The City Council began its comprehensive debate of the proposed Village Center Overlay District (VCOD) zoning on November 15. President Albright called for straw votes to get a sense of where Councilors were in supporting the proposal. Straw votes indicated that:
- 18 of 24 members would support approving only the portion of the proposed VCOD that is required to comply with the MBTA Communities Law,
- 13 members would support zoning for MBTA Communities Law compliance including Auburndale (which is not part of the MBTA compliance), and
- 5 members would support the entire VCOD package.
For a brief time, a controversial vote to not suspend the rules prevented staff from the Planning and Law Departments from coming “inside the rail” — i.e., from entering the floor of the Council Chamber to participate in the Council’s discussion. This was later overturned by Article V, Section 6 of the Council Rules, which provide that the presiding officer or a majority vote of the Council may allow the staff to come “inside the rail.”
The Council then debated text amendments and one map change for approximately 3.5 hours. For these votes, the Councilors were split into two groups — those who continue to be in favor of VCOD, and those who want to pass only the zoning required for MBTA compliance. The former group — Councilors Noel, Crossley, Bowman, Leary, and Danberg — were the most vocal opponents of the proposed amendments, while Councilors Wright, Lucas, Gentile, Laredo, and Oliver were the most supportive. During the discussion of Councilor Kalis’s map change proposal, Councilor Oliver raised the temperature of the room by making references to the “echo chamber” that many live in and the recent election results. Councilors Noel and Bowman took issue with those references, with Noel stating that she was elected to serve until December 31 and relies on what she has “learned from experts” who “have degrees and know more,” and Bowman stating that the “Ward 6 race margin was small” and that her “constituents from Ward 6 want to see Newton Highlands supported.”
The text amendments proposed by Councilors Wright and Gentile failed. Councilor Wright’s proposals –amending minimum lot size, amending MRT lot frontage, and increasing usable open space in the MRT District — failed 10-14. Councilor Wright also proposed to amend the requirement for site plan reviews for VC2 and VC3 lots that were 10,000 sq. ft. or larger (failed 5-18, Norton absent) and to remove the minimum first-floor height requirement (failed 5-17, Ryan and Norton absent).
Councilor Gentile’s proposals also were not approved: first floor height (failed 4-20), maximum height of a sloped roof (failed 1-23), allowable square footage (1500-2000 sq. ft) for first floor with a maximum square footage for two floors (3,000 sq. ft.) (failed 1-23), and to restore design guideline language that was removed from VCOD version 1 regarding unit entrances (failed 1-21).
Councilors Baker and Kalis were the only two Councilors that evening that were successful in passing their proposed amendments.
- Baker proposed to require one parking spaces per two units for adaptive reuse in the MRT district. This parking requirement would be waivable, as the VCOD process provides. This was approved 15-9.
- Councilor Kalis proposed to change the zoning for properties on Walnut Street and Lincoln Street from VC3 to VC2. Planning staff estimated that the proposal would likely result in a loss of 86 units. Councilor Downs proposed a friendly amendment, accepted by Kalis, to change the zoning for only two Lincoln Street properties (with the rest remaining VC3), which would result in a loss of 40-50 units. The proposal as amended was approved 16-8.
On November 20, the Council resumed its debate on map changes.
Two amendments were made to include additional properties into the proposed VCOD:
- Councilor Bowman requested, on behalf of a property owner, to include an abutting property into the MRT Zone. That request was approve 24-0.
- Councilor Kelley offered an amendment, on behalf of the Border Street property owners, to include it into the VC3 district. The Planning Department estimated that this would result in the addition of 430 units to the MBTA compliance calculation. Councilors Wright and Malakie expressed concern about flooding in the area. Councilors Laredo, Gentile, and Norton spoke of the value of the special permit process to get additional benefits, such as mitigation of the cause of the flooding. Councilor Kalis suggested tabling the amendment until all other amendments were discussed, and that motion passed 13 – 11.
Three amendments to reduce the proposed zoning from VC3 to VC2 were discussed:
- Councilor Wright proposed reducing the proposed zoning for the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre and two properties — one on Herrick and another on Union Street — from VC3 to VC2. She raised concerns that these were large lots that could be subdivided and developed. The Planning Department said that all three of the lots were subject to an 18-month demolition delay, and the ability to add to the building or take on new uses could be the difference from adaptive reuse or not. The votes were: Union Street property failed 8-14, Herrick Road property failed 11 – 13, and the Church property failed 8-16.
- Councilor Wright proposed reducing the proposed zoning along Washington Street to VC2 and suggested that developer Robert Korff is holding off until the new zoning is passed, and that the project will change. The Planning Department said approximately 400 units would be changed by this amendment. Councilor Crossley presented maps comparing the Washington Street Vision Plan and the current VCOD proposal, illustrating that the Washington Street Vision Plan called for higher heights than the VCOD proposal. The vote on this amendment failed 11 – 13.
- Councilor Lucas proposed reducing the zoning for lots on Walnut Street and Austin Street in Newtonville from VC3 to VC2. He argued that the building heights and density should not be the same as on Washington Street and that the Washington Street Vision Plan had a maximum height between 1- 4 stories, in contrast to the proposed VC3, which allows up to 5 stories. He urged the Council to uphold what he believes was a “promise” made to the community, when the Council voted to adopt the Washington Street Vision Plan as part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. He added that Newtonville residents were recently informed about a 300-unit 40B project. His proposal would be a reduction of approximately 40 units from the MBTA Compliance number. The Planning Department said it did not do an economic feasibility analysis for VC2 requiring ground floor development. Councilors Crossley, Bowman, and Leary argued the need to allow for more density — particularly if requiring first-floor retail. Wright countered that the City can revisit the zoning, but if they rezone it now, they will “open the floodgates.” Several question arose from this discussion:
- What are the requirements to subdivide lots? The Law Department explained Approval Not Required and the Planning Board approval process.
- How many units are already approved or in the pipeline? Councilor Wright reminded the Council that over past three years, 2,500 units have been approved — with hundreds more in the pipeline — and that Newton is one-quarter of the way to meeting the 8,330 units needed for MBTA compliance.
- What does the 8,330 number represent? Councilor Crossley questioned the numbers that some have been stating and the method of calculating density (referring to it as “fuzzy math”), and she reminded the Council that the MBTA formula is not a build-out analysis and that the state is not forcing the actual building of 8,330 units. She said it is not about what other projects are in the pipeline because those projects are not located where they would revitalize the economy and stability of village centers.
The vote to remove the Austin Street/Walnut properties failed 10 -14.
The Council voted to table the item 21 – 3 (Gentile, Krintzman, and Malakie voting No) and adjourn to the next Council meeting.
A Special Meeting of the Council is scheduled for Wednesday, November 29 at 6:30PM. The next regularly scheduled Council meeting will be held on Monday, December 4 at 6:30PM, and if needed, there will be a Special Meeting of the Council on Thursday, December 14 at 6:30PM.
