OK, I’ve used this line before, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, in Newton everybody talks about zoning but nobody does anything about it.
Well earlier this week the Zoning and Planning Committee and the Zoning Advisory Group both received briefings on the 180-page draft rewrite of the city’s zoning ordinance, the first step in a long process to, well, do something about zoning.
Trevor Jones of the TAB provides some background here.
And you can find the actual documents right here.
I’m expecting a heated, 100-plus comments on this thread folks (unless my friend Mike Striar chooses to add something about high school start times, in which case make it 103 comments!). So send the kids off to the in-laws for the weekend, start reading up and post your comments here.
The document appears to be a rewrite and consolidation of existing ordinances. Not sure what comments that would generate, but I do hope the city reconsiders the thin font.
In other words, FIRST!
Wow, I started to read some of the new zoning language. My impression is that these new proposals will not only speed up the building process; but is likely to accelerate denser housing development. Does this mean the old Newton could change dramatically?
Colleen, I believe this is not new proposals, but what we’ve got now, rewritten to be more comprehensible. Although you could be right that it will accelerate denser development, if people no longer need a lawyer to figure out what’s allowed!
Yes, I believe you are correct. The new regulations will be based on revisions of old laws which seems to be designed to make the special permit process move quicker and the big question is will the developments change the city growth dramatically?