Cambridge committee backs ‘balanced’ approach to curb very large housing units, staff to draft zoning language

The Cambridge City Council’s Neighborhood Long-Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts and Celebrations Committee voted unanimously to ask city staff to draft zoning language using a “balanced incentive” approach intended to discourage very large housing units and encourage multifamily development.

The committee’s motion, made by Councilor Nolan and approved 5-0, directs staff to return with draft language and an interim report about market activity by the September 8 or September 15 meeting so the council can consider detailed next steps.

The vote follows a staff presentation that reviewed legal constraints and four high-level policy options for limiting or discouraging oversized units created under the city’s recent multifamily zoning changes. Jeff Roberts, director of zoning and development, told the committee that state law – which staff described variously as “section 3 of chapter 48, the state zoning law (the Dover Amendment),” the MBTA Communities Act (“section 3a”), and the uniformity principle in section 4 – limits what the city can do, particularly if a unit-size rule would disqualify districts required for MBTA Communities Act compliance.

Why it matters: proponents of a unit-size rule say the city needs tools to prevent developers or owners from replacing smaller multifamily buildings with a few very large, expensive units…