Legal updates to construction by religious groups and police response to Ice actions voted through

Julia Levine The City Council meets at Cambridge City Hall. This image is from June 2024.

The City Council approved two significant changes to ordinances at its summer meeting Monday with little discussion, one on development by religious organizations and the other about incursions by federal immigration agents seeking people to seize. Councillors had examined both amendments extensively at committee meetings.

The biggest change is a zoning ordinance amendment that will allow religious organizations to expand or build up to six stories almost anywhere in the city without restrictions on the size of floor area in a given lot. The amendment, modeled after the city’s multifamily housing ordinance aimed at increasing the housing stock by allowing apartment buildings in virtually any zoning