Newton made significant changes to its zoning laws last year for the first time since 1987 in order to comply with a state transportation law.
But last week, Massachusetts officials pointed out two areas where Newton needed to tweak these changes to be considered compliant with that law. Malden and Everett are the only other two Massachusetts communities to receive the correction, while 33 others’ zoning plans were approved.
The MBTA Communities Act, which Massachusetts passed in 2021, mandates certain cities and towns change their zoning laws to allow more multi-family homes to be built near MBTA stations.
Jennifer Caira, Newton’s deputy director of planning, said she was not surprised the city made mistakes in its zoning overhaul.
“We were focused on the number and meeting our minimum unit capacity, and there were many complex requirements of Section 3A of the MBTA Communities Law,” Caira said. “So we were not necessarily surprised.”
According to the official letter from the state, Newton needs to clarify language regarding the compliance process for buildings constructed prior to the new zoning ordinance and needs to remove the special permit requirements on retaining walls—walls that hold back soil on a slope—over four feet tall.
“So we need to amend those two provisions in the zoning … one of them has to do with when existing buildings are opting in and eventually redeveloping, and the other has to do with retaining walls that may be necessary to get to underground garages,” Caira said. “So two relatively minor technical provisions by the state.”
The provision regarding the opt-in process for pre-existing buildings is an issue of language interpretation, according to Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large John Oliver.
Oliver said the retaining walls provision, however, is a more clear violation of the MBTA Communities Act.
“We dropped the ball on this one,” Oliver said. “The state was very clear that anything that qualifies for MBTA-C compliance has to be allowed by right, and for us to use the word ‘special permit’ in our own language was a mistake that we have to address.”
The retaining wall measure causes issues for use in the construction of underground garages, and restricting their construction could make it difficult for multi-use developments to be built, Caira said.
“When you have a mixed-use building, you often have underground parking and … you often need walls to account for the grading change to get to the underground level, so those walls can be more than four feet,” Caira said. “So that’s the primary concern there, as it may make it difficult to build underground parking without triggering the need for a special permit.”
The purpose of the MBTA Communities Act is to zone for affordable and mixed-use developments by right, which removes the drawn-out deliberative process required when a developer applies for a special permit, according to former city councilor and Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) chair Deborah Crossley.
“[The deliberative process] takes a long time,” Crossley said. “It’s highly staff dependent, draws out the process, and costs the property owner a lot of time and money. And that raises the cost of housing, and that’s a disincentive to build housing.”
But according to Oliver, there are instances in which high retaining walls can be used to construct homes that are significantly taller than the neighboring homes, which he calls toadstool houses.
“They stand out in terms of the scale and character of a neighborhood,” Oliver said.
Oliver said he and other city councilors are trying to find a way to keep restrictions on the height of retaining walls depending on their uses.
“[We’re trying to] figure out, how do we make retaining walls for certain purposes that are considered intensely legitimate underground parking and so on and so forth, without allowing these toadstool houses to be built by right,” said Oliver.
In last year’s city council elections, candidates backed by Save Newton Villages—an organization opposed to the city’s efforts to rezone beyond state requirements—dominated the races.
However, Newton director of planning and development Barney Heath said the change in ZAP’s makeup and leadership wasn’t a problem for the revision process.
“I think that there’s still a pretty solid contingency of counselors that were aware of this and involved in this last year, last term,” Heath said. “They have a good sense of the overall ordinance.”
The City Council will hold public hearings on Nov. 14 to discuss the two modifications to the zoning ordinance. From then, any modifications will have to be approved by ZAP and then the full City Council.
“Hopefully by the end [of] next month, we all have those resolved and can report back to the state,” Caira said.
Leave a Reply