Tonight Thurs 9/8: 6pm Village Center zoning; 7pm Santander project

[Julia Anne Malakie]

If it's Thursday, there must be multiple meetings...

Reminder, and for anyone who missed the previous thread on this, there is a community meeting tonight for anyone interested in Mark Development's proposal for 1314 Washington St (Santander building) in WN Square. There have been changes since the last meeting, including in vehicle entrance and exit, and parking. The notice is copied below, and attached.

But wait, there's more. The Planning Department at 6pm-7pm is holding a virtual (Zoom) info session about how to give feedback on their proposals/concepts/however you want to characterize them, for Village Center zoning. This coincides with the opening of a Newton Free Library exhibit which began Sept 1 and will be up through Oct 15 (though it may change over time). More info including Zoom registration here:
https://www.newtonma.gov/government/planning/village-centers

Are these two topics related? Yes. The Planning Department's proposed zoning changes are geared toward allowing taller buildings and greater density, with less required parking, by-right, than current zoning allows by-right. (One can anticipate there would be changes in what could be allowed by special permit as well.) There would be three categories of village centers: 'large,' 'medium' and 'small.' They put West Newton Square in the 'large' category.

The Santander project will be reviewed under current zoning, but Councilor Wright has been trying to determine whether the proposal for Santander, as an example, could be done by-right under the new Village Center zoning. It's unclear, but it appears with minor changes it could be. Or maybe it would only need site plan review by a body like the Planning & Development Board, instead of a special permit. So it's important to start paying attention to Village Center zoning if you are not already. Even if you feel like you've 'been there, done that' with Hello Washington Street, and wonder if anything you say will matter. If you don't speak up, you definitely will be ignored.

I recommend giving your feedback to cityc...@newtonma.gov as well as via the Planning Department's feedback tools.

FYI, while your Ward 3 councilors would all ike to be on the 1314 Washington Street zoom live, because of an unusual schedule this week,we will all be at our Public Facilities, Programs & Services, and Public Safety & Transportation Committee meetings which also start at 7pm. But we will be able to catch up with public comments by watching the video after.

Regards,

Julia Malakie

Ward 3 Councilor

NOTICE OF VIRTUAL NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING

REGARDING PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT OF 1314 WASHINGTON STREET

Mark Development, LLC would like to share its plans for a proposed redevelopment of the former 

Santander Bank site at 1314 Washington Street in West Newton Square. The proposal includes 50 residential 

units and restaurant and/or retail space. Members of the development team will make a brief presentation and 

then will be available to answer questions. 

Date: Thursday, September 8th, 2022

Time: 7:00 p.m.

This meeting has been arranged in conjunction with the Ward 3 City Councilors, Andrea Kelley, Pam

Wright, and Julia Malakie. If you would like to attend, please register in advance for the meeting by following 

this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvfu-spj4pE9SbizPZMlFYoLHDrDlOvIJj

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

If you cannot make this meeting but would like to be kept apprised of future meetings or of any updates 

relating to this project, please email Megan Rothwell at mrot...@sab-law.com.

[arthur jackson]

Thank you Julia and Councilor Wright for your advocacy and support for the people who live in West Newton. I'm not sure the folks at City Hall hear what the people who live in the neighborhoods actually say. The are two main problems with the Santander Bank project. 

The first and most important,  is that we have no idea what the conditions will be in West Newton after the Dunstan Street East project is completed. That is the biggest project ever built in West Newton-240+ units if I remember correctly and just up the street from the Santander Building. The Santander project should be put on hold until we can see how the Dunstan project impacts the area. 

Second, while parking is scarce in West Newton Sq. and before the pandemic, the parking lot was generally full when I would go by there, I imagine not too many people would object to housing being built there if it fit the scale of the street/neighborhood. Just two blocks away on Webster Street there is a row of three story townhomes which would in my opinion fit nicely into the Santander property. Instead of something modest and appropriate like that, the developer wants to build an out-sized apartment building that leaves no green space and towers over it's neighbors. Who can be in favor of that?

Thank you.

Arthur Jackson   

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From: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Julia Anne Malakie <juliaann...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2022 3:20 AM
To: West Newton Community <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com>; Unite! West Newton <unite-we...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [WNewton] Tonight Thurs 9/8: 6pm Village Center zoning; 7pm Santander project

 

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[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

Yes, thanks, Councilors Malakie and Wright, for drawing the connection here to the new Village Center zoning with West Newton as a large village.

I think the word I would use for the previous proposed design for the building is "grand", like the cinema and the former bank. I recall from the last meeting that there were going to be a variety of internal tweaks to the design, so hopefully those are satisfactorily addressed in what gets shared tonight.

Damien

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[Shari G]

Damien, the word that is actually used is "large" to define the plans for the West Newton's village center. To provide a little bit of context, for the past ...how many years... the city of Newton has had a 2 story height requirement for all village centers. The new plans and zoning are to have the villages defined as either small, medium, and large.  Within these new definitions there are things pertaining to the height of buildings, the footprint of buildings, and in turn the density.  West Newton is one of those targeted for "large."  This hasn't been set in stone (yet).  The changes are also being made in conjunction with the new MBTA laws requiring higher density near transit stations.  (Newton Highlands, though, is more on the chart for "medium" or so I've heard.). 

I agree with you completely that "grand" absolutely fits the plans and proposed design for the former bank.  It is going to be designed as a build for rent building (all rentals, like those on Dunstan East or Trio, as I understand) with commercial space on the first floor.  It will be interesting to see the kind of tweeks that have been made. 

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[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

Thanks for that further context, Shari!

Relatedly, I hope that the MBTA will have good things to share with (West) Newton when they release a revised redesigned bus network plan!

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[Sachiko Isihara]

Hello all,

Thank you for those who participated in the community meeting last night--and also for sharing thoughts on this group emai.

As a direct abutter on the street, I believe we need more housing, but it should fit the neighborhood (traffic, parking and aesthetic) are all important.  The green shrubbery will disappear with the Santander project, thus elevating the surface temperature of the entire area.  While I agree that it is important to be informed and make comments here and last night, I would like to emphasize the importance of the community showing up to the actual hearing on October 6th of the Land Use Committee of the City Council.

It is this hearing that puts on public record the neighborhood response to a special permit. Thus, emaiing here does not mean you should skip the October 6th or next Land Use hearing that addresses 1314 Washington St.

Nevertheless, here is a list of issues to bring up.

1) There are too many units to this development.  I would like to see a reduction to 40 units and one less floor in a "stepped" construction.

2) Limit height of the building as it exceeds village center vision for appropriate sized buildings.  In the Washington St Vision plan, it says clearly "boxy" construction is not desirable by Newton residents. The Village Center plans (now on display at the Newton Free Library) places a 5 story building on top of mine and two other residences on the street.

3) wider sidewalks for ease of pedestrian traffic on Davis Street, perhaps even a bike lane and parking spaces striped on the street.

4) outdoor public gathering spaces 

5) greenery - live plants/trees/shrubs of any kind in order to reduce surface temperature.  Also note that FUUSN is replacing their greenery with a 27 space parking lot also eliminating more green space

6) proper landscape screening to neighboring residences--the proposed "trees" on his landscape plan are being planted on City owned property.  All projects are supposed to provide landscaping on their own project property.

7) proper screening of dumpster--we know that rats are an issue in West Newton: we must continue to look at this and to consider impact of smelly dumpsters.How will waste management services access them and at what time of day?

8) public access to parking, i.e. off hours use of the restaurant surface parking when it is closed. I am sure preschool parents will appreciate access to surface parking for morning drop off.

9) appropriate Traffic Management Plan for employees, leasing agents, maintenance workers

10) appropriate Construction Management Plan, including community liaison to contact with issues

11) Mark Development is requesting a waiver of 115 parking spaces according to the current zoning code. With the new code, there is a clause of 1 space for 1 apartment which would make the waiver no longer necessary. We as voters, have not yet approved the 

new zoning code, yet this project assumes that this new code will go through and thus feel entitled to the waiver of the 115 parking spaces.

The exterior renderings are not in proportion to the actual site.  If you look at the drawing on the notice for tonight's meeting, there appears to be room for outdoor tables at the top of the front exterior staircase. (This is the grade difference mentioned in #1 above). 

Sachiko Isihara

15 Davis St

[Michael Halle]

Sachiko mentions many well considered points that directly impact her as an abutter. 

I wanted to mention two.

> "There are too many units to this development.  I would like to see a reduction to 40 units and one less floor in a "stepped" construction.”

I don’t understand how significant a difference this change would make. From a traffic point of view, the residential spaces produce very few trips relative the the commercial spaces in the development and around West Newton. The difference of ten units once you already have the development in place seems minimal to me. I don’t see it blocking sight lines or shadows if it is stepped back appropriately.

I’ve claimed before, and continue to believe, that the exact height of buildings is far less of an issue in practice than it is in theory. People on the street for the most part can’t see the upper stories of buildings, and there’s variation between floor heights. (I completely acknowledge that abutters have a different view of buildings.)

> Mark Development is requesting a waiver of 115 parking spaces according to the current zoning code. With the new code, there is a clause of 1 space for 1 apartment which would make the waiver no longer necessary. We as voters, have not yet approved the 

new zoning code, yet this project assumes that this new code will go through and thus feel entitled to the waiver of the 115 parking spaces.

No one benefits from building too much assigned residential parking. Too much parking means either expensive empty spaces or “induced demand” (people moving in who own more cars, thus creating incrementally more trips to the site). We have some experience now with Trio and Austin St. about what kind of parking requirements are reasonable. Newton currently requires, I believe, two spaces per unit, which is where the waiver number comes from. That’s far higher than demand indicates either here or most places in the metro area.

A recent Metro Area Planning Council report shows just how much extra parking is built in the Boston area: https://perfectfitparking.mapc.org/  

The commercial parking for the restaurant is a separate facility and a separate issue. 

For my part, I would love to see Davis St. look much better than it does. Many of  trees on the pike side seem to be volunteers, many dead or dying: https://goo.gl/maps/GezgPr21KtoveTWL9. Now it’s a cut-through, a parking lot, and a construction staging area. It would be nice to see it improved and traffic calmed, although the police may have some opinions on that.

I appreciate the 

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[Michael Halle]

The Mark Development discussion brought this article to mind. It discusses characteristics of successful human scale cities, what makes them work, and how those properties play into regulation and planning. It’s opinionated but well reasoned and illustrated.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/10/31/we-regulate-the-wrong-things

—Mike

[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

Yes, relatedly, I've read elsewhere about the need for Northern rust belt cities to be planning as if they were Southern sun belt cities during the summer months because of global warming.

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[Lynne LeBlanc]

Interesting article, Michael, as it has lots to work with. 

An important question becomes how do we encourage Councilors and Boards to not take only the desires of developers in mind (both urban developers, urban planners, and real estate developers), but residents who actually live in the neighborhoods.

Working with residents instead of seeing us as constant adversaries would go a long way to ease tensions and unproductive rivalries. Training in this regard would be most welcome for many of Newton's City Councilors. Do you know if there is such a thing?

Lynne

On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 5:21 PM Michael Halle <m...@halle.us> wrote:

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Lynne LeBlanc
43 Brookdale Rd.
Newton, MA 02460
617.510.8032 (c)
LynneL...@gmail.com

[didi_614]

Thanks Lynne

Very well Said - It would be a novelty if they thought about the residents who are impacted by these developments.  Especially when they are being put in one area of the city.

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[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

It's important context though that it was a deliberate choice for decades by us, our neighbors elsewhere among Newton's villages, and our elected officials to only allow density in certain parts of the city:

• Static Newton Zoning Map (https://www.newtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/27803/637938290246630000)
• Interactive Newton Zoning Map (http://newtonmagis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=77b8d39bce234410adf15f25202b85c3)

Hence the ongoing re-evaluation effort that Councillor Malakie highlighted in the previous thread (https://www.newtonma.gov/government/planning/village-centers).

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/westnewtonneighborhood/2005103180.1983519.1662844627651%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Michael Halle]

I would suggest talking to our Community Engagement Planner, Nevena Pilipovic-Wengler. She's responsible for the latest round of community outreach work, with the vision kits and interactive questionnaires. She's really sharp and ever-interested in how to better reach people and gain from their ideas and experience.

-Mike

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From: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Lynne LeBlanc <lynnel...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2022, 5:08 PM
To: westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com <westnewtonn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [WNewton] "We regulate the wrong things"

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[Damien Croteau-Chonka]

Hi, neighbors, for those that weren't able to attend the meeting, Fig City News has a summary and a link to the presentation:

https://figcitynews.com/2022/09/mark-developments-community-update-on-1314-washington-street/

https://figcitynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/220908_Community-Presentation-1.pdf

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[Jason Harburger]

Thanks Michael!

I agree that 5 stories does not feel out of place for a busy village center near the commuter rail. I am very ok with the spirit of this mixed-use proposal as a way to enhance our village center with housing near transit, increased commercial activity, and investment in nearby parks. 

-Jason 

On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 5:13 PM Michael Halle <m...@halle.us> wrote:

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