Council Votes Down Delay in Building

After a heated debate at last night’s meeting, the Cambridge City Council voted down by a narrow margin a resolution that would have delayed building more affordable housing in the city.

The measure, brought by Councillor Craig A. Kelley, would have asked the Cambridge Planning Board to delay its decision on a permit application for a proposed affordable housing development until the Council has finished its housing discussion and made recommendations about housing density.

“As long as we keep putting money into projects without properly locating them, it’s a problem,” said Kelley.

Just-A-Start Corporation has applied for a Special Permit to build 14 units of affordable housing on Windsor St. in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood, which would exceed the area’s base zoning regulations.

Supporters of the resolution said that it would slow disproportionate allocation of affordable housing, while opponents said it is important to push forward with the city’s affordable housing plan.

Wellington-Harrington resident Joseph Burke said that he is in favor of affordable housing, but that he would like it to be distributed throughout the city.

“Targeting three to four of the poor areas, such as ours, shows a lack of planning by the city,” Burke said, to enthusiastic audience applause.

He and others sporting red, white, and blue stickers that read “Stop Density” said that the existing affordable housing makes the neighborhood too dense and leads to noise, lack of parking, and lack of green space.

Wellington-Harrington is the second densest neighborhood in Cambridge.

But Councillor Henrietta Davis said that the city should take whatever opportunities it can to build affordable housing, especially since land in Cambridge is very expensive.

Just-A-Start has built several units of housing for rental and purchase in Wellington-Harrington and other Cambridge neighborhoods in the past two decades.

Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 added that he was concerned about what he called the resolution’s lack of direction.

“It seems to me that this is a moratorium without a statement of what is going to happen afterward—I won’t accept it,” Reeves said.

Five councillors voted against the resolution and three voted for it. Councillor Marjorie C. Decker was not at the meeting.

Several of the councillors agreed that the matter should be discussed further by the housing committee.

“We have given this discussion of affordable housing not even a percentage of the time that we gave to discussing the affect of leaf blowers in this city,” Councillor Timothy J. Toomey said.

—Staff writer Sarah J. Howland can be reached at showland@fas.harvard.edu.