The League of Women Voters, along with a number of co-sponsors, including Newton Villages, is bringing us an evening of deep insight on what works for transportation in Newton and what we can do to improve it. We owe LWVN a debt of gratitude for bringing this forum together.

It will include some of the biggest names in transportation planning and thinking in Greater Boston. If you’re wondering about what’s next for pedestrian connectivity, bike lanes, transit, and traffic management, you need to be at this forum.  It’s in the Druker Auditorium at the Newton Free Library on Tuesday, November 29th, at 7 pm.

The full flyer is here.

It’s a simple fact: Restaurants and pubs in our city’s village centers need seats for their customers.

For these business owners, each seat means revenue. Unfortunately, as we’ve written before, our antiquated city’s zoning laws restrict restaurant seating based on the availability of off-street parking, an approach that (1) does not work well in village centers where off-street parking may not exist, and (2) places an unfair burden on restaurants. Banks get off comparatively easy.

Background: Four reasons these parking requirements need updating.

In 2010, aldermen have approved “parking waivers” for Panera Bread, Bill’s Pizza, b street (formerly Pie), and the Deluxe Station Diner in Newton Centre, and for Lumiere in West Newton — a tacit acknowledgment that seating restrictions on village center restaurants are not in the city’s best interest.

At a public hearing scheduled for January 11, 2011, representatives of West Newton’s Cherry Tree Pub will present their case for increasing the pub’s number of seats from 48 to 76, which will require 16 of the 24 aldermen to vote in support of a “parking waiver” of three spaces.

To show your support for our village center restaurants, please consider writing to your aldermen, come the the public hearing in January, or at least stop by the Cherry Tree and hoist a pint.

While ongoing political and citizen efforts to make Newton pedestrians safer this winter chart an uncertain course, as reported in the Newton Tab, we share good news.

In response to the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) formed by Mayor Setti Warren this summer, the mayor last month issued his response to the committee’s final recommendations.

Better yet, small groups of TAC volunteers continue working on solutions to parking, traffic, and pedestrian safety and connectivity. One group is discussing “urban fabric,” the physical form of the city which shapes how we occupy and move around in the city.
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Design of the mixed-use building by Newton-based Architects2, http://architects2boston.com/.

The big news this week has been the redevelopment of the vacant Omni Foods site on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. That project, by Newton-based New England Development, has met with both begrudging approval and outright opposition, which you may have already read about in the Newton Tab, Newton Patch, and Newton Streets and Sidewalks.

Meanwhile, in Nonantum, a small, mixed-use development promises to bring five two-bedroom housing units, new retail space, and parking spaces into the village center. This project will take the place of a single-family house on Adams Street, just off Watertown Street.

This is exactly the kind of development recommended in Newton’s Comprehensive Plan. It will enable residents to walk to nearby shops, restaurants, and public transportation. Having more residents living in village centers, as the plan states, “would likely expand the available range of goods and services offered there. It would also increase the stock of affordable housing located close to employment centers and public transportation.” [Read more →]

The eight aldermen on Newton’s Land Use committee tonight voted unanimously to support the expansion of Bill’s Pizzeria. As reported earlier, the Newton Centre restaurant would need a parking waiver to increase its seating. The full Board of Aldermen may vote as early as Dec. 6 whether to grant the restaurant the 24 additional seats it’s requesting.

Newton Centre landmark Bill’s Pizzeria wants to add 24 more seats for patrons, but, before the village business can expand, it awaits the approval of the city’s aldermen.

In earlier posts, we’ve written about the city’s antiquated zoning ordinances – and why they need updating. Newton requires every restaurant to provide one off-street parking space for every three seats. If no off-street parking is available — as is often the case in village centers — restaurants must seek relief through parking waivers and a special permitting.
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