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Good afternoon everyone. We're just waiting to get quorum, and then we'll get started.

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Good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be here with you all. I'm going to call today's joint housing and health environmental committee meeting to order. The call for today's meeting is to review and discuss policy order, 2020-25, number 137, which asks the community development department to draft zoning language to reduce the impact on solar energy systems.

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Based on the recommendations discussed in the September 16th, 2025 health and environmental environment committee meeting, the first or a business is a role hall of members present.

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From the housing committee, Councillor Zeeam President, Vice Mayor of the Government.

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Absent Councillor Siddiqui, President, President, Councillor Sabrina Wheeler, President, Councillor Wilson.

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Absent, that's three members present, two absent from Health and Environment, Councillor Zeeam.

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President, President Counselor Nolan, President Counselor City Key, President, President Counselor

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Sabrina Wheeler, President Counselor Wilson is absent, that's four members, President

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one absent.

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Per chapter two, the Acts of 2020, five adopted by the Massachusetts General

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Court and approved by the Governor, the city is authorized to use remote participation

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at meetings of the Cambridge City Council as committees.

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Please note that the city of Cambridge, audio and video records this meeting and makes it

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available to the public or future viewing.

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In addition, third parties may also be audio and video recording this meeting.

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In addition to having members of the council participate remotely,

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you've set up Zoom teleconference for public comment. Each speaker will have three minutes.

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If you'd like to provide public comment, please visit the city council section of the city's web page,

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instructions for how to sign up to speaker posted there. Once you've completed the sign up procedure,

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you'll receive a link to the Zoom meeting.

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And to watch the meeting, please tune in to channel 22 or visit the Open Meeting portal on the city's website.

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Any votes today will be by Rolkall.

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In our packet before us, we have a communication received from Jeff Roberts, Director of Zoning and Development,

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Transviting and presentation titled Zoning Protections for Rolkkape Solar.

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The order of business will be the presentation and then we'll go to public comment.

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I'm joined by my co-chair, Azim, on the Housing Committee, and then I'm joined by the chair of our Health and Environmental and Environment Committee.

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I will go to Councillor Nolan to make any opening remarks as well.

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Thank you very much, Chair Sediki.

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I'm co-chair Azim for being here from Housing and as chair of the Health and Environment Committee.

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I just thought I'd remind us all of the context for this presentation in this meeting.

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And it was during the discussions actually last fall, on December, January that the question came

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up about what would the impact on this multi-family zoning be for existing solar.

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So there's a policy order adopted on January 27th of 2025 before we finalized the passage

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based on a memo from the city that we had asked the city manager to work with relevant

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city departments to develop zoning regulations, including the use of solar energy systems

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and protecting solar access.

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And we did that knowing that there was some concerns

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being raised at that time.

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Then we got the word that we cannot in the current zoning.

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We couldn't amend it.

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So the idea was that the council's a whole decided we

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will move forward with the zoning, but we did want to not

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forget the solar question.

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And there was a meeting held in a policy order passed in April

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that has led to a couple of different meetings.

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So I just want to know that it's been a while.

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It we have really tackled this and want to honor both goals we have as a city.

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We want more housing and we also want to protect solar.

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It's critically important that for those individual solar systems across the city,

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which we have spent a decade asking people to put in.

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Obviously, recognizing it's not going to address all of our emission pollution across the city,

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but it's critically important part of our goals and it's the only way we can get to do a little decarbonization.

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So the context for this meeting is I'm really grateful that the council and the staff have continued to work on it.

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here today, the work to date, and then some recommendations from moving forward.

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So I think the staff and the public and also the council for continuing this thorny conversation.

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Thank you, Chair Nolan. So with that, we're joined also by Julie Wormser, our chief climate officer,

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our solicitor, as well, and Jeff and Emily from Zoning Team. So with that, Jeff, let's go to you.

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Thank you. Thank you to the chair to all the chairs and committee members

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It's great to be continuing this conversation just to reiterate I'm Jeff Roberts the director of zoning development Emily Hutchings is with me.

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She's a planner on my team and Julie is here. Megan Bayer is also joined us from the law department.

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She always makes me feel more comfortable and and Melissa Peters regrets that she couldn't be here for for this particular meeting.

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If you're on the next slide, unfortunately, I'll have to do the next slide thing.

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We've had a number of discussions.

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We've been at this for a while, primarily, with the Health and Environment Committee.

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I think it's helpful and important now to be bringing in the Housing Committee as part

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of this discussion, we'll be rehashing a lot of what we've already talked about over the

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new context that we've been able to provide since then and look forward to getting some guidance

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on next steps.

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I'm going to next slide, please.

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As noted, this is an issue that came out during the multi-family zoning amendment discussion.

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We talked about it.

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We heard a lot about it at the time.

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It really is a tricky issue.

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The main thrust of the multi-family zoning

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is to relax zoning requirements

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to enable more multi-family development.

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That has some inherent trade-offs,

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particularly when it comes to existing development,

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existing uses and what those impacts might be.

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Ultimately, it's a question, you know,

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come down to a question of policy trade-offs.

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I don't think that aspect of it has changed.

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But over the course of the past year, we've talked a lot about the issue and we've learned a lot about the issue.

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And so I think it's been a worthwhile exercise to go through this and get a better sense of where we are.

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Next slide.

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Councilor.

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I do hate to interrupt, but I recognize one of the members of the public who wanted to make public comment.

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Knowing it started at three has to leave very, very soon.

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and I'm wondering if we could either use

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to spend the particular agenda or at least let anybody

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list a leave before the presentations

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over make public comment.

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I think it would be, there's only a couple of people

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signed up if that would be appropriate.

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There's 15 people signed up.

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So there's 15 people signed up.

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I'm the folks who need early, need to leave early.

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We're welcome to speak at this time.

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If you could just give us one, if you could

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just give us one second, please.

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Yes.

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So, sorry,

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if you can please state your name for the record.

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My name is Liz Byron,

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LA at 21 Field Street Cambridge.

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I appreciate this.

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I have to go pick up my kids from school

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and we were told we'd start at three.

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Otherwise, I would have made other plans for a child care.

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I'm going to make five points.

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In July 2025, the CDD released a document titled,

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Shaping Our Citywide Urban Design Guidelines.

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This document clearly states,

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reduced the visual bulk of taller buildings,

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residential buildings by using step-backs.

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and quote, it says to use step-backs.

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This document also makes explicit recommendations

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about building heights and massing

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that naturally support a butter's access to sunlight.

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This was July 2025.

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There's even an image of step-backs.

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So if developers say this can't be done, it's not true.

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If the CDD has other recommendations,

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they're being hypocritical to their own resource guide.

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My second point.

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There are many issues within your slide deck

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that I appreciate you had just started with.

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We were just told three o'clock,

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which is why I'm rushing, sorry.

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Your slide deck falsely states rooftop solar does not change the city's carbon emissions. Yes, it does.

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If rooftop solar doesn't change carbon emissions, then why does the city incentivize residents to get solar?

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Why is the brand new Tobin School equipped with solar? If solar does not change carbon emissions, why is the city now contradicting itself?

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Remember, this solar does reduce emissions. Paying for solar paying for the sun from another part of the country is a solution for those who don't have solar.

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But it is not sustainable and it's irrational when the sun shines on Cambridge too.

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We already have 900 plus buildings with solar.

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My third point. In your slide deck, developer state that protecting solar will lower inclusionary housing

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because those are the units of the fifth and sixth floors. This argument is baseless.

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Zoning doesn't state that inclusionary has to be at the top. Zoning states it's 20% of the building,

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not 20% of the top floors. Who are these developers? Really? Who are they? We do want to know who they are.

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They're comical, that leads me to my fourth point.

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Counselor Zeme, milled this campaign material

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to the many residents in Cambridge.

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It's a drawing of a street in Cambridge.

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It appears to be a main corridor based

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on the width of the sidewalk and the existence

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of the bike and bus lanes

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and the ground floor commercial properties, all great.

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It also clearly depicts stepbacks

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at the fifth floor in two different buildings.

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In fact, the tallest buildings only five stories

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on this main corridor.

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So, we know Councillor Zeeam support step-backs.

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Thank you.

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There are six other council members who have told care housing this fall that they support

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protecting solar through zoning.

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Those are Councillors.

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So, Bruno Willer, Zusey, Nolan, Sediki, Wilson, and Toner in addition to Councillor

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Zeeam with his wonderful campaign materials we have seven.

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This is not a one or the other.

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It's a yes and build responsible and protect the environment and solar.

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many other cities already do this.

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Listen to your residents.

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For any one of the seven of you who go back

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on what you said in emails, conversations,

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or in your campaign materials.

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If you go back on that,

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it will simply make you untrustworthy

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and cause you to lose support.

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Thank you.

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And I'm so sorry I gotta go get my kids.

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I'll listen online.

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Thanks for your testimony.

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Are there any other hands raised?

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Nicole, no, not at this time.

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Sorry, no.

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We're going to continue with the presentation.

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I don't think it'll be too long.

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And then we'll go to public comment.

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I'm sorry.

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I was hearing two different things at once.

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Could you be that please?

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We're just going to continue the presentation.

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Okay, and actually I'm on the,

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I can actually take over the presentation at this point.

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If that's,

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I will send a request and do that.

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Because it'll make it a little bit speedier.

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Should be able to go ahead.

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I took my down.

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Let me

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try that one more time.

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There we go.

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It's waiting for it to come from space.

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There we go.

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OK, so I believe this is where we left off.

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And so we discussed where we started with this process

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as a result of the multi-family zoning amendment.

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One of the points that we made really from very early on

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is that if we want to take a zoning approach to this,

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to changing something, it's owning, just like the multi-family zoning,

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it has to be a uniform approach. So while some of the concern that was raised was about sort

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of individual site-specific impacts, we acknowledged that if we wanted to put a rule in place

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that would have to be a general rule, not just a rule that applied only where there's

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where there's existing solar. So that puts some constraints around what we can do and has some

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implications in terms of the impacts.

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We talked at that first meeting about some different approaches

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As we could take to addressing this issue, there's the more direct approach of dimensional

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limitations.

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So the ultimately the issue is that buildings that a certain height will impact solar radiation

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access.

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And so the way to resolve that, sort of having transparent buildings is to have stepbacks

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put in place to create some massing that would reduce shadow impacts.

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So that's something that we brought up that we could look at.

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Ultimately, that was what we were asked to look at just to kind of jump ahead.

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We did talk about other things that we might want to look at.

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You know, we might look more at some of the criteria.

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And some of the urban design guidelines that we apply.

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those would, in many cases, be sort of advisory, in nature, given the way the multi-family zoning

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really aims to promote as of right development, they might be more binding in cases where larger

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developments, where there might be more binding review. But the flip side is that there's more

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flexibility, so we could look at more of the site-by-site impacts rather than having to apply

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a general rule. We also talked a little bit but not too much about how do we encourage solar energy

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in new buildings, especially when there's larger buildings or larger rooftops, where there's

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the potential to generate more energy.

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This is just this sort of an illustration when we talk about dimensional limitations, mainly

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what we're talking about, are tools that we put in place that limit the building envelope,

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either through kind of angled planes, or stepbacks above certain stories, and there's pros

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and cons of doing the different, doing those kinds of different approaches.

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but ultimately

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You know, the impact of those is that there would be less building envelope in order to build housing and depending on how it's structured, it could, the requirement is structured, it could have other implications to, in terms of making buildings more difficult to build or making them more difficult to design and more costly.

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Back in April, we were asked to do some further study on particularly folks on the dimensional

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limitations.

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How could we apply a rule in zoning that would provide some protection, but at the same

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time not wanting to go too far in order to try to minimize the impact it would have on

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buildable volume and to think about what the different pros and cons would be of that kind

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approach. So that jumps us into the most recent meeting we had in September, where we presented

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some work that we did to really get our heads around this issue of what the actual impacts

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might be of taller buildings on solar access and how they could be addressed through zoning measures.

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And this was just a, we started kind of with a reminder of what we're looking at. We have previous

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zoning that had a 35-foot height limit.

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We have new zoning that has either a four-story or a six-story height limit under the old

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zoning.

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If someone had a building where they were installing solar and wanted to install it in

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a place where it would be minimally impacted by other 35-foot buildings, the expectation

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is those solar energy systems would be somewhere in kind of a 30 to 35-foot height range

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although people might install solar in other places too.

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But that was really the focus was on that difference

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between the previous zoning and the new zoning.

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We spent some time looking at this.

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I don't think going to too much detail on the methodology,

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but we worked with a consultant who's worked with the city

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in the past on these questions about solar access

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and how it gets impacted by site conditions.

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We really dug into this issue.

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It was a really interesting analysis.

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It's something that I don't think is certainly something.

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We hadn't really focused on particularly before,

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but in something I hadn't really seen in other places either.

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But it really was a helpful analysis to kind of look at what the aggregate impact,

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looking beyond just your basic shadow studies to say,

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how do we actually quantify the full impact year-round,

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sorry, of these kind of solar access from taller buildings?

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So, you know, we, some overall takeaways

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that we came up with, and I'll talk a little bit

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about the analysis is that when you're talking

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about the new zoning, allowing 45 feet,

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that's not really having much of a substantial impact.

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We looked at that a little bit

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and kind of moved on from that to look at really

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what the more substantial impact was,

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which would be a six-story building that's allowed up to 74 feet and what impact that might

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have on existing buildings that are in either the 30-foot range on the old zoning or even

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newer buildings that are 45 feet.

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We found that the impacts when you aggregate them throughout the year are actually fairly limited.

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There can be some substantial impact, but the impact is really when there's a greater difference

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and height, and when the buildings are very close to one another, and as buildings get

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for the report, that impact dissipates pretty quickly, just given the way that solar radiation

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works.

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Just a note that since we're looking at this from a zoning perspective, we looked at some fairly

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generic, high-level things, and we wanted to make sure people remember then, and remember

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So now that the actual impacts can be very site-specific,

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there can be lots of site conditions that will make a difference

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in terms of exactly where solar is located,

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exactly what the size is, exactly what the surrounding conditions are,

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if there's other things like trees that haven't impact.

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So there are lots of things that we couldn't really factor into this,

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but in a particular site might be relevant.

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And this is just kind of a picture, which is kind of gives an idea of the analysis.

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I won't try to get into it too much, but we did some modeling that looked at what if

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you had a 74-foot building and kind of a field of buildings that had 30-foot height that

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might have might or might not have solar installed on them, and then what is what's the impact

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on solar access. And the picture on the left gives kind of a good illustration of it where

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there's the darker orange. That's where you really have more substantial impacts. So that's

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sort of 10 feet away. They get a little bit less as you get to sort of 20 feet away. And then

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they really go down considerably when you get further away than that. And the chart on the

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You get that sense of, you know, it's an impact that never entirely goes away or takes a very long distance for it to entirely go away, but it really goes down pretty precipitously at first and then it gets a little bit more gradual as you go further away.

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When we looked at this analysis, we kind of just to kind of characterize it a little bit.

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You know, we looked at, well, where is the, where are the distances, where that reduction in annual solar radiation?

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Again, this is, we're talking about radiation across the entire year.

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Where is it, you know, less than 20%, where is it less than 10% in most cases?

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You don't have to be very far away for the impact to be less than 20%, but where that separation is the greatest, where it's 74 feet compared to a 30 feet, there is some more impact between 10 and 20 feet, and then for the impact to completely go away, it's sort of more between 20 and 30 feet of distance.

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So based on that, a suggestion that we made at the time in terms of, you know, following

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from that earlier question of can we construct a zoning, like a dimensional requirement

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that would provide the greatest sort of balance between solar protection and then, you

305
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:57,140
know, but not have as much of an impact on the buildable envelope was to step back the fifth

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story by a little bit more, basically by five feet, extra from the five existing five-foot

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setback requirement and then the six-story back, another five feet, and this would be measured

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just from the north of the building, so it wouldn't be a total step back. It would just be

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where the impact is greatest, and this just a little illustration showing, you know, this is

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what we mean when we say step back from the north.

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So depending on where the building is oriented,

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it could be a step back just from one side

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or it could be from two sides if it's at an angle.

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If you look at it in the kind of an extreme,

315
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different kinds of extreme conditions,

316
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and you try to calculate how much of a floor area reduction

317
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that is, it could reduce the top floor area

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by said we calculated 9 to 19% and for the whole building,

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the floor area is reduced by 3 to 6% and we'll talk a little bit more about what the

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implications of that might be.

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And looking at the analysis again, looking at kind of an extreme example where you have

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two buildings, one taller building directly to the south of a shorter building.

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You see that by having that step back from the north, you bring down the overall impact

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from something just over 30% to something just under 20%.

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So that's really where we thought there would be the most impact

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in that orange kind of cone of impact.

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And that would be a way to try to mitigate it.

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So when we talked about it at the time,

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we noted that the impact on the total building envelope

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is relatively modest from doing something like that

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and it does provide protection in cases

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where there would be a significant impact.

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But again, we realize, kind of stepping out a little bit,

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there are some considerations here going back to the beginning,

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even if there's no solar there to be impacted.

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This is a rule that would have to apply,

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so it could have impacts even where there wouldn't be

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benefit, there are other issues that come into play when you talk about doing setbacks in terms

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of how the building needs to be engineered and how it has to be designed structurally. And

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we noted at the time that the way that the multifamily zoning is constructed, the fifth and

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sixth story that's allowed in residency one is the bonus, basically it's the benefit for

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or having an inclusionary housing development,

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which would have affordable units.

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So, in some cases, reducing the area,

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and therefore the value of those fifth and sixth stories

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could tilt the balance if property owners

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trying to choose between doing a non-inclusionary project

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at four stories and taking on a bigger project

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that's five or six stories.

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We were asked, and also I would note too that we did hear that at that hearing from the property owners who, and at the previous hearing too, from property owners who had solar and concerned about this and back through the entire process.

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We've been hearing those concerns which are relevant and we've had discussions with the representatives of the care group.

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So we talked about all of those issues.

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We at the end of that health environment committee

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were asked to look at going further to develop

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those requirements that we suggested,

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but with some discussion around things like the Affordable

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Housing Overlay not having it impact those developments.

358
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That report came back to the city council,

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which I think looked at some of the recommendations,

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and then asked, you know, instead of kind of moving ahead, decided it would be a good idea

361
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to have this be discussed, controlling it with the housing committee as well to bring

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in feedback from that end of things. So we were asked for some additional information, including

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talking with some developers to get some input on it, and then that brings us to where we are now.

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So just, here's what we did since the last time we spoke about this, and the purpose of what we've

365
00:41:32,150 --> 00:41:35,570
since then really was not to go any deeper in the analysis,

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but to step back a bit and try to put the issue

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in a little bit of broader context, again,

368
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before moving ahead.

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Just in terms of looking at what we've done

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and what we've seen so far, since the multifamily zoning

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00:41:49,830 --> 00:41:53,790
amendment, we have to note there haven't been any building permits issued

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00:41:54,410 --> 00:41:57,990
for the five or six story buildings in residency one,

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00:41:58,330 --> 00:42:01,650
we do now have a handful of projects

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00:42:01,650 --> 00:42:08,350
that have come to CDD, either they've gone through some level of review or about to go through

375
00:42:08,350 --> 00:42:09,850
some level of review,

376
00:42:11,870 --> 00:42:17,210
we've been mindful of this issue whenever there's zoning under consideration.

377
00:42:17,430 --> 00:42:21,110
When we talk to people about it, we always make sure that they're aware of it and that we're aware of it

378
00:42:21,110 --> 00:42:27,350
and we're looking at the proposals and the context of that. We haven't noted any buildings at that

379
00:42:27,350 --> 00:42:34,610
story level that would be impacted by the proposed requirement in a lot of cases, their buildings

380
00:42:34,610 --> 00:42:41,650
that face north. So if you had to step back, you know, to create that 20 foot distance from

381
00:42:41,650 --> 00:42:45,730
the north. And I probably should have put that on the slide that we're really talking about the

382
00:42:45,730 --> 00:42:53,110
20 feet to the north of, uh, existing solar being 20 feet to the north of the proposed development.

383
00:42:53,110 --> 00:42:57,950
we haven't seen any projects, there are some that maybe across the street from a building that

384
00:42:57,950 --> 00:43:02,910
has solar, so that's something we're looking at a little bit, but in terms of the analysis

385
00:43:02,910 --> 00:43:09,370
that we did and where that sphere, that area of impact would be, we've not looked at any

386
00:43:09,370 --> 00:43:21,230
proposals at CDD that would sort of where that kind of step back would apply. And so with that limited

387
00:43:21,890 --> 00:43:26,130
It's kind of hard to tell what the future impacts might be, either way, of whether we

388
00:43:26,130 --> 00:43:30,610
would apply this or not apply it.

389
00:43:30,890 --> 00:43:33,190
But that's something we're going to continue to look at.

390
00:43:33,690 --> 00:43:37,670
We have had a lot of discussions with our urban design team about this throughout the process.

391
00:43:37,810 --> 00:43:42,370
We didn't really talk about it much the last time, but there are some potential concerns

392
00:43:42,370 --> 00:43:47,510
that we would want to keep in mind that urban design team has done a lot of work to

393
00:43:47,510 --> 00:43:54,470
to develop some design guidelines for multifamily development as a result of the zoning.

394
00:43:55,430 --> 00:44:02,370
They've noted that there's adding another prescriptive zoning requirement can make it more difficult

395
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to consider other issues sort of more holistically that are trying to balance different types

396
00:44:08,530 --> 00:44:09,430
of objectives.

397
00:44:10,750 --> 00:44:16,750
Some examples, if you say you have to have a step back on one side of the building, you might

398
00:44:16,750 --> 00:44:22,130
a force sort of an awkward result in terms of buildings that are sort of step back on one

399
00:44:22,130 --> 00:44:25,210
side and then kind of flat on the other side.

400
00:44:26,950 --> 00:44:33,970
It doesn't necessarily consider the context in the site conditions and that's reiterating

401
00:44:33,970 --> 00:44:35,650
what we've already talked about a little bit before.

402
00:44:35,750 --> 00:44:41,090
Those are things that we try to focus on when something gets through just the zoning compliance

403
00:44:41,090 --> 00:44:42,750
and gets to the review process.

404
00:44:42,750 --> 00:44:47,070
we try to look at, well, what are the context-specific issues that should be considered?

405
00:44:48,270 --> 00:44:52,750
And they noted, as we've noted before, that there can be structural complications with

406
00:44:52,750 --> 00:44:59,970
a residential building where step-axe are applied, and then that can result in.

407
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:07,220
And some issues or impacts on just the interior of the building and how the building functions.

408
00:45:09,260 --> 00:45:21,240
We did pull together some information. We talked about this briefly before, but we didn't sort of show the data on where solar photovoltaic and how many solar photovoltaic systems are.

409
00:45:21,240 --> 00:45:27,560
are within the city. There's about 800 that are for, I think it's about 1,000 total, about 800

410
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:30,780
are for single two or three family buildings.

411
00:45:33,140 --> 00:45:35,640
And it's a little, the data's a little bit

412
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:40,360
confusing because there are sometimes multiple permits for one address. So, you know,

413
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:45,620
they can have to be taken a little bit with a grain of salt. The data, we didn't show them

414
00:45:45,620 --> 00:45:49,240
app, but you can look at the map. It doesn't, doesn't tell us too much except that it tends

415
00:45:49,240 --> 00:45:51,000
to be sort of dispersed throughout the city.

416
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,660
It's not necessarily concentrated in one place versus another,

417
00:45:55,540 --> 00:45:58,140
but it tends to be pretty spread out.

418
00:46:02,060 --> 00:46:05,360
Yeah, I'm gonna let Julie Worms sort of talk about this a little bit

419
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,340
because we did engage with the sustainability team

420
00:46:08,340 --> 00:46:10,340
to talk a little bit more about these issues.

421
00:46:11,980 --> 00:46:16,100
So, I want to thank you, through you, Madam Chair.

422
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:19,860
I want to slow down on this slide

423
00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:23,360
because I'm making a relatively nuanced point.

424
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:27,860
The point is, why are we doing what we're doing?

425
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:34,480
So the city is 100% supportive of solar of all type.

426
00:46:35,780 --> 00:46:38,360
I have rooftop solar as a small building.

427
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:49,780
We are helping with free technical support for residents, for businesses, with big rooftop

428
00:46:49,780 --> 00:46:58,440
We work on both solar within Massachusetts and beyond our grid, so we're all in on renewables.

429
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:02,920
The point that this makes is not that we are Andy Solar.

430
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:11,900
The point that this makes is that our sustainability and energy work has multiple purposes.

431
00:47:11,900 --> 00:47:19,500
One is to get the entire city off of fossil fuels by 2050 as cheaply and quickly as possible.

432
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:24,760
Second is help everyone make that transition.

433
00:47:25,100 --> 00:47:26,980
So we're getting all of our buildings to electricity.

434
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:31,860
Some geothermal as well, but mostly through electrification.

435
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:40,420
And the third is making sure nobody's left behind, so we're really helping on energy justice and lowering costs.

436
00:47:41,900 --> 00:47:46,300
For our city wide goals of getting the whole city off fossil fuels,

437
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:49,980
small residential solar doesn't make a dent.

438
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:52,760
That's the only point about this

439
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:56,540
that we're looking at major solar farms in the Midwest

440
00:47:56,540 --> 00:47:58,060
to make a bigger difference.

441
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:00,580
The key thing that's so important

442
00:48:00,580 --> 00:48:03,200
about residential, small residential solar

443
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:06,920
is it makes a huge difference in the energy cost

444
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,560
for that building owner, right?

445
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:15,060
So that as you're going to electricity, and you're doing that initial capital investment in terms

446
00:48:15,060 --> 00:48:22,020
of electrification, solar, insulation, you are decreasing your net energy costs.

447
00:48:22,500 --> 00:48:30,040
So I just want to make the distinction between small residential rooftop solar makes a big

448
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,160
difference to the building owner.

449
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:38,500
But what I keep hearing is this is critical for the city wide energy goals.

450
00:48:38,500 --> 00:48:40,700
It doesn't make a big enough difference.

451
00:48:41,540 --> 00:48:42,480
It's a subtle point.

452
00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:43,980
It's not worth belaboring,

453
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:48,580
but in terms of why are we doing what we're doing,

454
00:48:49,140 --> 00:48:50,520
it's really important to prioritize.

455
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:53,200
So we're doing things the most cost effectively

456
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:54,840
and quickly as possible.

457
00:48:58,560 --> 00:48:59,640
Thank you.

458
00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:00,920
And speaking of transitions,

459
00:49:01,420 --> 00:49:03,540
hard transition back to me talking about zoning.

460
00:49:05,340 --> 00:49:08,200
So we did, as requested,

461
00:49:08,940 --> 00:49:14,000
reach out to some developers that we have some interaction with and have experienced doing

462
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:18,540
residential development in Cambridge to talk about this issue and what they think about

463
00:49:18,540 --> 00:49:23,060
it, you know, similar to the conversations we have with Urban Design, who I think are tuned

464
00:49:23,060 --> 00:49:29,160
to a lot of the same issues. There are a lot of standards that need to be met for developing

465
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:33,900
housing. There's not just zoning. There's the building code, you know, we talk about things like

466
00:49:33,900 --> 00:49:42,900
of egress and windows and you know how unit design and how you kind of meet everything in order

467
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:49,020
to in order to comply both with a building code and a zoning that's you know not to mention

468
00:49:49,020 --> 00:49:54,220
our resilience standards which are something that you know are I think especially with the

469
00:49:54,220 --> 00:49:58,880
multifamily zoning creating more flexible. Dimensional requirements we found that some of our

470
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:05,440
The Zillion standards have become a much more important factor in site and building design.

471
00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:11,980
So, you know, everything has to be met, you know, ultimately all these requirements they don't stand on their own.

472
00:50:12,020 --> 00:50:24,540
They all have to be packaged together and every new standard that gets layered onto that, you know, adds to the challenge of trying to design something that is workable and feasible.

473
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:32,460
One thing that's important, you know, and maybe speaks to some having sort of a, you know,

474
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:38,620
form approaches that it can be helpful to have requirements known, you know, upfront at the

475
00:50:38,620 --> 00:50:43,380
very beginning, so if someone's buying land, they kind of can see clearly what the requirement is

476
00:50:43,380 --> 00:50:48,860
and can factor it into their pricing. On the other hand, you know, the step back in particular,

477
00:50:48,860 --> 00:50:56,320
as we've noted, does add a lot of complexity, it can add costs, the cost that it can add

478
00:50:56,320 --> 00:51:01,000
is, you know, as in many cases with something like this, a very context and site dependent

479
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:06,020
about, you know, how, what are the other factors that have to come into play in order to fit

480
00:51:06,020 --> 00:51:11,780
a residential building on a particular site. As noted, you know, the fifth and sixth floors

481
00:51:11,780 --> 00:51:22,040
are the bonus for inclusionary for residents C1, developers have noted that the fifth and sixth

482
00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:26,840
floors tend to be the more valuable floors of the building, and so the higher floors

483
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:31,020
tend to be more valuable, and so it's to be able to support inclusionary.

484
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:33,160
Those floors are really critical.

485
00:51:34,260 --> 00:51:40,920
We did hear some feedback that developers might be more willing, and we've definitely

486
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:47,620
We've seen some developers going in different directions when it comes to doing the six-story development

487
00:51:47,620 --> 00:51:56,360
versus just going ahead with the four-story development, which can be a lot simpler, but wouldn't be in many cases subject to inclusionary.

488
00:51:57,900 --> 00:52:02,560
And then again, as a final piece, you know, step-backs, there are some benefits to step-backs,

489
00:52:02,740 --> 00:52:07,800
where I don't think we heard that step-backs are just in principle our bad.

490
00:52:08,420 --> 00:52:18,360
We've seen some of the development we've seen have included step-backs just voluntarily, as a way to do better site design and provides, again,

491
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:23,160
to provide some benefit, you know, developers have told us that if there's some usable open space on those upper floors,

492
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:32,760
that can add to the value of the units. So it's sort of a mixed bag. I don't think, you know, we can say that this is step-backs in total or good or bad,

493
00:52:32,760 --> 00:52:40,040
but adding the requirement definitely has an impact on housing development and feasibility.

494
00:52:43,620 --> 00:52:55,160
So in terms of framing that in terms of unintended outcomes, just in addition to reducing the amount of space that would be in a project with the step back requirement,

495
00:52:55,580 --> 00:53:02,620
there's the increased difficulties with financing, there's the possibility of having more forestry buildings,

496
00:53:02,620 --> 00:53:28,980
you know, with sort of smaller projects with larger units and not as many projects in that inclusionary realm and, you know, the private and, you know, we, there's been a lot of discussion too on that issue of open space and private open space of, you know, whether there should be more of a preference to have the private open space at the ground level than upper floors and that's, that's kind of a consideration that we think about in, in site design.

497
00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:39,600
So, you know, with all that context, there are a couple of roads that we could go down at this point.

498
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:45,600
There is the zoning amendment road, you know, based on the work that we had done previously,

499
00:53:46,220 --> 00:53:50,500
we could continue to kind of work on, you know, in amendment that could,

500
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:54,300
that would have that effect of requiring the setbacks.

501
00:53:54,300 --> 00:54:03,140
It would have, it would impact, you know, any, maybe not any, but many housing developments that are, that are six stories.

502
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:16,800
If they have a site adjacent to the north, and even if there isn't, you know, any solar existing, so that would have to be kind of factored into the broader way we think about it.

503
00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:24,520
The alternative, which we think at this stage may be a better alternative as we can continue

504
00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:33,180
to have this issue in a long, kind of factored along with the range of issues that we've

505
00:54:33,180 --> 00:54:38,160
been asked to continue monitoring as this zoning plays out.

506
00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:43,180
And as we see development proposals move forward, there are a number of issues that were

507
00:54:43,180 --> 00:54:47,560
up at the, you know, during the, the multi family housing discussion, you know, not just

508
00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:54,020
just solar access, but many other issues around landscaping trees, as well as the, you

509
00:54:54,020 --> 00:54:57,980
know, just housing production or we, what are we doing to serve our housing production goals

510
00:54:57,980 --> 00:55:03,440
and meet our housing production and affordable housing production goals. So, you know, we think

511
00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:10,940
it may be helpful to make this one of the issues that we're looking at holistically with other

512
00:55:10,940 --> 00:55:20,360
issues that are relevant and that we can think about and prioritize among, as we see how this

513
00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:27,240
plays out and get more information about it, we can use the work that we've done for

514
00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:34,280
sure and we can try to use it both as guidance when we look at projects and to have a general

515
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:39,500
understanding of where the impacts might be more significant and to give that feedback to

516
00:55:39,500 --> 00:55:43,700
architects and developers, we could try to go a little bit further and say, how could we use

517
00:55:43,700 --> 00:55:50,160
this analysis a little bit more pointedly to look at impacts for particular sites and

518
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:53,080
particular developments, that's something that, you know, would require a little bit more

519
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:59,600
thought. We would certainly have this be an issue that we report on when we do the annual housing

520
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:06,620
review, you know, we anticipate doing that sort of in the probably the first half or so of next year

521
00:56:06,620 --> 00:56:15,420
as we cross that February, check point of a year, since the adoption of the zoning.

522
00:56:17,060 --> 00:56:21,600
And when we, when and if we suggest improvements that we want to tackle through zoning,

523
00:56:22,740 --> 00:56:27,620
we'd want to make sure that we're considering not just the one issue of solar access,

524
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:34,760
but other issues of urban design, environmental goals, housing goals in order to provide

525
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:42,000
is more balanced view of measures that we end, and actions that we might want to take going

526
00:56:42,000 --> 00:56:47,500
forward. So that's the end of our presentation. Thank you.

527
00:56:49,420 --> 00:56:57,160
Thank you for the presentation. We'll now wrap up public comment. Naomi, I'll go to you.

528
00:56:57,160 --> 00:57:04,880
Our first speaker will be Patrick Britain, followed by Carol Lynn Alpert, then Marina Atlas

529
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:05,520
Goro.

530
00:57:10,240 --> 00:57:11,540
Patrick, if you can unmute yourself.

531
00:57:14,910 --> 00:57:16,050
Patrick, if you can try now.

532
00:57:18,010 --> 00:57:18,630
Oh, can you hear me?

533
00:57:18,810 --> 00:57:19,250
We can.

534
00:57:19,290 --> 00:57:20,150
Please go ahead.

535
00:57:21,070 --> 00:57:21,210
Yes.

536
00:57:21,210 --> 00:57:22,230
So my name is Patrick Britain.

537
00:57:22,350 --> 00:57:29,110
I live at 500 green street in Cambridge and just speeding on behalf of support for some zoning

538
00:57:29,110 --> 00:57:31,630
protections for a Rooshop solar.

539
00:57:32,290 --> 00:57:38,790
I have a house that I'm told is a good candidate for it and I have a proposal, I've had it now for quite a while.

540
00:57:39,430 --> 00:57:48,170
Since the multifamily housing zoning past I've been hesitant to install that solar system as you know they're fairly expensive.

541
00:57:49,290 --> 00:57:58,610
And my lot is such that with the new zoning someone could do the 74 foot tall building approximately seven feet from my house.

542
00:57:58,610 --> 00:58:06,330
I know the analysis was done with 10 feet, but there are obviously existing houses that are closer to the lot lines than the five feet.

543
00:58:07,210 --> 00:58:20,590
So I worry that across the city that there may be other people more than a few I suspect in the situation where I could put the solar system up and nothing could happen, which would be obviously that would be great.

544
00:58:20,590 --> 00:58:27,730
But it's a pretty big deterrent to know that there is no protections in place to allow that system to continue to generate electricity.

545
00:58:28,570 --> 00:58:35,590
And I worry that that deterrent could prevent a lot of residents from putting in systems that they might otherwise put in.

546
00:58:36,570 --> 00:58:41,470
And in the slides that we were just showing, I noticed the page on discussions with developers.

547
00:58:42,650 --> 00:58:49,690
And I didn't notice any similar page on discussions with residents to see how the people that living Cambridge feel about protections for.

548
00:58:51,310 --> 00:58:55,650
I would, I guess that would be nice to see as well.

549
00:58:56,450 --> 00:58:58,250
That's, that's all I've got to say.

550
00:58:59,330 --> 00:58:59,910
Thank you.

551
00:58:59,950 --> 00:59:04,650
Our next speaker is Carol Lynn Alpert, followed by Marina Atlas.

552
00:59:06,510 --> 00:59:08,350
Hello, my name is Carol Lynn Alpert.

553
00:59:08,510 --> 00:59:12,910
I live at 99 Cushing Street in a two family town house.

554
00:59:12,910 --> 00:59:22,290
In 2016, I installed 19 solar panels with the help of Sunny Cambridge and the promise of a 20-year payback.

555
00:59:23,170 --> 00:59:27,910
But the 1870 home next door just sold to a developer.

556
00:59:28,850 --> 00:59:31,010
It's a 5,000 square foot lot.

557
00:59:31,990 --> 00:59:37,590
Without any input from me, my neighbors, the CHC, or the planning board,

558
00:59:37,590 --> 00:59:45,070
That developer will soon demolish that property and is planning to build seven luxury units.

559
00:59:46,270 --> 00:59:54,090
But they could also choose, buy right, to build just one single, four-story luxury home.

560
00:59:54,950 --> 00:59:56,170
That's not right.

561
00:59:57,730 --> 00:59:59,970
The CDD has given us a presentation.

562
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:10,360
Claiming that our 35-foot homes with solar will be fine because they will only lose 26% of their solar access.

563
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:27,260
Now, taking just 5-10% is the upper limit when solar access studies are done in cities that balance housing with solar protection, which, by the way, this state allows us to do.

564
01:00:27,260 --> 01:00:40,940
The CDD's shadow study also failed to take into account time of year, in fall and winter the low angle of the sun will shadow at least 50% of my roof.

565
01:00:42,100 --> 01:00:50,700
Likewise, the study neglected to account for the height of the inevitable rooftop mechanical stairway enclosures and roof decks.

566
01:00:50,700 --> 01:01:00,860
And as you've seen, the CDD has offered the possibility of north side setbacks on 5th and 6th floors to protect solar access.

567
01:01:01,660 --> 01:01:07,280
But they fail to show the much more common, this is what we saw.

568
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:19,560
They fail to show the much more common 35 foot peaked house, which is where most solar panels in the city are installed.

569
01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:35,280
And how much sun do you think these panels will receive and fall and winter and look at what even a four-story building does to this home solar access.

570
01:01:36,080 --> 01:01:42,780
And yet you counselors are suggesting we proceed with no protection for four-story buildings.

571
01:01:42,780 --> 01:01:53,540
It was wrong to allow developers to build four or six stories by height in our neighborhoods without more balancing of the harms and benefits.

572
01:01:54,340 --> 01:02:03,720
Other cities have managed to allow for more housing, while protecting the community's solar and environmental resources.

573
01:02:03,720 --> 01:02:09,560
There are many solar protection ordinance models to choose from.

574
01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:15,060
There are many ways we could increase housing affordability in our neighborhoods and on

575
01:02:15,060 --> 01:02:22,640
the corridors and also grandfather in protection for Cambridge's 1000 green energy pioneers.

576
01:02:23,480 --> 01:02:24,000
Thank you, Carol.

577
01:02:24,260 --> 01:02:25,200
Your time has expired.

578
01:02:25,880 --> 01:02:31,580
Our next speaker will be Marina Atlas, followed by Nancy Sideman, then Lawrence Klein.

579
01:02:31,580 --> 01:02:32,360
Hi,

580
01:02:38,130 --> 01:02:46,510
everyone. I'm Marina Grow at lists. I'm a lifelong Cambridge resident. I grew up here for most of my life. I went through the schools here. I lived here after college.

581
01:02:47,570 --> 01:02:52,710
In 2013, I also became a legal homeowner. Marina, can you please speak directly into the mic?

582
01:02:52,910 --> 01:03:00,830
I'm sorry. In 2013, I became a homeowner helping my parents take care of their home as my father's a climate scientist and spend most of their traveling.

583
01:03:00,830 --> 01:03:06,350
currently he's being celebrated in Bali for protecting a whole coastal ecosystem and restoring

584
01:03:06,350 --> 01:03:11,510
their lives and livelihoods and environments. So he cannot be here today. So I'm here on my

585
01:03:11,510 --> 01:03:16,070
family's behalf. I'm a lifelong environmental health professional since I was six years old. I

586
01:03:16,070 --> 01:03:21,250
have 28 years experience. I've also worked for the federal government as well as local municipalities.

587
01:03:22,090 --> 01:03:27,370
I've served over 75 communities, over 70 of those in New England. However, I have not had the privilege

588
01:03:27,370 --> 01:03:29,690
to serve my own home community and Cambridge.

589
01:03:30,230 --> 01:03:32,150
And that's what I want to talk about.

590
01:03:33,190 --> 01:03:35,150
To what's going on, I say,

591
01:03:35,530 --> 01:03:38,770
at with 50 of my neighbors, nothing about us without us.

592
01:03:38,950 --> 01:03:40,350
That is the activist mantra.

593
01:03:41,090 --> 01:03:45,330
And we don't want our rights sold away without our input

594
01:03:45,330 --> 01:03:47,170
because I want to clarify

595
01:03:47,170 --> 01:03:49,470
that we've had these conversations with the developers

596
01:03:50,030 --> 01:03:51,270
and they have ignored us

597
01:03:51,270 --> 01:03:55,310
and they have misreported to you the lack of response

598
01:03:55,310 --> 01:03:56,970
and they have lied about conversations.

599
01:03:57,730 --> 01:04:02,530
We thought we were going to get neighbors of 45 families in support of affordable housing.

600
01:04:02,610 --> 01:04:08,070
It has ballooned to over 80 units and they have refused to respect building codes, federal safety standards,

601
01:04:08,410 --> 01:04:11,930
state regulations, and Cambridge's own environmental and health policies.

602
01:04:12,590 --> 01:04:16,370
This is a tax on homeowners and trying to take where our rights.

603
01:04:16,870 --> 01:04:18,990
And it isn't just rights about property values.

604
01:04:19,110 --> 01:04:20,590
It is our primary residences.

605
01:04:20,910 --> 01:04:25,290
It is my daughter's garden where she gardens with her grandfather and grows rare fruits and vegetables.

606
01:04:25,290 --> 01:04:30,770
and learns basic science. I am living my mother's dream. She grew up with dirt floors and

607
01:04:30,770 --> 01:04:35,650
without shoes. Cambridgees are only home and I still reside in the area. I moved to the other

608
01:04:35,650 --> 01:04:40,150
side of fresh pond. I live in the Belmont Watertown border in a small condo and I was still working

609
01:04:40,150 --> 01:04:46,650
Cambridge as my husband. I want to talk about the setbacks because we don't have 10 foot setbacks.

610
01:04:46,870 --> 01:04:53,590
We have four. I want to know why the tax is being passed when it could be a lot less impactful

611
01:04:53,590 --> 01:04:56,510
and our input hasn't been accounted for.

612
01:04:56,730 --> 01:04:59,710
There's a tax on 50% solar reductions in DC

613
01:04:59,710 --> 01:05:02,470
that is already codified, and there are solar zoning laws

614
01:05:02,470 --> 01:05:03,790
protected by the state.

615
01:05:04,090 --> 01:05:06,470
Sixth story, Shading, our three is not uniformity.

616
01:05:06,710 --> 01:05:09,450
And OSHA federal regulations are already specified

617
01:05:09,450 --> 01:05:13,970
that a top level is not a shelf or regular use areas.

618
01:05:14,690 --> 01:05:16,150
If it were to be green space,

619
01:05:16,190 --> 01:05:17,710
if it were to be private open space,

620
01:05:17,730 --> 01:05:19,850
that is also going to affect infiltration

621
01:05:19,850 --> 01:05:22,010
and other regulations such as our right

622
01:05:22,010 --> 01:05:24,510
to have stormwater mitigated and sunk into the ground,

623
01:05:24,610 --> 01:05:26,870
where it belongs to effect our environment.

624
01:05:27,870 --> 01:05:30,970
Small differences, small changes make a big difference.

625
01:05:31,730 --> 01:05:33,950
Every kilowatt hour affects my daughter's future

626
01:05:33,950 --> 01:05:36,150
as a generation alpha child.

627
01:05:37,250 --> 01:05:40,090
That's the alarm for her, she's not afraid of.

628
01:05:40,370 --> 01:05:42,810
I will submit comments and resources referenced

629
01:05:42,810 --> 01:05:45,770
through the chair, and I thank you all so much

630
01:05:45,770 --> 01:05:48,130
for hearing me out and continuing this conversation

631
01:05:48,130 --> 01:05:50,930
to actually get our needs, you've heard.

632
01:05:50,930 --> 01:06:01,270
Thanks very much. Your time has expired. Our next speaker. Thank you again. Nancy Seidman followed by Lawrence Klein, then see green wad. Nancy.

633
01:06:03,370 --> 01:06:18,570
Hello. My name is Nancy Seidman and I currently live at 9 Cleveland Street and have been a Cambridge residence since 1985. For over 20 years, I worked at mass DEP on air quality and climate programs and policies.

634
01:06:18,570 --> 01:06:24,790
I installed solar in May of this year and I was astounded to learn that the zoning amendments from February,

635
01:06:25,810 --> 01:06:34,770
and those being considered now did not include protection of existing solar or design considerations to protect solar going forward and encourage it on new developments.

636
01:06:35,590 --> 01:06:42,710
This is a huge oversight by the council and seems like residents' voices are not being heard and addressed by the council.

637
01:06:42,710 --> 01:06:46,250
I have one correction and three comments on the presentation.

638
01:06:47,430 --> 01:06:52,990
First, slide 19 says there are no current proposals affecting existing solar that is not true.

639
01:06:53,310 --> 01:06:59,050
60 Lary will affect existing solar on the Swiss Council at the corner of Broadway and Lary.

640
01:06:59,790 --> 01:07:04,950
That design should be revised to avoid the impact and the council should be compensated by the developer

641
01:07:04,950 --> 01:07:09,510
and the developer should have to add solar elsewhere to compensate for loss generation.

642
01:07:10,230 --> 01:07:20,950
My comments. First, the presentation focuses on problems with demanding zoning, not on the positive impacts of solar, which is not balanced. For example, slide 22.

643
01:07:21,730 --> 01:07:33,470
I believe we are making meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. 800 residential systems that three to four kilowatts means two and a half to three megawatts of generation and other systems are not included.

644
01:07:33,470 --> 01:07:38,390
If we wait to take action because our actions are small, then we'd never do anything.

645
01:07:38,990 --> 01:07:40,990
That is not the right lens for this discussion.

646
01:07:41,930 --> 01:07:46,430
Plus the slide seems to say that saving residents money is not important, which is offensive.

647
01:07:47,230 --> 01:07:54,330
In these times of increasing bill, utility bills, saving residents money should be a priority of this council and the city departments.

648
01:07:54,330 --> 01:08:00,150
Assisting with solar is important, it is a stated goal, and there are many benefits that

649
01:08:00,150 --> 01:08:05,090
were not listed on the presentation, such as resiliency and lowering the cost of further

650
01:08:05,090 --> 01:08:06,770
electrifying residences.

651
01:08:07,470 --> 01:08:12,170
These benefits are not gained with power purchase agreements for renewable energy and faraway

652
01:08:12,170 --> 01:08:12,730
places.

653
01:08:14,070 --> 01:08:18,450
So, I 23 notes discussions with developers, but there's not no discussions with residents

654
01:08:18,450 --> 01:08:19,990
why didn't that happen.

655
01:08:20,770 --> 01:08:26,010
And on 25, I support moving ahead with an amendment that would lower heights on upper floors

656
01:08:26,010 --> 01:08:30,290
to ensure solar is not blocked and continues to be encouraged.

657
01:08:30,830 --> 01:08:32,250
Delay is a bad outcome.

658
01:08:32,610 --> 01:08:37,210
If we wait, then projects will be built blocking existing solar and opportunities for

659
01:08:37,210 --> 01:08:40,850
new solar will be discouraged and lost as you already heard.

660
01:08:41,730 --> 01:08:46,290
In summary, I urge this committee and the council to move quickly with a zoning amendment

661
01:08:46,290 --> 01:08:50,450
to support existing and promote new solar across the city.

662
01:08:51,190 --> 01:08:56,310
As the staff suggest the overall impact on projects being considered is small and will mean

663
01:08:56,310 --> 01:09:01,530
there is more light available to residents with small decreases in building size and provide

664
01:09:01,530 --> 01:09:03,130
more opportunities for solar.

665
01:09:03,850 --> 01:09:08,590
The developers and their potential difficulties should not be our priority existing residents

666
01:09:08,590 --> 01:09:11,050
and businesses of Cambridge should be.

667
01:09:11,050 --> 01:09:21,670
Thank you, our next speaker is Lawrence Klein, followed by C Greenwood, then Sanra, I'm sorry, Sarah Nelson, Lawrence 3 minutes, please go ahead.

668
01:09:23,050 --> 01:09:32,710
Hi, my name is Larry Klein. I live in a 20 story apartment building in Strawberry Hill with over 200 rental units, I have no skin in this solar game.

669
01:09:32,710 --> 01:09:37,550
Almost 20 years ago now, I made a film about rooftop solar.

670
01:09:38,150 --> 01:09:42,570
I shot in several locations and interviewed a lovely couple in a small home.

671
01:09:42,970 --> 01:09:45,290
I can't remember if it was Cambridge or Summerville.

672
01:09:45,990 --> 01:09:49,090
They were not wealthy but made the upfront investment.

673
01:09:49,570 --> 01:09:53,510
Yes, with the hope of one day reaping the energy saving rewards.

674
01:09:54,030 --> 01:10:00,870
But more importantly, they felt they were doing something important to help their community reduce carbon emissions.

675
01:10:00,870 --> 01:10:04,490
They also bought an early model, Prius.

676
01:10:05,190 --> 01:10:10,090
It is amazing to me how people now forget that solar adopters,

677
01:10:10,190 --> 01:10:11,830
especially the early ones,

678
01:10:12,410 --> 01:10:16,710
actually had the environment and the health of their community as a priority.

679
01:10:17,510 --> 01:10:19,710
They wanted to be part of the solution,

680
01:10:20,090 --> 01:10:23,650
not the ever-growing problem of a carbon-heated atmosphere

681
01:10:23,650 --> 01:10:28,710
and they wanted their solar purchases to inspire others to do the same.

682
01:10:28,710 --> 01:10:44,790
For my couple in summerville or Cambridge, even a four-story building next to their tiny home would have blocked their solar and also blocked the light coming into their home, something we don't talk enough about.

683
01:10:45,250 --> 01:10:55,890
So what are we saying to our solar neighbors by reducing the impact of their decisions to try even in a small way to better our world?

684
01:10:55,890 --> 01:11:05,130
If you think the community impact of rooftop solar is negligible, just ask Los Angeles 20 years ago,

685
01:11:05,590 --> 01:11:10,290
the city was plagued by summertime brownouts and people died as a result.

686
01:11:11,030 --> 01:11:19,470
Now, primarily because rooftop solar is feeding the grid in Los Angeles at the hottest times of the year.

687
01:11:19,470 --> 01:11:28,410
We're not LA, but as we warm or build data centers and they're like without cheap renewables,

688
01:11:29,070 --> 01:11:33,710
like solar, like rooftop solar, electricity bills will certainly skyrocket,

689
01:11:34,230 --> 01:11:39,510
as grid managers have to purchase electricity on the spot market.

690
01:11:40,210 --> 01:11:45,050
To be sure, we need more housing, especially for people with average or modest incomes,

691
01:11:45,750 --> 01:11:47,530
like the renters in my building.

692
01:11:47,530 --> 01:11:52,890
But do you really think that four to six story buildings will be made affordable to them?

693
01:11:53,290 --> 01:12:01,350
In my neighborhood, in Philadelphia houses are $2 million and up because developers buy the property to make a profit,

694
01:12:01,690 --> 01:12:07,570
and they will build larger property properties if they can make a larger profit.

695
01:12:08,050 --> 01:12:13,470
I think you will soon hear that even current restrictions are too restrictive to them.

696
01:12:13,470 --> 01:12:17,490
Here's an ad by a developer named Mark Killerin.

697
01:12:17,730 --> 01:12:20,550
Taking a single family home and transforming it

698
01:12:20,550 --> 01:12:24,590
into seven luxury 2400 foot square units.

699
01:12:26,070 --> 01:12:30,010
When you move with intention, the city moves, oh, I'm sorry,

700
01:12:31,070 --> 01:12:34,930
projected sell out 16 million plus projected profit,

701
01:12:35,350 --> 01:12:36,630
nine million dollars.

702
01:12:36,750 --> 01:12:39,990
Mr. Klein, your time has expired, thank you.

703
01:12:40,490 --> 01:12:47,750
C. Greenland has not joined, we are going to go to Sarah Nelson. Sarah, you have three minutes.

704
01:12:51,000 --> 01:12:54,400
Hi, my name is Sarah Nelson. I live at 7. Down Rockwell Street.

705
01:12:55,020 --> 01:13:06,360
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on solar access protection. One of the things that many people noted to me about the CDD packet was a large amount of unnamed developer input and the total lack of citizen input.

706
01:13:06,360 --> 01:13:12,320
Packet seems to concentrate heavily on developer profit versus the importance of protecting solar panels.

707
01:13:12,820 --> 01:13:17,660
I want to make sure that we all understand the amount of developer profit that we are talking about.

708
01:13:17,940 --> 01:13:23,140
For example, one of the Columbia Street LLC projects, this is the group that is suing the city.

709
01:13:23,600 --> 01:13:29,140
Per the Harvard Cribbson, they are going to convert 20 units on an 18,000 square foot lot in Minskware,

710
01:13:29,400 --> 01:13:34,880
investing $57 million in sizing the property up to 89,500 gross square feet.

711
01:13:34,880 --> 01:13:41,680
If they sold all of the new units from market rate, they would receive $102 million in returns.

712
01:13:42,380 --> 01:13:47,680
Columbia Street could receive $45 million in profit if they win the lawsuits,

713
01:13:47,980 --> 01:13:52,000
and will only make $33.6 million if they lose the lawsuit.

714
01:13:52,640 --> 01:13:59,400
Still, millions of millions of dollars in profit, and a 59% return on investment even if they lose.

715
01:13:59,400 --> 01:14:06,200
I think a lot, the Canterbury Gens would be okay when the additional 3 to 6% reduction in their profit to protect solar.

716
01:14:07,280 --> 01:14:15,960
To be clear, a major reason, housing costs so much to build in the United States is because of the extreme profits that developers expect in demand.

717
01:14:16,600 --> 01:14:23,480
When we cater to their demands, we are complicit in increasing the price of housing in our city and the United States.

718
01:14:23,480 --> 01:14:28,800
There are other times in history that we had such rent being agreed, one of them was the industrial

719
01:14:28,800 --> 01:14:33,640
revolution when people including children were forced to work long hours in factories in order

720
01:14:33,640 --> 01:14:38,900
to survive. Other time many children started to suffer from bowing of the legs, the condition

721
01:14:38,900 --> 01:14:44,740
that we now call Ricketts. Initially it was blamed on air pollution, urban environment, lack of

722
01:14:44,740 --> 01:14:50,640
exercise, congenital syphilis, paternal tuberculosis, possibly adulteration of bread, who's

723
01:14:50,640 --> 01:14:55,220
Until the early 20th century, it was determined to be caused by vitamin D deficiency.

724
01:14:55,980 --> 01:14:59,980
On a pediatrician during the Industrial Resolute Revolution, we knew.

725
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:11,280
This much, this much about medicine. Now, we know this much. This is how much we need to know about medicine to understand how much vitamin D is important to humans.

726
01:15:12,720 --> 01:15:23,280
We do know it is associated with skeletal conditions like rickets, immune and autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, dementia and depression.

727
01:15:23,280 --> 01:15:30,100
Vitamin D deficiency is still common in Boston with studies showing 40% of local school children

728
01:15:30,100 --> 01:15:33,940
deficient or severely deficient and high rates in infants and older adults.

729
01:15:34,700 --> 01:15:41,460
Vitamin D deficiency in access to light is an equity issue as darker skin, obesity, and

730
01:15:41,460 --> 01:15:43,680
lack of supplements are key risk factors.

731
01:15:44,240 --> 01:15:48,700
When we protect our ability to have light for solar panels, we also protect the health

732
01:15:48,700 --> 01:15:53,300
citizens who also benefit from the solar access that we are protecting.

733
01:15:54,500 --> 01:15:55,620
Thank you.

734
01:15:55,680 --> 01:15:56,020
Thank you.

735
01:15:56,160 --> 01:16:00,540
Our next speaker is Thomas Goro, followed by James Zahl.

736
01:16:04,060 --> 01:16:04,960
Thomas has not joined.

737
01:16:05,100 --> 01:16:09,200
We will go to James followed by Catherine Bennett and Patrick Barrett.

738
01:16:10,100 --> 01:16:11,100
James, you have three minutes.

739
01:16:11,400 --> 01:16:12,360
Please go ahead.

740
01:16:14,470 --> 01:16:14,930
Thank you.

741
01:16:15,150 --> 01:16:17,270
This is James Zahl, two, all three,

742
01:16:17,270 --> 01:16:25,150
I'm sorry I was just able to join the call about 15, 20 minutes ago because I was on another meeting.

743
01:16:26,330 --> 01:16:36,390
I so far have heard people talk about balancing the rights of people who have stable housing,

744
01:16:36,830 --> 01:16:43,950
which probably includes most people who have or are concerned about solar panels on their home,

745
01:16:43,950 --> 01:16:51,410
with the rights of people who do not have stable housing, either because of the shortage or

746
01:16:51,410 --> 01:16:57,070
because of financial limitations on access to their housing.

747
01:16:59,410 --> 01:17:05,670
The city has been facing a housing crisis, housing shortage that's built up over the last 50 years.

748
01:17:06,150 --> 01:17:13,190
We have just, in the last several, been taking steps to do something about that.

749
01:17:13,190 --> 01:17:32,830
And I would not like to see this turned into an issue where we can't have solar energy without diminishing the need for and the rights that people should have for housing.

750
01:17:34,230 --> 01:17:54,330
The problem isn't so much that the city has not been supplying housing, which is how people often refer to it, but the fact that the city has been blocking housing, making it illegal to build more housing, and that is something that we are now stopping something that should have been done a long time ago.

751
01:17:56,130 --> 01:18:06,270
I've heard several people complain that or acknowledge that the overall benefits of solar

752
01:18:06,270 --> 01:18:13,790
rooftop panels are small, but arguing that even when it comes to solar, even small benefits

753
01:18:13,790 --> 01:18:16,170
cannot and should not be dismissed.

754
01:18:17,570 --> 01:18:22,910
But one way of deciding between one course of action and another is to look at the benefits

755
01:18:22,910 --> 01:18:31,930
that we derive from that, and if the, and I believe they are, the benefits of rooftop

756
01:18:31,930 --> 01:18:40,150
solar on some houses in one city, in Massachusetts, in the whole country, and in the

757
01:18:40,150 --> 01:18:46,290
world, if we look at it from that perspective, because that's the scope of our climate crisis.

758
01:18:47,830 --> 01:18:54,250
Most of that is something that the city of Cambridge can't affect, but the city of Cambridge

759
01:18:54,250 --> 01:19:00,070
has been affecting and adding to the limitations of housing here.

760
01:19:00,370 --> 01:19:07,530
More housing will produce much larger benefits for people who live here and who are having

761
01:19:07,530 --> 01:19:13,210
trouble surviving on the incomes that they have.

762
01:19:13,210 --> 01:19:20,290
I hope that you will keep housing in mind more than just an obstacle to more solar energy.

763
01:19:20,870 --> 01:19:22,050
Thank you.

764
01:19:22,130 --> 01:19:22,870
Thank you.

765
01:19:23,950 --> 01:19:27,110
The next person, Katherine Bennett, has not joined the Zoom.

766
01:19:27,150 --> 01:19:29,150
Patrick is not going to speak.

767
01:19:29,310 --> 01:19:34,590
We're going to go to David Halpern, followed by Ned Melanson, then Justin C.

768
01:19:35,170 --> 01:19:36,630
David, you have three minutes.

769
01:19:36,770 --> 01:19:37,670
Please go ahead.

770
01:19:39,470 --> 01:19:39,950
Good afternoon.

771
01:19:39,950 --> 01:19:51,070
David Hopren, 14 Valentine Street, Unit 3. I very strongly support rooftop solar. We need a lot more renewables as part of the climate crisis.

772
01:19:51,190 --> 01:19:59,610
We need to do a lot of things as part of the climate crisis. And the most impactful thing Cambridge, but we can do inside the city is just build more housing.

773
01:20:00,950 --> 01:20:08,130
People who live in Cambridge have much lower-carbon emissions than people who live in nearby suburbs.

774
01:20:09,350 --> 01:20:14,230
Multifamily housing is more energy efficient because of shared walls.

775
01:20:15,050 --> 01:20:17,770
People who live in Cambridge have much better transportation options.

776
01:20:18,670 --> 01:20:27,170
share our communities. And if we create more homes in Cambridge and give more people options

777
01:20:27,170 --> 01:20:32,990
like that, then that will reduce emissions a lot more than building solar panels in Cambridge

778
01:20:32,990 --> 01:20:44,390
World. So I think it's important to keep in mind that helping with the climate crisis and

779
01:20:44,390 --> 01:20:49,710
crisis. These are actually our very aligned things. Additionally, you know, we have our stretch

780
01:20:49,710 --> 01:20:56,370
energy code and all these new buildings will be built to a very high efficiency standard,

781
01:20:56,470 --> 01:21:03,590
which is also very important to the climate crisis and to electrifying all of our heating systems

782
01:21:03,590 --> 01:21:12,150
and getting off of our gas and all of those things. So this proposal seems like a very blunt instrument to

783
01:21:12,150 --> 01:21:18,750
I hope we can encourage people to build rooftop solar like in light of the fact someone

784
01:21:18,750 --> 01:21:26,110
might build a tall building. You're going to in some other way. I'm also like

785
01:21:26,110 --> 01:21:31,590
particular concerned that this would hurt inclusionary developments and that was

786
01:21:31,590 --> 01:21:38,190
one of the main motivations of the multi-family ordinance. This is not just, you know,

787
01:21:38,330 --> 01:21:42,090
necessarily that the step back is going to slightly reduce the amount of space

788
01:21:42,090 --> 01:21:56,210
And in building, but some buildings will be built to four stories and avoid inclusionary and some projects might decide that, you know, they just don't make financial sense at all, like given the reduction size and the additional engineering costs and so on and so forth.

789
01:21:57,890 --> 01:22:12,070
So, you know, I, I hope we can find a solution to this other than the zoning solution that can make all the different parties happy, but I don't think this, the zoning solution has

790
01:22:12,090 --> 01:22:18,570
presented balances, you know, our climate and housing needs, well, I think it actually,

791
01:22:18,920 --> 01:22:24,270
you know, ends up impacting both negatively on balance. Thank you.

792
01:22:24,350 --> 01:22:30,010
Thank you, our next speaker is Ned Mullinson, followed by Justin C. Ned, three minutes.

793
01:22:30,150 --> 01:22:31,290
Please go ahead.

794
01:22:33,110 --> 01:22:35,410
I know Mullinson wants to experience all some street.

795
01:22:36,230 --> 01:22:40,090
I do appreciate the presentation that's staff made today.

796
01:22:40,090 --> 01:22:44,130
I think there's a lot of great points in that and I just want to highlight a few of those

797
01:22:45,370 --> 01:22:50,730
just because I think they're so important. And so the first part is the deformity rule,

798
01:22:51,570 --> 01:22:56,290
so this proposal would affect, because the uniformity rule, this proposal would affect the entire

799
01:22:56,290 --> 01:23:01,690
city's housing stock, those current and potential. And therefore it would act as a partial

800
01:23:01,690 --> 01:23:07,330
rollback of historic multi-family housing opportunity, which passed the February 8th of won't yet.

801
01:23:07,330 --> 01:23:09,490
So we can't really take this lightly.

802
01:23:10,510 --> 01:23:13,490
Second, there's, you know, from the presentation,

803
01:23:14,250 --> 01:23:17,910
there's no proposed textory buildings within 20 feet of existing souls.

804
01:23:18,690 --> 01:23:21,990
So, I mean, maybe there's, you know, one of the speakers that there's potentially one,

805
01:23:22,490 --> 01:23:25,210
but basically I think every time the presentation,

806
01:23:25,530 --> 01:23:27,330
this issue is not quite right yet.

807
01:23:27,830 --> 01:23:29,250
It's hard to tell the future impacts.

808
01:23:29,290 --> 01:23:31,930
We would basically be rolling back multi-family housing upselling

809
01:23:31,930 --> 01:23:35,510
because of some potential future impacts that might happen

810
01:23:35,510 --> 01:23:39,150
on some rooftop solar installations in the same.

811
01:23:39,810 --> 01:23:42,310
Third, I question, who does this like benefit?

812
01:23:43,650 --> 01:23:44,510
You know, we know who it hurts.

813
01:23:45,230 --> 01:23:45,470
It hurts.

814
01:23:46,170 --> 01:23:47,310
Especially, it hurts people like renters.

815
01:23:47,590 --> 01:23:49,970
There are people looking to buy a home in Cambridge.

816
01:23:50,730 --> 01:23:53,030
It hurts the whole population, but who does it benefit?

817
01:23:53,110 --> 01:23:56,090
It benefits a few people who have solar installations

818
01:23:56,090 --> 01:23:59,150
that might be impacted by future developments.

819
01:24:01,390 --> 01:24:06,310
And I think we also saw that even with, you know, the potential shading, we've stopped solar

820
01:24:06,310 --> 01:24:10,130
and is still a net cause, which is, I don't even realize that.

821
01:24:10,670 --> 01:24:16,010
So clearly the problem is not so drastic that it requires a complete, you know, we're a personal

822
01:24:16,010 --> 01:24:18,150
rollback of multi-family housing up to them.

823
01:24:19,090 --> 01:24:24,090
You know, in terms of an environmental impact, small residential solar doesn't really make

824
01:24:24,090 --> 01:24:28,090
and our climate goals, you know, there's a lot of other things we can be doing.

825
01:24:29,150 --> 01:24:32,930
Cambridge is always seven square miles and, you know, there's plenty of places with solar

826
01:24:32,930 --> 01:24:37,850
farms that are, you know, probably bigger than that, that we could buy from.

827
01:24:37,950 --> 01:24:41,570
And then finally, you know, what, what is the actual benefit to the environment?

828
01:24:41,690 --> 01:24:46,950
So we're talking about a 10 to 20 percent reduction of solar efficiency in some percentage

829
01:24:46,950 --> 01:24:47,570
of buildings.

830
01:24:48,550 --> 01:24:52,330
And we know that rooftop solar is not more than a few percentage points of the entire energy

831
01:24:52,330 --> 01:24:57,230
to the city. So we're talking about a percentage of a percentage of a percentage. I don't even

832
01:24:57,230 --> 01:25:01,390
know how many zeros we're talking about here, but the potential cost of losing that small percentage

833
01:25:01,390 --> 01:25:06,090
of renewable energy generation are clearly not comparable to the potential loss of living space

834
01:25:06,090 --> 01:25:10,710
and affordable units. So, you know, I think as we saw in the presentations, you should have been right

835
01:25:10,710 --> 01:25:15,970
and yet, I don't think there's some urgent rush to pass this. You know, let's wait and see what the actual

836
01:25:15,970 --> 01:25:21,650
impacts are before we kind of do a massive rollback rollback here of multi-field and has an

837
01:25:21,650 --> 01:25:27,370
Thank you. Thank you, our next speaker is Justin St. followed by Heather Hopman.

838
01:25:27,370 --> 01:25:32,150
Hoffman, then, Barrel, Lipton. Justin, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

839
01:25:33,590 --> 01:25:36,010
I just didn't say if 259, Hurley Street.

840
01:25:38,270 --> 01:25:41,230
I think this proposal is, you know, not actually a

841
01:25:41,230 --> 01:25:47,930
question of policy trade-offs just for all of the policy issues that were discussed. I mean,

842
01:25:47,930 --> 01:25:52,330
It's very clear that this zoning mandate approach is severely flawed.

843
01:25:53,590 --> 01:25:58,170
The city needs to start over here and go back to the drawing board to address the issue.

844
01:25:59,350 --> 01:26:02,890
Proposal may well increase overall carbon emissions.

845
01:26:03,790 --> 01:26:08,150
It's going to block acid house, multi-family construction, city-wide, many instances.

846
01:26:10,110 --> 01:26:17,530
That means less transit oriented development or exerving sprawl, more deforestation.

847
01:26:18,770 --> 01:26:24,250
We'll likely kill the inclusionary housing that would be produced in that auto-family zoning.

848
01:26:25,130 --> 01:26:32,370
I'm increasing the cost of construction and decreasing the amount of housing that can be built in each building.

849
01:26:32,890 --> 01:26:40,270
Drives of housing costs that reduces our supply of inclusionary affordable housing.

850
01:26:42,180 --> 01:26:46,440
And it also means killing one of the only currently viable sources of new growth.

851
01:26:46,440 --> 01:26:50,400
Billing new growth means your taxes for current residents.

852
01:26:54,150 --> 01:27:00,090
I know that there were many residents who were consulted and that was clear at the previous presentation.

853
01:27:00,870 --> 01:27:09,850
September that folks may have messed, but it was definitely resident feedback given.

854
01:27:09,870 --> 01:27:15,290
And I think President's actually gave the presentation of the previous meeting.

855
01:27:17,010 --> 01:27:23,490
And what's not present at that prior meeting was consultation with builders and other experts to determine the

856
01:27:23,490 --> 01:27:26,750
structural and financial viability of multi-family housing.

857
01:27:27,350 --> 01:27:29,590
The effects along the lines proposed here.

858
01:27:29,590 --> 01:27:30,930
That's the state of previously.

859
01:27:31,550 --> 01:27:33,770
Scott will have to eliminate stepbacks.

860
01:27:33,990 --> 01:27:38,410
The behest of just to start the nonprofit affordable home builder.

861
01:27:39,150 --> 01:27:42,230
From there, from some of those affordable housing overlay,

862
01:27:42,230 --> 01:27:46,510
because they were determined to be structurally and financially invisible.

863
01:27:47,790 --> 01:27:49,230
So again, I think we should reject this.

864
01:27:50,190 --> 01:27:55,130
Disguided approach today and started over from scratch on a way to address the small amount of impact.

865
01:27:57,050 --> 01:28:01,550
These new family, mother family buildings may have on existing rooftop solar panels.

866
01:28:05,270 --> 01:28:11,210
Thank you, our next speaker is Heather Hoffman, followed by Barrel Lipton. Heather, three minutes.

867
01:28:12,430 --> 01:28:15,950
Hello, Heather Hoffman, to 13-Hurley Street.

868
01:28:16,970 --> 01:28:24,370
Well, this has been a tremendous hoot to listen to all of these people who claim to be

869
01:28:25,450 --> 01:28:29,290
environmentalists finding ways to coup-coup solar energy.

870
01:28:30,690 --> 01:28:33,870
I've also enjoyed listening to Jeff Roberts,

871
01:28:34,890 --> 01:28:44,850
Just about all of the major objections that people like me made to the way the city has been going about zoning recently.

872
01:28:45,450 --> 01:28:48,630
So I want to thank all of these people for the entertainment.

873
01:28:51,110 --> 01:29:01,050
And perhaps someone can explain to me how so of farms in the Midwest make our energy in Cambridge.

874
01:29:02,510 --> 01:29:07,230
because we're still getting our energy from places around here.

875
01:29:08,850 --> 01:29:11,890
So, solar farms elsewhere are a lovely thing,

876
01:29:12,370 --> 01:29:14,610
but I don't think they're making our energy clean.

877
01:29:16,070 --> 01:29:19,890
And what I heard other than the entertainment

878
01:29:19,890 --> 01:29:23,630
was the same thing that I heard Monday night,

879
01:29:24,010 --> 01:29:24,710
fake and switch.

880
01:29:25,630 --> 01:29:29,270
The city told us to do all of these things

881
01:29:29,270 --> 01:29:31,650
And then they say, oh, just joking,

882
01:29:32,230 --> 01:29:33,950
because we really want to have tall buildings.

883
01:29:35,350 --> 01:29:38,250
And so, you know, here's Solus going to be blocked,

884
01:29:38,250 --> 01:29:40,950
but why would you dumb enough to buy it anyway?

885
01:29:41,990 --> 01:29:45,210
It was interesting to hear that we've had

886
01:29:45,210 --> 01:29:48,110
hero permits for six story buildings,

887
01:29:48,450 --> 01:29:51,710
and it just incorrectly, in my estimation,

888
01:29:51,910 --> 01:29:56,890
called the extra two stories, a bonus for inclusionary

889
01:29:56,890 --> 01:29:59,810
because it certainly was not described that way.

890
01:30:01,070 --> 01:30:19,430
And so I'm interested that light and air into being no longer goals, with especially interested to hear a doctor talk about the importance of light to the health of people living in the city.

891
01:30:20,630 --> 01:30:39,070
And I agree that if the sunlight isn't going to reach our roof, then it's probably not reaching our yards, the trees, the other plants, and our bodies, and that really does matter.

892
01:30:41,060 --> 01:30:53,300
All in all, what I think is that the city has reasonably refused to do anything that constitutes

893
01:30:53,300 --> 01:31:03,300
real planning and real balancing of priorities, discussion of the trade-offs or real

894
01:31:03,300 --> 01:31:07,580
instead of in platitudes and ideological screens.

895
01:31:08,680 --> 01:31:11,260
And we really ought to be able to do better.

896
01:31:11,660 --> 01:31:16,100
But at this point, I doubt that we want to or can.

897
01:31:16,440 --> 01:31:17,560
Thank you.

898
01:31:17,800 --> 01:31:19,040
Thank you, our next speaker.

899
01:31:19,400 --> 01:31:22,020
Her final speaker will be Barrel Lipden.

900
01:31:22,440 --> 01:31:24,840
Barrel, you have three minutes, please go ahead.

901
01:31:26,950 --> 01:31:28,550
Hello, and Barrel Lipden.

902
01:31:28,550 --> 01:31:30,030
I live on Oak Street.

903
01:31:30,950 --> 01:31:36,890
I have heard that you all may be here from the same people over and over again and that's

904
01:31:36,890 --> 01:31:43,370
becoming less effective in terms of expressing what is really going on and the sort of the

905
01:31:43,370 --> 01:31:48,370
emotions and feelings of the community. I personally don't own a house. I don't have solar.

906
01:31:48,810 --> 01:31:55,430
I am a human who enjoys the sun and I don't envy the hard work that the people in all of the

907
01:31:55,430 --> 01:31:59,070
that you all on the committee have to do all of the time.

908
01:31:59,610 --> 01:32:00,470
Everybody has a lot to do.

909
01:32:00,590 --> 01:32:01,470
You have a lot of demands.

910
01:32:02,050 --> 01:32:03,430
Things are moving really fast.

911
01:32:04,650 --> 01:32:06,570
And I think, you know, in particular,

912
01:32:06,770 --> 01:32:10,650
what I'd like to say here is that it's not speed

913
01:32:10,970 --> 01:32:12,750
that I am concerned about,

914
01:32:13,030 --> 01:32:15,610
because I think that we do need to be reacting.

915
01:32:16,150 --> 01:32:18,370
We understand that we live in a time right now,

916
01:32:18,570 --> 01:32:21,870
where our city in particular is reacting to things

917
01:32:21,870 --> 01:32:23,870
that are happening very quickly in a way

918
01:32:23,870 --> 01:32:25,430
that is not taking into consideration

919
01:32:25,430 --> 01:32:29,910
the whole human scope and effects of decisions

920
01:32:29,910 --> 01:32:32,330
that are being made by people who are in power.

921
01:32:32,670 --> 01:32:34,290
And I know that all of you are our neighbors,

922
01:32:34,590 --> 01:32:36,770
but you are also in power in relation

923
01:32:36,770 --> 01:32:38,950
to everybody else who lives in this community.

924
01:32:40,430 --> 01:32:43,490
So I appreciate the work that has been done.

925
01:32:43,610 --> 01:32:46,910
I am hearing my neighbors and other community members talk

926
01:32:46,910 --> 01:32:51,970
about some of the concerns that they have,

927
01:32:51,970 --> 01:32:55,310
reasonably so and sort of the some of the promises or

928
01:32:55,310 --> 01:32:57,670
understandings that they felt that they had as constituents

929
01:32:58,410 --> 01:33:02,610
that they don't feel like are being respected right now.

930
01:33:03,570 --> 01:33:06,870
And I guess I, you know, personally when I think about

931
01:33:06,870 --> 01:33:10,390
something like Massav or Cambridge Street, the sun,

932
01:33:11,430 --> 01:33:15,290
I would challenge you to sort of consider where the sun goes

933
01:33:15,290 --> 01:33:19,070
and moves and to really think about how that affects people

934
01:33:19,070 --> 01:33:22,130
When certain buildings are in relation to each other,

935
01:33:22,310 --> 01:33:23,950
not just when it comes to solar,

936
01:33:24,130 --> 01:33:26,750
but just generally, right, another speaker,

937
01:33:27,250 --> 01:33:28,410
referenced a garden.

938
01:33:29,170 --> 01:33:31,570
We're in a moment where people don't have enough housing,

939
01:33:31,590 --> 01:33:33,750
and if you like a plant,

940
01:33:34,350 --> 01:33:36,770
and you would like to get some sunlight to that plant,

941
01:33:37,030 --> 01:33:39,550
you are being made to feel a little bit,

942
01:33:39,610 --> 01:33:40,610
like you're kind of being selfish.

943
01:33:41,050 --> 01:33:43,990
I've lived behind a very large building on Massav,

944
01:33:44,050 --> 01:33:46,090
could not grow a single plant in my apartment

945
01:33:46,090 --> 01:33:47,950
in the many years that I lived there.

946
01:33:47,950 --> 01:33:50,970
very frustrating, very bad for my mental health.

947
01:33:51,910 --> 01:33:56,810
I wanted to point out, you know, I've heard from other counselors, I think,

948
01:33:57,230 --> 01:34:00,230
something about Cambridge being 500th in permitting.

949
01:34:00,330 --> 01:34:03,190
And I just want to sort of unpack where that number is coming from.

950
01:34:03,710 --> 01:34:10,770
That was from a report that was based on an AI sort of generated analysis of permitting

951
01:34:10,770 --> 01:34:14,410
by something called the red tape index, backed by national priorities.

952
01:34:14,410 --> 01:34:18,770
the White House's AI action plan underscores the need to accelerate permitting

953
01:34:18,770 --> 01:34:22,850
LeBrenth, which is what, put out this report, aligns with this vision by providing

954
01:34:22,850 --> 01:34:28,010
builders and municipalities with transparent data. Transparency is used and

955
01:34:28,010 --> 01:34:31,870
leverage against people and I would challenge you not to align with some of the

956
01:34:31,870 --> 01:34:37,370
values that in other spaces you guys are fighting against. Thank you.

957
01:34:37,370 --> 01:34:44,390
Thank you, Madam Chair, that concludes all that we're signed up to speak. Thank you

958
01:34:44,390 --> 01:34:51,170
public comment today. It's about 423 p.m. and we have a little after 5 for the remainder of the

959
01:34:51,170 --> 01:34:58,570
hearing. With that said, we'll move on to committee questions and our mind folks. We, I think

960
01:34:58,570 --> 01:35:06,030
it's important to think about the package 27 here around next steps and try to get to consensus

961
01:35:06,630 --> 01:35:13,530
from both bodies on where we go from here. So I know Councillor Azim had your hand up please go ahead.

962
01:35:15,070 --> 01:35:16,910
Thank you, Madam Chair.

963
01:35:18,650 --> 01:35:22,910
I wanted to start off with saying that this is a very sympathetic conversation, right?

964
01:35:23,050 --> 01:35:27,070
I think it is absolutely true that the city has asked people to invest in solar.

965
01:35:27,490 --> 01:35:31,130
There's a lot of incentives that have been set up at the state level at the national level.

966
01:35:31,510 --> 01:35:34,650
People have bots at solar and that can be tens of thousands of dollars.

967
01:35:35,290 --> 01:35:41,390
It's right for people to make that level of investments and be anxious about returns and anxious about what happens in their

968
01:35:41,390 --> 01:35:46,990
neighborhood that will have an impact on that and you know that's a lot of money to be in debt and if you can't get it back

969
01:35:46,990 --> 01:35:53,110
That is a very very stressful situation. I think that I'm very sympathetic to finding a solution here

970
01:35:53,110 --> 01:35:59,510
And as I know are all of my colleagues. I know that we've had prep meetings and I would say that that's why you know other things get referred

971
01:36:00,410 --> 01:36:03,190
Or just like die in city council floor. This is not died, right?

972
01:36:03,190 --> 01:36:08,290
Like we are having hearings on this we're having conversations on it because it does touch a real pain point in the city and

973
01:36:08,290 --> 01:36:12,530
something where I feel like we should try to find a solution for people who are facing this problem.

974
01:36:14,630 --> 01:36:18,510
You know, there's a whole lot of

975
01:36:18,510 --> 01:36:24,110
details here that matter, right? On one hand, like I actually think it's a, I both understand how things

976
01:36:24,110 --> 01:36:28,370
are about solar gets mixed in with new residential development in general, fear of new residential

977
01:36:28,370 --> 01:36:34,450
development of height and density, and like when you see those numbers and you see how many buildings

978
01:36:34,450 --> 01:36:38,530
are getting, actually starting construction right now, it's almost been a year and it's

979
01:36:38,530 --> 01:36:39,430
a zero, right?

980
01:36:39,430 --> 01:36:44,030
And I think that's something we all know, where this kind of, in this paradox, where the

981
01:36:44,030 --> 01:36:47,670
potential high-losing development can be anywhere, but the actual housing development

982
01:36:47,670 --> 01:36:49,250
is rather small, right?

983
01:36:49,570 --> 01:36:52,690
And that's because it's hard for housing to pencil at this moment, right?

984
01:36:52,930 --> 01:36:56,890
So we see a lot of people try to come up with plans, but actually none of them are even close

985
01:36:56,890 --> 01:36:57,870
to penciling, right?

986
01:36:58,130 --> 01:37:02,970
The few developers who sent performers to the city because they've asked the city for funding

987
01:37:02,970 --> 01:37:04,890
or else it can be redevelopment authority for funding,

988
01:37:04,970 --> 01:37:06,570
so there are about as reliable as we can get.

989
01:37:06,990 --> 01:37:10,290
We know that people are not for a 60 unit project

990
01:37:10,290 --> 01:37:12,050
away, like a million dollars away.

991
01:37:12,170 --> 01:37:13,830
They're like 20 million dollars a debt, right?

992
01:37:13,830 --> 01:37:15,090
They're nowhere near-penseling.

993
01:37:16,530 --> 01:37:18,770
And that's a really, really hard situation.

994
01:37:19,390 --> 01:37:21,630
I would say that this is a difficult conversation,

995
01:37:21,630 --> 01:37:23,070
because we do want housing.

996
01:37:23,070 --> 01:37:24,210
I'll get to that in a moment.

997
01:37:24,790 --> 01:37:27,870
But also, we want actually housing that actually exists,

998
01:37:28,290 --> 01:37:30,030
and this would add one more restriction.

999
01:37:30,030 --> 01:37:35,490
you know. In my time in council, I think this is the first one actually passed before my

1000
01:37:35,490 --> 01:37:38,910
time, which is the green roof ordinance, right? But I supported way to which had new

1001
01:37:38,910 --> 01:37:44,750
restrictions, I supported climate resiliency zoning. We have a net zero stretch code that added,

1002
01:37:44,750 --> 01:37:49,130
there's a lot of new things that we've added that have really high climate standards such that

1003
01:37:49,130 --> 01:37:52,470
I would say that we have among the highest climate standards in the country. And that's a good thing.

1004
01:37:52,470 --> 01:37:58,030
I supported those. And we also have all sorts of other requirements that we talk about all the time,

1005
01:37:58,030 --> 01:38:00,630
right from our, you know, just the way that we do

1006
01:38:00,630 --> 01:38:03,030
permitting in general to inclusion in the cost,

1007
01:38:03,030 --> 01:38:04,350
there and everything else.

1008
01:38:04,510 --> 01:38:06,170
And so we've kind of got into the situation

1009
01:38:06,170 --> 01:38:09,270
where we took a scope at this term and said,

1010
01:38:09,490 --> 01:38:11,970
like, hey, how do we keep all these really nice things

1011
01:38:11,970 --> 01:38:13,910
that we want and actually make a building

1012
01:38:16,530 --> 01:38:18,950
potentially pencil out with all of these really,

1013
01:38:19,150 --> 01:38:19,810
really high requirements?

1014
01:38:20,070 --> 01:38:22,090
And I think that's how we got to six stories,

1015
01:38:22,190 --> 01:38:24,010
which is where the natural building code changes

1016
01:38:24,470 --> 01:38:25,890
and all this height and density, right?

1017
01:38:26,230 --> 01:38:27,530
And even then it's kind of hard

1018
01:38:27,530 --> 01:38:31,350
because we have all these requirements, and it's a hard macro environment that nothing is really

1019
01:38:31,350 --> 01:38:36,210
penciling right now. I would say, you know, I know my council, my colleague and I had a short

1020
01:38:36,210 --> 01:38:40,830
description conversation beforehand where it's like, you know, like, Burhan would this be something

1021
01:38:40,830 --> 01:38:45,250
you can support, like it's really hard, because you know, I know this is not exactly your priorities

1022
01:38:45,250 --> 01:38:52,350
and stuff like that. And I would say that my priorities are to build housing. And if you, like, and I think

1023
01:38:52,350 --> 01:38:56,030
what all of us suffer is that we represent, you know, 10-11% of the city, you've got to directly

1024
01:38:56,030 --> 01:39:00,610
and they have their priorities, but in order to get something done, we need a majority.

1025
01:39:00,790 --> 01:39:03,330
And so I would say that, you know, solar does matter to me.

1026
01:39:03,350 --> 01:39:04,850
It's not my number one priority.

1027
01:39:05,230 --> 01:39:09,010
But if there was a way to bundle in other things that make it easier for housing

1028
01:39:09,010 --> 01:39:12,050
to pencil, then that goes from something that I'm, like,

1029
01:39:12,190 --> 01:39:15,590
typically, like, we should think about, like, I really do feel like it's a harm,

1030
01:39:15,710 --> 01:39:19,410
but I also get a lot of cross-pressure to also being, like,

1031
01:39:19,410 --> 01:39:21,730
yeah, we should do this. This seems like a win-win solution, right?

1032
01:39:21,990 --> 01:39:24,730
For example, things that we can talk about, and I know it's hard today,

1033
01:39:24,730 --> 01:39:26,990
is like, well, you could do, you know,

1034
01:39:26,990 --> 01:39:28,810
if your direct concern was about solar, particularly,

1035
01:39:29,030 --> 01:39:31,570
you could think about doing a targeted solar buy-back program, right?

1036
01:39:31,850 --> 01:39:33,030
If someone is actually impacted.

1037
01:39:33,470 --> 01:39:35,730
If you're really in love with the idea of step backs,

1038
01:39:35,990 --> 01:39:38,530
as I know some people in public comment suggested,

1039
01:39:39,110 --> 01:39:41,250
I would say then, well, can you create an incentive, right?

1040
01:39:41,570 --> 01:39:44,330
We think a lot about sticks, you could imagine a carrot, right?

1041
01:39:44,390 --> 01:39:47,090
You get some sort of tax-revade that makes it easier

1042
01:39:47,090 --> 01:39:50,310
for your building depends on if you have those step backs, right?

1043
01:39:50,610 --> 01:39:53,090
Or even if that is a requirement to add a little bit of incentive,

1044
01:39:53,090 --> 01:39:54,370
that actually makes housing pencil.

1045
01:39:54,370 --> 01:39:59,890
I think that there's a lot of win-win solutions because this scenario right now, where we have housing potential everywhere,

1046
01:40:00,090 --> 01:40:05,730
but we don't actually get any housing construction, is not a win for me, right? And I don't think it's a win for housing production in general.

1047
01:40:07,890 --> 01:40:11,510
I know that this is not a question. I just want to give a statement and I'll be done in about 30 seconds.

1048
01:40:12,910 --> 01:40:18,070
I finally wanted to say, I think that it's really important to remember that we do want a solution.

1049
01:40:18,410 --> 01:40:21,510
Like I know the first person in public comment was not my biggest fan.

1050
01:40:21,510 --> 01:40:25,490
Now, it's like, that's not fun either, right, for any of us to sit here and have people angry.

1051
01:40:25,910 --> 01:40:30,210
And it's really helpful instead to say, like, what is a win-win solution to get you on board?

1052
01:40:30,250 --> 01:40:32,610
Because none of us want to stay here and disappoint our neighbors.

1053
01:40:35,010 --> 01:40:38,570
And then finally, I would add, like, you know, I think we heard a lot from people today who are being

1054
01:40:38,570 --> 01:40:43,510
impacted by solar or worried about being impacted from solar, and the effect that has on them.

1055
01:40:43,870 --> 01:40:47,210
And I will add, like, it's really hard because all of us speak to different communities,

1056
01:40:47,830 --> 01:40:50,290
right, just because of the way that our electoral system works.

1057
01:40:51,050 --> 01:40:58,830
I spent this weekend with some friends I made because I was at the Mass App diner and they were doing an eSports program at Northeastern.

1058
01:41:00,130 --> 01:41:07,490
And this was a collection of guys who, you know, were living four roommates to a place that was four bedroom $6,000 apartment, right?

1059
01:41:07,730 --> 01:41:12,010
So they're paying about, you know, $72,000 a year in rent.

1060
01:41:12,590 --> 01:41:19,050
And the conversation there flowed onto like how, you know, when I was younger, I remember everyone who was young was a Democrat, right?

1061
01:41:19,050 --> 01:41:22,710
like we were winning Democrats, like we're liberals by like 50 point margins.

1062
01:41:23,110 --> 01:41:28,010
And now for the first time ever, like young men actually voted for Republicans.

1063
01:41:28,250 --> 01:41:32,790
And even where I am in my social circle, you know, a lot of people either voted for Trump,

1064
01:41:32,890 --> 01:41:37,530
but also like if I look at the MIT grad student union, a lot of those are, you know,

1065
01:41:37,610 --> 01:41:39,850
further to the left and to say their PSL people, right?

1066
01:41:40,390 --> 01:41:43,870
And you ask like why are everyone going focusing on like the hard left or hard right?

1067
01:41:43,890 --> 01:41:48,430
It's because it's a system where you feel like, you know, if you make the median household income

1068
01:41:48,430 --> 01:41:53,390
of 100,000 or four people on this, four bedroom of $200,000 a year. You're still paying

1069
01:41:53,390 --> 01:41:58,890
not 30% of your money and rent, not 40%, but 55% of the money that you're making is going

1070
01:41:58,890 --> 01:42:04,350
directly to rent. And that's a really hard problem. And there's all sorts of other problems being

1071
01:42:04,350 --> 01:42:09,650
a word about, you know, the impact of housing on your community, being worried about parking,

1072
01:42:09,910 --> 01:42:14,090
being worried about your garden, but that is a real source of pain and something that hopefully

1073
01:42:14,090 --> 01:42:17,870
we can come to a consensus around addressing. I think there's a lot of solutions we can come to. Thank

1074
01:42:19,930 --> 01:42:28,990
Thank you, Councillor Ziemann, just to bring it back, I think what the staff I think is looking for is direction on which next steps to take and

1075
01:42:28,990 --> 01:42:34,050
Councillor Ziemann just correct me if I'm wrong, it seems from what you're saying, I think

1076
01:42:34,710 --> 01:42:41,590
you're leading towards correct me if I'm wrong, kind of continuing the review with the broader set of issues, is that what you're saying?

1077
01:42:42,030 --> 01:42:46,130
Yeah, absolutely. I know we had a pre-meeting where I'd suggest that to staff, so I'll apologize for skipping that now.

1078
01:42:46,250 --> 01:42:49,550
No worries. So I'll go to Councillor Nolan.

1079
01:42:50,550 --> 01:42:56,770
Thank you, Chair Sediki, I do have a couple of questions and also just a reaction to

1080
01:42:56,770 --> 01:43:00,050
thanks for the staff and also everyone in public comment.

1081
01:43:01,770 --> 01:43:05,810
Just to be clear, I think some of the concerned about well stepbacks make this awkward

1082
01:43:05,810 --> 01:43:06,850
kind of thing.

1083
01:43:07,590 --> 01:43:15,150
We're in a city where the Gary design for MIT is the weirdest flaguration of angles and

1084
01:43:15,150 --> 01:43:18,810
has gotten millions of awards, and he was

1085
01:43:19,370 --> 01:43:22,110
lotted when he just died for a quirky building.

1086
01:43:22,330 --> 01:43:24,230
So I don't think we should be afraid of quirky buildings.

1087
01:43:24,650 --> 01:43:26,970
I think the real question is, does it make it more difficult

1088
01:43:26,970 --> 01:43:27,970
for people to build?

1089
01:43:28,950 --> 01:43:30,350
And does it make it less valuable?

1090
01:43:30,650 --> 01:43:32,630
Because sometimes the crookedness, as was noted

1091
01:43:32,630 --> 01:43:33,510
at least one of the slides,

1092
01:43:34,030 --> 01:43:35,690
hey, if you have a step back on the sixth floor

1093
01:43:35,690 --> 01:43:37,290
that creates a balcony opportunity,

1094
01:43:37,510 --> 01:43:38,350
because that's open space.

1095
01:43:38,350 --> 01:43:40,550
So I'm not clear that it's always a bad thing.

1096
01:43:40,550 --> 01:43:42,450
And I want to make sure we say that we shouldn't be

1097
01:43:42,450 --> 01:43:44,250
afraid of urban design asymmetry.

1098
01:43:44,250 --> 01:43:51,050
And to the idea that, yes, all these individual solors are not going to solve the climate crisis worldwide.

1099
01:43:51,190 --> 01:43:55,610
That is totally true or a drop in the ocean, but that goes for housing.

1100
01:43:56,350 --> 01:44:02,850
Even if we produce thousands of units of housing, it's not going to solve the worldwide or the state or even the region housing issue.

1101
01:44:03,130 --> 01:44:07,730
That doesn't mean we don't try to produce housing because we're good doing what we can within our city.

1102
01:44:07,730 --> 01:44:17,230
I've viewed exactly the same for sustainability that, as was pointed out, so also every single solar panel in the city of which there's more than a thousand

1103
01:44:17,790 --> 01:44:35,110
is energy created in this city, all of the VPPAs and the solar panels in Illinois or wind farms in Texas, even if we use that electricity and claim it for ourselves, eventually it's basically a shell game because that means if we're claiming it, they can't claim it.

1104
01:44:35,110 --> 01:44:39,430
So they are actually not using any kind of clean energy, even though it's being produced in

1105
01:44:39,430 --> 01:44:40,070
their state.

1106
01:44:40,410 --> 01:44:44,090
In other words, eventually we have to get to the point where all of our clean energy comes

1107
01:44:44,490 --> 01:44:47,030
from either in the city or in ISO in England.

1108
01:44:47,250 --> 01:44:47,990
We have to fund that.

1109
01:44:48,390 --> 01:44:54,430
So let's remember that when people say, yes, our individual housing may be small, but for everyone

1110
01:44:54,430 --> 01:44:57,430
saying, well, the best thing we can do is build more housing for a client, no, we have to

1111
01:44:57,430 --> 01:44:57,870
do both.

1112
01:44:57,930 --> 01:44:59,970
We have to build housing and we have to be produced.

1113
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:29,980
We're seeing more solar here. And just remember of those, there's 400 of the single family homes of solar. That's more than 10 percent. I think we've less than 4,000 single family homes in Cambridge. Right, of the, that's what the data show. So it's more than 10 percent, more than 1 in 10 of our single family homes already have solar. More than 1 in 10, also if I think our two or three family. That's, so I don't want to dismiss it. I know there was, it doesn't mean those people would solve our citywide emission pollution.

1114
01:45:30,000 --> 01:45:35,660
but sure as heck, for Ms. Worms or Councilor Zuzzi, I don't have solar, so full of the

1115
01:45:35,660 --> 01:45:40,720
disclosure, I don't. We've assisted about three times, but if I did, that means I would

1116
01:45:40,720 --> 01:45:44,760
be able to cover a hundred percent of my emission pollution here and that's what we're all

1117
01:45:44,760 --> 01:45:51,240
about in wanting to make sure we protect. So I think this is a both and we, yes, we need to

1118
01:45:51,240 --> 01:45:56,320
produce housing, but we also have to remember we should be incentivizing solar across the city

1119
01:45:56,320 --> 01:45:58,300
and protecting it where we can.

1120
01:45:58,940 --> 01:46:02,540
I don't think there was outreach to the 1,000-plus people

1121
01:46:02,540 --> 01:46:04,200
who have Seller on the Ruff.

1122
01:46:04,780 --> 01:46:07,240
It's quite a visit about 800 for the single and two family.

1123
01:46:08,440 --> 01:46:11,460
I think that the questions answered in the future through you,

1124
01:46:11,760 --> 01:46:14,340
Chercia Diki, to the staff, are to address the question

1125
01:46:14,340 --> 01:46:16,040
of was the time of year analysis done.

1126
01:46:16,200 --> 01:46:17,760
I thought it was part of the analysis,

1127
01:46:17,960 --> 01:46:20,040
but if it isn't, we need to make sure that's clear,

1128
01:46:20,340 --> 01:46:22,340
because as Caroli Ron said in her testimony,

1129
01:46:22,340 --> 01:46:28,120
know if the time of year it blocks 50% I believe was a blended rate of that 20% but let's make

1130
01:46:28,120 --> 01:46:33,260
sure we have a clear answer to that question. I don't know if I'm speaking too quickly but

1131
01:46:35,980 --> 01:46:41,940
the the question I do have is the building example which is in the packet page 16 I believe

1132
01:46:41,940 --> 01:46:52,140
14 which shows that that is about 3 to 6% overall effect on the building in 19% on the inclusionary

1133
01:46:52,140 --> 01:46:59,400
I just want to make sure that's the worst case analysis is my understanding because it's on a 5,000 square foot lot.

1134
01:47:00,080 --> 01:47:03,960
The bigger the lot, the lower the percentage impact, is that correct?

1135
01:47:06,660 --> 01:47:08,640
I'm not through the chair for I guess to both chairs.

1136
01:47:09,180 --> 01:47:10,860
Is should I take all those questions?

1137
01:47:12,100 --> 01:47:14,220
It seemed like there was a list of questions.

1138
01:47:14,500 --> 01:47:15,500
I'm going to go back to the beginning.

1139
01:47:15,600 --> 01:47:18,360
I wasn't sure you can answer them here and just figure it next step.

1140
01:47:18,900 --> 01:47:22,620
But I definitely think I want to point out that particularly that's the worst case because

1141
01:47:22,620 --> 01:47:27,740
of the just in simple terms if it's a plot instead of being modeled with 5,000 square feet

1142
01:47:27,740 --> 01:47:33,120
was 10,000 square feet. It might actually cut in half the percentage impact, meaning

1143
01:47:33,120 --> 01:47:40,780
it was only about a 2% impact on the overall and only about a 5 to 10% on the inclusionaries

1144
01:47:40,780 --> 01:47:46,680
that correct. More or less I think the thing to keep in mind with that kind of analysis when

1145
01:47:46,680 --> 01:47:50,560
we give those kind of percentages and talk about this. We're really talking about the building

1146
01:47:50,560 --> 01:47:56,480
envelope. So, you know, what that basically means is sort of like the imaginary shape within

1147
01:47:56,480 --> 01:48:02,120
which you could build a building. So, it's another kind of question entirely to figure out,

1148
01:48:02,320 --> 01:48:04,980
well, what if you actually have to build a building, you know, if you meet all the building,

1149
01:48:05,080 --> 01:48:08,720
code requirements and all the other, you know, issues you have to account for, like, what is that

1150
01:48:08,720 --> 01:48:13,920
actually result in? And that's, and that's much more site dependent. I can say that in terms of the

1151
01:48:13,920 --> 01:48:19,380
the calculation that we did there on, that we showed the image for in the packet, we were looking at,

1152
01:48:19,380 --> 01:48:21,520
And what if it were just a 5,000 square foot lot?

1153
01:48:21,580 --> 01:48:22,980
So that would be the smallest example.

1154
01:48:23,120 --> 01:48:24,940
And then of course, as the lock gets bigger,

1155
01:48:25,420 --> 01:48:27,980
those linear setbacks from the edge

1156
01:48:27,980 --> 01:48:30,360
have less of an overall impact.

1157
01:48:30,720 --> 01:48:33,240
At the same time, that's once the lock gets bigger,

1158
01:48:33,320 --> 01:48:35,520
that's where we have to start to factor in.

1159
01:48:35,820 --> 01:48:38,680
You can't just fill up necessarily the entire lot

1160
01:48:38,680 --> 01:48:39,220
with a building.

1161
01:48:39,320 --> 01:48:41,840
Once it gets big enough, you have to kind of break it down

1162
01:48:41,840 --> 01:48:44,840
in order to make sure you have habitable space within the building

1163
01:48:44,840 --> 01:48:46,680
and windows into all the bedrooms and everything.

1164
01:48:47,300 --> 01:48:49,040
So it becomes a little bit harder to calculate

1165
01:48:49,040 --> 01:48:54,000
but we just we just looked at that as as an example of you have the smallest smallest size

1166
01:48:54,000 --> 01:48:58,060
lot. Right. So that's the worst case though in terms of percentages it would have to go down

1167
01:48:58,060 --> 01:49:02,400
from there by definition. And it was a 10,000 square foot lot. The livability wouldn't be a big deal.

1168
01:49:02,480 --> 01:49:08,480
You just took bigger rooms or more throughput. Right. As long as long as the lot was once you get to

1169
01:49:08,480 --> 01:49:12,960
sort of 100 feet by 100 feet that's where you're kind of just thinking about as maybe a single

1170
01:49:13,700 --> 01:49:19,020
multi-family building footprint but once it gets bigger than that then other factors come into play.

1171
01:49:22,140 --> 01:49:47,260
So I, here's just to your question chair, I do think it's an important to maybe model one of those larger ones because, again, this is a worst case and that just, so the whole council knows because I think my sense from the council was look if it's just a few percent, you know, less than 10% impact, we would might be willing, but this, since it ends up being more like a 10 to 20% impact, that's an issue.

1172
01:49:47,260 --> 01:49:50,840
So if it turns out for most properties, it might be closer to that eight to 10%.

1173
01:49:50,840 --> 01:49:54,460
It's just, I don't think it would take too much to model one or two larger properties.

1174
01:49:54,780 --> 01:50:03,300
Because this is, this is, and again, I know it's all site specific, but this is all just a case of us trying to think through these things.

1175
01:50:03,960 --> 01:50:08,740
I definitely think, I'm glad this staff is saying, there's some other creative things we may be able to do.

1176
01:50:08,780 --> 01:50:14,240
So I think continuing the review to your question, Chair Sadiki, is makes sense to me.

1177
01:50:14,240 --> 01:50:17,740
And again, what we've heard from this staff is that they could use their existing analysis.

1178
01:50:17,800 --> 01:50:21,540
This isn't going to require another three to six month consultants come in.

1179
01:50:21,780 --> 01:50:24,800
It really is thinking through now that they have the benefit of impact of these.

1180
01:50:25,500 --> 01:50:30,800
First of all, our questions and also hopefully some questions from developers and also reaching out to homeowners.

1181
01:50:31,140 --> 01:50:35,400
I was particularly struck by the resident Patrick Britain.

1182
01:50:35,760 --> 01:50:36,580
I am concerned.

1183
01:50:36,760 --> 01:50:39,120
I think we should all be concerned about residents saying,

1184
01:50:39,460 --> 01:50:41,480
I'm not sure I'm going to put in solar because of this.

1185
01:50:41,480 --> 01:50:46,000
So at least let's find out if there's a lot more in that category than, as Councillor

1186
01:50:46,000 --> 01:50:51,340
Azim said, and I know Councillor Siddiqui has said, what are the ways that we can incentivize

1187
01:50:51,340 --> 01:50:51,600
then?

1188
01:50:51,600 --> 01:50:54,760
Is there something else we can do that's really creative, which I think needs to be part

1189
01:50:54,760 --> 01:50:58,920
of the staff, because the staff presentation for this next round.

1190
01:50:59,860 --> 01:51:04,700
So to answer the question, I definitely, this alternative of continuing the review, definitely

1191
01:51:04,700 --> 01:51:08,860
not stopping it, seeing if there's creative ways to do this, answering a couple of this

1192
01:51:08,860 --> 01:51:14,200
of questions about the time of year analysis about modeling at least one building that's not

1193
01:51:14,200 --> 01:51:19,960
on the absolute smallest possible site. And bringing in and reaching out to the, I don't think

1194
01:51:19,960 --> 01:51:25,340
the climate committee has reviewed this. With that's our body set up to review this. This should

1195
01:51:25,340 --> 01:51:31,140
be brought to them to say what are some creative ideas you have and also they could be used to spread

1196
01:51:31,140 --> 01:51:34,260
the word to the rest of the city because that's how we're supposed to be using our citizen committees.

1197
01:51:34,260 --> 01:51:42,120
So I don't know if those are specific enough, and I think with that, Chair Sadiki, my notes are, I've done through my notes, so I'm yield.

1198
01:51:43,640 --> 01:51:55,920
Thank you, Chair Nolan, and just to the team, do you have any clarifying questions about what Chair Nolan is proposing as potential questions?

1199
01:51:57,680 --> 01:52:02,740
I think it makes sense, these are all things that we can look at more and again, the suggestion

1200
01:52:04,420 --> 01:52:11,120
of let's really, as we start to see real examples, whether they end up getting built or not

1201
01:52:11,120 --> 01:52:18,680
of development proposals, we can look at this in a more focused way on actual sites to see

1202
01:52:18,680 --> 01:52:23,100
what kind of issues might come up issues that we maybe did or didn't anticipate and how

1203
01:52:23,100 --> 01:52:23,900
they play out.

1204
01:52:24,140 --> 01:52:31,480
Just to answer some of the questions now, the in terms of the analysis that we did with

1205
01:52:31,480 --> 01:52:36,100
our consultant looked at total annual solar radiation access.

1206
01:52:37,080 --> 01:52:42,060
So in some ways it kind of accounts for the issues that often come up with shadow studies

1207
01:52:42,060 --> 01:52:47,060
where you're looking at a shadow, you're looking either at in the middle of summer or in

1208
01:52:47,060 --> 01:52:51,540
the middle of winter or during the equinox and it becomes hard to kind of evaluate because there

1209
01:52:51,540 --> 01:52:56,860
might be more impact in the winter, but at the same time, there's less solar exposure in general

1210
01:52:56,860 --> 01:53:01,640
on the winter versus the summer where you might, the shadows aren't as, you know,

1211
01:53:01,760 --> 01:53:05,280
sharp, but at the same time you have more solar exposure during the day.

1212
01:53:05,460 --> 01:53:10,320
So it sort of looks at it in that way in order to do kind of an aggregate analysis.

1213
01:53:10,460 --> 01:53:13,320
So that's how that analysis worked.

1214
01:53:13,780 --> 01:53:16,480
In terms of the properties, I think you were about right.

1215
01:53:16,480 --> 01:53:25,600
I think when usually the kind of back of the envelope that I tend to go by is for in the city

1216
01:53:25,600 --> 01:53:31,480
of Cambridge is about 10,000 single family two family three family kind of small, you know,

1217
01:53:31,580 --> 01:53:33,320
smaller home buildings.

1218
01:53:33,760 --> 01:53:41,320
And so when you're talking about 800 of those, it's around 10% maybe a little under 10% in terms

1219
01:53:41,320 --> 01:53:44,640
of how that breaks down between single family two and three.

1220
01:53:44,640 --> 01:53:47,840
There's not that many single family for sure.

1221
01:53:48,360 --> 01:53:51,560
But I think the numbers show that it probably

1222
01:53:51,560 --> 01:53:56,660
skews a bit more toward in terms of the where you

1223
01:53:56,660 --> 01:53:59,240
actually have solar installed skews a bit more

1224
01:53:59,240 --> 01:54:02,880
towards single family homes than two or three.

1225
01:54:05,600 --> 01:54:06,400
Thank you.

1226
01:54:06,580 --> 01:54:07,560
We'll go to the councilor's office.

1227
01:54:10,700 --> 01:54:12,360
Thank you, Chair Sedikki.

1228
01:54:13,060 --> 01:54:16,520
I just wanted to start with a comment in a question,

1229
01:54:16,520 --> 01:54:20,760
which is I understand that mass state zoning chapter

1230
01:54:20,760 --> 01:54:25,760
to 40 section 14A encourages,

1231
01:54:25,760 --> 01:54:30,180
allows cities to encourage solar and to commit

1232
01:54:30,180 --> 01:54:31,580
to protecting solar.

1233
01:54:32,100 --> 01:54:34,280
And I wonder, why didn't we do that?

1234
01:54:34,360 --> 01:54:38,880
With the sunny solar, it seems like over between 800

1235
01:54:38,880 --> 01:54:42,580
and 1,000 residential property owners

1236
01:54:42,580 --> 01:54:46,380
were encouraged and chose to purchase solar.

1237
01:54:47,320 --> 01:54:50,540
I just, I feel it so sad that we didn't do the other half,

1238
01:54:50,680 --> 01:54:54,280
which was to protect it, because apparently we had that right.

1239
01:54:54,920 --> 01:54:59,220
I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I do think it's actually a good question.

1240
01:54:59,480 --> 01:55:01,580
Do you have any answer to that?

1241
01:55:05,180 --> 01:55:06,560
Right, right, I can go back to it.

1242
01:55:06,900 --> 01:55:07,140
Sure.

1243
01:55:07,320 --> 01:55:13,180
Through the chairs, I can, I can look to Megan to see if there's any more detail,

1244
01:55:13,180 --> 01:55:34,160
You know, in state law, there are certain provisions that I'm aware of that have been enacted over time that they sort of call themselves solar protection and usually it's in the context of ensuring that cities and towns don't have regulations that prevent solar from being built.

1245
01:55:34,160 --> 01:55:40,320
I think statewide that has tended to be more of an issue where communities have adopted

1246
01:55:40,320 --> 01:55:46,280
sort of restrictive zoning or regulations that make it more difficult for solar to be installed

1247
01:55:46,280 --> 01:55:50,900
and so then their provisions in the law that are meant to kind of push the other way to

1248
01:55:50,900 --> 01:55:58,200
say that you can't restrict the placement of solar. I'm looking to Megan to see if she has any

1249
01:55:58,200 --> 01:56:00,460
or if we can tell me if I'm completely wrong.

1250
01:56:03,020 --> 01:56:04,680
Thank you and through the chair.

1251
01:56:05,700 --> 01:56:08,480
So we did go into this in greater detail

1252
01:56:08,480 --> 01:56:10,400
in a past council order response,

1253
01:56:10,480 --> 01:56:11,920
and I was just trying to pull it up,

1254
01:56:11,980 --> 01:56:16,040
and I will rescind it to you once I get my hands on that,

1255
01:56:16,120 --> 01:56:17,820
so you can refer to it.

1256
01:56:17,960 --> 01:56:21,560
But as Jeff said, in the zoning act itself,

1257
01:56:21,640 --> 01:56:26,360
chapter 48 section three, there is protection

1258
01:56:26,360 --> 01:56:29,060
And so that we can't prohibit solar.

1259
01:56:30,540 --> 01:56:38,660
And then in, I think it's in one of the section nine, one of the lettered section

1260
01:56:38,660 --> 01:56:48,960
nine that are in the Zoning Act, there's also explicit authority that you can put in protections

1261
01:56:48,960 --> 01:57:00,060
for solar, but there isn't anything mandating that certain steps be taken. It's really more

1262
01:57:00,060 --> 01:57:06,980
of just acknowledging that you can't prohibit solar and you can put in zoning in place that

1263
01:57:06,980 --> 01:57:16,500
would protect light and space in order to facilitate solar, which really isn't different

1264
01:57:16,500 --> 01:57:24,340
But then just the overall zoning authority that municipalities have where one of the purposes

1265
01:57:24,340 --> 01:57:29,100
for which you connect zoning is the protection of light in there.

1266
01:57:30,480 --> 01:57:33,200
Thank you so much for you, Chair Siddiqui.

1267
01:57:34,000 --> 01:57:42,220
Yeah, I think anyway, I think it's really important that we protect those installations

1268
01:57:42,220 --> 01:57:48,800
that were inspired because of the city's sunny solar program. I think it's very important,

1269
01:57:49,200 --> 01:57:56,300
not only because the city encouraged it, but also because it actually produces rail energy for

1270
01:57:56,300 --> 01:58:02,920
the city apparently as much to operate a small university or a large hospital. So I think the number

1271
01:58:02,920 --> 01:58:10,100
something like 10 kilobytes, or I didn't know what the number is, what is it, about 10

1272
01:58:10,100 --> 01:58:15,660
megawatts, megawatts, okay. So big number. And so I know DC, I think maybe we can look

1273
01:58:15,660 --> 01:58:21,020
in DC, so I'm hoping I'm really grateful to all of you for continuing to look for other

1274
01:58:21,020 --> 01:58:28,540
solutions if this is not the right one, but DC has been protecting solar and again,

1275
01:58:28,540 --> 01:58:34,340
and they feel like 5% disabled panels is a problem.

1276
01:58:34,720 --> 01:58:37,700
They're not looking at 28% or 26% being a problem,

1277
01:58:37,900 --> 01:58:39,920
but 5% is they're standard.

1278
01:58:40,000 --> 01:58:42,140
They're bars much higher than ours.

1279
01:58:43,320 --> 01:58:46,560
And I've also read just online that protections

1280
01:58:46,560 --> 01:58:50,560
are enforced by FIDA that study or a written agreement

1281
01:58:50,560 --> 01:58:56,080
allowing neighbors to request reimbursement from developers.

1282
01:58:56,080 --> 01:59:01,380
But it just seems essential that we find some way to do this.

1283
01:59:01,400 --> 01:59:07,760
I know I had talked to MIT's Jeff Levine about this last January or last spring.

1284
01:59:07,920 --> 01:59:13,000
And he had said, there should be a site plan standard that a new development should avoid blocking

1285
01:59:13,000 --> 01:59:16,540
existing solar on a budding properties.

1286
01:59:16,980 --> 01:59:23,660
So maybe there's a different way to do it in DC, they did it by having rules that limit

1287
01:59:23,660 --> 01:59:28,440
how much and how close in addition or structure can be built on a lot.

1288
01:59:29,060 --> 01:59:37,920
So the solar protection was a byproduct that limited how much the building might,

1289
01:59:37,920 --> 01:59:40,640
the height might block and neighbors property.

1290
01:59:41,380 --> 01:59:49,000
So I just think I do think this is important to really figure out because it's a

1291
01:59:49,000 --> 01:59:57,680
of ability issue, we all need sun and I agree with our speakers that it's not just about solar

1292
01:59:57,680 --> 01:59:59,840
panels, it's about blocking neighbors.

1293
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:06,880
Access to light. And there are actually at Western Nav and Valerie Street, there will be solar panels blocked.

1294
02:00:07,620 --> 02:00:15,480
If those buildings come to be, and my neighbors behind me were asking about how we got our solar panels.

1295
02:00:15,860 --> 02:00:27,280
And I told them, don't put them up. I just feel like without regulations, without any protections, I think people would be really foolish to install solar at this time.

1296
02:00:27,280 --> 02:00:31,160
And that's not the conclusion we want them to come to.

1297
02:00:31,320 --> 02:00:33,260
We want to support solar installations.

1298
02:00:33,980 --> 02:00:35,520
Thank you for giving me a chance to speak.

1299
02:00:35,940 --> 02:00:36,580
I yield.

1300
02:00:37,800 --> 02:00:39,200
Thank you, Councillor Susie.

1301
02:00:40,100 --> 02:00:41,720
Isn't anyone on the Zoom with me to speak?

1302
02:00:43,680 --> 02:00:43,880
OK.

1303
02:00:46,350 --> 02:00:50,070
I had just a question that came up in a public comment

1304
02:00:51,390 --> 02:00:53,490
around the discussions with developers

1305
02:00:53,490 --> 02:00:55,270
and why you're talking to developers.

1306
02:00:55,710 --> 02:00:57,630
I think this did come up in past meetings

1307
02:00:57,630 --> 02:01:02,330
to talk to developers, but it do think it's an important point where homeowners on the

1308
02:01:02,330 --> 02:01:06,170
conversation, I think there are a lot of people, but you can't talk to every single

1309
02:01:06,910 --> 02:01:14,990
homeowner on this. I am curious just for transparency, six. How many developers did the team

1310
02:01:14,990 --> 02:01:21,390
speak to and how did you choose who to speak to?

1311
02:01:25,250 --> 02:01:47,670
Well, I personally reached out to a few developers, wasn't a large number, just like three, maybe, in addition to, and this is just kind of talking to people that I know had some experience doing project and Cambridge, maybe some of them may have had recent projects, some projects, you know, more in the past or nothing kind of currently before the city.

1312
02:01:47,670 --> 02:01:54,470
I mean, that's in addition to the fact that we do meet with developers pretty regularly when they have an active development proposal

1313
02:01:55,150 --> 02:02:02,470
before the city and we, you know, that we might use that opportunity to ask some questions or point out to them that, you know, this is an issue under discussion

1314
02:02:03,610 --> 02:02:09,410
and, you know, give them some feedback on their proposals, as well as kind of get input from them.

1315
02:02:09,410 --> 02:02:13,990
But in terms of just, you know, kind of, almost like cold calling and saying, hey,

1316
02:02:13,990 --> 02:02:18,390
if you want to talk about this for a second, just abs and any other any development proposal or anything

1317
02:02:18,390 --> 02:02:20,430
that that was, it was in a large number.

1318
02:02:24,450 --> 02:02:33,630
Through you, Madam Chair. I, I'm going to take another crack at trying to understand or trying to

1319
02:02:33,630 --> 02:02:39,050
walk through our conversations over the last multiple months. I'm trying to figure this out,

1320
02:02:39,050 --> 02:02:45,990
because I think this conversation, there are two goods that we're trying to balance, right?

1321
02:02:46,170 --> 02:02:49,910
I don't think anybody's against renewables, I don't think anybody's against affordable

1322
02:02:49,910 --> 02:02:50,430
housing.

1323
02:02:50,890 --> 02:02:56,810
And the question is like, what is that optimal balance, I think that's where we're trying

1324
02:02:56,810 --> 02:02:57,350
to come down.

1325
02:02:57,650 --> 02:03:07,230
And so when the new multifamily zoning past, we had these conversations, like counselors

1326
02:03:07,230 --> 02:03:10,870
as you when you're saying, we got to figure it out, we looked at everything.

1327
02:03:11,630 --> 02:03:12,590
Like, we're like, good.

1328
02:03:13,570 --> 02:03:20,230
If you lose solar, could you move your solar to the new rooftop next door?

1329
02:03:20,710 --> 02:03:20,990
Nope.

1330
02:03:21,810 --> 02:03:22,770
It's private property.

1331
02:03:23,610 --> 02:03:24,110
Good.

1332
02:03:25,030 --> 02:03:33,130
We just compensate the folks who had existing solar, nope, because it's not uniform.

1333
02:03:33,130 --> 02:03:35,730
Like we had, you know, in zoning, there are, like,

1334
02:03:36,550 --> 02:03:37,250
gives and takes.

1335
02:03:37,510 --> 02:03:39,890
Some zoning makes your property more valuable,

1336
02:03:40,190 --> 02:03:40,770
some makes it less.

1337
02:03:40,790 --> 02:03:46,150
So there's like, what we ended up coming down to that we could do legally

1338
02:03:46,150 --> 02:03:49,190
was this idea of a setback, which is not super different from your

1339
02:03:49,190 --> 02:03:50,610
talking about, for DC.

1340
02:03:52,010 --> 02:03:55,370
Like, the stepback of higher buildings, where you are not

1341
02:03:55,370 --> 02:03:57,330
blocking sun by doing those stepbacks.

1342
02:03:58,950 --> 02:04:03,030
And I think the quick, so basically, of the whole city,

1343
02:04:03,030 --> 02:04:10,470
what is at stake. So all of our new buildings and major retrofits have to be fossil fuel free

1344
02:04:10,470 --> 02:04:22,210
likely to put solar on. We have our community electricity aggregation program, our 100% renewable

1345
02:04:22,210 --> 02:04:28,830
option going forward as of January is going to be cheaper than ever source, which gives us 30%

1346
02:04:28,830 --> 02:04:36,990
So, can I as a Cambridge homeowner do 100% renewables without solar, yes?

1347
02:04:37,910 --> 02:04:42,750
And then it's a question of like, who does this?

1348
02:04:43,370 --> 02:04:47,790
And it is net versus in Cambridge.

1349
02:04:48,450 --> 02:04:57,670
But if we did all of our rooftop solar in Cambridge that had had Bible solar access, it's

1350
02:04:57,670 --> 02:05:03,430
2%, it's not patty, we've been going through these numbers all,

1351
02:05:05,960 --> 02:05:11,480
I think the key is, the

1352
02:05:11,480 --> 02:05:20,100
key is, I mean as a solar person, I'm like, this could cost me $3,000, you know, if I had

1353
02:05:20,100 --> 02:05:27,200
giant buildings to myself, the south side of my house, it could cost me about $3,000 a year.

1354
02:05:30,080 --> 02:05:39,340
That's all of my solar. That's roughly what my solar adds to our net energy bill as a revenue.

1355
02:05:41,100 --> 02:05:44,500
On the other hand, because of all the other things that Cambridge has done, my housing

1356
02:05:44,500 --> 02:05:50,240
value has tripled since I've been there, you know? And so like there's a given take. So I want

1357
02:05:50,240 --> 02:05:54,800
to, that's why I keep going back to, this is a matter of economics for the folks who have solar.

1358
02:05:57,220 --> 02:06:01,520
It's not a matter of can we do renewables in Cambridge, writ large.

1359
02:06:02,580 --> 02:06:07,180
And I don't think it's affecting the new buildings. It's really, what is the impact on the people

1360
02:06:07,180 --> 02:06:13,900
of solar today? And I think, you know, when you're saying, would I put solar on, as this is all

1361
02:06:14,500 --> 02:06:42,440
I would, I would, my self as climate chief, buy into 100% green energy electricity through, you know, and see how it shakes out. And I think it's where we ended up as staff is like, can we look and see how this shakes out over the next couple of years? And then decide, is this keeping us from doing affordable housing? Is it really impacting people who have solar and based it on a bit more data than we have?

1362
02:06:42,440 --> 02:06:52,480
Because these are not like 50% of the city's renewable energy or huge amount of, you know, like we're thinking that it's

1363
02:06:52,480 --> 02:06:59,920
some manageable thing to think about for a few more years before we set the answer, because we are balancing two goods.

1364
02:07:00,360 --> 02:07:05,400
That's where we came out of staff looking at all the different ways to do this.

1365
02:07:05,400 --> 02:07:11,820
My favorite would have been to move the solar to the higher building and have that neighbor get the revenue

1366
02:07:11,820 --> 02:07:16,860
It wasn't legal, but I thought that would be like a perfect thing to do, but

1367
02:07:16,860 --> 02:07:21,760
So you know, we we did look at all the different ways you could do that and

1368
02:07:21,760 --> 02:07:27,540
Came up with very limited options and really the step-back seemed to be the

1369
02:07:28,180 --> 02:07:30,760
The key option that was was legal.

1370
02:07:32,830 --> 02:07:34,550
Thank you chief climate officer

1371
02:07:34,550 --> 02:07:36,710
you want to say anything?

1372
02:07:40,130 --> 02:07:41,350
This is both the end.

1373
02:07:41,510 --> 02:07:42,310
We can do both.

1374
02:07:43,870 --> 02:07:45,510
And we should do all we can.

1375
02:07:47,070 --> 02:07:48,370
And if I didn't know better,

1376
02:07:48,530 --> 02:07:49,330
I would think you were saying,

1377
02:07:49,490 --> 02:07:50,790
let's not even do anything here,

1378
02:07:50,870 --> 02:07:52,610
which I know is not what you're saying.

1379
02:07:52,970 --> 02:07:54,290
But that's what, just so you know,

1380
02:07:54,430 --> 02:07:55,210
that's how it's coming across.

1381
02:07:55,430 --> 02:07:56,570
I'm seeing some nods from the audience.

1382
02:07:56,750 --> 02:07:58,350
And I know that's in your heart.

1383
02:07:58,450 --> 02:08:00,050
You don't want that to be the message.

1384
02:08:00,670 --> 02:08:02,290
I think what we all agree,

1385
02:08:02,390 --> 02:08:03,970
I hope if Chairs of D.C.

1386
02:08:03,970 --> 02:08:06,510
degrees two is that we should move forward with continued to study.

1387
02:08:07,070 --> 02:08:09,310
The step backs may not be the only answer, so let's move forward.

1388
02:08:09,390 --> 02:08:10,610
And that's the actual question before.

1389
02:08:10,730 --> 02:08:11,830
It's not the larger question.

1390
02:08:15,070 --> 02:08:15,090
Chief.

1391
02:08:16,670 --> 02:08:18,330
I am super wicked, pro-solar.

1392
02:08:19,630 --> 02:08:25,770
I mean, no, and as city staff, as city councilors,

1393
02:08:25,850 --> 02:08:27,170
we are balancing goods.

1394
02:08:27,630 --> 02:08:30,330
And so it's really like, what is the percent?

1395
02:08:30,430 --> 02:08:32,910
I don't think we can do 100% of everything.

1396
02:08:33,470 --> 02:08:36,550
So what is that balance? And that's where we came down.

1397
02:08:37,770 --> 02:08:40,910
Thank you. And I think that is a good segue into some

1398
02:08:41,730 --> 02:08:45,430
next steps. I think this is a really complex situation.

1399
02:08:46,510 --> 02:08:51,910
There's a lot of feelings involved and I want to name that there's a lot of emotion in this because

1400
02:08:52,790 --> 02:08:55,730
individuals I have solar actually.

1401
02:08:56,310 --> 02:09:04,430
in my three stories where I live and so, you know, I think to a councilor Azim's point, you know,

1402
02:09:05,330 --> 02:09:14,590
I hear the kind of the pain and the fear around this issue and I want to acknowledge that I think we've laid out,

1403
02:09:14,830 --> 02:09:18,230
we've been asking staff to do the work on a lot of our questions.

1404
02:09:19,090 --> 02:09:25,390
I don't think we're there yet. I think we have some options and I think ultimately we have to decide as committees

1405
02:09:25,390 --> 02:09:37,470
and as counselors where we land this and not I think I think give a clear and transparent view

1406
02:09:37,470 --> 02:09:44,650
on where we come down on this eventually after we get if we once we continue review and

1407
02:09:44,650 --> 02:09:49,710
with the broader set of issues I think what I've heard from some of my colleagues is that

1408
02:09:49,950 --> 02:09:53,550
there is an interest in getting some more information getting those questions answered

1409
02:09:53,550 --> 02:10:00,590
and then making a decision, ultimately, and to your point, I think wherever we come back to,

1410
02:10:00,830 --> 02:10:08,470
wherever we land this, you know, it's probably not going to make everyone satisfied, but I think

1411
02:10:08,470 --> 02:10:15,690
our job as counselors is to try to come to a consensus here. And I don't think we're there yet,

1412
02:10:16,490 --> 02:10:26,010
But I really want us to figure out a process as we're going to the next term on how to land this.

1413
02:10:26,210 --> 02:10:36,290
And so that we can give our homeowners and developers everyone a clear message on where we stand on this issue.

1414
02:10:36,290 --> 02:10:44,710
So, I think we'll continue, we'll keep this matter in committee as we go forward.

1415
02:10:44,710 --> 02:10:54,590
I think the chairs will work with CDD on kind of process managing what continued review

1416
02:10:54,590 --> 02:10:58,310
with broader set of issues looks like and go through each of these.

1417
02:10:58,310 --> 02:11:08,310
know we have the February report but you know what does what does a timeline look like on

1418
02:11:09,710 --> 02:11:17,630
you know considering all the other bullets that are laid out here. So we'll continue to do that.

1419
02:11:17,990 --> 02:11:28,290
Councillor Nolan. Good point through you, Chair. Does the staff need us to, is it best to keep

1420
02:11:28,290 --> 02:11:34,210
recommendation. I don't know. I'd say that I think from what I've heard from at least the

1421
02:11:34,210 --> 02:11:42,490
four of us is that, you know, we're going to continue review with the proper set of issues,

1422
02:11:42,810 --> 02:11:49,890
which may then lead to us still saying, look, the zoning amendment path is the only option we have

1423
02:11:49,890 --> 02:11:57,110
with tweaks that could be something that ultimately we have to as a council decide, but I think

1424
02:11:58,370 --> 02:12:09,650
There's at least a few. There's some questions that need to be answered. So I'd say we'd want to go to the recommended alternative that you've posted and then have

1425
02:12:10,270 --> 02:12:13,590
future hearings and it could be joint meetings.

1426
02:12:15,150 --> 02:12:16,930
Does that's more for you all?

1427
02:12:22,050 --> 02:12:25,870
Great. Any final thoughts before we adjourn?

1428
02:12:27,630 --> 02:12:36,110
I will, it's from the body, we're happy to talk to you afterwards, on a motion by Councillor

1429
02:12:36,110 --> 02:12:37,990
Azim, to adjourn.

1430
02:12:38,130 --> 02:12:39,250
We'll do a roll call.

1431
02:12:39,890 --> 02:12:40,330
Councillor Azim.

1432
02:12:41,710 --> 02:12:41,790
Yes.

1433
02:12:41,790 --> 02:12:41,930
Yes.

1434
02:12:42,170 --> 02:12:43,330
Vice President Montgomery is absent.

1435
02:12:43,730 --> 02:12:44,030
Councillor Siddiqui.

1436
02:12:44,610 --> 02:12:44,970
Yes.

1437
02:12:45,250 --> 02:12:49,230
Councillor Willson is absent.

1438
02:12:49,830 --> 02:12:50,710
Councillor Azim.

1439
02:12:51,770 --> 02:12:52,410
Councillor Nolan.

1440
02:12:53,050 --> 02:12:53,250
Yes.

1441
02:12:53,390 --> 02:12:53,970
Councillor Siddiqui.

1442
02:12:54,590 --> 02:12:56,210
Yes, councillors Reena Wheeler.

1443
02:12:57,610 --> 02:12:57,750
Yes.

1444
02:12:58,050 --> 02:12:58,290
Yes.

1445
02:12:58,810 --> 02:13:00,230
And councillor Wilson is absent.

1446
02:13:00,470 --> 02:13:01,310
That's three members voting.

1447
02:13:01,510 --> 02:13:03,950
Yes and housing and four members voting.

1448
02:13:04,310 --> 02:13:05,290
Yes and health and environment.

1449
02:13:07,270 --> 02:13:07,950
We are adjourned.

1450
02:13:08,010 --> 02:13:08,610
Thank you.

1451
02:13:08,710 --> 02:13:08,850
Everyone.