Newton Mayor Setti Warren officially submitted a special permit application for the much debated Austin Street project today. The project includes…
- 68 housing units consisting of a mix of one and two-bedroom units.
- 25% affordable units deed-restricted to households earning up to 80% of Area Median
- 127 surface level public parking spaces controlled by the City.
- 90 underground parking spaces serving the project representing 1.25 spaces per unit plus five for retail employees.
- A public plaza.
Here’s the letter from Warren to the board.
Dear Honorable Board,
We are announcing the filing of the special permit application from Austin Street Partners for redevelopment of the Austin Street parking lot. Attached you will find a memo from the Planning Department, the preliminary term sheet for the ground lease, and the special permit application form. To follow will be plans submitted by Austin Street Partners. The terms of the preliminary agreement and the special permit filing are summarized for you in the memo from the Planning Department. Questions should be directed to Interim Planning Director James Freas at [email protected].
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Setti D. Warren
Mayor
This is the Mayor’s words today:
“With this submission, the project is turned over to the Board of Aldermen for their review”
Here were the Mayor’s words last year after selecting Austin St. Partners:
“Now that Austin Street Partners has been selected, negotiations will begin. A group of City officials, including the City’s Economic Development Director, City Administrative Officer, City Solicitor, Director of Planning and Development, and Chief Financial Officer will meet with Austin Street Partners to negotiate terms of a Land Disposition Agreement. During this time, Austin Street Partners will meet with the community to hear about its interests and concerns.
The principles that will guide these discussions include the City’s commitment to ensure the project will:
o Provide a focal point and welcoming gathering place for village activities;
o Provide positive benefits for the City, such as additional housing, activities, services, and patronage for existing businesses;
o Achieve site development objectives in a manner that is financially feasible and fiscally responsible; and
o Include opportunities for public participation throughout the process.
Once negotiations conclude, preparations for the special permit will start with additional community meetings to shape the project design. Reviews by several advisory groups will take place alongside staff evaluations prior to being considered by the Land Use Committee of the Board of Aldermen.”
Where are the advisory groups? Where are the community meetings post-negotiations?
It appears that Mayor has broken his commitment to the residents of Newton.
Paul – Who are you? Until you let people know what your horse is in this race, your words mean nothing. Every post is negative. Are you a member of NAV? Why is it so hard for you to stand up in the open for what you believe?
Unless people know who you are, you have no credibility. Other people use a first name and are fully transparent about who they are, but you remain so secretive and it undermines your credibility.
The quotes that I provided above hold true irrespective of who posts them.
Mayor Warren made commitments on the process, and he’s broken them. Those are facts.
This presentation from 3/31/15 isn’t the final one submitted but it had some better illustrations of height comparisons.
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/64817
Looking forward to seeing if the reduction in units creates a reduction in overall size including height. It’s certainly an improvement. The new parking division with the city retaining control of all of Bram Way is interesting.
Paul – Like it or not, it does matter who you are. It’s just the way the world works. You’ll never be a credible source unless you come clean. What are you so afraid of?
Can any body make head or tail of pg 13 of Dinosaurs spiel ?
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/64817
On left hand side its says $33,276 “Annual Income from home sale”
The Right hand side under “HomeOwnership” its starts with the same number 33,276? How does it cost that if you never sold it??
I for one am guessing they conclude the mortgage is paid off 2015-1985 = 30 years? Yet somehow “Home Cost or Rent = $33,276”, then goes on to add a bunch of other stuff. Even if remortgaged just shy of $3000 a month seems over the top.
I agree pretty much with the costs of homeownership (they miss out water). But on the rental side, $300 for heating, $600 for electric? I’m guessing $50 a month for heating in winter, and $50 a month electric – sounds great.
Its also great they conclude a savings $13,620 a year.
But after 20 years, you have pretty much run out of “investment” for house sale. You no longer have 885,000 + 20 years growth.
It sounds like we have a few people knowledgable about basic accountancy around here? For me this doesn’t add up!
If you want to know what citizens think about controversial topics on which they may disagree strongly with some of their neighbors, parents of their child’s classmates, or, more importantly, or our small-city public employees who can retaliate in small or large ways, you should value anonymous contributors to the conversation. Presumably that’s why anonymity is allowed here. Not to get too dramatic, but consider the range of things that happen to those who’ve questioned city collusion with private developers’ money-making schemes elsewhere.
It would help to answer their questions with facts or debate their assertions on their merits. “Who are you?” What difference should that make to the content of the discussion? I don’t see “Paul” claiming to be a source of anything. He’s pointing to a public record; is it wrong?
What I see on this blog (over the past year re: development issues) is a tendency to ignore honest requests for information and a refusal to answer substantial policy questions or explain one’s reasoning in any meaningful detail. The real interaction here is in political and media gamesmanship among players who accept a set of premises about growth and development that I and my neighbors and friends in the city aren’t convinced of at all. Other contributors are ignored or disparaged personally. When the real issues are disagreed about or even questioned here, in reply we see ad hominem attacks, condescension, complex arguments reduced to false dichotomies, (inaccurate) name-calling and guilt by association, exaggeration and distortion of opponents’ views, etc. The high points of the discussion civility-wise are vapid posturing and self-branding; code words with no data or acknowledgment of the complexities involved — all parts of the smokescreen where pseudo-communitarian lingo is used to shut down questioners and disguise avaricious insider development deals that benefit the very few. If I’m wrong, be much more specific and quantitative and I’ll consider being less suspicious.
Given the lack of respect for civil discourse, why would anyone disclose their name — unless they hope to gain something?
To confuse those who want to know whose horse is in which race with some truth, I’m very much in favor of affordable housing, by the way. But I mean real affordable housing, at taxpayers’ great expense, with zero enrichment of or fleecing of the public by developers. I guess that means I’m “unwilling to compromise.” But I am willing to pay my share.
@APC
Well Said !
Honestly, not that I disagree with any of the anonymous posters on this particular thread… But I think there are too many people posting here anonymously. While I totally understand that some people NEED anonymity, I’d suggest V-14 raise the bar a bit. I’d like to see V-14 vet people who need to blog anonymously, to confirm they have good cause. I suspect we have everyone from public officials to developers posting anonymously on this blog. Maybe it’s time to clean that up a little.
@Jane,
If I provided more details of who I am, how would that make me more credible exactly? What are you looking for?
For all I know, you (or somebody else) might turn out to be somebody from a horror movie – then what would I do?
Just re-reading Dinosaurs cost savings for seniors looking to downsize. It says no mortgage.. Where did they come up with $33,276 in annual costs.
Seriously. Who / how does the city evaluate the rest of costs for this project !
I find all these accusations of anonymity tiresome. V14 has taken a clear position on pseudonyms, and if that makes commenters less credible or debates more frustrating, so be it. It’s just one of many ways that an Internet comment thread is different from a public meeting.
It’s not (necessarily) the way the Internet works. People are speaking their minds as individuals. Discussions are open and rebuttals are permitted as long as everyone plays by the rules. Nobody is claiming to represent interests of others. All seems reasonable to me.
So Adam, you would have no issue with a member of the School Committee commenting on school policy under a fake name?
@Mike,
Does it really matter, its only an opinion.
Its only us odd balls who to have a lot of passion about our community that might know who the real person is.
Like many Internet sites, identities on top-level V14 posts are genuine. Expectations for comment threads should be significantly lower. If someone posts under a pseudonym, as long as a valid e-mail address is provided and there’s no attempt to impersonate someone else or engage in sock-puppeting, I think it’s up to the person posting to decide what’s right.
We allow pseudonyms on Village 14. But I do empathize with Jane and Mike when they wonder about the motives of some anonymous commentators here, especially from folks who decline to disclose even some general information about themselves.
For example, Paul, it would be helpful to know if you are an abutter at Austin Street? Or if maybe Scott Oran ran over your dog? Heck, given your callous disregard for seniors, how old are you? You don’t have to disclose.
But many anonymous commentators here at least tell us which village they live in, how long they’ve lived in Newton, if they have kids in the schools, etc. When someone outright declines to offer any hints as to how they’ve arrived at their views, it does cloud the credibility of one’s comments.
@Greg
1. I’ve stated opposition to high density housing across the city of Newton, not just Austin St. so my housing location isn’t really relevant. Austin St. just happens to be the development chosen for discussion typically. No issues with Scott Oran, but I do have a strong preference for open, transparent government and disdain crony capitalism and influence peddling– I admit my biases there. I don’t have any particular issues with seniors, as I similarly am not interested in high-density housing that may address others’ demands as well. I’ve stated that a number of times, but folks just liked jumping on one late-night, inartfully worded sentence that I since retracted.
2. There is a general issue that people here seem too interested in knowing the “labels” of others– age, location, school-age children, etc. Ideas should be able to stand on their own merit, and people should worry less about putting a label on me or others. Too often people here are more interested in finding a reason for delegitimizing a post by focusing on the individual, rather than the actual substance of the post itself. We should be less concerned about labels, and more concerned about substance.
3. As I’ve stated several times recently, Greg, you have a disturbing predilection to personally attack people instead of engaging the ideas themselves. Its a problem generally for the blog, as I noted above, but you are probably the greatest offender amongst the community. It really needs to stop. There wasn’t a need to state that I have “callous disregard for seniors” which beyond not being true, didn’t serve to do more than put me down and insult me. I noted the same thing on your post to me yesterday, and I have noted it a number of occasions in the past when you’ve done it to others. Please treat people with more respect, and perhaps others on the blog will follow your lead.
Please stop attacking people personally.
I’m not too troubled that I might hurt the feelings of an anonymous commentator who touts transparency but won’t even disclose which village he/she lives in. We started this blog in 2011 and no regular participant has ever been cryptic as you have.
Lol, Greg. My feelings aren’t hurt due to a blog posting from someone who I don’t even know. I just think your behavior can be unbecoming and mean-spirited.
Its unfortunate that you seem more concerned about the transparency of blog commenters than the Mayor. I’ve never you heard raise concerns on the latter, and there has been ample opportunity to do so. The standard isn’t remotely close to the same, by the way.
Where is the news on the settlement Newton made with HUD on the complaint made by the Engine 6 supporters on our refusal to allow housing for homeless in Waban?
Can somebody answer a procedural question? Why is the mayor filing for a special permit application for a private developer? Why doesn’t the developer submit it on their own? Does the fact that the mayor files mean that he is 100% on board with the scope of the project and would object to BoA changes? Does it mean that the mayor is taking responsibility for the plan and deeming it completely vetted and perfect ? I don’t know what the rules and procedures are, so I’d be curious to learn the roles of past mayors in development projects or what the mayor’s office’s role is as outlined by the city charter.
Full disclosure on me: I live in Newton Highlands. Single family homeowner. Mom. Kids in school. Passionately pro-education . I think that it is a disgrace that we are one of the last communities in the Commonwealth not to have real full day kindergarten. With all the development in our fair city, I frequently wonder why, with all the real estate money flying around, we can’t properly fund early education to the extent that other less affluent communities in Massachusetts are. I’m not in the real estate industry or in any way benefitting from it. Not trusting of the intentions of developers and think that the quality of life in Newton has generally gotten screwed by them, whether it’s the abomination known as Chestnut Hill Square or anything named “Avalon” . My personal experience equates developers, both large and small, with greed, short term profits and no commitment to long term consequences or community impact. I believe that Newton doesn’t get enough back in the way of impact payments from developers compared to other communities. I am also keenly aware of the precious scarcity of developable land in the Garden City , our close proximity to Boston and other economic centers and the premium value of our remaining developable land.. Hey, developers can’t be expected to go against their greedy, profit-focussed nature. That’s why we need government to stand up, acknowledge what our land is worth and play super hardball. I’m worried that nobody in elected government (besides Amy Sangiolo, Emily Norton and Brian Yates) is connecting the dots between short term development and a long term vision for our community. I can’t get behind a sketchy short-term vision born of lack of thoughtful consideration that includes super sized, non-walkable mega schools as the consequence of development that is out of control. So, if Austin St. is the flashpoint for this larger, pan-Newton pain point, so be it.
Karen – I think the answer is that the land on Austin St remains in the public domain. The St. Phillip Neri property has always been privately owned, as has Rowe St.
Paul and APC – It matters who you are because you may very well have something to gain from your position, and we should know that if it’s the case. As Mike noted, there’s been a significant increase in anonymous posters who seem to hold the same position which means that you’re all really one person, posting from different computers, and are merely a sock puppet.
In the past, posters had an blog “name” but were very open about disclosing their background, profession, village where they lived, etc. so people understood their perspective. V14 is turning into a version of the commentary at the end of Boston.com and that’s unfortunate.
@Jane.
What is there to gained?
@Simon. Context….and as Jane said, credibility.
@KarenN: Thanks for demonstrating how it’s done.
This thread is closed.
What’s to be gained: credibility.
What’s to be lost by remaining so secretive: credibility.