This just in from the Newton Conservators (love that photo)
On Monday, Nov. 25th, the City Council voted by an overwhelming margin to give preliminary approval to the Community Preservation Committee’s funding recommendation for Webster Woods.
The proposal was divided into seven separate motions. Three motions were approved unanimously, by votes of 22 to 0. Each of the other motions was approved with 21 Yes votes and one abstention. Two councilors were absent.
The proposal will be taken up for final approval on Monday, December 2nd.
That photo by CPC Chair Mark Armstrong is the best picture I’ve ever seen taken inside the council chambers. There’s so much going on in it, including what has to be Alicia Bowman’s first time inside the rail since officially becoming a councilor-elect.
Last night was one of the council’s finest moments. A resounding “yes” for conservation of our natural heritage for the ages.
It’s great to have an issue that has united so many Newtonians! That is, restoring conservation protections that were taken from us first; conservation land originally gifted to the public in perpetuity.
I particularly like this map of all the parcels of Webster Woods that Newton protected over the years, from Dan Brody’s fantastic “A Letter from Edwin Webster” posted in an earlier Village14 discussion:
https://newtonconservators.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/webster-takings-3.jpg
https://newtonconservators.org/webster-letter/
Each time, it was the right thing to do.
This time is no different!
Have 3 minutes? Send Father Leahy a quick email & tell him you support the eminent domain taking and want Webster Woods protected as open space for generations to come.
As a Boston College alumni and past President of the Chestnut Hill Association, I just sent an email to BC President Father Leahy. I was told this is the best email to reach him. It is his Executive Administrative Assistant.
To: [email protected]
Subject Line: I Support Newton’s Eminent Domain Taking
Surprising how many signs there were in support of BC. Anyone know if they were generally held by residents? BC employees?
@Adam: I can’t say for sure, but many of them appeared to be personal acquaintances of Mr. Keady.
Support of grabbing Webster Woods across V14 is not unanimous. The signs in @jerry’s pic are not unanimous.
So how can the Council vote unanimously? Are they THAT tone deaf to their constituents? A picture does say 10,000 words.
And whether you support the Webster Woods heist or not, we should all pause to consider who Newton’s elected officials are serving?
Matt and Michael, I support the “Grabbing” (at Fair market value) of Webster Woods mainly because research shows that negotiations, either for BC to restrict the property as conservation land or for BC to willingly sell the property to Newton, have already occurred during Mayor Fuller’s term. Newton, if it wants to keep the woods as they are, is forced into a “friendly taking – at fair market value”, from BC.
I support this mainly because the entire woods was deeded to the public by Mr Webster when he died and after that the parts of it that have been developed were taken by eminent domain, in addition to
BC reneging on it’s unwritten deal to preserve that part of the land it purchased but has said recently that it plans to develop the area .
Additionally, Reflecting on Mayor Warren’s missed opportunity to pursue its purchase is like rocking in a rocking chair – expending a lot of energy but getting nowhere.
Support for the acquisition is nearly unanimous, as is obvious from the vote. The councilors heard a lot from the public about this, especially since we just had an election. They are not “tone deaf”, they are responsible. Who would want their name associated with the destruction of a natural treasure?
Look at the signs. Scroll thru V14. Scroll thru Nextdoor and Facebook. More support for WW than not…but NOT unanimous. #fact
And there’s no indication that the people holding BC signs are constituents. I’m not gonna make any guesses as to why they were there, but none of them looked like current students, and very few of them were in any public meeting until now. The only people who were obviously BC students were representatives from environmental campus groups who came to support the acquisition. They have a petition with hundreds of signatures from the student body asking the college to preserve the woods.
@Matt Lai: I didn’t say unanimous, I said “nearly unanimous”. The city council rarely votes unanimously, so maybe that’s a good indication.
Going out on a limb here (sorry had to pun). The City of Newton as most municipalities relies on a relatively “traditional” form of measuring public sentiment. Groups organize. They make their case known. They use lawn signs and letters to the mayor and to the city council. They write articles in the TAB and here on Village 14. They look for people to come to City Hall at 7:00 on a week night to show their support.
Is this model still aligned with how our lives are now? Most families have both parents working. Do we have the time for these endeavors like we used to in 1950 when everyone went to “town hall”? I wish I had the easy solution to this challenge. I do not.
Since I’ve lived in Newton, the largest movement I have seen was the push to outlaw the sale of cannabis. Based on the number of yard signs I was certain that the ban would pass.
How do we know the “will of the people” in our modern electronic era?
The majority of residents in Newton may well support the purchase of WW. My question is, how do we know that?
Justin, obviously we don’t know what the majority of residents want. I don’t know of a valid way to find out. I think it’s a little easier now since residents can e-mail their preferences particularly if they are unable to attend meetings. Even then, most residents are busy with their lives and only get involved if it’s an issue that affects them personally.
We have to elect people to represent us who care about Newton and are good critical thinkers – then rely on our Mayor and City Councilors, to listen to residents, consultants, etc. to make good final decisions.
This will likely be a Pyrrhic victory. The land probably could have been preserved through more patient and creative diplomacy. With the City’s aggressive approach, the Community Preservation Fund will end up more impoverished than the mayor or City Council admit. This could very well mark the start of a decades-long feud with BC, the repercussions of which we cannot predict.
I have seen discussion on other threads that reference Land Value Capture with some of the developments on Washington Street and the Northland properties. As it relates to Webster Woods and the abutting propery owners, could the concept of this policy approach be leveraged to offset some of the acquisition costs. While Newton as a whole will benefit from this protection of the section of the BC propery, the abutting property owners will see a real and tangible increase in their land value as it increases due to public investment communities to recover and reinvest land value increases that result from public investment and and Newton city government actions. This value sharing realized at any sale of their property may offset some of the cost impacts over the next 30 years.
Apologies for the errors in syntax and sentence structure in that last post as I typed that from my phone.
@Michael Singer, the Mayor has been negotiating with BC for the past year and a half, and supposedly with Mayor Warren when he was mayor.
Assurances to preserve Webster Woods were not met, and BC wants to develop no matter what (they wanted state conservation land across from their building on Hammond Pond Parkway; mayor said it was a nonstarter).
We are at an impasse, and BC can clear the woodland at any time, so the longer we wait, the more danger Webster Woods gets bulldozed.
You are incorrect in your analysis of its impact on CPC funds. Dan Brody with the Newton Conservators has already covered this and there will be at least 92% of funds available for other needs for the bond term (number could be wrong, citing from memory)
The effort to preserve Webster Woods have history, the original conservation intentions of the Webster family, eminent domain law, and $200,000 of money from Friends of Webster Woods, and the virtually unanimous recommendation the Community Preservation Committee .
Folks opposed to this effort via eminent domain fall into a few camps:
* Don’t like ED (but offer no viable alternative – going back to stalled negotiations is not viable)
* Say it’ll deplete CPC funds (it will, just not drastically)
* Support BC and the lies they promulgated to Newton residents via Tom Keady’s mailing
* Don’t care about woodlands (and want to watch the world burn…)
@Nelson: We all love the woods and want to keep them. The fact is that neither you nor Dan Brody nor anyone else knows how much a court will order the City to pay for this land. Also, you conveniently avoid the question of our city’s relationship with BC. BC acquired the land lawfully.
How would you feel is the City did this to you? They’ll be angry for a long time. The Mayor’s choice violates that age-old wisdom not to sh** in one’s own backyard. (Or in this case, literally across the street from her house).
The CPA Budget can be found here
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/41254
The project will cost $20M total if issued as a 30year bond at 2%
The cost to the city will be about $670K per year to be paid from the CPA fund
The CPA fund estimates about $3.25M of new funds in FY19
The project will use 20% of incoming funds
There is currently $12M in reserves
It is accurate to discuss how much of the total available fund will be used
It’s also accurate to see that 20% of the incoming revenue (1% property tax) will be used for a single capital investment
Steve Jobs has an interesting quote that we could use for this project that I think actually helps support it while also clarifies what it means to make an investment of this magnitude.
Many residents are supporting “one big thing”. Others are concerned about the 1,000 other things that we will say no to.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
– Steve Jobs
https://newtonconservators.org/webster-woods-can-the-city-afford-it/
IANAL, but it was mentioned that eminent domain law is firmly on the side of the City acquiring it. Not going to rehash the philosophical arguments of eminent domain for/against. Remember that the Webster family donated land for conservation, which the state conveniently forgot when it sold it Mishkan Tefila for bargain basement prices.
Dunno how much it’ll cost, that’s true. I’ll let the lawyers haggle over what constitutes fair market value.
Mayor was the first to say that she still appreciates BC when comments turned negative against BC during the Friends meeting. She says she still values a good partnership with BC but in this case, we disagree with them and that they’re making a mistake. It’s business, not personal. They’ll do what’s best for BC, we’ll do what’s best for our community which is asking Webster Woods.
The financial analysis by Dan Brody is fantastic.
One assumption on state matching funds is not accurate
I am not sure how much that impacts the numbers
The state match is listed as 30% for FY20
The state just published it as 11.5% for FY20
https://www.mma.org/cpa-matching-rate-decreases-to-11-57-for-fiscal-2020/
On the flip side, the revenue for CPA Newton appears to be increasing at about 4.5%. More than assumed in the analysis.
@Matt Lai, support for eminent domain among citizens may not be unanimous, but I’ve yet to hear anyone other than a BC employee say “I support BC.” Most of the comments I’ve heard against acquisition are skeptics on opportunity costs or risks of a potential legal battle. Half a room full of residents holding maroon and gold signs proclaiming support of BC seems a bit unlikely, don’t you think? Do you really believe their mass mail campaign was that effective?
@Justin Traxler, I’d like to clarify what’s going on with state reimbursement for locally raised CPA revenue. Earlier this year, the state legislature more than doubled the fees that go into the dedicated fund that supports reimbursements to cities and towns. https://www.communitypreservation.org/home/news/governor-baker-signs-fy20-budget-cpa-funding-increase As a result, the reimbursement rate for Newton and all other CPA communities will increase sharply in FY21, when the new fees are fully in effect. FY21 is also the first year when bonds for Webster Woods will be repaid. The Newton Community Preservation Committee’s “Funding Forecast” projects that our reimbursement rate will be 35% in FY21, and will fall to 30% in FY22 after some one-time revenue is used up. http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/41890 My analysis of the funding of the Webster Woods bonds assumes that this 30% rate will decline each year, falling to just 8% by the end of the bond issue. https://newtonconservators.org/webster-woods-can-the-city-afford-it/ This is a very cautious assumption.
@Dan thanks for the clarification. I had seen an article from April showing the decline in the match and did not “read further” to see the increase that was just passed. Your analysis was really well done and it does provide a strong case that this purchase is really a “30 year commitment” to a percent of future allocations of the CPA focused on open space.
@Marti. I agree. Way “over” in Waban, I’ve spoken to a number of neighbors who were unaware of the project all together. We are all being bombarded by so many pieces of information that many residents don’t have time for the Tab or the newsletters from the city. I confess I did not have the interest or time to read much of this until recently.
On a lighter note:
While there are many things going on in our city right now, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for. I say this in the most respectful way: The things we debate on this forum are generally (not always) “first world problems”.
I hope it is not a violation of this board, but I’d like to make a plug for a national organization that is also focused on forests and preserving woodland.
https://www.americanforests.org/
A good friend of mine recently became the president of this organization and I’ve been really impressed with their mission and how well it aligns to many of the things we have been discussing on this forum.
Happy thanksgiving to all.