Cambridge City commissioner Brett Summers said he is gaining support to restore public review of all developer plans for Cambridge Harbor.
He said he has sent new contract terms for the city’s agreement with Cambridge Waterfront Development Incorporated to fellow commissioners, and got some favorable responses.
Summers said city attorney Patrick Thomas approved of his proposed language for the measure. He also said Scott Wimbrow, president of CWDI’s broker, McKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services, has assured him the public review of all proposals presents no problem for developers.
“We heard the public and are making the revisions to address their concerns," Summers said.
Many people expressed shock and disappointment after news last week that the City Council had approved a document revision by CWDI that eliminated public review of all the Cambridge Harbor plans that aren’t selected by CWDI.
Instead, council members focused on a necessary change in the CWDI agreement to allow for a professional broker to recruit developers instead of the previous required method - a request for proposals by CWDI itself.
"That was my main focus when I was reviewing the revisions," Summers said. "I wasn't focused that we were removing any kind of public disclosure. I missed that. And if we missed things, we are acknowledging we missed things, and we're trying to make a correction. At least I'm trying to make a correction, and hopefully my fellow commissioners agree to the revision."
Summers expects the Exhibit C document to be revisited at the next council meeting, July 27.