At a special meeting tonight, Newton’s Real Property Reuse Committee will vote whether to declare the Austin Street municipal parking lot in Newtonville surplus.

The vote is the sixth of some 13 steps the city must take if it wishes to make the property available for redevelopment. At the end of the process, the property could be put up for sale or leased to a developer.

The Austin Street lot, situated across the street from the Newtonville Shaw’s, measures just between 60,000 and 75,000 square feet of land and currently houses 85 parking spaces. According to the city and recent studies by citizen volunteers who formed the Housing Plan Initiative (HAPI), the lot is underutilized. [Read more →]

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.
[Read more →]

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 →]

In a post from September, we posed the question, “And just what does ‘smart growth’ mean, and how does it apply to Newton?”

Yesterday, on Switchboard, the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Kaid Benfield suggests the definition of “smart growth” needs updating. The original definition, he says, crafted more than a decade ago, falls short in these areas: [Read more →]

Detail from the MIT report

Imagine a day — OK, years from now — when you could stroll down Needham Street among three- or four-story buildings filled with condos, offices, restaurants, and small retail shops. You might even bicycle along recreational pathways.

These are just a few of the changes envisioned by graduate urban planning students at MIT who presented the findings of their semester-long study of the Needham Street corridor.

Engaged by the city’s Planning and Development department, the students’ goal was not only to envision redevelopment but to recommend implementation strategies to make the plan a reality. [Read more →]

The city’s planning department invites merchants and residents to a community conversation about envisioning the future of Needham Street.

A group of MIT graduate students in the school’s planning program have been working this fall on recommendations about how Needham Street may be improved through future redevelopment.

The group presented its preliminary findings at a well-attended public meeting on Oct. 28. See details from our earlier post.

Open to the public, the final presentation will be given on Thursday, December 2, in the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall. Stop by Room 209 at 6:30pm to see poster displays (and enjoy some refreshments).

The students’ ideas and recommendations — and feedback from merchants and residents — provide valuable direction for the future of the Needham Street corridor. A final report of this project will be published later in December.

All are welcome to join the conversation! If you have questions, contact Amanda Stout in the Department of Planning and Development, 617-796-1127, astout@newtonma.gov.