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The Zoning Guide:
A User Guide to the City of Cambridge Zoning Ordinance
Please note that the Zoning Guide does not in any way replace the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance. The Zoning Guide provides an overview of the Ordinance and seeks to explain some of the more technical concepts in language accessible to the layman.
I. Zoning in Cambridge
The Cambridge Zoning Ordinance is the law which governs how land and buildings in the city may be used. While zoning is a local law, adopted by the City Council, the local regulations and procedures must comply with the State Zoning Act (Chapter 40A of the General Laws of the Commonwealth).
Because zoning sets the "rules of the game" for land and building use, the Ordinance is a statement of the City's official policy toward physical development and redevelopment. As municipal policy toward physical development and redevelopment changes over time, the Zoning Ordinance is amended to reflect these changes. Cambridge first adopted zoning in 1924 and it has amended the ordinance over 150 times since then. An amendment may affect only a section of one neighborhood, or it may affect properties citywide. Since zoning regulations have a significant impact on an individual property, anyone who occupies, uses, purchases, or leases property in the city should be familiar with the rules applicable to its use and to the use of other land in the vicinity.
This booklet has been prepared by the Cambridge Community Development Department to provide a summary of the Zoning Ordinance. It also introduces the municipal agencies responsible for zoning.
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