Tuesday’s Land Use Committee meeting had two interesting agenda items on its agenda – the presentation of the Northland project and the final committee vote on Cypress Tree, the proposed medical marijuana clinic on Route 9 — and, thankfully, NewTV recorded it all!
- The Cypress Tree debate and vote starts at the 27:45 mark
- The Northland presentation begins at the 72:55 mark
Hi everyone — my name is Leon Schwartz and I was one of the people to comment on the proposed Northland development on Needham street. As I mentioned in my comment, I don’t think any of us are against the development, but the proposed scale and massing are simply too large. While I encourage everyone that agrees with me to come to the meetings and let their voices be heard, I doubt very much that comments at meetings will have the desired effect. I think we need to do more to let the city council know how we feel (and how many of us there are). If you feel the same way, please feel free to contact me at decadox[at]yahoo.com so we can coordinate a path forward.
There were some very interesting questions from the report left unanswered:
Q: Will the open space be in perpetuity? How will the site be connected to the surrounding community? Will there be opportunities to work with MBTA regarding enhanced bus service and improved Green Line service.
Q: More details of the shuttle system are important. Who will manage this long-term and what if it fails?
I’m in agreement with L. Schwartz. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be quite good, for both Upper Falls and Newton…if not for the scale. Too many residential units.
Let’s not kid ourselves that Northland can be bullied into coughing up a new school or other like demands. Let’s all target out concerns around scale and commitments on strategies they have propsed to alleviate pressure on the area’s infrastructure and added density.
I looked up the Cypress Tree Development. The principal
owner is Rihanna Kidwell. She was on the Charter Commission.
Now she is developing pot businesses. Clean the swamp.
Here’s the project website, which gets updated pretty regularly, for reference: https://www.northlandnewtondevelopment.com/