The Cambridge City Council finally crossed the finish-line on the Central Square restoration petition Monday, after years of discussions and delays.

The Council voted unanimously to approve the petition, which aims to bring more affordable housing into the square, while waiving parking and open space requirements and introducing formula business restrictions. The rezoning petition was based on the city's K2C2 Planning Study in 2012.

Despite how long it took, Councilor Nadeem Mazen praised a process that he said was �heavy on time and homework, and light on ego and confrontational behavior.�

�It worked this time, and I think it will work every time,� Mazen said.

Taller buildings, more housing

In order to make Central Square more lively, and to help ease the city's� housing crunch, the petition's supporters and the city's top planner say more apartments and condos are needed. But so far,� limited building has gone on in the square. According to Assistant City Manager for Community Development Iram Farooq, the incentives for landlords haven't been high enough to prompt redevelopment of the square's many two- and three-story buildings.

"If a building has a revenue stream attached to it [in the form of rent from existing tenants], there's no incentive to disrupt that if the additional benefit they'll gain is small," she told the council's Ordinance Committee on Feb. 2.

Through a variety of measures, the rezoning could boost how dense developers can build as of right in the parts of the square with Business-B zoning--essentially the core blocks of the square along Massachusetts Avenue between Inman and Windsor streets--by almost 58 percent. To take full advantage of these boosts to the density limit, called the floor area ratio, developers would need to include a significant amount of housing in their new building, including affordable housing units, and they would need a special permit from the Cambridge Planning Board.

An analysis by city planning staff shows developers could potentially construct up to seven story buildings on some lots, although six story buildings are more likely given building codes that make it more expensive for developers to build higher than 70 feet.

MAP: Central Square zoning

The zoning changes permitting increased density only apply to areas with Business-B zoning, marked as "BB" on the map.



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Expect rooftop decks

Another key feature lets developers move a residential building's required private open space to the roof, if they get another special permit from the Planning Board. This measure gives developers more flexibility to build denser buildings, particularly on small lots.�

At the Feb. 27 meeting, Councilors Leland Cheung and Dennis Carlone also introduced a measure to give the Planning Board power to set limits on the hours of operation, types of activities permitted, signage, lighting, and sound generated by these rooftop decks. The proposed zoning amendment was unanimously referred to the council's Ordinance Committee.

Help for small businesses

Alongside the density boosts offered for buildings with more housing, the zoning changes also gives developers a reason to include small storefronts in their constructions. Retail spaces less than 1,500 square feet won't be counted towards the building's floor-area ratio.

"It's part of making sure those types of [small] businesses will continue to be created in the future," Farooq told the Chronicle in a Feb. 23 interview.

More significantly, it bars chain stores with more than 10 stores in Massachusetts or more than 20 stores anywhere from opening in Central Square without a special permit from the Planning Board.

Lastly, the measure puts severe restrictions on banks seeking to open in Central Square. Under the new zoning, a new bank or other financial institution can't have a storefront bigger than 25 feet; their storefront also must be less than 30 percent of the building's total sidewalk frontage.

Nightclubs can expand

Currently, nightclubs are only allowed to open in spaces that front onto Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street between Massachusetts Avenue and Bishop Allen Drive or Main Street. Under the new rules, the Planning Board is able to give new nightclubs a special permit to open on side streets in the Business-B zoning district that lead off of Massachusetts Avenue.

The board is supposed to take into consideration neighborhood needs and the business' hours, noise, signage and lighting.