From Vision to Reality: Green Roofs in Cambridge
Sourced from Cambridge Day
As the first signature of 450 to appear on citizen petitions that Mothers Out Front presented to the city clerk, my name suddenly represented the campaign to bring green roofs to Cambridge. For months, everywhere this petition went, my name led the way, from the City Council’s Ordinance Committee (twice) and the Planning Board (once) to the City Council at the start of its legislative journey, then two more times before its favorable vote May 3.
My goal as petitioner Amy Oliver (on behalf of Mothers Out Front), was to revise our city’s moribund green roofs zoning ordinance, which had been part of zoning documents since 2009 without making any difference to you or me. For a dozen years, developers in our city built lots of buildings – more than 70 big ones greater than 25,000 square feet. The earlier green roof ordinance had no requirement (only definitions and regulations), and no developer was motivated by zoning language to install a vegetative roof on their buildings.
There was nothing revolutionary in what Mothers Out Front wanted in a stronger green roof ordinance for our city. Cities such as Toronto, Canada; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; San Francisco; New York City; and Washington, D.C., have plantings on rooftops, and some even include solar panels, a combination called biosolar. These rooftops are made into meadows and pollinator habitats, such as on buildings across the river at the Harvard Business School. Boston is home to two working farms on rooftops – at Boston Medical Center and Fenway Park, where each produces nutritious veggies that are served on the premises.
“With the passage of its revised green roofs ordinance, Cambridge joins a growing list of cities across North America to have required green roofs in recent years,” noted Jeff Joslin, a board member of this industry’s national organization, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. “The proliferation of green roofs is contributing significantly to carbon reduction and climate change efforts, resulting in cost savings for buildings while adding value and quality to respective properties and those around them. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities commends the City of Cambridge for taking this bold and impactful action.”
Thank you to the six of our city councillors voting “yes” – Dennis Carlone, Marc McGovern, Patty Nolan, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Quinton Zondervan and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui.
From the Living Architecture Academy
