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North Massachusetts Avenue Rezoning

At a glance

  • What: a zoning petition (ordinance 2025 No. 16, "revised Massachusetts Avenue zoning petition") that raises allowed heights along North Massachusetts Avenue, with a companion Charter Right policy order to cut the top district from 12 stories to 11. Both were decided at the last meeting of the 2024-2025 term.
  • Where it stands: ordained 6-3 on December 22, 2025, at 12 stories (145 feet). The policy order to drop it to 11 stories (135 feet) failed 4-5. Reconsideration failed 0-9 twice, so the vote is final.
  • Next: the Community Development Department says zoning outcomes are reviewed in the annual housing review adopted with the Multifamily Housing Ordinance in February (2025). Councillors also pointed to the inclusionary zoning Nexus study due in June (2026) and a pending lawsuit over inclusionary zoning. No later record is in the minutes we have (the portal lists no council meetings after April 6, 2026).

What the petition does

  • Mass-12 district: 12 stories or 145 feet above grade (the failed order would have made it 11 stories, 135 feet, and renamed the districts MAS-11 and MAS-11A). Ground-floor active use or retail is required.
  • Porter Square: up to 18 stories is allowed only through a planned unit development with community benefits such as parking, open space and trees (explained by Nolan and McGovern); it is not 18 stories along the corridor.
  • Buildings over seven stories carry 20 percent inclusionary units. Azeem noted that projects of this size still need a special permit, so the Planning Board can reject them.
  • A typo correction (a reference in section 17.803.2(c) should be 17.805, not 17.705) was adopted by substitution 9-0 after an agenda error described below.

December 22, 2025 votes

  • Charter Right 1, the policy order from Nolan (lead sponsor, co-sponsored by Wilson) to cut the height to 11 stories: yes Nolan, Siddiqui, Wilson, Zusy; no Azeem, McGovern, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Toner, Simmons. The first roll call was 5-4 in favor, but Simmons asked for and received unanimous consent to change her vote from yes to no, saying she had misunderstood the question, so the order failed 4-5.
  • Ordain by substitution, moved by Toner: yes Azeem, McGovern, Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Toner, Simmons; no Nolan, Wilson, Zusy (6-3). Reconsideration: 9 no.
  • Because only a duplicate of the Cambridge Street text had been posted for this item, City Solicitor Bayer asked the Council to suspend the rules (9-0) and reconsider (9-0 to proceed). It amended by substitution (9-0) with the corrected Mass Ave text, then ordained as amended 6-3 (same alignment). Reconsideration hoping not to prevail: 9 no. The item was placed on file 9-0.

Positions on the Council

  • For the petition at 12 stories: Azeem (the 12th story is the economic difference; "dead zone" between 8 and 11 stories), McGovern (cited moving goalposts: a nine-story 100 percent affordable project and a six-story project were both fought), Sobrinho-Wheeler (more height means more affordable units at 20 percent; half of inclusionary units go to voucher holders; the petition adds retail protections that current zoning lacks), Toner (brought the original order, more than two years earlier, for a citizens advisory group; wanted to vote at his last meeting).
  • For 11 stories, then for the petition: Siddiqui respected the eight community meetings and 14-member working group and voted for both; Nolan said 11 stories fits MAPS (the Mass Ave Planning Study) and would still nearly double as-of-right height, and voted for the order but against the petition once it failed.
  • Against the petition: Zusy voted for 11 stories but against the petition: no base-height giveaway before the Nexus study, no community benefits, risk of million to million units and displacement, and she suggested Central Square as the place for height. Wilson supported the policy order but was "not convinced" the petition delivers affordability, and asked whether review is written in (answer from Jeff Roberts: the annual housing review in the zoning ordinance covers all zoning).
  • CDD and the City Manager: Assistant City Manager Peters said CDD "strongly" recommends 12 because every added floor above six or seven stories helps the economics; City Manager Huang agreed that the difference between 11 and 12 is hard to perceive.
  • Nolan asked whether incentive zoning could be passed if inclusionary zoning were struck down; Solicitor Bayer said the Council could amend zoning at any time to trade height or density for affordable units.

Public comment (December 22)

About fifty people spoke, most on this and the Cambridge Street petition (see Cambridge Street Rezoning).

  • For: many urged passing both tonight and keeping Mass Ave at 12 stories, citing the housing shortage, commutes, climate and transit; Nahid Trivedi, who took part in the MAPS community group, called the recommendations reasonable and supported 12 stories.
  • Against or let it expire: Mary Jane Kornacki said the Council had undone MAPS (which she said recommended 8 stories by right, up to 11 for public benefit, and 12 only for 100 percent affordable) and asked that the petition expire; Lee Farris (Cambridge Residents Alliance) asked it expire so amended versions could follow a community process, or that the density bonus start at four floors, nothing over six floors be as of right, and the Planning Board review buildings over 70 feet; Louise Venden asked it expire; others raised solar shading, fire ladder reach (a speaker relayed a 105-foot ladder length from the Fire Chief), sidewalk snow and ice, accessibility, small-business displacement and a lack of environmental review. Heather Hoffman criticized the lack of analysis behind the numbers.

Sources

Log

2025-12-22 - City Council Regular Meeting

Ordained 6-3 after the 12-to-11-story order failed 4-5; an agenda error forced a second round of substitution, ordination and reconsideration votes. See the vote detail above.