Runnin’ Down the Clock – December 7, 2015 Cambridge City Council agenda
Here are a few nuggets for this Day of Infamy. I’ll leave the comments to others this time.
Manager’s Agenda #7. Transmitting communication from Richard C. Rossi, City Manager, relative to a Planning Board recommendation to adopt with suggested modifications the PUD-KS (Volpe Site) Rezoning Petition.
Manager’s Agenda #8. Transmitting communication from Richard C. Rossi, City Manager, relative to a Planning Board recommendation to adopt the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority/MXD Rezoning Petition in the revised version dated Nov 4, 2015, with suggested clarifications.
Committee Report #4. A communication was received from Donna P. Lopez, City Clerk, transmitting a report from Councillor Dennis J. Carlone and Vice Mayor Dennis A. Benzan, Co-Chairs of the Ordinance Committee, for a public hearing held on Nov 19, 2015 to continue discussion on the petition filed by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) to amend the Zoning Ordinance in the Kendall Square Urban Renewal Plan area (KSURP) and to amend the current zoning for the MXD District in Kendall Square to reflect the proposed changes to the plan.
Committee Report #6. A communication was received from Donna P. Lopez, City Clerk, transmitting a report from Councillor Dennis J. Carlone and Vice Mayor Dennis A. Benzan, Co-Chairs of the Ordinance Committee, for a public hearing held on Dec 3, 2015 to continue discussion on the petition filed by the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority (CRA) to amend the Zoning Ordinance in the Kendall Square Urban Renewal Plan area (KSURP) and to amend the current zoning for the MXD District in Kendall Square to reflect the proposed changes to the plan.
Manager’s Agenda #9. Transmitting communication from Richard C. Rossi, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 15-94, regarding a report on a list of parking stickers issued to each development in the past ten years.
Manager’s Agenda #10. Transmitting communication from Richard C. Rossi, City Manager, relative to proposed amendments to the Community Benefits Ordinance.
Committee Report #7. A communication was received from Donna P. Lopez, City Clerk, transmitting a report from Councillor Dennis J. Carlone and Vice Mayor Dennis A. Benzan, Co-Chairs of the Ordinance Committee, for a public hearing held on Dec 1, 2015 to discuss the proposed Community Benefits Ordinance.
Manager’s Agenda #11. Transmitting communication from Richard C. Rossi, City Manager, relative to the appointment of Nicole Murati Ferrer, Esq. as Chair of the License Commission, effective Jan 11, 2016.
Order #4. That the City Manager is requested to confer with the Community Development Department and other relevant City staffers to determine the feasibility of establishing City-financed "gap vouchers," similar to those being considered by the City of Waltham, and to consider whether additional measures such as establishing standalone City-issued housing vouchers could be established. Councillor Simmons, Councillor McGovern and Councillor Carlone
Order #6. That the City Manager is requested to consult with the appropriate City personnel and report back to the City Council on what specific steps will be implemented in the coming year to ensure that the City’s Boards and Commissions adequately reflect the rich diversity of the City, and to ensure that a greater level of citizen outreach and engagement by these entities is pursued. Councillor Simmons
Order #7. That the City Manager is requested to confer with the Finance Department to establish a parallel fund to the fund proposed in the Community Benefits Ordinance and to confer with the Finance Director to ensure that the parallel fund will be able to accept money from private entities and that it will spend the collected money in a similar manner to the Community Benefits Fund Councillor Cheung
Committee Report #5. A communication was received from Donna P. Lopez, City Clerk, transmitting a report from Vice Mayor Dennis A. Benzan and Councillor Dennis J. Carlone, Co-Chairs of the Ordinance Committee, for a public hearing held on Nov 19, 2015 to discuss a petition filed by Patrick W. Barrett III, et al. to amend the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance by amending Article 2.000 ("Definitions") and Article 4.000, Section 4.22 ("Accessory Apartment").
Communications & Reports from City Officers #1. A communication was received from Tanya L. Ford, Executive Director, Cambridge Election Commission, transmitting the Final Official Results from the Municipal Election held on Tues, Nov 3, 2015 for City Council.
Communications & Reports from City Officers #2. A communication was received from Tanya L. Ford, Executive Director, Cambridge Election Commission, transmitting the Final Official Results from the Municipal Election held on Tues, Nov 3, 2015 for School Committee.
Re Manager’s agenda #9: I think the better analysis is how the number of cars registered to Cambridge residents has changed not number of resident permits issued. Many people who have garage or off street parking (most of the buildings selected) never bother to get a resident sticker. In some parts of Cambridge (Highlands or parts of Strawberry Hill) no permit is required to park on the street. Those residents probably don’t bother to get a residential sticker either. To eliminate bias, and prove car ownership has decreased, Cambridge needs to look at RMV data. In my most recent conversation with City administrators, they told me they couldn’t get access to that data. Seems hard to believe that the registry wouldn’t share the data.
Comment by Minka vanBeuzekom — December 6, 2015 @ 10:21 pm
Cambridge collects excise taxes for vehicles garaged here, so it has to have the RMV data.
Comment by Saul Tannenbaum — December 7, 2015 @ 2:05 am
I wish I could have stayed last night.
Comment by Patrick Barrett — December 8, 2015 @ 8:41 am
For those who had better places to be Monday night, the City Council passed the CRA/MXD Petition (as amended) to a 2nd Reading with Councillors Toomey, Cheung, and Kelley voting in the negative. It seems likely that this petition will be ordained (possibly with some additional housing requirement) at the Dec 21 City Council meeting. The PUD-KS (Volpe site) rezoning petition still has some time before its expiration date, but most signs point toward its being re-filed and not ordained anytime soon, if ever. There is competing speculation regarding what will happen if the Volpe can gets kicked down the road. Some believe that the Volpe Transportation Center will eventually move elsewhere freeing up the entire site (after disposal by the federal government), but it’s just as likely (perhaps more likely) that Volpe will just stay where they are, possibly with some building modifications, for the long term. In that case, any hopes for additional housing and/or open space on that site will likely be gone with the wind.
The Barrett Petition received glowing public comment (except from the usual suspects) and a very positive response from most of the city councillors. They passed it to a 2nd Reading with no modifications. They also requested some additional analysis from the Inspectional Services Department that may lead to some tweaking of the petition. The path to ordination of some modified form of the Barrett Petition early next year seems relatively free of obstructions. The petition expires February 17, 2016.
Comment by Robert Winters — December 8, 2015 @ 9:36 am