At 11AM on August 21, the property at 283 Melrose Street in Auburndale — formerly home to the Turtle Lane Playhouse and currently home to a failed real estate development — was slated to be auctioned off live. However, one hour earlier that morning, the property’s current owner — Turtle Lane LLC…
Posts published in “Housing”
Newton for Everyone will host a talk, Priced out: The growing challenge of teacher retention and housing costs, on September 30 at 7PM in-person at the Scandinavian Living Center’s Nordic Hall (206 Waltham Street, West Newton) and via Zoom. Register to attend in-person or by Zoom. Heather Peske, president of…
Lasell Village, a senior retirement community adjacent to Lasell University, recently announced an expansion plan for housing new independent-living residents. The new building, McGuire Hall, will contain 42 new apartments, a new bistro, wellness and fitness centers, a multipurpose room, a library, and an elevated footbridge that will connect it…
Newton for Everyone will host its first Summer Social on Monday, July 21 at 6PM for members and friends to enjoy Sweet Tomatoes pizza, drinks, and scintillating conversation with fellow YIMBYs. This casual gathering will be hosted in West Newton, in the backyard of a member of Newton for Everyone.…
The West Newton Armory is being converted into 43 new permanently affordable intergenerational apartments. At the groundbreaking on the morning of June 9, which celebrated the beginning of the construction for the housing project, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, State Senator Cindy Creem, and other officials posed with…
At the May 28 joint meeting of the Zoning & Planning and Public Facilities Committees, the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy (NCCE) initiated a discussion with City Councilors about the electrification of all homes. Newton needs to electrify all of its 25,000 homes in 25 years The State requires net-zero…
Amid residents’ concerns about Newton moving toward having no houses with character or even backyards, the pace of home demolitions has decreased significantly recently, and the City’s regulation of home construction is facing on-going changes. The Zoning and Planning Committee has spent months trying to address community distress about teardowns…
On April 22, the City Council approved two separate sets of amendments to Newton’s Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) ordinance. The first set, which passed unanimously, aligns Newton’s zoning with a new State Law allowing ADUs of up to 900 square feet by right. That state law had invalidated these old…
In her budget address to the City, Mayor Fuller outlined nine levers the City can pull to address our budget challenges, especially those related to funding schools. Of her nine points, only two were truly long-term solutions aimed at increasing revenue: a tax increase for everyone in the form of…
At the Newton City Hall War Memorial on April 15, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller received the 2025 Sheila Mondshein Award for Outstanding Leadership in Promoting Fair Housing. The award is granted annually by the Newton’s Fair Housing Committee. The group’s mission is to create diverse housing accommodations free of discrimination. “This…
In its continuing exploration of ways to update Newton’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance and build more “affordable” units, the Zoning and Planning Committee met on April 14 to hear recommendations by the consultant, RKG Associates. The meeting was in response to requests from several City Council members to consider adding an…
Newton for Everyone will host a talk by Dan Ruben — Housing and Climate Change: What’s the Connection? — on April 30 at 7PM, both online and in person at the Scandinavian Living Center (206 Waltham Street, West Newton). Register for attending in-person or online. Long-time Newton resident Dan Ruben teaches…