Newton’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) signaled it would vote against a controversial housing development planned for Washington Street Monday night.
“What we have in front of us is a project that will do harm to the neighbors and we can’t really endorse that, if the applicant will not provide us with additional evidence to show that, in fact, there will not be harm to the neighbors,” ZBA member Elizabeth Sweet said.
Neighbors are concerned the project would worsen existing flooding issues in the neighborhood.
The board, which interprets and enforces Newton’s laws on where and how developments can be built, tabled the issue for its next meeting after one member motioned to deny the developer’s appeal.
TusNua LLC, the developers of the project, applied for a comprehensive permit for the Washington Street building, which would allow them to construct a larger building than is usually permitted under local zoning.
Per state law, the ZBA is considering the permit because at least 20 percent of the development is reserved for affordable housing.
41 Washington Street falls in a single-residence zoning district, which means that normally only single-family homes are allowed to be built. The proposed development would consist of 16 housing units, four of which would qualify as affordable housing.
Neighbors of the Washington Street property have pushed against the development since its proposal last September, creating a petition with 237 signatures.
Marshall Goldstein, who lives on Washington Street, said his home has already been damaged by water despite taking precautions.
“In today’s dollars, we probably have spent $100,000 remediating water problems,” Goldstein said. “We already had a sump pump when I bought the house. We already had French drains, and yet we had enough water that one of our walls up above the basement collapsed.”
Some residents are frustrated the developer hasn’t done water analysis that would show the potential impact of the construction.
“Even if it’s not legal, that they have to do a mounting analysis, it’s the right thing to do so that we know that our houses and our families are protected,” said Jodi Vito, who lives off Washington Street.
The groundwater analysis is not required by law, but it would help to determine the risk of flooding in the neighborhood, according to Jonas Procton, an engineer from Horsley Witten Group.
“Engineering prudence would say we’re aware that there’s already an issue related to stormwater, whether it is surface runoff or groundwater runoff related,” Procton said. “So further analysis needs to be done to make sure that the design is not causing, you know, an existing issue to worsen.”
Alison Leary, Ward 1 councilor-at-large, also warned that with worsening storms due to climate change, the neighborhood faces a greater risk of flooding.
“The storms coming toward us now, they’re much more—you see much, much harder storms with much more rain, much more precipitation,” Leary said. “It’s a real threat.”
Brooke Lipsitt, the vice-chairperson of the board, moved to deny the appeal.
“I move denial of this, with regret,” Lipsitt said.
Lipsitt withdrew her motion after the group agreed to table the topic until a future meeting, when the ZBA will propose a written denial on which to base a final decision, according to Michael Rossi, the chair of the board.
All five members of the board present, however, said they would vote against permitting the project.
“I have supported, likely, 10,000 units of affordable housing in my career,” ZBA member William McLaughlin said. “I’ve never felt as negative about a proposal as I do about this one.”
