Search

The Board of Zoning Appeal (BZA) has an important role in decisions that help shape the use and appearance of buildings in our community. Under the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance, certain uses and types of development may require a variance, special permit, or a comprehensive permit from the BZA, a quasi-judicial body that conducts public hearings on all applications and appeals before it and issues decisions. The Board also hears appeals of Zoning Determinations made by the Inspectional Services Department.

While COVID-19 cases are declining, infection rates are still high in Cambridge and the state. The Cambridge Public Health Department reminds residents who have COVID-19 to notify your close contacts so that they may take precautions to help stop the spread. A close contact is anyone who has been within 6 feet of you for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period while indoors during the two days before you got sick OR the two days before your positive test was taken if you don’t have symptoms. By telling your close contacts that they may have been in contact with COVID-19, you are helping to protect everyone.

The City is working to reduce our community’s impact on the environment through waste reduction programs. The City collects and recycles more than 9,000 tons of materials annually. By stopping food waste from going to a landfill, we prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

The City of Cambridge today announced it has been awarded a $1 million construction grant from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ (EEA) Dam and Seawall Program that will help ensure repairs of critical infrastructure with the Cambridge Reservoir Dam, Hobbs Brook Gatehouse, and Outlet Culvert. Cambridge was one of the 21 municipalities and nonprofit organizations to be awarded over $5.6 million in grants to repair dams and strengthen coastal infrastructure across Massachusetts. 

Beginning Thursday, July 1, the City of Cambridge will offer free COVID-19 testing one day per week on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. inside the CambridgeSide Mall. No appointment is needed. Thursday testing at the CambridgeSide Mall will no longer be drive-through testing by motor vehicle but will become a walk-in testing site without appointments inside the CambridgeSide Mall on the 2nd Floor above the Food Court. The current drive-through testing in the garage will shut down.

The City of Cambridge was pleased to welcome Secretary Ed Augustus of the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to our community this week to discuss the City’s ongoing work to create new affordable housing.

Reconstruction of Pearl Street from Massachusetts Avenue to Granite St.

The Birth to 3rd Grade (B3) Partnership is serving as the lead office in the design, development, and implementation of the City’s system of Universal Pre-K

Ten Cambridge cultural organizations have been awarded $90,000 in Organizational Investment Grants by Cambridge Arts and the City of Cambridge.

If you become trapped in a stalled elevator, call 911 and trained firefighters will respond to make the rescue