These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City Calendar and in the city’s Open Meetings Portal.
Affordable housing zoning ideas
Ordinance Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillors Marc McGovern and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler look at changes proposed by residents for Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Overlay and multifamily zoning. Planning Board members looked at the same proposals Tuesday and voted 5-0 not to recommend adoption, saying more time was needed to see how things work out to the expectations of city councilors who passed the laws in 2020, 2023 and 2025. It would be a surprise, then, to see councilors recommend the changes at the end of this hearing. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square.
Six stories, 85 home proposed
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A proposal for a six-story residential building of approximately 91,585 square feet of gross floor area (combining four lots with single- or three-story structures) with 85 homes is proposed for Neighborhood 9 near Fresh Pond at 9 and 25 Birch St. and 30-36 Bay State Road. These would be mostly studios and one-bedroom units, with the idea that this decreases the number of households needing cars; there will be 15 off-street parking spaces proposed but 89 long-term and 10 short-term bicycle parking spaces. Sixteen of the homes would be deeded as affordable. The developers are asking a special permit to have less than the typically required green roof area in case that percentage falls short; buildings of more than 25,000 gross square feet must devote 80 percent of roof area to green roof space, biosolar green roof or solar energy systems. Developers promise a contribution to the Affordable Housing Trust to compensate. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Update on violence prevention
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Thursday. A special meeting updates the community on “current, planned and recommended public safety and violence prevention work” since the July 4 killing of Xavier Bautista – foreshadowed at a July 8 community meeting about the death. Attendees asked about the ShotSpotter gunfire-listening technology shut down in May by the council, and whether it could have saved the 32-year-old’s life by bringing first responders to the scene faster. In response, mayor Sumbul Siddiqui said she was working to call the council back from its summer break to discuss the use of technology “with broader, other issues.” Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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