The Zoning & Planning Committee voted to approve the following (see Report and watch the video on NewTV):
- Appointment of Anne Marie Stein to the Newton Historical Commission
The Zoning & Planning Committee held the following:
- Discussion and review relative to the draft Zoning Ordinance pertaining to Mixed-Use, Business Districts, and Village Centers
Jennifer Caira, Deputy Director of Planning; Zachary LeMel, Chief of Long Range Planning; and consultant Tim Love, Principal at Utile Architecture & Planning led the discussion, which focused on the following (described fully in this Planning Memo):
- Design Standards – Three categories:
- “Shaping the Building”,
- “Building Placement’, and
- ‘’Site Standards”.
Planning Department and Utile are working to incorporate all nondiscretionary design elements into the zoning text. Design guidelines would be revisited in the future to serve as a tool for the Planning Board and City Council when reviewing a project.
- Mixed-use priority streets: While the MBTA Communities Guidelines do not allow required mixed-use development to be counted, it can be allowed and incentivized.
- Version 1.0: Mixed-use incentivized in VC# by allowing by-right a max height of 4.5 vs. 2.6 for residential development. The Planning Department working with Utile, is looking at VC2, and proposes identifying mixed-use priority streets where mixed-use would be incentivized or potentially required.
- Prioritizing historic preservation: Planning and Utile are proposing to remove properties in local historic districts from village center boundaries in response to feedback received. This apparently affects only Newtonville and a single parcel in Upper Falls. They are also looking at incentivizing adaptive reuse in VC2 and VC3 districts. Proposed amendments would provide zoning exemptions for the reuse of pre-1940 buildings (building footprint bonus, exemption from parking, open space, and site plan review).
- Residential parking requirements for Version 2: Reference was made to a recent study by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Perfect Fit Parking Initiative, which examined parking utilization at multi-family developments within various communities.
- Version 1.0: One parking space per unit parking minimum in residential development. MAPC study proposed 0.5 spaces per unit in residential development, and a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 1 space per unit for residential within 0.25 miles of a transit station, and none for adaptive reuse.