Green Meeting

We held a joint meeting of the Planning Board and the Ordinance Committee Tuesday night. While holding a joint meeting was unusual, I thought it made a lot of sense in this instance.

I’ve been a leading advocate for green building in Cambridge -- in January I filed an order requesting that the city require large developments to be built green, to meet LEED building standards. The Planning Board raised a series of questions about the proposal, from whether the city had the legal authority to impose these requirements to how the requirements would be enforced. As chair of the Ordinance Committee, I thought it would more productive for us to have a joint meeting rather than simply reacting to the Planning Board’s brief report. My hope was that the city council could better understand the Planning Board’s concerns and determine how best to address them.

I thought the meeting was helpful and productive. (I’m often impressed by the thoughtfulness that so many Cambridge residents bring to their volunteer work on Cambridge boards and commissions.) The Planning Board seemed to welcome the opportunity to amplify their concerns. Having their input will be helpful to me as I guide the Ordinance Committee to our final green building policy. We want to make sure the policy is effective, and having more in-depth discussions with the policy implementers helps advance that goal.

In addition, we discussed additional ways to ensure our city’s zoning code lines up with our overall policy goals. For example, we want to encourage green roofs, but in many instances green roofs count against a project’s FAR (floor area ratio). In the year ahead, I will work with the Community Development Department and the Planning Board to make our zoning code more efficient and more green.

I thought the meeting was a successful experiment I’d be willing to do again.