Up-Zoning for "Dummies" - Our Citywide Up-zoning Proposal Simplified

​Cambridge Citywide Up-Zoning Simplified  (Not Just for "Dummies!")
Proposed Citywide Up-zoning: This would allow multi-family housing citywide in every residential zoning district and uses one of our most dense zoning districts (C-1) citywide. This zoning is for market rate housing (or what the market will bear. This housing would be "as of right" without design review and oversight by one of our discretionary review and oversight boards. And would allow heights up to 6 stories in every residential district. Six stories here is defined as 75 feet in height (not 60 feet as is standard). Buildings are allowed to extend to the property line on the sides and rear, and a decreased front setback in some current districts. With properties of 10 units or more 20% inclusionary ("affordable") units are required. These would be without required parking. 

Glossary of Terms often used when discussing Housing policy  
TYPES OF HOUSING
SFH      Single Family Home
TFH     Two Family Home
MFH    Multi Family Housing
ADU    Accessory Dwelling Unit  -- Usually a less than 1000 SF additional unit to permitted # of units.
AHO   Affordable Housing Overlay --  Occupancy is limited to those below a certain income threshold
SRO     Single Room Occupancy  -- dorm room, hotel room, shelter room..
Triple–Decker  3 story building with stacked apartments
 
TYPICAL ZONING REGULATIONS
These are regulations, which along with use limitation, cities have employed to control the bulk and built character of areas of a city, so that for example, gas stations do not appear in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and factories emitting noxious fumes do not get built next to schools.  Like building codes they are described as being designed for the health, safety and welfare of the community.   They are laws, which are often not easy to change, and once enacted determine how much can be built, and where.  If there are reductions in what was once permitted, then the city can be sued for “a taking”, or reducing the value of a property.

1. FAR:    Floor Area Ratio. The area of actual built space in a building divided by the area of the site. (e.g.  a 100’ X 100’ property has an area of 10,000 SF.  If the FAR is 1.0, 10,000 SF of building can be built.  If the foot print were 40’ x 55’, then at 2,200 SF per floor, it might be a 4 story building with 1,200 SF left over.  So the 4 stories could be raised up to 5, with just 1,200 SF on the first floor with open parking on the rest of the ground floor.)
2. Open Space:  Area of Site not built on.   Typical other qualities, depending on definition by city::
   1. May not be paved.- must be permeable
   2. May not be used for parking
   3. Must be usable open space, with minimum dimensions.(not planting strips)
   4. Roof decks and balconies may sometimes be counted towards open space
3. Lot Coverage: all parts of the site under anything built: roof projections, decks, balconies, building
4. Building Set-back:  Regulation requiring parts of a building to be certain distance from a property line. Sometimes balconies, porches, stairs, decks, may project into a set-back
5. Floor set-back:  sometimes upper stories of buildings are required to be further from a property line than lower floors
6. Parking:  Most cities require a certain number of parking spaces per unit.  Some require 1 space per 1-bedroom unit, 1 ½ spaces per 2 bedroom unit and 2 for a 3-bedroom unit.  These requirements are being reduced in cities with public transportation, or some suburban towns in areas near train stations. But it is still rare to not require some number of parking spaces as a percentage of number of units.

      7.    “Form-based zoning” – a relative recent approach to zoning which is much more specific about the dimensional constraints on
            building design, often controlling building characteristics such as how long a façade can be without an change in plane, if upper
         floors need to be set back from lower floors, or if the first floor of a commercial building needs to be retail space, etc.  Where certain                 sized buildings can be built is often laid out in very specific zoning maps to offer both clear opportunities and constraints on what kind
         of buildings can be built where.  This can sometimes be welcomed by developers for its clarity, and also objected to by others for   
          too much of an infringement on their free choice as land owners.  (It is currently fully implemented in Somerville.)
 
COMMON HOUSING RELATED ACRONYMS AND TERMS
 
ADA    Americans with Disabilities Act  - sets dimensional and other requirement
ADU Auxiliary Dwelling Unit - an additional unit of housing 
AHO   Affordable Housing Overlay - the Cambridge Ordinance 
AMI     Area Median Income
AHU    Affordable Housing Unit
AHR    Affordable Housing Restrictions
As of Right   A development may proceed legally without any discretionary review process, usually in accordance with pre-set regulation rather than with case-by-case basis. In short, the owner of property has the right to use or develop it, without recourse to a public hearing process and related neighbor input. Intended to speed up the development process and often this precludes legal action 
CDBG  Community Development Block Grant
Chapter 40B  If a community has less than 10% affordable housing, Board of Appeals must approve the project
CPA Community Preservation Act
CRA   Cambridge Redevelopment Authority
Density   Number of dwelling units allowed on a specific area of land. This varies with eachresidential zoning district.
Discretionary Review    Process of review and oversight by community review boards like the CHC, BZA, or Planning Board (see below)
Down Sizing.   When developers or owners seek to transform a two family into a one family property and/or another property from one with more units into one with fewer units in order to gain more space for each unit.
Dwelling Unit    Any unit or type of housing   SFH, TFH etc (see above)
DHCD  Mass state authority promulgating regulations targeted at income eligible households
FHA     Fair Housing Authority   -  sets standards for dimensions within housing financed federally
FMR    Fair Market Rent
FMA    Fair Market Rate
JAS       Just A Start - one of the city's public housing developers
HFA     Housing Finance Agency
HRI.     Home Owners Rehab - one of the city's public housing developers 
Inclusionary Housing     % of lower income housing units required for  market rate housing of 10 units or more
Market Rate Housing    Development of housing to sell for whatever the market price will bear. Also sometimes referred to as luxury housing because in Cambridge this tends to be very expensive
Ordinance     a city law - zoning ordinances become law once they are voted on affirmatively by the Cambridge City Council 
PHA     Public Housing Agency
Setbacks 
SHI      Subsidized Housing Inventory
Story   The height of a given level of housing, usually measured as 10 feet per story.
TBRA  Tenant Based Rental Assistance
Residential Zoning District - the city of Cambridge is currently divided into three residential main zoning districts (A, B, C) reflecting various property restrictions on type of housing, setbacks, and density allowed.

CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT ACRONYMS
BZA Board of Zoning Appeal
CAHT  Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust
CDD    Cambridge Development Department  - Planning Agency for Cambridge:
CHA    Cambridge Housing Authority
CHC     Cambridge Historical Commission
CRA  Cambridge Redevelopment Authority
DPW    Department of Public Works
​Plan E  Our form of government with a City Council who elects the Mayor and a separate city governance system under a City Manager who controls the various departments.
PB          Planning Board