An outpouring of public support for an ordinance to protect Cambridge residents from the hazards of asbestos culminated in a vote of unanimous approval at the City Council meeting last night.

The ordinance, written by the Alewife Study Group, the Public Health Office and City Councillor members, is the first of its kind in the nation. Its regulations are designed to fill in the gaps left by state and federal standards involving air pollution.

The issue was brought to the city's attention in 1995 with the proposed construction of a large industrial complex in North Cambridge, on a site that was found to have massive amounts of asbestos buried in its soil. The Alewife Study Group had pushed for an asbestos ordinance for the past four years.

The group, a coalition of active residents, had hoped to get the ordinance passed so that the proposed construction in North Cambridge will fall under this regulation, and succeeded last night.

"With this ordinance we're trying to lead the way, to be an example for other cities to follow," said Michael F. Nakagawa, a member of the Alewife Study Group Subcommittee for Public Health and Contamination Issues.

According to independent tests conducted under the behest of the Alewife Study Group in 1995, the site is estimated to have between 631,000 and 1.2 million pounds of asbestos buried in it.

The land is own by the W. R. Grace chemical corporation, which plans to build two large office buildings, a new world headquarters and a hotel on the site.

W. R. Grace has recently received negative publicity concerning environmental issues. The book and movie A Civil Action told the true story of chemical contamination in Woburn, Mass., where the company was accused of contaminating wells which caused children to get leukemia.