Walsh Proposes Rezoning City

City Councillor William H. Walsh, the most vocal Independent critic of restrictive zoning measures, proposed rezoning the entire city with "incentives and inducements to commercial developers to build low and moderate ownership and rental opportunities throughout the city" at Monday night's Council meeting.

The Council did not take action on Walsh's resolution because Councillor Thomas W. Danehy exercised his charter right to automatically postpone a vote to the next meeting, which is scheduled for June 6.

Walsh's proposal calls on the City Manager to create a plan after consulting with various neighborhood groups, institutions, business associations and the Chamber of Commerce, by May, 1989.

Several members of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), which supports more restrictive zoning measures, said they feared the project might waste city employees' time.

"I think we could spend an awful lot of staff time and money when the Council has no intention of paying any attention to this," said CCA Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55. "I'm not saying my concerns can't be dealt with," he added.

The city zoning map was last redrawn in the early 1960s, and many of the decisions made then are still reflected in the current zoning code, said Hugh Russell, a Cambridge architect and co-founder of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association. In 1976, a rezoning project was launched and pursued for several years, but the city did not act on it.

"In all the years I've been sitting on the Council, we have never even dusted off the report," said CCA Councillor Saundra M. Graham.

"It's a very big job that was attempted in the last decade," said Councillor Alice K. Wolf, also of the CCA. "We have much smaller rezonings that take a year."

"To be successful it would require a great deal of discussion by policymakers," as well as "agreement for general policy on the part of the City Council," Wolf said yesterday.

Councillor Wolf added that she feared "it would allow an excuse for not voting on rezoning" during the time it took to prepare the proposal.

"I'm willing to give it a try," CCA Councillor David E. Sullivan said yesterday, but he said the Council was not likely to agree on a comprehensive plan in light of the division which has led to the defeat of petitions for rezoning in smaller areas, despite demonstrations of support from communities involved. He also pointed to the neglect of the 1978 attempt for citywide rezoning.

Both Wolf and CCA Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 said they would only support rezoning if a moratorium on building in Harvard Square went with it. Duehay said that such a cap would be necessary to prevent "excessive growth during the period of the study."

Although he suspended discussion of the proposal in Monday night's meeting, Independent Thomas W. Danehy backed Walsh's proposal in an interview yesterday. "I've been saying that for 20 years," he said. "Then you won't have this sort of patchwork zoning process that we're going through now."

But Danehy said he doubted the Council could compromise on the amount of development desirable for Cambridge in the near future, "despite the fact that it's necessary and it's needed."

Combining Problems

"I'm not so sure it's easier to solve twenty tough problem areas together at one time," Duehay said yesterday. He said he wants to stop Cambridge from becoming a "mini-Manhattan" or a "Bloomingdale's on the Charles."

Duehay said that given the Council's ``ideological and philosophical" differences on development, he thought zoning in smaller parcels was a more effective way to deal with the problem.

"Sometimes these issues are better fought out with particular petitions," he said. "It makes things clearer." He also said he was wary of the red tape a comprehensive citywide zoning project could create.

"I'm all for the idea," said John Pitkin of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association, but he stipulated, "It can't be a substitute for rezonings in particular areas."

"I'm not interested in putting everything on hold because the developments are happening too fast," he added.

"It's unlikely that any comprehensive rezoning effort would be successful," said Russell. He said rezoning projects either seek to change the boundaries of existing districts, the rules within the districts, or both. "There's not a lot of need for boundary changing--every neighborhood has looked at this issue."

"Zoning is an interesting subject because it does affect money very directly," said Russell.