 2024, UM, THERE WERE, UM, BECAUSE THERE WERE IN 2024, THERE WERE MORE ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS THAT DECREASE THE NUMBER OF HOUSING UNITS.
THOSE COME OUT OF THIS, UM, THIS TABLE.
AND THE REASON WHY WE TOOK THEM OUT OF THIS TABLE IS BECAUSE WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT, YOU KNOW, WHAT SCALE OF BUILDING ARE PEOPLE PROPOSING TO BUILD.
AND WHEN IT'S A A DOWN CONVERSION PROJECT, IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARDER TO SORT OF FIGURE OUT, WELL, WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN THAT YOU'RE SORT OF, THAT YOU'RE TAKING THE EXISTING BUILDING OR REDUCING THE NUMBER OF UNITS RATHER THAN, THAN INCREASING OR, OR BUILDING NEW CONSTRUCTION.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, WE'VE, THE, THE BIGGEST OR THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE THAT YOU SEE IN THIS DATA IS IN THAT MULTIFAMILY THREE TO FIVE UNITS.
SO IN 2024, NOTHING WAS BUILT IN THAT, UH, OR NOTHING WAS BUILT OR INCREASED TO, UM, TO THAT THREE TO FIVE UNIT RANGE.
AND, UM, A, A MORE SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF PERMITS IN 2025, UM, ISSUED.
THE REST OF IT IS, UM, A LITTLE BIT, UH, YOU KNOW, NOT, NOT MUCH REALLY TO SPEAK ABOUT IN, IN TERMS OF THE NUMBERS THAT, THAT ARE SHOWN IN THE COMPARISON BETWEEN 2024 AND 2025.
AND THE FINAL PIECE WE LOOKED AT FOR BUILDING PERMITS, AGAIN, LOOKING AT AN EVEN SMALLER SET OF BUILDING PERMITS, JUST THE BUILDING PERMITS THAT ARE EITHER NEW CONSTRUCTION OR INCREASE THE HEIGHT OF AN EXISTING BUILDING IS WE WANTED TO UNDERSTAND HOW HAS THE NEW ZONING AFFECTED, UM, THE, THE HEIGHT OF BUILDINGS THAT, THAT PEOPLE ARE PROPOSING TO, TO BUILD.
AND, UM, OVERALL THE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE MAJORITY OF BUILDING PERMITS THAT, THAT ARE FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION OR, OR INCREASING THE HEIGHT OF BUILDINGS, WERE STILL THREE STORIES.
SO WE, WE HAVEN'T SEEN A LOT OF MOVEMENT FROM, UM, IN BUILDING PERMITS FROM THE KIND OF THREE STORY, UM, YOU KNOW, TYPICAL, UH, PROPOSED HEIGHT.
UM, WE'VE SEEN THAT THOSE TWO PROJECTS THAT ARE FOUR STORIES ARE BOTH PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED FOR ADDING A FOURTH STORY ONTO A THREE STORY BUILDING.
WE HAVEN'T SEEN IT A LOT SO FAR, BUT THAT'S, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED A COUPLE TIMES.
AND THE, THE FIVE AND SIX STORY BUILDINGS ARE BOTH, UM, AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS THAT WERE, YOU KNOW, UNDER THE A HO THAT THAT WERE, UM, THAT WERE RECEIVED, THEIR BUILDING PERMITS AND, UH, AND KIND OF SEGUES INTO THE NEXT SECTION, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT AFFORDABILITY.
UM, SO NOTABLY BECAUSE THE, THE PROJECTS THAT WERE PERMITTED IN 2025 WERE ALL WERE SMALLER, UM, HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS, NONE OF THEM WERE SUBJECT TO INCLUSIONARY.
SO THERE WERE NO INCLUSIONARY UNITS RECEIVING BUILDING PERMITS IN 2025, BUT THERE WERE 71 AFFORDABLE UNITS RECEIVING PERMITS, UM, UNDER, YOU KNOW, FOR DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERLAY.
SO JUST LOOKING AT, LOOKING AT THOSE TWO PROJECTS AGAINST THE, THE OTHER, YOU KNOW, 50 SOME ODD PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED IN, UM, FOR SMALLER, UM, MARKET RATE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN 2025, IT STILL TURNS OUT TO HAVE, YOU KNOW, ABOUT HALF OF THE UNITS THAT WERE PERMITTED OR ARE, UH, OUR PERMANENTLY AFFORDABLE UNITS.
UM, SO WE DID, WE DIDN'T REALLY, WE HAD, WE STRUGGLED A BIT WITH HOW TO PRESENT THE DATA ON THIS.
WE HAD A, IF AT ONE POINT WE HAD A SLIDE THAT SHOWED HOW MANY PERMITS WERE ISSUED IN 2025 THAT WERE SUBJECT TO BZA VARIANCES OR SPECIAL PERMITS.
AND WE REALIZED THAT THAT GOT CONFUSING BECAUSE A LOT OF THE, UM, A LOT OF THE, THE BUILDING PROJECTS THAT RECEIVED BUILDING PERMITS IN 2025 HAD BEEN TO THE, THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEAL IN 2024, AND IN SOME CASES ACTUALLY KIND OF CHANGED OR MODIFIED THEIR PROJECT AFTER THE, THE, UM, ZONING WAS AMENDED.
SO IT WAS KIND OF, IT GOT REALLY MESSY AND HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF.
UM, BUT WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS MORE SALIENT WAS JUST IN TERMS OF TOTAL BZA APPLICATIONS THAT WERE RECEIVED, UH, COMPARED IN 2024 AND 2025, THERE WAS A DECREASE OF ABOUT 70%.
[01:25:01]
YOU KNOW, THE, JUST ANECDOTALLY THE, YOU KNOW, THE MAIN MOTIVATION FOR THAT, BUT THEN THIS IS ALL BZA APPLICATIONS FOR, FOR EVERYTHING, NOT JUST FOR HOUSING IN THIS CASE.UM, BUT WE KNOW THAT THE, YOU KNOW, THE BULK OF THAT DECREASE IS, IS DUE TO THE CHANGE TO, TO HOUSING REGULATIONS AND, AND NOT HAVING KIND OF THE SAME KIND OF STREAM OF, OF, UM, OF VARIANCE APPLICATIONS FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS AS, AS WE HAD SEEN IN THE PAST.
UH, SO MAPPING NOW THE, UH, THE BUILDING PERMITS AND WHERE THE BUILDING PERMITS HAVE BEEN ISSUED, UM, AGAIN, THERE'S NOT THAT MUCH OF A DISCERNIBLE PATTERN, UM, IN WHERE THEY WERE ISSUED.
YOU CAN SEE JUST BASED ON THE SIZE OF THE DOTS THAT THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, MUCH SMALLER COMPARED TO THE ONES THAT WERE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE PROPOSALS THAT WE LOOKED AT THAT HAD GONE THROUGH THE REVIEW STAGE.
UM, THERE'S A BIT OF A CLUSTER HERE, YOU KNOW, WHERE YOU, UM, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN SEE MY CURSOR OR NOT.
UH, SO OVER HERE WHERE I'M POINTING, UM, THERE'S A, A BIT OF A CLUSTER WHERE, UM, AS I MENTIONED, LESLIE UNIVERSITY PROPERTIES IN, IN THE BALDWIN NEIGHBORHOOD HAD KIND OF, MANY OF THOSE WENT UP FOR SALE, AND A LOT OF THEM THEN RECEIVED PERMITS TO, UM, TO, TO MODIFY OR, OR CONVERT TO RESIDENTIAL USE.
UM, SO WE SEE A LOT THERE, BUT OTHERWISE IT'S, IT'S KIND OF MORE DISPERSED IN DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS OF THE CITY.
UM, AND IT ALSO, ALSO, JUST AS YOU COULD SEE IN, UM, IN THE CHART OF THE, UM, THE DISTRICTS, YOU KNOW, MANY OF THE PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED WERE RESIDENT C ONE DISTRICTS.
MANY OF THEM HAD BEEN FORMALLY BEEN OTHER KINDS OF DISTRICTS, BUT YOU CAN SEE A LOT OF THE, THE BUILDING PERMITS ARE EITHER ON SOME OF THE MIXED USE CORRIDORS OR IN SOME CASES CLOSE TO, TO SOME OF THE MIXED USE CORRIDORS.
UM, SO THE LAST FEW PIECES OF THIS SECTION, UM, ARE GETTING A LITTLE BIT INTO THE ANALYSIS THAT WE SAID WE WEREN'T REALLY GONNA DO AS, AS PART OF THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT.
BUT, UM, BECAUSE THERE WERE A FEW THINGS THAT, THAT THE COUNCIL AND THE PLANNING BOARD, UM, HAD QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT DURING THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING.
AND BECAUSE WE HAD DATA THAT WERE ACCESSIBLE TO US, WE DECIDED TO, TO SHOW SOME OF THIS DATA, TRY TO FIND A WAY TO, TO REPRESENT SOME OF THIS DATA.
UM, WE CAN'T DRAW MANY CONCLUSIONS, BUT IT ALLOWS US TO KIND OF KEEP TRACK OF SOME OF THIS INFORMATION OVER TIME.
UM, AND ONE OF THE QUESTIONS AS, UH, TED BROUGHT UP IS, YOU KNOW, ARE WE SEEING LARGER UNITS AS A RESULT OF, OF THIS ZONING? UM, AND YOU KNOW, WE, IT'S, IT'S HARD TO GET REALLY AT, YOU KNOW, UNIT SIZES, SPECIFICALLY THAT THE COUNCIL ASKED US ABOUT THIS.
CAN WE, COULD WE LOOK AT LIKE BEDROOM COUNT AND OTHER THINGS, WHICH KIND OF MAKES SENSE TO PEOPLE? AND WE REALIZE THAT THE DATA ON THAT IS A LITTLE BIT HARD TO, TO GET, UM, IN A, IN A COMPREHENSIVE AND CONSISTENT WAY.
BUT WE CAN LOOK AT THE, THIS METRIC OF GROSS FLOOR AREA PER UNIT.
IT'S KIND OF A PROXY FOR THE AVERAGE UNIT SIZE THAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING.
IT DOESN'T TRACK DIRECTLY ONE-TO-ONE.
THOSE, THE GROSS FLOOR PER UNIT ISN'T EXACTLY THE SAME AS AS UNIT SIZE.
UM, AND WE DID SEE A PRETTY WIDE RANGE ACROSS BUILDING PERMITS THAT WERE ISSUED FROM, YOU KNOW, 730 SQUARE FEET OF GROSS FLOOR PER UNIT TO ALMOST 5,000 GROSS FLOOR, UH, SQUARE FEET PER UNIT.
UM, BUT THE, THE MEDIAN TENDS TO FALL AROUND WHAT, WHAT WE FIND TO BE TYPICAL IN CAMBRIDGE.
SO WE'VE DONE PREVIOUS STUDIES WHERE WE FOUND THAT THIS AVERAGE GROSS FLOOR AREA PER UNIT TENDS TO HOVER AROUND 1000 TO 1500 SQUARE FEET, UM, FOR MULTIFAMILY A BIT, SKEWS A BIT LARGER FOR, FOR SINGLE FAMILY AND TWO FAMILY, UM, HOUSING.
UM, ONE OF THE CAVEATS HERE IS THAT BASEMENT SPACE IS EXCLUDED FROM GROSS FLOOR AREA IN ZONING.
SO WE DO HAVE SOME PROJECTS LIKE PARTICULARLY SINGLE FAMILY TWO FAMILY AND TOWNHOUSE, IF THEY INCLUDE, UM, A LOT OF USABLE BASEMENT SPACE, WHICH A LOT OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT THESE DAYS DOES, UM, THE UNIT SIZES MIGHT ACTUALLY SKEW A BIT LARGER THAN THAT, THAT GROSS FLOOR AREA PER UNIT METRIC WOULD INDICATE.
UM, SO THIS IS SOMETHING WE'LL, WE'LL CONTINUE TO, TO HAVE TO KIND OF LOOK AT AND TRACK AND, AND DIG INTO A LITTLE BIT MORE AS, AS WE ANALYZE IT OVER TIME.
UM, AND AS, AS KIND OF AS DIEGO POINTED OUT JUST TO THE POINT HERE, UM, BECAUSE A LOT OF THAT PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT, THOSE SORT OF LARGER MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT HAS A, A, A LOT OF VARIATION IN, UM, THE, THE GROSS ARY PER UNIT.
WE'LL, WE'LL SIM WE SIMILARLY EXPECT TO SEE THOSE METRICS CHANGE QUITE A BIT AS WE SEE LARGER, UM, BUILDINGS GO INTO CONSTRUCTION.
SO THE OTHER THING WE, WE PULLED SOME INFORMATION FROM WAS FROM OUR GREEN FACTOR REVIEWS.
SO, CDD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING DEVELOPMENTS FOR CONFORMANCE WITH THE, THE GREEN FACTOR REQUIREMENTS, UM, MEANT MOST OF THE BOARD, I THINK IS FAMILIAR WITH, WITH HOW THOSE REQUIREMENTS WORK.
THE REVIEWS COVER NOT JUST BUILDING PERMITS, BUT, BUT PROPOSALS AT DESIGN REVIEW,
[01:30:01]
BUILDING PERMIT, AND SIGNIFUM, SO WE'RE TRACKING, WE'RE TRACKING THESE METRICS AT ALL OF THOSE DIFFERENT POINTS.
UM, THE, THE COOL SCORE IS KIND OF A, I THINK OF AS SORT OF A RATIO THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE QUALITY OF SITE DESIGN.
SO THERE'S THE, THERE'S THE QUANTITY OF OPEN SPACE, JUST LIKE THE PERCENTAGE OF LOT AREA THAT'S, THAT'S COVERED BY OPEN SPACE.
BUT THEN THERE'S ALSO THE COOL FACTOR GIVES YOU AN INDICATION OF, YOU KNOW, HOW MUCH OF THAT IS, UH, TREES AND, YOU KNOW, HIGH PLANTINGS VERSUS LOW PLANTINGS AND, UM, YOU KNOW, OTHER, OTHER FEATURES THAT, UH, PROMOTE A, UM, UH, HEAT MITIGATION AND, AND TRY TO PROMOTE SORT OF COOLING OF THE, UM, OF, OF THE OUTDOORS.
AND, UH, WHAT WE'VE SEEN IS THAT PROPOSALS, YOU KNOW, UNDER THE, UH, AS WE'VE GET INTO THE NEW ZONING AND, AND START SEEING THE NEW ZONING, UM, SHAPE NEW DEVELOPMENTS, UM, PROPOSALS ARE STILL MEETING THE, UH, THE COOL SCORE REQUIREMENT, UM, WHICH IS A MINIMUM OF 1.0.
BUT WE ARE SEEING, IN MANY CASES, THE PROPOSALS ARE COMING IN CLOSER TO THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.
IN THE PAST, MANY PROPOSALS SORT OF EXCEEDED THAT MINIMUM REQUIREMENT, JUST, UH, BY VIRTUE OF THE FACT THAT IN SOME CASES, IN SOME ZONING DISTRICTS, THE OPEN SPACE REQUIREMENT WAS MUCH HIGHER.
AND, YOU KNOW, RESIDENTS A ONE AND A TWO DISTRICTS, IT USED TO BE A 50% OPEN SPACE REQUIREMENT, NOW IT'S A 30% OPEN SPACE REQUIREMENT.
SO WE'RE SEEING SOME DIFFERENCES IN, IN APPROACH.
UM, WE CAN'T REALLY DRAW FROM CONCLUSIONS FROM THIS AGAIN BECAUSE WE, WE, UH, WE DON'T HAVE, UH, ENOUGH INFORMATION AND WE HAVEN'T REALLY BEEN ABLE TO DO DEEP ANALYSIS ON THIS, BUT IT DOES TRACK, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE, SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES IN NUMBERS TRACK WITH THE SHIFTS THAT WE'VE SEEN, UM, THAT I MENTIONED BEFORE WHERE THERE'S NOT AS MUCH, WE'RE SEEING NOT AS MUCH, YOU KNOW, SINGLE FAMILY, TWO FAMILY DEVELOPMENT, UM, ON, ON NEW SITES.
WE'RE SEEING MORE MULTIFAMILY AND TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT, WHICH IS, UM, OCCUPYING A LARGER BUILDING FOOTPRINT.
UM, AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE GREEN FACTOR REVIEW TELLS US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IS TREE CANOPY, OR SORRY, CANOPY TREE PRESERVATION AND NEW CANOPY TREE PLANTING.
SO BOTH OF THOSE EARN POINTS UNDER THE COOL SCORE RUBRIC.
WE DON'T HAVE DIRECT DATA ON TREE REMOVAL FROM, UH, FROM GREEN FACTOR THAT OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T EARN POINTS, UM, UNDER THE, THE GREEN FACTOR, BUT WE PULLED IN SOME OF THE DATA ON TREE REMOVAL PERMITS THAT ARE, THAT SEEM TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH SITES WHERE GREEN FACTOR REVIEW TOOK PLACE.
SO WE TRIED TO USE THAT TO GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF A COMPARISON.
WE WOULD NOTE IT'S, IT'S NOT ENTIRELY A, AN APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON, AND IT'S HARD TO, TO GET A CLEAR SENSE FROM THIS BECAUSE THERE ARE SOME, UM, TREE REMOVAL PERMITS THAT ARE NOT FOR GREEN FACTOR PROJECTS, AND THERE'S SOME GREEN FACTOR PROJECTS THAT DON'T INVOLVE TREE REMOVAL PERMITS.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE, WE, I THINK THIS IS ANOTHER AREA WHERE WE NEED TO, YOU KNOW, BUILD, BUILD OUT THE DATA A LITTLE BIT MORE AND DO A LITTLE BIT OF DEEPER ANALYSIS.
BUT WE INCLUDED THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAD BECAUSE WE KNOW IT'S A CONCERN, UM, FOR, FOR MANY ON COUNCIL IN, IN THE COMMUNITY.
I'LL JUST DO A QUICK WRAP UP AND THEN WE CAN GO BACK TO DO QUESTIONS ON, ON ANY OF THE, THE REPORT.
UM, UH, FIRST OF ALL, MATT, WE CAN ALWAYS GO BACK TO THIS MAP, BUT THIS IS JUST COMBINING THE TWO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT OF WHERE ALL THE, BOTH THE, THE BUILDING PERMITS, THE DEMOLITION PERMITS AND PROPOSALS THAT MAYBE HAVEN'T YET GOTTEN A BUILDING PERMIT.
YOU CAN SEE JUST A LITTLE BIT OF OVERLAP WHERE THINGS HAVE MAYBE BEEN REVIEWED AND THEN, AND THEN ALSO RECEIVED A BUILDING PERMIT.
UM, THIS IS JUST A HANDY REFERENCE TO GO BACK TO, UM, AS, AS WE, UH, AS WE GO TO TALK ABOUT IT AND THE BIG TAKEAWAYS, UM, THERE'S A, UH, I THINK A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST IN MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT IN THE PAST YEAR.
WE'VE SEEN MANY PROPOSALS COME FORWARD.
UM, THE MORE SIZABLE PROPOSALS HAVEN'T YET MADE IT INTO THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE AT THIS POINT.
UM, THE PROJECTS THAT HAVE GONE INTO CONSTRUCTION PHASE AND HAVE RECEIVED BUILDING PERMITS IN THE PAST YEAR HAVE BEEN MOSTLY SMALLER SCALE PROJECTS.
ALTHOUGH WE'VE, WE'VE SEEN THAT SHIFT THAT I MENTIONED AWAY FROM SINGLE FAMILY AND TWO FAMILY CONSTRUCTION TO, UM, MORE MULTIFAMILY AND TOWNHOUSE CONSTRUCTION, UM, ACROSS THE CITY.
WE'VE ALSO SEEN A SHIFT AWAY FROM ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS TO EXISTING BUILDINGS THAT REDUCE THE NUMBER OF UNITS.
WE'VE SEEN A SHIFT TOWARDS ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS THAT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF UNITS, UM, WHICH IS ONE OF THE THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT QUITE A BIT.
AND FINALLY, YOU KNOW, WE'RE SEEING MORE INTEREST IN, IN MARKET RATE HOUSING PRODUCTION AS A RESULT OF THIS, BUT ALSO CONTINUING TO SEE A STRONG PIPELINE OF ALL AFFORDABLE DEVELOPMENT, UM, AT THIS STAGE.
SO THOSE ARE, THOSE ARE THE BIG TAKEAWAYS.
AND I'M, UH, I GUESS WE CAN, I'LL TURN IT BACK OVER TO THE CHAIR AND, UM, AND WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT AS LONG AS YOU LIKE, 'CAUSE IT'S THE, THE LAST ITEM ON THE AGENDA.
[01:35:01]
JEFF, THANK YOU FOR TAKING US THROUGH ALL THE DETAIL.UM, UH, REALLY IMPRESSIVE SUMMATION.
AS, AS I SAY, I THINK WE'VE ALL FELT IT'S REALLY HARD TO DRAW FIRM CONCLUSIONS AT THIS POINT, BUT THERE'S SOME PEARLS HERE THAT SUGGEST THAT, UH, THE ORDINANCE IS TAKING EFFECT.
I HAVE ONE QUESTION, BUT, UH, I WILL, I WILL WAIT TO SEE IF OTHER BOARD MEMBERS HAVE A QUESTION, DIEGO.
UH, FIRST OFF, THANKS FOR THE REPORT AND, AND THE PRESENTATION.
I THINK IT'S REALLY WELL DONE.
UM, I THINK ONE OF THE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS I'VE ALWAYS SORT OF HEARD FROM, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE I TALK TO, I IS PARKING, AND I WAS WONDERING IF THERE WAS ANY SORT OF TALKS ABOUT ROLLING SOME PARKING INFORMATION TO THIS, LIKE, UM, UNITS PER STREET AND HOW MANY PARKING SPACES ARE ON THAT STREET OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
UM, I'M JUST WONDERING IF THAT WAS EVER CONSIDERED.
UH, YEAH, WE COULD, UM, THAT IS SOMETHING WE COULD DO.
I THINK WE, UH, DID A REPORT LAST YEAR ON PARKING, UM, WHERE WE LOOKED AT, YOU KNOW, LARGELY RESIDENTIAL PROPOSALS AND HOW MANY PARKING SPACES WERE BEING PROPOSED.
UM, AND WE CAN, WE CAN BRING SOME OF THAT INTO THE, UH, INTO THE SCOPE OF THIS AS WELL.
I THINK WHAT WE FOUND THERE WAS, UM, JUST TO KIND OF REFLECT ON THAT A LITTLE BIT, IS, UM, A NUMBER OF MULTIFAMILY PROJECTS THAT WERE IN THE, IN THE PLANNING STAGE AT THAT POINT WERE, WERE NOT PROPOSING PARKING.
UM, BUT THERE WERE ALSO SOME PROPOSALS THAT WERE INCLUDING PARKING, IN SOME CASES, INCLUDING MORE PARKING THAN, THAN THE, YOU KNOW, ONE PER UNIT RATIO.
AND IT WAS HARD TO TELL WHAT THE IMPACT WAS BECAUSE, UM, YOU KNOW, NONE OF THE PROJECTS HAD BEEN COMPLETED YET, BUT WE WERE, WE WERE TRACKING THAT STARTING IN 2022 WHEN THE, UM, WHEN THE DEVELOPMENT, UH, UH, WHEN, WHEN THE, UH, PARKING, UH, MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS WERE ELIMINATED.
AND, UH, WE, WE STILL GET, UH, REPORTS FROM, AS, AS, AS A REQUIREMENT OF THE ZONING FOR MOST HOUSING DEVELOPMENT.
WE GET REPORTS FROM THE DEVELOPERS TELLING, YOU KNOW, HOW MANY, UM, PARKING SPACES ARE PROPOSED AND HOW THEY CAME ABOUT DECIDING HOW MANY PARKING SPACES THEY WERE GONNA PROPOSE.
SO THAT'S JUST, THAT'S JUST OFF THE HEAD, WHAT I REMEMBER FROM, FROM THAT REPORT.
UH, BUT WELL, WE, WE CAN, UH, YEAH.
INCORPORATE THAT IN THE FUTURE.
UH, DAN, I BELIEVE YOU WERE NEXT.
YEAH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, TOM.
UM, SO, UM, JEFF, I MEAN, THE EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF WORK AND, UM, UH, I HOPE THAT THIS IS SETTING GOOD, UH, GOOD DATA COLLECTION AND GROUNDWORK FOR THIS MOVING FORWARD.
I THINK WE'RE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO A FIVE-YEAR REPORT, BUT, UM, ANYWAY, JUST ACKNOWLEDGING THE, UM, HUGE AMOUNT OF DATA COLLECTION AND TIME YOU GUYS ARE PUTTING INTO, TO PUTTING THIS TOGETHER AND TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT.
AND CLEARLY, UM, THIS, THIS HELPS ENORMOUSLY.
UM, ONE PIECE THAT WOULD, UM, HELP ME AGAIN IN LOOKING AT THAT KIND OF VELOCITY QUESTION, UM, ONE WOULD BE JUST FOR, UM, MUCH LIKE YOU DID FOR THE A HO PROJECTS, UH, A KIND OF, UH, YOU KNOW, BARK CHART OF SAYING, HEY, HOW MANY, HOW MANY APPLICATIONS, HOW MANY, UM, NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING BE IT, UH, HISTORIC REVIEW, NEIGHBORHOOD REVIEW, UM, SPECIAL PERMIT REVIEW, UM, CUMULATIVELY MUCH LIKE YOU SHOWED ON PAGE 11, IF THAT WAS SHOWN FOR, UM, UM, FOR THIS, THE GRANULAR STUFF HELPS ENORMOUSLY.
UM, BUT JUST SORT OF SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE OF HOW MANY ARE KIND OF MOVING THROUGH THE PIPELINE, UM, WOULD BE, WOULD BE GREAT.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK, UM, I'M ALSO USED TO, UM, UH, SOME OF THE DATA THAT I FIND FROM THE CITY OF BOSTON, WHICH ON THEIR KIND OF APPROVALS, WHETHER IT'S SPECIAL PERMIT OR OTHERS, UM, UH, LISTS, UM, YOU KNOW, KIND OF UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
UM, SO IF WE HAD A KIND OF SENSE OF, I THINK WE'RE LISTING IT WHAT IS IN DEVELOPMENT, UM, BUT, UM, THERE'S A KIND OF SQUISHY TIME DURING WHICH PROJECTS THAT HAVE RECEIVED PERMIT ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
AND SO THERE'S A ROUGH APPROXIMATION OF HOW MANY UNITS ARE CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION, UM, WOULD BE AN INTERESTING DATA POINT, AS WELL AS THOSE THAT ARE GETTING, UH, THEIR CO UM, AND I THINK, UM, SO TWO KIND OF OBSERVATIONS AND, AND REQUESTS FOR THE KIND OF INFORMATION THAT WOULD BE, I THINK, ALSO HELPFUL TO SYNTHESIZE.
AND THEN LASTLY, UM, I, I REMEMBER, UH, WHEN THE ZONING WAS BEING PROPOSED, UH, PLANNING HAD PUT TOGETHER, UM, SOME KIND OF, YOU KNOW, CAPACITY PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHAT KINDS OF, UH, AND AMOUNTS OF HOUSING MIGHT POSSIBLY
[01:40:01]
BE, UH, ACHIEVED IN DIFFERENT ZONING DISTRICTS, RIGHT? I MEAN, THERE ARE KIND OF STACKED BAR CHARTS THAT I, THAT I RECALL AND IT'D BE INTERESTING TO SEE AGAINST THAT PREDICTION, LIKE, HOW IS THAT STACKING UP AGAINST HOUSING PRODUCTION? SO, UH, EVEN THOUGH WE'RE, THIS IS STILL REALLY EARLY, UM, IF YOU'RE LAYING THAT GROUNDWORK, IT WOULD BE REALLY GREAT TO SEE HOW, UM, ACTUAL HOUSING PRODUCTION IS MATCHED UP AGAINST THOSE PREDICTIONS OF, YOU KNOW, HOW ARE WE, HOW ARE WE DOING AGAINST THAT? YOU KNOW, UM, REGIONAL COUNT OF, WHAT IS IT STILL 12,500? I'M NOT SURE WHERE WE ARE THESE DAYS, BUT, UM, UM, CERTAINLY PUTTING THOSE KINDS OF THINGS IN CONTEXT OF WHAT WAS THE ZONING CHANGE AND HOW ARE WE, UM, YOU KNOW, MAKING PROGRESS TOWARDS THAT WOULD BE, UH, WOULD BE SUPER HELPFUL.UM, ONE OF THE ITEMS THAT I NOTICED, AND FORGIVE ME TO IF YOU, IF YOU TALKED TO THIS AND I, UM, MISSED IT, UM, WAS THE COMMENT THAT THERE WERE NO INCLUSIONARY PROJECTS PERMITTED IN 2025.
THERE WERE A NUMBER OF A HO PROJECTS, AND I KNOW THAT THERE ARE INCLUSIONARY PROJECTS, UM, UNDER REVIEW RIGHT NOW, BUT I'M CURIOUS IF YOU HAVE THOUGHTS OR CONTEXT OR KIND OF, UM, THEORIES ABOUT WHY, AND OBVIOUSLY THERE WERE, THERE WERE SOME OF, UH, A HO PROJECTS, BUT WHY THAT'S THE CASE? UM, IT'S A LITTLE, YOU KNOW, I'D LOVE TO SEE MORE INCLUSION YOU RATHER THAN LESS.
SO I'M JUST, I'M JUST CURIOUS TO HEAR KIND OF YOUR THOUGHTS IF YOU, IF YOU HAVE THEM, UM, ABOUT THAT.
YEAH, WE, WE DIDN'T GET TOO DEEP INTO INCLUSIONARY.
'CAUSE, YOU KNOW, THINKING ABOUT THE INCLUSIONARY POLICY IS, UM, YOU KNOW, IS IS ANOTHER STUDY THAT WE HAVE UNDERWAY.
SO, SO THE CITY HAS ENGAGED IN A, UM, IN A, YOU KNOW, WHAT A PERIODIC INCLUSIONARY HOUSING STUDY, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT WE DO, WHERE WE GO THROUGH ALL, ALL DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE POLICY, INCLUDING, YOU KNOW, FEASIBILITY.
YOU KNOW, WE CERTAINLY HAVE HEARD A LOT FROM SOME IN THE DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY ABOUT, YOU KNOW, THE, THE IMPACT OF, OF INCLUSIONARY HOUSING REQUIREMENTS ON FEASIBILITY, BUT WE'VE ALSO SEEN THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, LARGE MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT IN GENERAL HAS, HAS EXPERIENCED, YOU KNOW, JUST FEASIBILITY ISSUES JUST DUE TO ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE, WE'VE HAD, AND, AND WE SPOKE TO DEVELOPERS ABOUT THIS, YOU KNOW, WHERE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE INCLUSIONARY REQUIREMENTS, UM, HAVE BEEN PERCEIVED TO HAVE AN IMPACT.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE ALSO HEARD THAT, YOU KNOW, EVEN WITHOUT INCLUSIONARY REQUIREMENTS, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, THERE'S A VERY DIFFICULT ROAD FOR, FOR MULTIFAMILY HOUSING TO GO FORWARD.
SO I THINK IT'S, IT'S IN SOME WAYS HARD TO DISENTANGLE, UM, 'CAUSE INCLUSION, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT INCLUSIONARY DEVELOPMENT, WE'RE REALLY, YOU KNOW, WE'RE ALSO JUST TALKING ABOUT MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT WITH, YOU KNOW, MORE THAN 10 UNITS.
AND SO IT'S HARD TO DISENTANGLE ARE, ARE THE ISSUES INCLUSIONARY OR ARE, YOU KNOW, IS IT THE INCLUSIONARY POLICY OR IS IT JUST THE, YOU KNOW, THE DEVELOPMENT OF, OF HOUSING AT THAT SCALE? CERTAINLY WE, WE SAW HOUSING, YOU KNOW, BEING DEVELOPED BEFORE KIND OF PRE COVI, WE HAD, YOU KNOW, HOUSING UNDER DEVELOPMENT AND, AND COMPLETED WITH THE 20% INCLUSIONARY REQUIREMENT.
UM, AND AS I MENTIONED, WE, WE HAVE SOME, UM, DEVELOPMENT IN THE BUILDING PERMIT REVIEW STAGE THAT WAS PERMITTED AND WOULD BE DEVELOPED UNDER 20% INCLUSIONARY.
UM, BUT THERE, THERE'S BEEN THIS GAP SINCE, UM, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY SINCE, SINCE THE, THE START OF THE PANDEMIC WHERE A LARGE, LARGER SCALE MULTIFAMILY DEVELOPMENT HAS, HAS TYPICALLY NOT MOVED FORWARD WITH THE EXCEPTION OF, UH, YOU KNOW, AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, YOU KNOW, WITH, WITH PUBLIC SUBSIDY AND CASES, YOU KNOW, UNIQUE CASES LIKE, UM, 1 21 BROADWAY, WHERE, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, PART OF A LARGER, UH, KIND OF, UH, MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT.
AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WORK.
UM, AND, UH, I, I AM OF COURSE, I THINK LIKE EVERYONE KIND OF EAGER FOR ULTIMATELY THE FIVE YEAR, WHICH I THINK MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT IN SOME WAYS WILL DRAW MAYBE PERHAPS MORE CONCLUSIONS THAN A SINGLE YEAR.
BUT, UM, UH, I THINK DAN HIT WHAT I WAS GONNA TALK TO WAS I THOUGHT THAT THAT PRESENTATION, THE MATERIALS THAT THE, UM, UH, WERE PUT TOGETHER TO HELP COUNCIL AND PLANNING BOARD MAKE CHOICES ABOUT POLICY, ABOUT, UM, PROJECTING IF YOU DID THIS, HOW MANY UNITS MIGHT YOU ANTICIPATE? IT SEEMS LIKE EVEN AFTER A YEAR, IT'S NOT TOO SOON TO PUT IT INTO CONTEXT, RIGHT? JUST TO HELP US, I THINK, ASSESS WE MADE A LOT OF CHOICES BASED ON THAT, I WOULD SAY, ARE THOSE BEARING OUT OR NOT? SO
[01:45:01]
I, I, I THINK I WOULD URGE THAT MAYBE EVEN IN THE YEAR TO YEAR, I DON'T THINK IT'S TOO EARLY TO REMIND US OF WHAT WE BOUGHT.AND, AND IF IT'S, IF IT'S PAYING OFF.
AND THEN THE OTHER KIND OF COROLLARY TO THAT IS, UM, NOT BEING WITHIN THE REGIONAL HOUSING, UM, FIELD.
I WAS WONDERING IF YOU MIGHT SPEAK TO BROADER REGIONAL HOUSING TRENDS, RIGHT? LIKE IS THE BROADER REGION ALSO SEEING SIMILAR TRENDS WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING OR, YOU KNOW, SAY WITH OUR A HO, ARE WE DOING SOMETHING THAT OTHER PLACES ARE JUST NOT DOING, WHICH WE MIGHT INTUIT MAYBE THE POLICIES DOING, DOING SOMETHING THAT'S MOVING THE NEEDLE OR, UM, SIMILAR, IT'S BEEN OBVIOUSLY AN ODD YEAR, RIGHT? A LOT OF UNPREDICTABILITY.
SO MAYBE JUST A LITTLE BIT OF THAT REGIONAL CONTEXT TOO, TO UNDERSTAND IT WAS SO HELPFUL WHEN YOU DESCRIBED THAT MULTIFAMILY UNIT, RIGHT? 22,000, 24 TO 25, I WAS LIKE, WHAT IS THIS HUGE CHANGE? SOMETHING TIMES ONE THING, WE'LL THROW IT OFF.
UM, BUT MAYBE, I MEAN, IF IT'S POSSIBLE NOW TO SPEAK A LITTLE BIT TO THE BROADER TREND, I THINK, UM, DAN HIT THAT 12,500, THAT'S THE NUMBER WE'RE ALL THINKING.
ARE WE ON, IF NOT ON TRACK REGIONALLY, HOW'S THE REGION DOING, UM, WITH HOUSING? YEAH, I THINK, UM, WELL THERE ARE TWO THINGS.
ONE IS, I MEAN, I THINK THE ANSWER WE, WE'VE ALREADY KIND OF ESTABLISHED THAT OVER, OVER THE TIME SCALE THAT WE'VE BEEN TRACKING, UM, HOUSING UNIT PRODUCTION, BOTH AT THE, IN BOTH LOCALLY AT CAMBRIDGE AND WITH WITHIN THE, WHAT'S CALLED THE METRO MAYOR'S COALITION, WHICH WAS A COALITION OF 15, YOU KNOW, BOSTON AREA, CITIES AND TOWNS LOOKING TO, LOOKING AT IT, ITS OVERALL HOUSING PRODUCTION THAT, YOU KNOW, THOSE, THOSE PROCESSES SET GOALS FOR HOUSING PRODUCTION.
I WOULD SAY, YOU KNOW, ABOUT, YOU KNOW, WELL THE ENVISION CAMBRIDGE, YOU KNOW, STUDY TALKED ABOUT THAT SET THE, THE GOALS IN 2019 AND THEN THE, THE METRO MAYOR'S COALITIONS, THAT GOES A LITTLE BIT BEFORE THAT, THAT WE'RE, WE'RE NOT REALLY ON TRACK, YOU KNOW, THAT THE, THAT THE, UM, PRODUCTION AND HOUSING, YOU KNOW, FOR, AGAIN, FOR A VARIETY OF FACTORS, BUT, YOU KNOW, HAVING TO DO WITH THE, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT, HOW YOU DISENTANGLE THE ZONING AND REGULATORY THINGS FROM ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IS, IS DIFFICULT TO DO.
BUT, UM, BUT WE HAVEN'T BEEN ON TRACK.
AND EVEN THE PROJECTIONS, YOU KNOW, BASED ON THE ZONING WORK THAT WE'VE DONE, SHOW THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT, WE'RE NOT GONNA HIT A, WE'RE NOT GONNA HIT A SPECIFIC NUMBER BY A SPECIFIC POINT, BUT THAT DOESN'T REALLY MEAN THAT WE'RE NOT, WE'RE NOT INTERESTED IN HOUSING PRODUCTION.
I MEAN, THE WHOLE, THE WHOLE GOAL A NUM A NUMBER ON AT A PARTICULAR TIME IN MY VIEW, IS A LITTLE BIT ARBITRARY, UM, AND IS REALLY MEANT TO JUST KIND OF FOCUS ON, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE ISSUE IS AND TO TRY TO, UH, TO TRY TO, YOU KNOW, MARSHAL RESOURCES AND ATTENTION TO, TO TRY TO ADDRESS THAT ISSUE.
I WOULD PUSH BACK A LITTLE BIT TO SAY, YOU KNOW, WE CAN USE ONE YEAR OF DATA TO TRY TO EXTRAPOLATE OUT HOW WE'RE, WE'RE GETTING THERE BECAUSE AGAIN, YOU, YOU KIND OF PUT YOUR FINGER RIGHT ON IT, YOU KNOW, ONE, ONE YEAR WE HAVE A 439 UNIT MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING, AND THE NEXT YEAR WE DON'T.
SO HOW DO YOU, HOW DO YOU EXTRAPOLATE FROM THOSE TWO, YOU KNOW, YEARS AT ANY KIND OF LARGER TRENDS? I THINK WHAT WE, WHAT WE KNOW, OR WHAT WE'VE, THE LESSON THAT WE'VE LEARNED, WHICH WE'VE ALREADY, I THINK ONE THAT WE'VE ALREADY KIND OF INTERNALIZED A BIT IS THAT THE, YOU KNOW, THE, WHEN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT SHEER NUMBER OF UNITS BEING PRODUCED, THE, YOU KNOW, THE, IT'S, IT'S REALLY THE BIG, IT'S THE BIG DEVELOPMENTS THAT ARE GONNA MAKE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE, RIGHT? SO, YOU KNOW, WHETHER YOU HAVE, AND THOSE USUALLY ARE, YOU KNOW, THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS YOU SEE AT THAT SCALE, NO MATTER WHAT, WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHETHER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT CAMBRIDGE OR ANY OTHER SURROUNDING COMMUNITY, THAT, THAT THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS IS GONNA BE, YOU KNOW, IN THE SINGLE DIGITS, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO, TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS THAT ARE DELIVERING HUNDREDS OF, OF, YOU KNOW, UNITS EACH.
SO THERE'S A, THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE THAT A YEAR OR TWO YEARS CAN MAKE IN TERMS OF THE, JUST THE ACTUAL UNIT COUNT.
YOU REALLY DO HAVE TO LOOK AT IT OVER A NUMBER OF YEARS.
YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU BAR, WHEN WE'VE LOOKED AT ALL OF THESE THINGS, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU BAR CHARTED OUT OF, YOU KNOW, UNITS PRODUCED OVER TIME, YOU DON'T SEE LIKE A, YOU KNOW, A, A TREND LIKE THIS.
YOU SEE A, A THING THAT LOOKS, YOU KNOW, LIKE THAT WITH DIFFERENT UNITS BEING, BEING BROUGHT ONLINE AT DIFFERENT TIMES.
SO THAT'S WHAT WE HOPE TO DO OVER, OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.
WE CAN TRY, WE CAN TRACE THAT OVER TIME, BUT WHAT WE DON'T REALLY KNOW IS THE EFFECT THAT THE, THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, YOU KNOW, HAD THAT, THAT THAT ZONING EXCHANGE HAS ON ALL THAT IN, IN ADDITION TO THE MASS AB ZONING AND, YOU KNOW, OTHER THINGS THAT WERE IMPLEMENTED MM-HMM.
MORE
BUT, YOU KNOW, WE'VE, WE'VE NOT SEEN PROPOSALS AT THAT, AT THAT SCALE COME THROUGH YET.
UM, REGIONALLY, UH, THAT'S A GOOD, I THINK IT'S A GOOD POINT THAT, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT IT REGIONALLY IN THE REGIONAL CONTEXT MAKES
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SENSE.ALTHOUGH WE, WE DIDN'T, YOU KNOW, YOU, YOU CAN, I THINK THERE WAS A REPORT ON THIS THAT, THAT ENDED UP IN THE BOSTON GLOBE THAT, YOU KNOW, THE METRO'S MAYOR MAYOR'S COALITION RELEASES ITS DATA, AND I THINK EVERY COMMUNITY AND IN WITHIN THAT 15, 15 COMMUNITY KIND OF BLOCK IS EXPERIENCING VERY SIMILAR ISSUES.
IT'S NOT EXACT, YOU KNOW, SOME, SOME ARE SEEING MORE HOUSING UNIT PRODUCTION, SOME ARE SEEING LESS, BUT THEY'RE, WE'RE ALL KIND OF IN THE SAME BOAT OF NOT, NOT BEING IN THE, UH, NOT BEING ON TRACK TO, TO MEET THE TARGETS THAT WERE SET FOR A PARTICULAR COMMUNITY.
UM, ASHLEY, THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR.
AND THANK YOU FOR THE STAFF FOR PUTTING THIS TOGETHER, AND NO ONE MUST HAVE TAKEN A LOT OF TIME AND, UM, A LOT OF BRAINPOWER TO THINK ABOUT HOW TO PUT THIS ALL TOGETHER.
UM, I HAVE, AND MAYBE THIS IS MORE OF A RHETORICAL QUESTION, BUT FROM LOOKING AT THE DATA, IT SEEMS THAT THE, BOTH THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT ISD YOU KNOW, HAD, HAD AN INCREASE IN LOAD, WHEREAS, UM, FOR THE PLANNING BOARD AND FOR THE ZONING BOARD, THE LOAD HAS GONE DOWN.
AND I WAS CURIOUS IF, YOU KNOW, BOTH ISD AND HIS, THE HISTORIC COMMISSIONS WERE ADEQUATELY STAFFED OR PREPARED OR, YOU KNOW, I IDEALLY THEY WOULD GET EVEN MORE, UM, LOAD IN THE FUTURE WITH, AS YOU KNOW, WE'RE STILL IN THE VERY BEGINNING, BUT, YOU KNOW, THINKING FROM A SMALL DEVELOPER'S POINT OF VIEW, IF, IF, UM, IF THESE REVIEWS TAKE A LONG TIME, IT MIGHT BE A DETERRENT.
AND SO I WAS JUST, YEAH, IT'S PROBABLY MORE OF A RHETORICAL QUESTION, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE, UM, YOU KNOW, BETWEEN THE MULTIFAMILY ZONING, AND I KNOW LIKE A FEW YEARS AGO WE HAD CHANGE IN DORMERS AND THEN CHANGE IN BASEMENT UNITS.
IT'S A LOT TO REVIEW FOR, UM, BOTH THESE, AND SO HOPING THERE'S ENOUGH
YEAH, THAT, THAT, THANKS FOR THE QUESTION.
IT DID COME UP AT THE, UH, COUNCIL DISCUSSION LAST WEEK AND, AND EACH OF THE, THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS KIND OF WEIGHED IN ON THAT.
WE HEARD A LITTLE BIT FROM THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND A LITTLE BIT FROM ISD, I THINK, YOU KNOW, ACROSS THE BOARD, YOU KNOW, WE, I THINK WE ALL, ALL DEPARTMENTS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE'VE, UM, WE'VE REALLY BEEN BEEN ABLE TO WORK THROUGH THIS BY LEANING ON EACH OTHER QUITE A BIT.
SO WE'VE OFFERED A LOT OF OUR SUPPORT TO, TO HISTORICAL AND ISD AND YOU KNOW, ACROSS, ACROSS THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS.
SO I THINK THAT'S MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
BUT YOU, YES, YOU, YOU HAVE NOTED THAT IT'S BEEN A LOT MORE BUSINESS AND THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND, AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD, YOU KNOW, CDCS ARE USED TO, UM, AND THEY'VE HAD TO, TO DEAL WITH THAT AND, YOU KNOW, IN, IN CERTAIN CASES THEY'VE, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE, THEY'VE HAD TO DO THAT.
UM, YOU KNOW, WITHOUT THE, THE KIND OF SUPPORT OF HAVING THINGS BE BOTH AT THE PLANNING BOARD AND, YOU KNOW, BEING REVIEWED KIND OF SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH, WITH CDD STAFF, UM, I'M, I'M NOT SURE IT'S BEEN NECESSARILY, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT MUCH OF A, A DETERRENT IN TERMS OF DEVELOPERS.
I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE, I THINK PARTLY THAT'S, THAT'S BORNE OUT BY THE FACT THAT THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY CASES THAT THE SO COMMISSION, UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE, THE SO COMMISSION STAFF HAS POINTED OUT, AGAIN, IF YOU LOOK AT THE, THE DEMO, I WON'T PUT THE CHART BACK UP, BUT THE, UM, CHART OF SIGNIFICANCE REQUESTS FOR, FOR DEMOLITION THAT THEY HAVE, UM, YOU KNOW, SHIFTED IN SOME WAYS HOW THEY LOOK AT THOSE QUESTIONS AND, AND, AND THE PROPORTION OF, UM, REQUESTS THAT THEY MAKE, THAT INITIAL DETERMINATION OF SIGNIFICANCE HAS, HAS GONE DOWN.
SO THEY'VE, THEY'VE REALLY KIND OF FOCUSED AS A STAFF.
THEY'VE REALLY FOCUSED UP ON, YOU KNOW, WHAT THEY REALLY FIND TO BE MOST SIGNIFICANT UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE'S, THERE'S GONNA BE THIS INCREASE IN, IN REQUESTS.
UM, AND I THINK THE, I THINK THEIR, SO COMMISSION HAS HANDLED THE CASES THAT THEY'VE SEEN, UM, VERY WELL, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE, UH, THEY'VE, THEY'VE CARRIED OUT THEIR RESPONSE JUST LIKE THE PLANNING BOARD DOES.
THEY'VE, THEY KNOW WHAT, THEY KNOW WHAT THEIR ASSIGNMENT IS, AND THEY, UM, THEY CARRY IT OUT DILIGENTLY.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, THESE PROPOSALS HAVE, HAVE GONE THROUGH A LOT OF IMPROVEMENTS AND THEY'VE, YOU KNOW, IN SOME CASES BEEN KIND OF RESHAPED IN ORDER TO, TO MEET THE STANDARDS THAT THE HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND THE, AND THE CD C'S SET.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, WE'LL, WE'LL SEE OVER TIME.
THERE'S ALSO SOME, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, THERE'S MAYBE A BIT OF A PHENOMENON AND, AND WE'LL SEE THIS AS WE TRACK DATA IN FUTURE YEARS OF IS THERE AN INITIAL WAVE OF INTEREST THAT THEN KIND OF SETTLES OUT A LITTLE BIT, YOU KNOW, WHEN, WHEN SOME OF THE, THE NOVELTY WEARS OFF AND WHEN PEOPLE START TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE BIT BETTER WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT CAN REALLY HAPPEN AND, AND WHAT'S REALLY FEASIBLE.
[01:55:01]
UM, SO YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY ABOUT IT.I THINK EVERY, I THINK ACROSS DEPARTMENTS WE FEEL LIKE WE'RE, WE, WE DO FEEL LIKE WE'VE BEEN ADEQUATELY PREPARED, AND THAT'S LARGELY FROM, YOU KNOW, WORKING TOGETHER AND, AND SHARING INFORMATION AND, UH, YOU KNOW, AND WE'LL, WE'LL, WE'LL KEEP WORKING ON IT AND WE'LL SEE.
WE'LL SEE HOW THE, THE TRENDS EVOLVE.
TED, WELL, JEFF, THANKS TO YOU AND THE STAFF FOR PUTTING ALL THIS INFORMATION TOGETHER.
UM, THE, A QUESTION YOU CONDUCT EASILY
BUT AT SOME POINT IN TIME, DO YOU THINK WE CAN HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT WHETHER WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IN CAMBRIDGE THROUGH ZONING AND OTHER, UH, ASPECTS OF WHAT THE CITY IS DOING, GET TO THE IMPACT IT MAY BE HAVING ON THE COST OF RENT AND THE COST OF HOME OWNERSHIP IN THE CITY? UM, YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S A TOUGH QUESTION.
I THINK, AGAIN, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S, IN SOME WAYS THIS IS WHAT, UM, WHAT THE EFFORT IS ALL ABOUT.
IT'S ABOUT ADDRESSING A SHORTAGE OF HOUSING THAT'S BEEN BUILT OVER DECADES.
UM, SO I, I DON'T THINK WE'RE GONNA SEE ON ANY KIND OF SHORT TERM TIMEFRAME, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE, WHAT THE EFFECTS ARE.
I THINK AS, AS A PLANNER, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THAT QUESTION, IT'S, UM, IT'S HARD BECAUSE IT'S, IT'S A MOVING TARGET, RIGHT? IT'S NOT REALLY ABOUT, IT'S NOT ABOUT WHERE ARE WE NOW AND WHAT CAN WE DO IMMEDIATELY TO KIND OF BRING HOUSING COSTS DOWN.
IT'S ABOUT PROJECTING WHAT'S THE FUTURE GONNA BE LIKE IN 20 YEARS, 30 YEARS, 40 YEARS? AND AS, AS WE GET TO THAT POINT IN TIME, ARE WE GONNA SEE, ARE WE GONNA SEE AFFORDABILITY GET WORSE? ARE WE GONNA SEE, YOU KNOW, A, UH, MORE SHIFTING IN, IN TERMS OF THE, THE POPULATION AND, UM, YOU KNOW, LESS AFFORDABILITY FOR, FOR PEOPLE ACROSS ALL, YOU KNOW, SIDES OF THE INCOME SPECTRUM.
YOU KNOW WHAT? AND WHICH, OF COURSE, TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, YOU HAVE TO KNOW, WELL, WHAT'S THE INCOME SPECTRUM GONNA LOOK LIKE IN, IN 20 YEARS? YOU KNOW, WE DO, WE DON'T REALLY KNOW THAT EITHER.
UM, BUT IT'S, IT'S, IT'S KIND OF ABOUT TRYING TO TRIANGULATE THAT, UH, THAT TRAJECTORY TO SAY, YOU KNOW, THE WORLD IS HEADING IN ONE DIRECTION AND WE WANT, WE WANT CAMBRIDGE TO BE HEADING IN A WAY THAT, YOU KNOW, WHEN, WHEN IT MEETS THE FUTURE, WE, WE WANNA, UM, WE, WE WANNA TRY TO, WE, WE WANNA TRY TO MAKE SURE WE'RE, WE'RE CONTINUING TO PROMOTE, UM, OUR VALUES AMONG WHICH ARE, YOU KNOW, PROVIDING HOUSING THAT'S AFFORDABLE TO, TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO, WHO WANT AND NEED TO LIVE HERE.
UM, SO YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S A, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S DUCKING THE QUESTION OR NOT, BUT THAT'S, THAT'S SORT OF THE PLANNING QUESTION.
I THINK WE'RE GONNA, I THINK IT, I THINK THAT WILL BEAR OUT AS WE START TO LOOK TO, YOU KNOW, EVERY 10 YEARS.
HOW DO YOU KNOW, WE, WE, WHEN WE LOOK AT THIS ISSUE, YOU KNOW, WE LOOK BACK IN TIME, WE LOOK, YOU KNOW, ALL THE WAY BACK TO, YOU KNOW, THE 1950S AND HOW THE COMPOSITION OF CAMBRIDGE HAS CHANGED AND HOW LIKE THE HOUSING STOCK HAS CHANGED AND HOW INCOMES HAVE CHANGED OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
SO WE'RE GONNA, THAT'S, I THINK THE TIMESCALE THAT WE'RE GONNA, WE'LL LEARN ABOUT THAT IS, IS, YOU KNOW, 10 IN 10 YEAR INCREMENTS.
HOW, HOW HAS THE POPULATION CHANGED IN THE CITY? UM, AND HOW HAS, HOW HAS THE HOUSING CHINA STOCK CHANGED IN THE CITY? AND TRY TO FIGURE OUT, WELL, WHAT, WHAT'S THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONE AND THE OTHER? YEAH, I WAS HOPING FOR A FIVE HERE,
I'M NOT SURE I'M GONNA MAKE IT 10 YEARS
YEAH, UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S THE, THAT'S THE ISSUE IS I DON'T, I, YOU KNOW, THIS IS, THIS IS A, IT, IT'S A LONG-TERM ISSUE.
AND I DON'T THINK, UM, YOU KNOW, PERSONALLY I DON'T, I DON'T THINK CHA THINGS CAN CHANGE THAT FAST NO MATTER HOW, NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK AT IT.
IT'S, AND IT'S, AND THE GOAL ISN'T NECESSARILY TO, TO CHANGE THINGS IMMEDIATELY.
IT'S TO SET A NEW COURSE FOR THE FUTURE.
I'M GONNA GIVE MARY A CHANCE TO TAKE A SWING AT THE PLATE HERE BEFORE YOU.
UM, I'M JUST THINKING ABOUT, UM, THE, UH, PROJECTS THAT, UM, THAT THE REHABS AND THE ADDITIONS THAT DON'T AFFECT THE NET CHANGE IN HOUSING.
UM, I'M SURE THERE ARE SOME FOLKS WHO ARE NOT NECESSARILY DEMOLISHING THEIR
[02:00:01]
BUILDINGS, BUT ARE ADDING ON BECAUSE THEY, YOU KNOW, THEY CAN, AND IN MANY CASES, THAT MIGHT BE AFFECTING THE BZA LOAD TOO, RIGHT? BECAUSE YOU CAN DO THE ADDITIONS AND THINGS MORE EASILY, BUT THAT'S ALSO AFFECTING VALUE AND IT'S, IT'S S YOU KNOW, WHICH DOESN'T INCREASE THE HOUSING STOCK AND REALLY ONLY BENEFITS THE, THE HOMEOWNER.UM, WHICH, WHICH I'M NOT AGAINST, BUT I THINK IT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT'S ONE OF THE FACTORS THAT NEEDS TO BE SORT OF TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT CHANGES IN, IN PRICING FOR THE, BOTH THE COST OF NEW HOUSING AND, AND RENTS.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, SORT OF, YOU KNOW, HOW IS, HOW DOES THAT PLAY OUT OVER TIME? IS THERE A WAY TO, UM, TO REGULATE THE IMPACT OF THAT? I'M PROBABLY NOT.
UM, YOU PROBABLY CAN'T ALLOW ONE HOMEOWNER TO ONE HOMEOWNER TO ADD X NUMBER OF SQUARE FEET FOR TWO UNITS VERSUS ONE PERSON ADDING IT FOR JUST THEIR OWN BENEFIT.
BUT IT, IT'S JUST, IT'S JUST A, UH, CURIOUS QUESTION IN MY MIND AS TO, YOU KNOW, HOW MUCH OF THAT IS GOING ON OVER TIME.
MIGHT NOT BE A LOT JUST YET, BUT ANYWAY, IF THERE'S A WAY OF ADDING IT IN, UH, TO FUTURE REPORTS, I THINK IT WOULD, WOULD HELP US TO AT LEAST UNDERSTAND THE BIG PICTURE.
UM, DAN, UH, THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR.
SO, UM, AND APPRECIATE LET LETTING MARY GO BEFORE ME.
BUT THIS, THIS IS A FOLLOW UP ACTUALLY ON, ON ASHLEY'S COMMENT.
AND I THINK, UM, JEFF, IT WOULD BE, UM, HELPFUL TO KNOW IN TERMS OF CAPACITY AND EFFICIENCY AT ISD OR HISTORIC, UM, TO KNOW, UM, YOU KNOW, WHETHER THE NUMBER OF OTHER NON-RESIDENTIAL PERMITS HAS RAISED OR, OR, UM, OR DECREASED.
SO THERE'S A KIND OF SENSE ABOUT, UM, LOAD AND CAPACITY JUST IN TERMS OF, OF TOTAL AND PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL VOLUME.
'CAUSE WE ARE, WE'RE JUST LOOKING AT, UH, NET INCREASE OR CHANGE IN HOUSING PERMITS.
UM, SO THAT'S, THAT KIND OF PUTS THINGS IN CONTEXT.
AND I THINK TOO, UM, UNDERSTANDING, YOU KNOW, OVERALL DURATION OF, UM, YOU KNOW, FROM HEARING TO APPROVAL OR FROM PERMIT APPLICATION TO RELEASE OF PERMIT ALSO WOULD BE, UM, SUPER HELPFUL.
UM, IT JUST REALLY TALKS ABOUT CAPACITY AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, MAYBE TO, YOU KNOW, UNDERSCORE MY, MY INTEREST IN, IN VELOCITY MM-HMM
YEAH, THAT'S, YEAH, WE'LL, WE'LL TALK ABOUT THAT WITH, WITH ISD TO THE, TO YOUR POINT, YOU KNOW, IT'S DEFINITELY TRUE AND YOU HAVE TO THINK, LOOK ABOUT, IF YOU'RE FOCUSED ON PERMITTING AS, AS THE CONTEXT THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF A PERMITS THAT PEOPLE ARE SEEKING ARE FOR, YOU KNOW, REDOING THEIR BATHROOM, YOU KNOW, REPLACING THEIR SIDING.
LIKE THERE'S, YOU KNOW, THERE'S, THERE'S SO MANY THINGS THAT ARE, THAT ARE NOT REALLY CAPTURED HERE THAT, THAT REALLY ARE MORE LIKE THE BREAD AND BUTTER OF, OF INSPECTION SERVICES AND, AND THE WORK THAT THEY DO.
AND IN TERMS OF NON-RESIDENTIAL, I THINK, YOU KNOW, THERE, THERE'S A LOT OF THAT AT THE, ON THE NON-RESIDENTIAL SIDE TOO.
BUT SIMILAR TO THE DECREASE, YOU KNOW, OVERALL KIND OF DECREASE IN THE LARGE, YOU KNOW, MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS, YOU KNOW, WE'RE SEEING SIMILAR KIND OF TRENDS WITH LARGER, UM, COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.
YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW, A LOT OF THAT HAVING TO DO WITH, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A BIG, THERE WAS A BOOM IN, YOU KNOW, NON RE WE, WE ALMOST KIND OF, IT'S ALMOST FE JUST FROM HAVING BEEN HERE A WHILE, SEE, IT SEEMS LIKE WE'VE GONE THROUGH TWO CYCLES AT DIFFERENT TIMES, YOU KNOW, OF KIND OF A BOOM IN RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION THAT THEN STARTED TO TAIL OFF AND THEN KIND OF A BOOM IN, IN COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION THAT CA THAT SORT OF STARTED WHILE THE RESIDENTIAL WAS BOOMING AND THEN PEAKED A LITTLE BIT LATER AND IS NOW, YOU KNOW, BACKED DOWN AS WE, AS WE'VE SEEN, YOU KNOW, CHANGES IN, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, JUST THE EC OVERALL ECONOMICS, PARTICULARLY IN, IN LIFE SCIENCE.
SO THAT'S, UM, SO YEAH, SIMILAR IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, NOT AS MANY LARGE SCALE PROJECTS COMING THROUGH, ALTHOUGH SOME, AGAIN, YOU KNOW, LIKE RESIDENTIAL, THERE'S, THERE'S SOME, IT'S NOT TOTALLY NOTHING.
IT'S SOME THINGS, BUT, UH, UM, BUT WE'RE STILL WAITING TO SEE, UH, WHAT TRENDS EMERGE AND IF, IF ECONOMIC CONDITIONS CHANGE IN A WAY THAT'S GONNA, THAT'S GONNA REALLY TRANSFORM DEVELOPMENT.
WELL, I HAVE A FEW COMMENTS, LESS, LESS QUESTIONS.
UM, FIRST QUESTION, FIRST COMMENT IS HOW PROUD I AM OF THE, THE BOARD TONIGHT BEING ENGAGED AT THIS LEVEL, UH, WITH LOTS OF REALLY GOOD SUGGESTIONS, I THINK, AND INPUT ON THE, ON THE MASSIVE REPORT THAT, UH, YOU WERE ABLE TO SHARE WITH US TONIGHT.
UM, I REALLY FIND THAT, UH, IDEA THAT I THINK DAN HAD FOR A HOUSING METER, KIND OF LIKE A GAS GAUGE.
OKAY, HERE'S 1250, WHERE ARE WE? AND, UH, WHERE'S THE NEEDLE MOVING? KIND OF INTRIGUING.
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UM, UH, I HAD ABSOLUTELY THE SAME, UM, QUESTION THAT, UH, CAROLYN HAD ABOUT INCLUSIONARY ZONING.IS IT DEAD ON ARRIVAL? WELL, WE, IT'S ONE YEAR OF DATA.
IT, UH, IT'S PROBABLY NOT GOOD TO INFER FROM THAT, BUT THAT IS SOMETHING THAT MAYBE NEEDS ADJUSTMENT HERE.
AND AFTER ALL, THE COUNCIL COULD ADJUST THE REQUIRED PERCENTAGE, AND THAT MIGHT, UM, I THINK THE DATA, THE STATISTICS ARE TELLING US SOMETHING ABOUT THAT, THAT, UM, JUST LIKE THE FEDERAL RESERVE, YOU COULD LOWER THE PERCENTAGE AND MAYBE THAT WOULD MAKE THE, UH, PROJECT'S PENCIL OUT AND WE COULD MOVE SOME OF THAT, UH, OPPORTUNITY FORWARD.
I SUSPECT THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON WITH A TIGHT, UH, CONSTRUCTION AND FINANCING MARKET RIGHT NOW.
UM, UH, I, I LOVE TED'S IDEA TO
AND I GUESS LASTLY, UM, THIS HUGE AMOUNT OF DATA, UH, WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO MULTI-YEAR VIEW OF THIS.
UH, IT'S CRITICAL BECAUSE CHANGE IN OUR COMMUNITY IS DIFFICULT.
YOU KNOW, WE HEAR THE VOICES HERE AT THE PLANNING BOARD AND IN OUR, AMONGST OUR NEIGHBORS AND NEIGHBORHOODS, A ABOUT CONCERNS AND, AND FEAR OF THE, OF THE ZONING CHANGES WE'VE GONE THROUGH, AS YOU DESCRIBED, THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN A HUNDRED YEARS IN OUR CITY.
AND THIS IS A TERRIFIC TOOL, RIGHT? THIS IS GONNA GIVE US SOME INSIGHT INTO IS IT WORKING? ARE THE PAIN POINTS REAL? UH, ARE WE DOING TOO MUCH DAMAGE TO OUR TREES? IT, THOSE QUESTIONS ARE ALL APPARENT IN THE DATA.
IF WE DIDN'T GET IT RIGHT, AND I SUSPECT WE DIDN'T GET IT A HUNDRED PERCENT RIGHT, WE CAN MAKE ADJUSTMENTS.
WE CAN SIMPLY CHANGE THE ZONING TO ADDRESS, UH, SOME THINGS THAT PERHAPS WE DID NOT GET RIGHT.
AND THIS DATA'S GONNA GIVE US INSIGHT, HOPEFULLY, INTO THAT FUTURE IN TIME TO DO THAT.
UM, SO, UH, WE WERE TOLD AS WE WENT THROUGH THIS A YEAR AGO, UH, IN FEBRUARY, UH, THAT THE SKY WAS GONNA FALL WHEN WE PUT THIS IN PLACE, UM, MAYBE SOME PEOPLE LOCALLY ARE FEELING THAT, UH, I DON'T SEE THAT IN THE DATA THAT THE SKY'S FALLING.
SO, UM, I, WE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR IT, I PROMISE THE COMMUNITY THAT, UM, UH, BUT, UH, THERE'S SOME REALLY GOOD PEARLS HERE THAT SUGGEST THAT IT MAY BE WORKING.
SO THANK YOU FOR, UH, PUTTING THIS ALL TOGETHER, AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE CITY AWARE OF, UH, HOW THIS IS ALL WORKING.
SO I THINK IT'S ALL, ALL REALLY, REALLY GOOD.
UM, SO, UH, THAT'S WHERE I AM AT THIS POINT ON THIS.
I THINK THERE ARE A FEW COMMUNITY MEMBERS.
SOME OF OUR OLD FRIENDS I BELIEVE ARE DIALED IN.
UH, WE'LL SEE IF, UH, ANY OF THE ATTENDEES, UH, WOULD LIKE TO ADD ANYTHING TO TONIGHT'S DISCUSSION WITH THAT.
SO ARE, WE DID, SO I THINK WE'LL MOVE TO PUBLIC COMMENT.
UH, SO ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK SHOULD NOW CLICK THE BUTTON AND THAT SAYS, RAISE HAND IF YOU'D LIKE TO SPEAK.
AND IF YOU'RE CALLING IN BY PHONE, UH, YOU CAN RAISE YOUR HAND BY PRESSING STAR NINE.
UM, AND AS OF 5:00 PM YESTERDAY, THE BOARD HAD RECEIVED NO WRITTEN COMMENTS ON THE MATTER THAT WAS BEFORE US TONIGHT.
SO I'LL ASK JEFF TO, UH, TAKE US THROUGH THE PROCESS TO SEE IF ANY OF OUR, UH, THAT PEOPLE ARE LISTENING IN WOULD LIKE TO, LIKE TO RAISE A FEW POINTS TONIGHT.
UM, I'M TAKING A LOOK AT IT NOW.
UM, I KNOW THIS IS AN ITEM OF GENERAL BUSINESS, YOU KNOW, WE DIDN'T ADVERTISE THIS AS A PUBLIC HEARING.
UM, SO I DON'T KNOW IF, IF, UH, FOLKS WERE PREPARED TO SPEAK, BUT, UM, IF WE DON'T SEE ANY HANDS, WE COULD ALWAYS, UH, YEAH.
AND, UH, BEGIN WITH YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS.
HELLO, HEATHER HOFFMAN, TWO 13 HURLEY STREET.
I WAS WAITING TO FIND OUT WHETHER THERE WAS GOING TO BE PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE I HURRIEDLY DIALED MY PHONE.
ANYWAY, UH, BECAUSE CRASHING IS ALWAYS A BUMMER.
UM, I WANTED TO POINT POINT OUT SOME THINGS THAT I POINTED OUT TO THE, UM, AT THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE HEARING, BECAUSE I IMAGINE THAT AT LEAST ONE OF YOU GUYS DIDN'T ATTEND THAT AND DIDN'T HEAR MY PEARLS OF WISDOM.
FIRST OFF, I AM REALLY DISAPPOINTED THAT THE, UM, THAT THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE LAWSUIT SPEAKING TO OVERTURN INCLUSIONARY ZONING PRECISELY BECAUSE OF THE CHANGES THAT WERE MADE BY THE MASSIVE UPZONING
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LAST YEAR.IF I WERE A DEVELOPER, I WOULD CERTAINLY BE WAITING FOR THAT.
THERE'S ALSO NO MENTION OF THE FACT THAT THE CITY WAS SUPPOSED TO REVIEW INCLUSIONARY ZONING SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND DIDN'T, AND THAT IN A BREAK FROM PAST PRECEDENT, YOU NEVER, UM, EVEN INITIATED THE STUDY TO SEE IF THIS CHANGED.
A MASSIVE CHANGE WAS WARRANTED.
SO, AND THEN AFTER THE FACT, ALL OF A SUDDEN A NEXUS STUDY WAS COMMISSIONED.
AGAIN, IF I WERE A DEVELOPER, I'D BE GOING NOWHERE IF UNTIL THOSE THINGS GET RESOLVED.
UM, I ALSO POINT OUT THAT JEFF STARTED OUT BY ACTING SAYING THAT C ONE IS THE ONLY RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICT, AND THEN TWO SENTENCES LATER, HE MAKES IT VERY CLEAR THAT THERE ARE OTHER RESIDENTIAL ZONING DISTRICTS THAT ACTUALLY ALLOW MORE THAN C ONE.
I, IT IS NOT HELPFUL FOR ANYONE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON IF YOU DON'T EVEN TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BASIC FACTS OF WHAT THE ZONING IS.
UM, AND I WOULD ALSO SAY THAT, UM, I, I DO NOT SEE THAT THE WAY THAT ENVISION WAS PUT THROUGH WAS SOMEHOW THE MAGIC NUMBER THAT LASTS FROM NOW TILL THE SUN GOES NOVA, AND WHY HE CAN'T RECONSIDER WHETHER THE HUGE CHANGES THAT HAVE HAPPENED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS MIGHT ENCOURAGE US TO REVISIT THAT.
AND FINALLY, ALL OF THOSE CHANGES ARE OBVIOUSLY AFFECTING WHAT THE COST IS TO DO ALL OF THIS.
ANY OTHER, UH, HANDS? JEFF? I DON'T SEE ANY HANDS RAISED.
UM, CERTAINLY IF ANYBODY'S TUNED IN OR NOT ON THE ZOOM AND WATCHING, WE CAN ACCEPT ANY WRITTEN COMMENT, PROVIDE THAT TO THE PLANNING BOARD.
WE'D BE HAPPY TO DO THAT IF, IF SOME PEOPLE DIDN'T HAVE THEIR THOUGHTS PREPARED BUT WANTED TO SEND SOMETHING.
UM, SO AT THIS POINT, I, I GUESS, UH, AND ONLY FULL BOARD MEMBERS WILL ACT ON IT.
UM, UH, IS THERE A MOTION TO CONCLUDE, UH, THIS ITEM? UH, JUST REMEMBER TO SAY YOUR NAME, IF YOU'RE WILLING TO MAKE THE MOTION TO CONCLUDE TONIGHT'S DISCUSSION AROUND THE HOUSING REPORT.
A ROLL CALL VOTE ON THAT MOTION, PLEASE.
THAT'S ALL MEMBERS VOTING IN FAVOR.
UM, SO THAT CONCLUDES THE BUSINESS ON OUR AGENDA.
IF I WAS IN PERSON, I WOULD, UH, HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT MEINE WITH TED, WHERE I JUST CAME BACK FROM.
UM, BUT WE'RE NOT GONNA HAVE THAT CHANCE.
SO, UH, AND AT NINE O'CLOCK TONIGHT IS THIS TERRIFIC, UH, UH, THOROUGH, UM, DOCUMENTARY.
SO I'M ANXIOUS TO JUMP ONTO M UH, GB AGENCY THAT, SO, UM, ANY OTHER BUSINESS? I, WELL, SINCE WE CONCLUDED, I WON'T SAY MUCH MORE, BUT JUST THANK YOU FOR A GREAT DIS THANK YOU FOR A GREAT DISCUSSION ON, ON THAT TOPIC.
THIS IS SOME REALLY GREAT INSIGHT.
WE'LL, WE'LL DEFINITELY GO OVER IT CAREFULLY AND IT'LL HELP US AS WE, UH, AS WE MOVE FORWARD IN THE FUTURE FOR SURE.