Newton’s Planning and Development Board discussed a site plan review for the property at 20 Willow Street in Newton Centre on Monday, revealing the challenge of balancing change and community character as the city looks to expand its housing stock.
Presented on behalf of Founder and Principal Manager of MGD+ LLC, Mariana Dagatti, the petition proposed remodeling the existing building to allow for a three-unit residence, constructing a new three-unit building at the front of the lot, and expanding to six parking and bicycle spaces in the courtyard.
Newton resident MaryLee Belleville expressed her concerns about the unit’s affordability.
“I thought that a real advantage of the last project was that they truly were smaller and then presumably more affordable units,” Belleville said. “I think it’s just too big—smaller units, a little more green space we could get if we get five units in there where the two exist. But I’m not impressed with this.”
Another grievance of the board and neighbors was the issue of maintaining greenery. Min Yang, a neighbor of the property, asked about losing green areas, trying to ensure guidelines were being respected during the reconstruction.
“So, assuming, with the new additions, and specifically the parking areas added to the front of the property, are we going to lose much of the green area?” Yang asked. “I just wanted to bring this up to make sure that we’re in compliance with the ratio.”
The ability of cars to maneuver in the parking lot was another point of contention. There was discussion of how the layout of the lot made for difficulties, and snow would create even more problems for mobility when exiting and entering.
“We’re just eyeballing the parking situation, but to just look at it, it really looks impossible,” said Planning and Development Board Member Kenneth Gould. “To get out, they would have to back up and back down the driveway. They’ll be unable, given the configuration, to go out facing forward.”
To address greenery, a condition was put in place that the applicant must submit a detailed landscaping plan for the board’s approval, allowing for temporary approval of the Site Plan Review, explained Planning and Development Board Member Peter Doeringer.
“I think that should say satisfactory, conditional public submission of a satisfactory landscaping plan,” Doeringer said.
Vice Chair of the Planning and Development Board, Edward Dailey, reiterated that the main goal of approving the plan is housing, acknowledging that there are tradeoffs and concerns that are bound to arise.
“The objective here of the ordinance is housing,” Dailey said. “We are applying an ordinance that is intended to increase housing in Newton and necessarily density, and that has trade-offs, and they’re certainly apparent here.”
