Category — All villages

Lincoln Street is transformed for one afternoon each year when Newton Highlands hosts its annual Village Day. This year’s event is scheduled to take place this Sunday with food and retail vendors, rides and entertainment.

Please mark your calendar and keep your fingers crossed for good weather. (It’s been a busy week or we would have posted a note on this event earlier.) And, if you would like to create an event in your neighborhood or village, please read this earlier post.

Also take note: the Hyde Center and the Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council host concerts and movies throughout the summer. Download the schedule (PDF).

At the monthly meeting of the Chestnut Hill Association, WS Development Associates LLC will present its proposal for the demolition and reconstruction of part of the building at 33 Boylston Street.  The proposed new building will include three stories, with new ground floor retail uses, potential second floor office or retail space, and the development company’s corporate offices on the third floor. The developer is also requesting a zoning change because the building will be 50 feet in height.

The meeting will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, June 7th, at the Church of the Redeemer, 379 Hammond Street, in the Parish Hall. For more information, please contact Alexandra Ananth, 617-796-1121, aananth@newtonma.gov.

The Newton Highlands Beautification Committee seeks volunteers to help plant flowers in pots and planters that line the village center’s sidewalks.

If you can make it, join the group on Tuesday, May 31, from 9-11:30am for their annual planting day. Volunteers are asked to meet in front of Bread and Chocolate at 4 Hartford Street and to bring gardening gloves, trowels, neighbors, and friends. Children are welcome. No experience necessary.

Rain Date: Wednesday, June 1.  Questions and to RSVP: Janet Zerlin Fagan, 617-965-9617, jzfagan@aol.com.

The Boston-area’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) will hold its annual meeting in Newton in June.

The keynote speaker is Barbara G. Fields, New England Administrator of the federal Housing and Urban Development Regional Office. The MAPC announcement says she will be discussing “the Obama Administration’s priorities in housing and community economic development, especially as they relate to state and local programs.”

After her presentation, attendees will sort into four breakout discussions on:

• Successes in Multi-Family, Mixed-Use Development
• Regionalization of Housing Services
• Senior and Supportive Housing
• Fair Housing

Among MAPC’s housing goals for the Boston area is for

“18. The region’s seniors will have more housing choices and opportunities to downsize while staying in their own community.”

The meeting will run from 8:30-11:30am on Wednesday, June 1, at the Boston Marriott Newton, 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, in Auburndale. For more information on this meeting and to RSVP, please see MAPC’s event calendar.

5/31 update: This event has been rescheduled for 7pm on Wednesday, June 15.

Newton Mayor Setti Warren is hosting a community coffee for Newton Corner residents and business owners.

The mayor’s office is soliciting input on such questions as:

• How can we improve the quality of life in Newton Corner?
• What changes can we collectively bring about?
• How can you work with your neighbors, businesses and City Hall?

The Newton Corner meeting will be held from 7-8pm on Tuesday, May 31, at the West Suburban YMCA at 276 Church Street.

This is the third community coffee in a series of outreach efforts by the mayor. Earlier meetings have been held in Auburndale and Newtonville.

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This is re-posted from Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition listserv.  Please consider this opportunity to engage and help shape the future of the Riverside Station.

The Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition has been contacted by a representative of the Riverside Station development team. The developer, BH Normandy, is ready to meet with the community and present an updated proposal for the Riverside site. Working with our Ward 4 aldermen, a community meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, June 9th, at 7pm in the Williams School auditorium. Please mark this date on your calendars. More information will be forthcoming.

We have also been informed that the BH Normandy team is close to completing their Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”), and one of the purposes of the meeting is to gain input from the community prior to filing the report.  In basic terms, the purpose of the EIR is to look at the impact of the proposed development on certain items such as traffic, wastewater, air quality, noise and other matters.

We will need the help of residents to review, understand, and provide input for the EIR and we will need that help ASAP. If you have expertise in traffic or environmental issues, or you have outreach skills and are willing to help contact residents, please reply to this message or send an email to RiversideNeighbors@gmail.com.

It will take many residents to help craft a project that works for our neighborhoods, the City, and the developer.