Should the City of Cambridge revise its signage regulations so that larger buildings can advertise at the skyline? Your answer may now depend on where you live. The latest version of the proposed changes say that If you live between Alewife Brook Parkway to the west, and Windsor and Brookline Streets to the east, your area will not be subject to the new law. I do have to wonder how the new regs will be interpreted with regard to the triangle of land between Mass. Ave, Main Street and Windsor Streets since there is no connection between Brookline and Windsor Streets...

There’s nothing unusual here. The Eastern and far western sections of out city have been footing the bill (in terms of property tax revenues) for the rest of the city for quite some time now. All of you genteel folks in the middle of town no longer have to consider whether your aesthetic sensibilities, sense of civic pride and dignity, and ideas of urban planning and design might be compromised by the new regs. It’s only for us folks on the fringes now. Of course, the MXD district (with the exception of a couple of Cambridge Redevelopment Authority parcels, owned entirely by Boston Properties) seems to be exempt from all signage regulation for the life of the Kendall Square Urban Renewal Plan. There may be something in an ancillary agreement about this, but I am unaware of it at this time.

This is the first revision of these regulations in a long time. When asked what specific problem the revisions were intended to solve, Les Barber, the City’s zoning expert, said that he was not aware of one.

I also have to point out that the latest version of the proposed changes to our sign law which claim to reflect public testimony inserted language which will allow large signs to be placed above the roofline. I and others specifically asked if the new regs would allow this, and we were told that there was no possibility of this. Now it has been written into the proposed amendment that the Planning Board will be able to approve the placement of these signs on the shielding of rooftop mechanical equipment. This will allow signage at heights to which buildings do not even officially reach, due to the exclusion of these structures, from the dimensional requirements of the zoning ordinance.

If you would like to learn more about this issue, or let your City Councillors know how you would like them to vote on this you may testify at the Ordinance Committee hearing this afternoon at 4:30 PM in the Sullivan Chamber of City Hall. The Planning Board will hear the issue this evening at 7:00 in the second floor meeting room at City Hall Annex at 344 Broadway.

It’s your city. Show up and be heard.

Photo taken from material provided by InterSystems, Inc., an opponent of the amendment.