Efforts to diminish Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation policies rebuffed (for the moment)

 
​THANK YOU to everyone who wrote to City Council and to those who were able to speak at the Ordinance Committee Meeting on September 29 to oppose the petition that would gut our Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCD). The petition, put forward by a North Point resident who is trying to stop the proposed East Cambridge NCD, was pushed by the forces that want to strip what few protections exist for Cambridge’s diverse architectural and historical urban landscape. CCC and friends opposed this ill-conceived measure on many grounds - including serious legal issues. 


This  VIDEO of the Ordinance meeting provides key insights on the issues and concerns in play, as well as those involved in these efforts. 

Toward the end of the meeting, Co-Chairs Dennis Carlone and Marc McGovern proposed that the petition be sent to the City for a legal opinion by the Solicitor and asked that the North Point petitioner work with CHC Executive Director, Charles Sullivan, to determine amenable changes to the current Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) language.  

While much of the petitioner's overview focused on East Cambridge and a study committee underway there , the impacts had the petition succeeded would have also had Citywide implications.

Watch Charlie Sullivan's overview of the building and social history of this important part of Cambridge and our unique history that he presented for one of the early East Cambridge NCD study committee meetings:​
: www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/historicalcommission/pdf/echistoryandresarchitecture.pdf. 

Credit for above photo: Cambridge Day.