View presentation online or at the Newton Free Library; Provide your feedback by October 16 On September 1, the Planning Department mounted the Zoning and Planning Committee’s Village Center Zoning Redesign framework governing changes to height and footprint of buildings, village center density, special and by-right permits, parking requirements, multiple…
Posts published in “Zoning”
The four Area Councils — Newton Highlands, Newtonville, Upper Falls, and Waban — will hold two special meetings to inform the community about Newton’s Zoning Redesign Proposal. See Agenda. Saturday, September 24 at 2PM, both in-person at the Waban Library Center (1608 Beacon Street) and virtually (Zoom link – Passcode: 700015). Tuesday,…
At a special virtual meeting on Saturday, September 10, the Newton Highlands Area Council voted to approve a letter requesting additional time for community engagement and provide feedback on the Zoning redesign process. Several Area Council members suggested edits — including a reminder that each of the Area Councils is…
The Waban and Newtonville Area Councils voted and submitted this letter to the Chair of the Zoning and Planning Committee, Deb Crossley, and the Zoning and Planning Committee regarding their concerns about the community engagement process for the proposed village center zoning framework. They emphasized their role in local governance,…
The City has released an online feedback tool to gather opinions — from as many residents and stakeholders as possible — about how zoning in Newton’s village centers should be redesigned. The feedback tool asks about issues (building heights, ratios of building size to lot size, parking ratios) that will affect housing density,…
Newton Highland Area Council members and residents discussed and debated a proposed letter addressing the new Zoning Redesign and community engagement process that has been launched for Village Center Zoning by the City. Three Area Councils — Waban and Newtonville, and Newton Upper Falls — voted to send a letter…
At its meeting last week, the Newtonville Area Council voted to send this memo to the City Council, requesting that the City Council abstain from approving zoning changes or special permits in village centers until the City completes its village center zoning process. The expressed concern is focused on the…
The City has recently completed calculations to determine whether or not Newton can assert Safe Harbor Protections under Chapter 40B, which would provide an opportunity to exert more control over approvals or denials of Comprehensive Permits. Safe Harbor might be claimed by calculations of either land area or number of…
The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) recently released final guidelines for multi-family zoning requirements for the MBTA Communities Act. During the comment period earlier this year, nine Newton City Councilors (Albright, Lipof, Downs, Crossley, Bowman, Kelley, Noel, Humphrey, and Kalis) submitted comments that: Supported the 25-50 acre size…
Plans are underway for the second phase of community engagement on Village Center Zoning. On August 1, in the third meeting of the Community Engagement Network, Network members had an opportunity to review the finalized engagement material and get answers to questions regarding the community engagement plans. This next phase…