The Newton Planning Department has developed a survey to measure community response to several proposed zoning changes for our village centers that the Zoning & Planning (ZAP) Committee is debating. The crux of the survey (found here) is “What is the maximum building height you would like to see in the village centers?”
The Planning Department has divided the village centers into “small, medium, and large” and suggested different maximum heights depending on the village center’s category. Curiously, the survey does not tell you which centers are small, medium, or large. Nor does the survey identify any metric that would help you figure out a village center’s size.
The absence of any information regarding which village centers fall into which category illustrates the lack of transparency behind this survey. The truth was blurted out by Susan Albright, President of the City Council, during a recent visit to the village center exhibition at the Newton library. She said that “development potential” would determine a village center’s category. So the “small, medium, and large” categories are a complete misnomer and the survey is totally misleading. This whole exercise is simply a way of giving developers a green light to build 6 story buildings in as many of our village centers as possible.
To read additional concerns about the engagement process, see the letter signed by 16 residents who volunteered to help with the community engagement process.
People can take the survey up until Sunday, October 16. There is still time to give it a negative review and tell Planning and ZAP to be honest with the public about the radical changes they are proposing for our village centers.
Randall Block
