The Tab wrote a nice article the other day about some of the ongoing efforts to bring vitality back to the Village Centers in Newton. Newton Villages continues to work to ensure that these remain good places for our community to come together, to eat, to play, to shop. We want to see them thrive for the long term.

We know that there are concerns that people no longer value our downtowns.  Or rather, people appreciate that the centers are there.   But instead of going to the Village Centers we shop online and stay in our own homes for entertainment.

We feel differently.  We believe that people will support the Village Centers if we bring in (and hold onto) interesting shops and restaurants.  We also feel that our hectic times require us to come together as a community, and that we need places that help make this happen, and help to maintain Newton’s identity.

Moreover, we think that – if we nurture them appropriately – our Village Centers are sustainable, can keep themselves going, and can continue to contribute to civic life.  Yes, the Centers need to adapt to changing times, but there is a strong future for them – and for our enjoyment of them – if we choose to make the investment.
Read the full Tab article here.

Want a chance to weigh in on future development in the City? The Newton Zoning Reform Group will be holding its second and final public meeting on Thursday, November 3.

The ZRG was appointed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen and includes working groups which have examined how well the City’s current zoning ordinance and process support the goals put forth in the 2007 Comprehensive Plan

The ZRG’s final report includes:

• A determination of short and long term reform objectives
• Research on best practices of communities that have undergone zoning reform
• Lists of potential resources, including funding sources, which may be used to assist the City in the process of revising and adopting the revised ordinances.

Several of the changes under consideration have direct implications for the future development forms for the Village centers and could include recommendations for mixed-use, residential, and parking components in these vital and vibrant areas of the City.

The meeting will take place from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Newton Senior Center in Newtonville.

Elected officials in Winchester are considering compact development in the town’s quaint center to broaden its municipal tax base.

As an article in Sunday’s Boston Globe explains,

With roughly 95 percent of Winchester’s tax base reliant on residential property and no open space for new development, town officials have turned their attention to the underutilized town center.

New development in and around the town’s center might include a mix of new retail, office, and residential space. Winchester garnered more than $150,000 in grant money to study the idea and ways to update its restrictive zoning laws.

Newton is also built up and similarly reliant on its residential tax base. It will be interesting to see what solutions are proposed in Winchester and whether any of them might be applicable to village centers here in the Garden City.

Just like many cities across the country, Newton currently has a good number of vacant storefronts. However, we also have over 80,000 residents who need things and services.

Candy Chang of Civic Center (civiccenter.cc) created a concept that has worked to bring these two concepts together in places like New Orleans and Provo. With support from the Ethnographic Terminalia, thousands of free stickers were made available in businesses and grids of stickers were (and still are) posted on vacant buildings and other underdeveloped areas.

The easy to remove stickers provided an easy way for residents to say what they need and what they would be willing to support. Just fill them out and put them on abandoned buildings and beyond.

While residents’ desires have to be balanced with market reality, the stickers:

• Allow residents to voice their needs and wants for shopping and services in the neighborhood
• Identify any discrepancies between what the market (resident) want and what the regulatory or zoning environment provides
• Give the building owners some ideas of uses that the community might in fact support, giving them the courage to seek out these businesses

See http://civiccenter.cc/i-wish-this-was/ for more details and pictures