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On Monday Oct 19, the full City Council met to debate the final proposal for the Riverside Station redevelopment. Ultimately, at 11:51 PM, we finished all consideration of amendments, speeches, and so on, and we voted unanimously (24-0) in favor of the proposal, much of which had been negotiated during the previous Council term. Along with 5 years of public outreach and community negotiation, there were 19 public hearings on the proposal!
If you’re familiar with the project proposed, you probably don’t need to read this update, but I worked with Council Vice President and Land Use Chair Rick Lipof to pull together this 1,300-word summary of the process and proposed details of the Riverside project for the benefit of anyone who has not been following it super closely.
The Process
Over the course of the public hearing period, presentations were made by City staff and the City’s on-call consultants, Green International Affiliates, HR & A Advisors, Utile, Form+Place, and The Horsley Witten Group. The Land Use Committee received extensive oral and written comments, testimony, and written reports from the public and various City boards, commissions and departments, including the Planning and Development Department, the Engineering Division, the Fire Department, the Newton Council on Aging, the Commission on Disabilities, the Urban Design Commission, the Economic Development Commission, the Conservation Commission, as well as various public interest groups including the Newton Conservators, Green Newton, Bike Newton, the Riverside Greenway Working Group, the Charles River Watershed Association, the Citizens Commission on Energy, the Lower Falls Improvements Association, and the Transportation Advisory Group.
In addition, the City Council received extensive testimony and written reports from the City’s on‐call consultants on the adequacy of public, including adequacy of road and traffic infrastructure, adequacy of water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure, and net fiscal impact. All testimony, written reports and supplemental materials, as well as public testimony and supplemental materials submitted by the public, are included in the record of the City Council’s proceedings. Following a final presentation by the Petitioner and City staff, as well as public testimony, the Land Use Committee closed the public hearing on October 6, 2020 and voted 8-0 to recommend to the City Council approval of a Special Permit/Site Plan Approval for the Project and adoption of the zone change for 399 Grove Street and portions of 355 Grove Street.
The proposal
The Project will redevelop an existing surface parking lot at 355 Grove Street (the MBTA lot) and 399 Grove Street (currently a hotel) with a new mixed‐use development consisting of not more than 1,025,000 square feet of gross floor area in ten buildings that are designed to maximize the principle of walkability and to create a vibrant, transit‐oriented hub. These buildings would incorporate approximately 254,120 square feet of office, laboratory/research medical office space, approximately 582 dwelling units, approximately 39,014 square feet of retail space, and an approximately 150‐ key hotel, and include accessory surface parking, and a multi‐level parking facility in Buildings 9 and 10 that will provide parking for MBTA patrons and parking for the Project
There is a mass‐transit commuter facility located adjacent to the Development Parcel, and the Development Parcel is proximate to a commuter rail station, and the intersection of I‐95 and I‐90. The Project provides a pedestrian‐oriented development that expands needed housing choices, offers diverse commercial options, and adds public open spaces.
The Development Parcel will be opened for pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic to Newton Lower Falls and Auburndale, and will provide options for residential and commercial uses that will complement the neighborhoods.
Traffic
The Project includes significant ($20 million) transportation planning and mitigation to lessen the traffic impacts of the Project. The Project includes direct access from I‐95 northbound and improvements to Recreation Road to create better vehicle connections within the immediate area. The Petitioner will implement an array of flexible and measurable transportation demand management measures to mitigate the effect of additional traffic on Grove Street. Improvements to Grove Street and Recreation Road are intended to mitigate the impact of the Project and reduce negative impacts on abutters and the surrounding neighborhoods of Newton Lower Falls and Auburndale.
The parking for the Project has been limited to a ratio lower than otherwise required under the Zoning Ordinance. The Project will create protected bicycle facilities and will connect existing recreational trails to enhance non-vehicular access in the surrounding area.
Sustainability
The residential portions of at least three of the residential buildings will achieve Passive House certification, the office building and the hotel will be LEED v.4 Silver certifiable, and all residential buildings will be LEED v.4 Gold for Building Design and Construction Multifamily Midrise certifiable.
Groundwater recharge and water quality discharging into the Charles River will be improved by the installation of a new drainage system and low impact development measures such as permeable paving and pavers, street trees with pits, and a rain garden.
There will be a monetary payment to fund sewer infrastructure and improvements to or a monetary payment for trails or other open space improvements in the vicinity of the Project.
Among other perimeter improvements, there will be a ten‐foot wide two‐way bicycle track along the entire length of the Development Parcel’s Grove Street frontage and continuing from the southerly end of that frontage to the northerly corner of Grove Street and Asheville Road.
Affordability, Housing Production, and the Comprehensive Plan
The Project suits the City’s Comprehensive Plan because it advances the City’s planning goals with respect to smart growth and transit‐oriented development. The provision of a diversity of housing types in the 582 units, 17.5% of which (i.e. over 100 units) are affordable, on underutilized land in close proximity to a variety of transportation modes, supports a variety of lifestyles.
The Petitioner also agreed to absorb the cost of permanently capping the income eligibility for three affordable family units at 50% of the area median income (AMI, as determined by federal metrics), rather than capping it at 80% of AMI. 15% of all the units will be below 80% (or 50% in those specific cases) and 2.5% of the units will be below 110% of AMI to add a bit of more “middle-income” housing stock for rent.
The Project is consistent with the Housing Needs Analysis and Strategic Recommendations, Newton Leads 2040 in that it includes the strategies of pursuing diverse housing choices, including single‐level, elevator‐served residences, providing housing near walkable, transit‐accessible locations, integrating lower‐cost housing into a variety of market areas across the City, and balancing the need for commercial space with housing supply through a mixed‐use project at the site of mass transit.
City Finances
As detailed in the report prepared by Municap on behalf of the Petitioner, which has been reviewed by the City and its peer‐review consultant HR&A Advisors, the Project will have a positive net fiscal impact on the City after accounting for all new tax revenue and expenses related to, but not limited to, school capacity, public safety services, and public infrastructure maintenance.
The Petitioner will be paying for nearly $8 million in mitigation and non-project improvements to infrastructure, the neighborhood, traffic, Williams Elementary School, nearby trail improvements, and bike lane connectors, a pilot shuttle to the Commuter Rail, and more.
Trail improvements
About $3 million in off-site recreational trail improvements and linkages are part of the proposal as approved. (If for some reason, something such as state approvals being stalled prevents these improvements, the Petitioner will be making cash payments to the city instead.)
- “Depot Tunnel Link”: designing and constructing an approximately 8’ wide multiuse recreational trail which links the trail system in Pigeon Hill Park in Newton to the Depot Tunnel Improvements
- “Depot Tunnel Improvements”: design for & construction of improvements to the MBTA‐owned tunnel under the MBTA Worcester Line including structural, surface, safety, and aesthetic improvements.
- “MWRA Path Link”: designing and constructing an approximately 8’ wide multiuse trail which links the proposed 2‐way multiuse path along Recreation Road from its terminus at Riverside Park in Weston under the Recreation Road and Framingham MBTA Commuter Rail Overpasses to the existing paved trail adjacent to the existing MWRA facility.
- “Recreation Road Bridge Approach”: designing and constructing an approximately 8’ wide multiuse trail which links the northern abutment of Bridge No. N‐12‐061 (891) to the proposed 2‐way multiuse path along Recreation Road adjacent to the Project.
- “Pony Truss Trail Link” consists of designing and constructing an approximately 6‐8’ wide recreational trail on a portion of the land owned by DCR which will link the recently restored Pony Truss Trail to the improvements to the Depot Tunnel Link.