Central Square Rezoning

Central Square Rezoning Online Survey

July - September 2026

 

We want to hear (more) from you!

In the summer and fall of 2024, you joined us for community meetings, pop-ups, walking tours, and focus groups. This feedback helped us identify community goals to guide Central Square’s rezoning. Now we’re picking up where we let off with additional engagement opportunities.

We have created an online survey to:

• Understand how the community prioritizes these goals,
• Learn what makes each goal important for Central Square, and
• Hear more thoughts, dreams and concerns from the community.

The feedback we receive from this survey will help determine how future zoning will help new development to deliver community benefits. The survey will be open from mid-July through early-September, and a summary of the results will be provided at a future community meeting in the fall.

We encourage anyone who lives, works, plays, shops, prays, commutes through, or frequents Central Square to please take the survey by clicking on the link below. Participation is anonymous, and the demographic portion at the end of the survey is optional.

Thanks for your continuing involvement in crafting the future of Central Square!

Access the Survey Here

 

 

Housing Committee Hearing

March 24th, 2026

 

At this hearing, City staff presented the Housing Committee with an overview and update on the status of the Central Square Rezoning Project. Members of the public and the Housing Committee provided comments and feedback on the prior recommendations, which were the result of community engagement that occurred during the summer and fall of 2024. The meeting was ultimately continued to a future date.

A recording of the meeting and the slides that were presented can be found at the links below:

Access the Presentation Slides Here

Access a Recording of the Meeting Here 

 

 

The Online Survey is a continuation of the engagement program that began in the summer and fall of 2024. The purpose of this ongoing engagement is to offer opportunities for community members to learn about the project and share their feedback.

• Community meetings: Three community meetings were held in 2024 with the goals of gathering community insights, listening to ideas and concerns, and providing information and updates about the project and its progress. A future community meeting is intended for the fall of 2026 to share the results of the Online Survey and potential updates to the recommendations.

• Community Meeting #1 May 30, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Introduced the process, recapped community goals, framed key issues,                                                                             reviewed C2 recommendations, and asked for feedback
• Community Meeting #2  July 17, 6:00pm - 7:30pm Reviewed zoning tools, refined the focus area, explored different zoning                                                                             scenarios, and discussed priorities and trade-offs
• Community Meeting #3   Sept 12, 6:00pm - 8:00pm Reviewed draft recommendations and next steps
• Community Meeting #4 Fall 2026 (date TBD) Share survey results and potential updates to recommendations

• Focus Groups: Smaller meetings were held with community members that offered additional opportunities for public feedback.

• In-person Events: A walking tour of the district with the Cambridge Historical Commission and Community Block Party at Norfolk Street happened in September and October of 2024.

• Community Engagement Team (CET): CDD’s CET team worked to reach underserved Cambridge residents through focus groups and surveys. The CET’s outreach workers are community members from the American-born Black, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Ethiopian, Haitian, Somali, Spanish-speaking, and Arabic-speaking communities.

More information can be found in the project's Engagement Plan:

Access the Engagement Plan Here

To stay up-to-date about this project and related community events and meetings, please sign up for our email list.

For additional information, please contact Brian Gregory at bgregory@cambridgema.gov

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