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| ☀️ Sunny, with a high near 79. |
It's Friday. We have a festival-filled weekend ahead, featuring film, Fluff and pizza. But first, let's go over the local news: Zoning in: After passing a "landmark" rezoning plan last year, Cambridge is eyeing some tweaks to the new code. City councilors voted in February 2025 to eliminate single-family zoning and allow by-right construction of buildings of at least four stories across all of Cambridge. The change was intended to encourage more multi-family housing and address a supply shortage that has driven up prices. And so far, officials say it's working. But this week, the council advanced a couple proposals to fine-tune the sweeping overhaul. - Larger setbacks: One proposal moving forward would increase setbacks — aka the minimum distance required between a building and a property line. The relaxed code passed in 2025 generally requires at least a 5-foot setback on the rear and sides of a building, and at least 10 feet in front. However, officials said those minimums weren't always leaving enough room for building code requirements for things like stormwater, electrical equipment, entrances and protections for existing trees — which created confusion for developers. The new proposal would increase the required setbacks on the sides to a combined 15 feet, and at least 25 feet combined for the front and rear. "On these small sites, even just a few feet can make a big difference," Jen Caira, the city's deputy chief of planning, said Wednesday.
- Tighter design standards: According to Caira, there have been "a few" instances of developers taking advantage of the loosened height rules to put up "a new, larger building" without increasing the number of units. For example, "a two-family is taken down and a new two-family is built, but with much bigger units," she said. To address that issue, the city is considering three-story limits for buildings with individual units that are bigger than a certain size (1,600 to 2,000 gross square feet) or increasing the setbacks for those projects.
- The big picture: Cambridge officials said the proposed changes would still be more permissive than the pre-2025 zoning code. And they said the new code has worked the way it was intended over the last 18 months. "We are seeing more multi-family housing," Caira said. "We're seeing fewer down conversions where an existing two- or three-family may be converted to a single family. And while the larger inclusionary housing projects take some more time to get going, we are seeing those being proposed and moving into construction."
- What's next: The changes don't take effect quite yet. The full City Council is expected to vote on the proposals at its next meeting on Sept. 28.
Clean up, clean up: Massachusetts is seeking volunteers for dozens of beach cleanups over the next two months. The state's Office of Coastal Zone Management kicks off the annual waterfront trash pickups this weekend. Check out the full list — or the map! — of cleanup events to register to pitch in. - By the numbers: Over the last two decades, the state says volunteers have collected nearly 1.5 millions pounds of trash from local beaches, rivers and lakes. They've typically gotten over 3,000 volunteers a season.
- Zoom out: Robin Lacey, the coordinator for the cleanups, told WBUR's John Bender the events also help officials understand what kinds of trash end up on local beaches. "We can get a sense of what is being found on the beach each year. And this goes into a worldwide database that helps to find ways to reduce the marine debris problem," Lacey said.
Heads up: The MBTA's entire Needham commuter rail line will be out of service this weekend, due to a bridge replacement project in West Roxbury. And there are no free shuttle buses coming to save us. - If you're trying to get between Boston and Needham on public transit, T officials recommend using some combination of local buses and the Green Line or Orange Line. We'll let this graphic explain.
P.S. — Which bus route was named the MBTA’s slowest in this year’s Pokey-Schleppie Awards? Take our Boston News Quiz and see how well you know the stories we covered this week compared to other readers. |
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| | | Nik DeCosta-Klipa Senior Editor, Newsletters | | |
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Southborough resident Joseph Kutzko was charged with assaulting the child in January 2025, not long before the child was removed from the family’s home. Mother Arlene Kutzko was charged with witness intimidation in connection with the same incident. They have claimed the child's removal from their home is linked to their gender transition. Read more. |
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Residents, bike advocates and a Boston city councilor are asking the city to take action after Wednesday's crash in Mission Hill, where a driver in a car struck a scooter operator. Read more. |
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A memo from the Fish and Wildlife Service suggests that only intentional killing of endangered animals should be illegal. This interpretation would dramatically narrow the scope of the Endangered Species Act, likely leading to extinction of North Atlantic right whales and other endangered animals. Read more. |
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A lawyer representing Brockton Mayor Moises Rodrigues said the mayor is not going to resign and plans to take the case to trial. The lawyer said the student's family sent a "demand letter" asking for $150,000. The family's attorney told WBUR that they are preparing a civil lawsuit. Read more. |
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“ Boston's density, scarcity of developable land and existing demands on our infrastructure make large-scale data centers incompatible with the direction we should be taking as a city,” Culpepper said during the meeting. Read more. |
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- Several big names from Broadway and Hollywood are urging Boston University to reconsider plans to sunset its playwriting program. WBUR's Amelia Mason has the backstory.
- After retiring from cross-country skiing, four-time Olympic medalist (and Wakefield resident) Jessie Diggins is trying a new form of racing. Last weekend, Diggins ran her first-ever 100-mile trail race — and won it.
- Decades after Arlington blocked the MBTA's efforts to extend the Red Line, the town's lawmakers are trying to revive the idea.
- Jo Piazza writes in this Cognoscenti essay about the woman who made Vincent van Gogh famous: his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. The then-28-year-old inherited hundreds of van Gogh's paintings after his death and shrewdly strategized to popularize them. "Her story matters because she’s just one of many women written out of the historical narrative," Piazza writes.
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In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Cambridge photographer Mario Quiroz is exhibiting a project documenting Somerville’s only dual language K-8 program in a surprising setting. “It’s a collective living room,” he said of City Line Laundromat. Read more. |
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