LATE ORDER FROM COUNCILLOR SIMMONS FOR APRIL 27, 2020
WHEREAS:
The City of Cambridge took numerous aggressive measures at the outset of the covid-19 outbreak that were designed to curb the spread of the virus, including but not limited to mandating the cessation of the hundreds of construction projects that had already been underway across the city; and
WHEREAS:
As the City begins to look ahead to a time when the local economy can begin to re-open, it would be wise to establish guidelines that would allow for the safe resumption of construction activity, and these guidelines would need to balance incorporating the City’s new safety measures with a streamlining of the City’s inspection process to ensure that construction projects can find a viable path forward in a very changed environment; and
WHEREAS:
Any guidelines established by the City must make the safety of the construction workers paramount, with the understanding that moving forward under the new safety guidelines will likely increase the length of any given project by as much as 30 percent – yet having a scaled-back, phased-in approach will allow for a continuation of both the work necessary to complete these construction projects and of the City’s current social-distancing measures; and
WHEREAS:
Any steps taken to allow for the resumption of construction in Cambridge must require that all contractors strictly adhere to the rules outlined by the City’s April 2, 2020 Construction Guidelines; and
WHEREAS:
Among the further recommendations that the City should consider for allowing the resumption of construction are the following:
Utilizing emails, video chats, and “as-builts” to enable swift responses from the Inspectional Services Department.
Allowing inspections to be conducted via video conference calls and other electronic measures whenever possible.
Allowing greater latitude for coordinating final inspections (and for determining what constitutes a “final inspection”) being jointly conducted by all relevant City Departments, to enable swift turnaround on construction projects.
If the CDD has already submitted substantial conformance documents to the Inspectional Services Department, further re-inspection by the CDD should be waived in favor of allowing this department to grant final approval via email with photos, with turnaround time of no more than 5 business days.
The City should allow all paused projects to submit their covid-19 safety plans to the City now for review, to decrease the anticipated backlog; a lack of formal response from the City within 3 days should be considered an approval from the City – with the City reserving the right to request further review of any safety plans and the ability to revoke a project’s approval if additional safety measures mandated by the City are not immediately enacted.
The City, which has previously granted permission for construction of 1-3 Family Homes to continue during the covid-19 response, has not allowed construction of Town Homes to continue – this oversight should be amended and construction on Town Homes should be allowed at this time; and
WHEREAS:
On a case-by-case basis, the City should allow projects past the “rough inspection” stage to resume construction immediately while following the guidelines outlined above, which would allow the kind of phased-in resumption of construction activities that would still allow for the social distancing the City continues to require; and
WHEREAS:
In those construction projections that are essentially a “fit-out” (such as smaller operations that are 3,000 square feet or less), the City should allow the resumption of activities as the work on these projects is typically light, crew sizes should be limited to no more than 10 workers, and operations that are less than 1,000 square feet should be required to limit the crew size to no more than 5 people; and
WHEREAS:
In those larger construction projects (such as on the larger hotels in Harvard Square), construction operations should be allowed to continue in accordance with the guidelines established by the City on April 2, 2020; and
WHEREAS:
By taking the recommendations listed above under consideration, the City can begin to formulate an actionable plan that will allow construction projects to safely and responsibly resume operations, streamlining the City’s process of moving construction projects forward, and providing a critical portion of the local economy a roadmap of how to move forward as the City continues to respond to the challenges posed by covid-19; now therefore be it
ORDERED:
That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to review the recommendations listed above with the appropriate City personnel with a view toward establishing clear guidelines that will allow for the re-opening of construction projects across the City, and to report back to the City Council on this matter in a timely manner.
