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Today’s newsletter is a simple roundup of a number of upcoming or ongoing community events and public input opportunities, including a study on future connection opportunities for the Newton Upper Falls Greenway into Needham, a 5-year master plan for bike/pedestrian networks in Newton, and the Countryside Elementary School reconstruction project. But first, a few quick reminders…
I was glad to see so many people at Newton’s Earth Day fair at City Hall this past weekend, even if the rain pushed it inside. Don’t forget to sign up for a NewtonServes volunteer project on May 7. Waban Village Day is just ahead on May 21, but the day before (May 20) will be the first day of the Newton Community Farm Seedling Sale (noon-3) and DPW Day at City Hall. (And if you can’t make it to the Seedling Sale or just want to learn more about the farm, check out their open house on May 6 from 4-6 PM at 303 Nahanton St in Ward 8.) Newton Highlands Village Day will follow in quick succession on June 11.
If you are someone who uses a landscaping service with leaf blowers, the seasonal rules for those will kick in after Memorial Day in just a few weeks. Enforcement of violations by those companies has gone way up, including a large number of fines, but compliance has never been easier. As a property owner, you just need to make sure your contractors are on the approved compliance list, so that you are not held responsible if they violate the rules. The 2023 list is already available at the preceding link from our Department of Inspectional Services.
I'll have more to say in a future newsletter about the latest Village Center and MBTA Communities zoning redesign proposals, but in the meantime you can read the revised proposed category definitions and check out the maps for Version 2.0 in last week's Planning Staff memo to the City Council. (It was discussed in more depth at the April 24, 2023 meeting of the Zoning & Planning Committee.) The latest proposal is still a draft, and many Councilors have further revisions they would like to see, but this version would apparently get us into compliance with state law requiring new residential zoning near transit stations. And it has enough wiggle room that we can still meet our requirements, even if we have to make more changes in the next version in response to public feedback.
Another note in passing before we get into the heart of the updates below: I know many residents got a lot of value over my live tweets about City Council meeting agendas and discussions. Unfortunately I did stop posting those back in November, and I’m probably not going to bring them back. The site has gotten much less usable under new management, a lot of longtime users left the platform in response, and I couldn’t justify putting in the effort there anymore. It has made it a bit harder to pull together newsletters as well, since those short tweets often formed the foundation of a longer writeup. On the other hand, I’m sure some people are just as happy to hear that I’ve stopped tweeting!
Newton/Needham Greenway Connection Study: Community Input by April 30
A message from Newton’s Director of Transportation:
Help plan a future path connecting Newton and Needham!
The City of Newton and Town of Needham are working together to study the future use of the former railroad corridor (the Charles River Branch) that historically connected the two communities. We are looking for your input! See this page to learn more, or read on.
Recreating a connection is a long-term interest and effort. The possibility of a shared-use path would extend the Upper Falls Greenway across the Charles River, across I-95/128, and along the former railroad right of way to Webster Street in Needham Heights. This project is still in the preliminary stages and has not yet been planned, designed, or funded.
To assist with planning, the municipalities received state funding to conduct a feasibility study, which will include a technical analysis, a survey, and two community meetings to describe the project and hear from the public.
The municipalities are considering whether this would be a path for cyclists, pedestrians and similar uses, or if it would also provide public transportation with electric shuttle buses.
Follow this link for more information, including details on community meetings on April 18 and April 26, and to participate in a community survey until April 30.
Thanks for your participation!
Public Input Requested by May 8 on Bike/Pedestrian 5-Year Plan
A message from Safe Routes to School and from Newton’s Director of Transportation
Newton is in the process of developing our first Bike/Ped Plan, which will lay out the steps for the next five years. PLEASE thoughtfully fill out the tool and ask all your friends, neighbors and acquaintances to do the same. Kids can, too! Feedback using the online tool is due by May 8. This is a plan for us, Newton residents (and those who bike/walk/roll in Newton), so we need everyone's ideas and concerns to be heard now!
Do you walk, roll or bike in Newton? Would you like to do so more than you do now? Please add your voice to the Bicycle/Pedestrian Network Plan by Monday, May 8! We need to know where you want to bike, walk, or use an assistive mobility device, and what challenges you face in doing so. This information will help planners prioritize the routes where we need to make walking, rolling and biking more safe, convenient and enjoyable for all who live and work in Newton.
There are three ways to participate by May 8:
Use the map tool on the web site (desktop computer recommended): link
Complete this survey: link
Send an email to bikepedplan@newtonma.gov that answers the questions in the survey.
The City and its consulting partner will use this public input to recommend priorities to improve to our sidewalks, trails and cycling routes, and will share our progress at upcoming public meetings. To learn more about the study, visit newtonma.gov/bikepedplan.
Summary of Latest Decisions on Countryside Elementary School Project
A detailed update from earlier in April from Newton’s Public Buildings Commissioner Josh Morse, for those who are interested in tracking that project after the recent debt exclusion vote:
The Countryside School Project started in April of 2021 with an invitation from the MSBA to the Eligibility Phase of the grant program. In December of 2021 he MSBA invited the Project to partner in the development of a Feasibility Study and the Countryside School Building Committee, CSBC was formed. Over the past 15 months and 50 meetings, we have completed a significant amount of work. We started with a big push to make the school community and neighborhood aware of the project through direct certified mailing, social media, email, and through a variety of Newton Public Schools communication streams.
We have met monthly with the CSBC, Design Review Committee, DRC, and community monthly since the project began. Our meetings have been well attended, and everyone has an equal seat at the virtual table which has fostered a healthy, productive, and efficient dialog that has allowed us to move swiftly through the feasibility phase.
We met early and often with the Countryside School staff for both project updates and productive staff visioning sessions where the educators helped shape the future for the Countryside School Project.
We updated and established our educational program to help us fully understand what the Countryside School Project must deliver, and in January we submitted the Preliminary Design Program to the MSBA.
We established our design enrollment and space summary based on current and projected Countryside student enrollment and the Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA, space guidelines. This helped us determine the size of the building and land area needed to support the Countryside School Project.
We then started our site search process by establishing the criteria for the evaluation of the various sites. The criteria were not surprisingly very similar to the criteria we’ve used over the past decade on a variety of school projects. We then evaluated close to 150 sites throughout Newton. Out of those sites, there were only a small handful within the Countryside School district, which were all either parks or sites currently used for other municipal purposes, and which were also on the very outer edges of the district and cost prohibitive to redevelop. Therefore, the recommendation was that the current Countryside School site remain the site for the school project.
While all the work above was being completed, our project team has been hard at work analyzing and evaluating the existing conditions of the current Countryside School site. This included borings, test pits, wetlands and site surveys, and much more.
With the adjacent wetlands, brook, and existing floodplain, we looked hard at the water table, stormwater, and site to ensure that we were as informed as possible with regards to the siting of the new facility. We received a report from Horsley Witten, an incredible civil engineering firm that specializes in working in and around flood plains. They have proven and explained that the Countryside site is undeniably viable, and that the proposed siting and elevation of the new building will sit above the 500-year flood plain. They also explained that we will at a minimum maintain as much flood storage capacity as exists today, and possibly increase the flood storage capacity in the end. Through the use of porous asphalt, bioswales, rain gardens, and other stormwater mitigation efforts, we will have a very positive impact on the site and the neighborhood. To hear directly from the professionals at Horsley Witten, please click here, and to read their summary report you can click here.
With the current site identified as the preferred location for the Countryside School Project, and understanding that we had a very viable site, we began to evaluate various conceptual site options.
Using the same approach used for every large project, we established a criteria matrix to help evaluate various site concepts.
The existing building sits well below the floodplain, and building code requirements do not allow it to remain there. This means that we either must elevate the entire existing building, renovate, and add to it, or we must build a new facility on another portion of the site. The concept of elevating the existing building has been evaluated, and it is not only technically impractical and cost prohibitive, but also yields a vastly inferior finished product.
Of the various new construction options, it became clear quickly that the best option was to build on the northeast portion of the site. Not only does this option elevate the building above the 500-year floodplain, but it allows for an optimal building configuration, site layout, and it affords the possibility of keeping the Countryside School students in the current building while the new school is constructed.
On April 4th, the CSBC and DRC straw voted unanimously to recommend option 6A as the preferred site concept for the Countryside School Project. This vote was a straw vote to ensure that we had an opportunity to present an update to the Public Facilities Committee prior to the formal and official vote of the CSBC on April 25th to submit the Preferred Schematic Report to the MSBA.
In the coming months we will continue to work with the CSBC, DRC, and Community to study, refine, and advance our site plan with the goal of seeking site plan approval of the City Council in the fall.
We are still on track to start construction in the summer of 2025, and complete construction in the summer of 2027. The exact schedule may change as we continue to work with the MSBA and the various stakeholders.