An order meant to avoid empty lots and torn-down trees from premature home demolitions was withdrawn Monday by Cambridge city councillor Cathie Zusy as – so far – unnecessary.
The city’s housing development dashboard shows more than 250 projects in before-permit, permitted and completed stages. Zusy said in her order introduced Nov. 2 that she was concerned that developers and owners are allowed to tear down homes and trees before a building permit is applied for or approved, and “if a project is then delayed, the site may sit vacant,” she said.
“Many, many cities have lots and lots of vacant lots, including Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Austin, Atlanta, New York City, Dallas, New Orleans and St. Louis,” Zusy said.
She and other councillors expressed alarm over the summer at the number of demolitions taking place as eager developers respond to multifamily zoning. Zusy referred to walking around in Cambridgeport and Riverside and “every week there’s another … they’re happening everywhere.” Councillor Patty Nolan called the number of demolitions “striking,” and councillor Marc McGovern recounted attending a meeting about a teardown at 66 Kinnaird St., Riverside, where a developer didn’t apply for permits because “he didn’t know he needed to get them.”
At a meeting with head of Inspectional Services Peter McLaughlin and deputy city manager Kathy Watkins, though, Zusy learned that all but one demolition now permitted have applied for building permits except for a lone Prospect Street property where both demolition and building permits are on hold.
“They’ve convinced me that that this isn’t a problem yet, and so I will be withdrawing this policy,” Zusy said. “I hope that it’s never a problem for the city, but I think it is something that we should watch for.”
Connecting tree removals to building permits would still be useful, she said, to understand the impact of zoning on the tree canopy.
The order was withdrawn. Proposed amendments to multifamily zoning are working their way through a city process to return to the council for consideration.
