Planning Board Holds Hearing On Proposed Zoning Changes

The Cambridge Planning Board (CPB) held a public hearing last night at City Hall on its own petition to create a Harvard Square Overlay District, designed to limit commercial development in and around the Square.

The CPB has proposed that the zoning ordinance of the City be amended so that the overlay district would supercede existing regulations in the following respects:

* create a Harvard Square Design Review Board and establish a design review process which would be applicable to all proposed developments that petition the Board of Zoning Appeals for a special permit and/or variance;

* impose a height limit of 60 feet on new developments in the designated district, with provision for a maximum height of 100 feet by special permit from the Board of Zoning Appeals; and

* impose sign regulations which generally prohibit animated or flashing signs, rooftop signs, and signs more than 30 feet above street level.

Within a few weeks, the CPB will submit recommendations on last night's petition to the City Council. The Council will also hold a public hearing and then reject, amend, or adopt the petition as law.

The hearing was sparsely attended, with only five people speaking in favor of the petition and none opposing it.

Peter Helwig, the member of the City's Planning and Development Department who presented the petition on behalf of the CPB, said after the hearing that business interests opposed to the proposed zoning changes might have decided to delay their criticisms until the City Council holds its public hearing on the petition.

Speaking in favor of the petition were representatives of the Harvard Square Task Force, Neighborhood Ten Association, Planning for People, and the Cambridge Civic Association, as well as Councilor Francis H. Duehay '55, dean of Admissions and Studies at the School of Education.

Helwig said that the Design Review Board's lack of actual power might hamper its effectiveness, but he said he hoped the Board of Zoning Appeals would look favorably on its recommendations.

The Design Review Board would include five members, all appointed by the City Manager--two architects, one landscape architect, one citizen recommended by the Chamber of Commerce, and one resident of the Harvard Square area.

Since plans for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library are not final, it is uncertain whether the adoption of the petition would affect the Library site.

Helwig said that he believed that I. M. Pei, chief architect for the Library, would cooperate with the spirit of the petition, but that Pei could probably claim legal exemptions from the new ordinance (because the Library is a Federal project) if he so desired.