The petition to rezone East Cambridge was filed over a year and a half ago--as part of a comprehensive plan to rezone the entire city. At the time, the Cambridge City Council imposed an 18-month moratorium on development in the East Cambridge area, which ended in July. The East Cambridge Planning Study was established to evaluate options in this area. ECaPS became a year-long planning study for the area and was conducted by planners Goody, Clancy & Associates and a committee of 19 Cambridge citizens, planners, city officials and development interests.

According to Lisa Stuardi, director of government and community affairs at the Chamber of Commerce in Cambridge, the goal of the study was to create housing in this area. Stuardi notes that this inevitably includes an affordable housing component, as 15% of any residential development needs to be affordable.

The ECaPS Committee report--which was filed at the beginning of the summer--divided up East Cambridge into five primary zones with a different set of zoning recommendations for each area. Both the City Council Committee on Ordinance and the city's planning board held hearings on the report and will make their final recommendations in time for the City Council to make its final ruling within two weeks.