Between Turtle Lane, Rowe Street , the medical marijuana dispensary and a discussion last night about tear-downs, this has already been a big month for meetings, debates and teeth grinding about development projects in Newton.
But wait, there’s more this week!
- Tonight (Tuesday) at 6:30 p.m. there’s a public Zoning Board of Appeals hearing in the Aldermanic Chambers about the proposed 40B project at 135 Wells Ave. (Globe story here.)
- Ninety minutes later, at 8 p.m. at the Newton North cafeteria, the city is organizing the first of many meetings to share ideas about the Austin Street Lot, now that a developer has been chosen and as work begins on coming up with the right design.
- Tomorrow (Wednesday) the 135 Wells Ave project is back on the agenda for a Land Use Committee Public Hearing at 7 p.m.
- But the fun doesn’t stop there. On Thursday, it’s back to the ZBA for a discussion of the proposed 40B project at Court Street.
What do you make of all these projects? Will you attend any or all of these meetings? Which ones do you support or oppose? And after several hours of compelling civic discourse will you go home and watch the late-starting Red Sox? Or will you feel you’ve suffered enough?
Did anyone attend the public hearing for the medical marijuana dispensary? I was unable to attend and haven’t been able to get a sense of what happened. The audio tapes are available online but I’m hoping to avoid listening to them…
So, lets just say AUSTIN STREET, RIVERSIDE, ROWE STREET, TURTLE LANE and WELLS AVENUE are all approved . . . . how many more units are we adding to our city? Are we equipped in the police and fire department? What about the schools? What about the water department? Can the library handle extra circulation?
Please tell me some real numbers if all are slated to be built and then lets plan for the development after we have the capacity conversation.
NewtonMom — Except for Austin St, I don’t think the City has a part in any of the (other) projects. So in terms of capacity, we either deal with it appropriately or invent some sneaky ways to obstruct investor intentions. My guess is we’ll do both.
I am puzzled by the process to select a developer. What happened to the open bid process? What’s to say some other developer couldn’t build on the Austin St. site more efficiently than the one already chosen? What was the decision process to select the present developer?
@NewtonMom: You had me until you started worrying if we’d have enough books for all our new neighbors. Perhaps I’m underestimating the capacity of the Newton Free Library but I’d like to think the staff there is up to the challenge of welcoming a few more book lovers.
I attended last night’s 2.5 hour meeting in RM 202 largely for the discussion re: Alderman Sangiolo’s proposals. Very good discussion and informative.
Let’s see: 334 units at Wells Ave, 150 units at Rowe St, 36 at Court St, 26 for Turtle Lane, anywhere from 18 to 80 at Austin St. So anywhere from 560-something to 600 or so.
I can’t help noticing a pattern emerging. The Austin St developers include Dinosaur Capital and SEB. SEB is also the developer on Court St and a consultant on Wells Ave. The new Rowe St. project is Dinosaur Capital (no plans have been filed, so we don’t know who the affordable housing consultant will be… yet.) Is this a coincidence? Or is SEB just the only game in town in terms of affordable housing? Does Dinosaur Capital have the capital to be dealing with both of these very large projects simultaneously?
My bad – forgot Riverside. Throw in another 290 to get us up to somewhere between 850 and 890.
Nearly 1,000 more units??? Lets be real. . . . how many school kids will we be adding K-12? How many more cars will we be adding to the streets?
Do we have the capacity city wide for this?
Isn’t 850 the current magical number to get Newton to the 10% level of affordable housing needed so the city can have greater control over private developers?
@Patrick: Not all these proposed units will count toward 40B. I believe only 44 of the Riverside units will count, and only 9 of the Court St units. Also, we have a significant number that currently are affordable but will expire. As of 4/30/13 there were 990 units with an expiration date, out of 2,436 total, or just a little over 40%.
Emily, I thought if 25% of the units in a development were affordable, then all the units counted towards the 10% requirement. I thought that was the reasoning for 80 units at Wells Ave being 40B units, yet the city would get to count the entire 320 units.
Is Newton doing anything to increase its affordable housing stock percentage without relying on developers so that we can tell the developers to develop someplace else?
@PATRICK, the formula you reference is true for rental inits, but not for owned units. So, Austin St is envisioned to be all rentals, so all [80?} units would qualify as Affordable. But if Court St is all ownership oriented, only the actual affordable units count in the formula.
Daniel, thank you for the explanation. I guess I need to spend more time watching the 40B Housing video offered on the Waban Area Council’s website.
The city contracted a parking study for Austin St, but seemed reluctant to have the vendor discuss it in much detail at the meeting at NNHS last night. It seems like it would have been more productive to have the vendor provide a more detailed analysis of the parking study and allow Q&A, than to stifle discussion and have people participate in activities with post-it notes and stickers at the meeting.
I have attended some of Setti’s public meetings. Dave’s description sounds like a formula for dealing with the public, very contrived and controlled. Discussion and debate is not the mayors priority. The entire procedure is more form and no substance. Setti can rationalize that he has reached out to the public. He has made up his mind and has little real interest in public input.
Warning: This is somewhat of a tangent, yet it is about Development-apolozza in Newton.
@Emily, I just read the Tab story about the Finance panel approving the $2.7M to buy the houses on Beacon Street so the School Committee can build their 24 classroom / 490 student new Zervas. I would have preferred a “No” vote, yet I do appreciate you willingness to voice your concern about the supersizing of the elementary schools. A 3 story building situated on that residential part of Beacon Street is not what is best for Newton.
You are speaking against the powers that want to significantly change the character of Newton by changing it to a more urban model and a one city rather than a 13 villages experience.