Ordinance Committee – Mass Ave and Cambridge Street Active Use Policy Order – April 6, 2026

Clarification: Today’s meeting was not regarding building heights, no is the CDD proposing to drop them. on Mass Ave. Committee today discussed and voted on requiring active ground floor use on Cambridge St. for any development of three stories or more.

Meeting Link

The Ordinance Committee will hold a public hearing to continue the discussions from the March 11th and 30th 2026 hearings on rezoning via strengthening active use requirements along Massachusetts Avenue and Cambridge Street. The hearing follows the zoning petitions adopted at the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026 and takes up a policy order (POR 2025 #164) directing CDD and the Law Department to draft a separate zoning petition addressing active use requirements.

The Ordinance Committee is composed of all nine members of the City Council.

What is Ground Floor Active Use?

CDD notes Active Uses includes:

• All institutional uses including daycares, libraries, community centers
• Some office uses like a dentist’s office, accountant’s office, or insurance agency. This does not include general offices, banks, or labs.
• All retail and consumer service uses.

These must include 60% of interior floor area, within 50′ of the street.

Massachusetts Avenue Zoning as Currently Ordained

In accordance with the zoning petition adopted in 2025, Massachusetts Ave contains multiple districts. In the following slide, CDD’s April 6 presentation notes some of the current requirements for Active Ground Story Use in unspecified portions of the Mass Ave districts:

CDD proposes converting most of MAS-12, which extends for most of Mass Ave, to MAS-12A.

Uses	MAS-12	MAS-12A
Non-residential	4 stories	4 stories
Residential (with Ground Story Active Uses)	8 (12) stories	4 (12) stories

Note: buildings above 7 stories in Mass Ave districts must comply with Inclusionary Housing and have 20% deed-restricted Affordable units. See Page 8 of above Ordinance.

Massachusetts Avenue Zoning Amendment Proposal

The proposed amendment to the Mass Ave Zoning Ordinance would extend MAS-12A, shown in the already-ordained map:

CDD’s recommendation would extend it from Cambridge Common to Linear Park:

This could minimize the number of buildings between the size of 4 and 12 stories. By contrast, under the currently-ordained zoning, the 8-story apartments overlooking Cambridge Common, which lack active ground-floor use, would still be permitted.

Cambridge Street Zoning as Currently Ordained

Cambridge Street’s currently-ordained zoning is generally limited to six stories for residential-only buildings (CAM-6 corridor district), with two exceptions: CAM-12 (Webster Ave) and CAM-10 (Lechmere):

Uses	CAM-6 (corridor)	CAM-10 (Lechmere)	CAM-12 (Webster)
Non-residential	3 stories	4 stories	3 stories
Residential (with Ground Story Active Uses)	6 stories	6 (10) stories	6 (12) stories

Note: Inclusionary Zoning’s (IZ) 20% Affordable threshold applies for projects over 6 stories in the CAM-10 and CAM-12 zones, as currently ordained.

The large majority of Cambridge Street, including Inman Square, is zoned to a maximum of 6 stories, regardless of Ground Story Active Use or IZ units.

Cambridge Street Zoning Petition Proposals

CDD offers three recommendations:

• Option 1: Require Ground Floor Active Use above 4 stories in all CAM districts. Note: this would be more restrictive than the blanket C1 Residential zone that covers most of Cambridge.
• Option 2: Require Ground Floor Active Use above 3 stories in all CAM districts.
• Option 3: “Active Use Nodes”; a mix of Option 1 and Option 2 from Inman to Windsor St. and Fifth St. to Lechmere, respectively.

Other Notes:

• Maintaining status quo would retain Ground Story Active Use requirements in CAM-10 and CAM-12.
• Alternatives not included in CDD’s report but mentioned in the prior Ordinance Committee meetings include incentivizing Active Use via density bonuses, permitting fee relief, etc.
• Unlike in MAS-12A, CAM-6 is limited to 6 stories, meaning the limited “density bonus” associated with active floor ground use could conflict with the Inclusionary Zoning density bonus of two floors (up to 6) that applies in C-1 city-wide.