The Zoning and Planning (ZAP) Committee held its first meeting of 2024 on Monday, January 8 with its new chair, veteran City Councilor Lisle Baker, presiding. In a memo to the Committee, Councilor Baker proposed that the members engage “in a preliminary discussion about where the Committee might spend its…
Posts published in “Zoning”
As a lifelong resident or homeowner in Newton, I learned the 13 villages of the City of Newton in 4th or 5th grade. I can assure you that Four Corners is not an official village. To list it as one is misleading. It is a neighborhood of Newton Center and…
After months of heated debate, the City Council voted on December 4 to approve a zoning package designed to comply with the MBTA Communities Law before the December 31, 2023 deadline. That law, as applied to Newton, requires zoning that allows “by right” development of multi-family housing within a half-mile…
On Wednesday, November 29, the Newton City Council met to continue consideration of amendments to a proposed zoning plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The deadline for compliance is December 31, 2023. Compliance requires zoning for a minimum of 8,330 residential units within one-half mile of the selected…
There has been a lot of controversy over the data that has been presented regarding the impact that the proposed Village Center Overlay District (VCOD) would have on Newton’s housing production. Different sets of charts and numbers have been offered by the Planning Department, by Councilors Wright and Oliver, and…
The City Council will meet in special session on Wednesday, November 29 to consider last-minute amendments to its zoning plan and whether that plan should be limited to compliance with the state MBTA Communities Law — which calls for higher density housing near the MBTA Green Line and commuter rail…
In regards to the current debate on rezoning Newton’s village centers, a call was made by many of the City Council Candidates who prevailed on November 7 to just zone for the 8,330 units required for MBTA Communities compliance and no more. In her November 14 newsletter, the Mayor said…
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: For a brief time, a controversial vote to not…
On November 15 the City Council received two letters — and the Mayor received another letter — from federal and state legislators and officials explaining the benefits of Newton’s Village Center Overlay District (VCOD) zoning proposal and specifically mentioning Auburndale. In this letter to the City Council president, Representative Jake…
Recently the New York Times wrote about families struggling to afford both their cars and housing (How the Costs of Car Ownership Add Up, Oct. 6, 2023). The AAA has estimated that the average annual “cost of ownership” for a new car is now over $12,000. Over the life of a 30-year mortgage a family that can get…