The long-embattled Newton Centre Plaza will die on Halloween.

The pilot initiated by Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in 2024, which took two dozen parking spaces from the Langley Street Parking Lot, was extended by the Traffic Council and is set to expire at the end of October. That means this Saturday.

“We are going to start the process of removing the plaza as soon as we can,” Newton Chief Operating Officer Josh Morse said to a crowd gathered in the city’s 1294 Centre St. building Thursday night. “It’s going to take some time. There’s a lot of material there.”

While parking spaces will return, there will be a hole left where, for nearly two years, family and friends had gathered to relax, socialize and be present in the heart of one of the city’s economic engines.

That’s what Thursday’s community meeting was about. What kind of gathering space can come next—another plaza on the parking lot, a seating area on the Green, or something else—that will serve as a public connection space surrounded by local businesses in Newton Centre?

The answers vary.

The plaza took 24 parking spaces from Newton Centre, and it added spaces elsewhere in the area to offset that loss. Now, those 24 parking spaces are set to return.

Supporters of the plaza point to its use in spring and summer as a gathering space for family and friends and a launch spot for shopping in the village center’s many businesses. Opponents point to the parking shortage that cripples that same village center throughout much of every weekday.

“I think all of the business owners agree that a gathering space in Newton Centre can help support their businesses,” Economic Development Director Lauren Berman said. “They may disagree as to whether it should be on the Green or whether it should be in the parking lot, and whether the current location is taking up spots that some businesses feel are needed.”

Mary Cotton, who owns Newtonville Books, which sits right next to the Langley lot, has hosted several events on the Newton Centre Plaza. But the biggest complaint she hears from her customers is that there is not enough parking. And cars have to maneuver with a dead-end in one of the parking lot’s rows, which is dangerous.

“Last Christmas, it was rough,” Cotton said.

Several noted that during much of the year, the plaza is not in use, but those parking spots are valuable year-round.

“It’s cool, and I think it has a lot of cool things, but it’s often empty,” Cotton said. “And we see that sitting empty, while we have people complaining, and when you go to the Facebook groups there are people complaining about parking in Newton Centre.”

There is a working group that meets regularly and is tasked with coming up with concepts for a new gathering space in Newton Centre, Community Services Chief John Rice said.

“So the goal is actually trying to make it work, and that’s why we want to have these community meetings,” Rice said. “We’re trying to figure out what people enjoy about the existing plaza and what people are looking for in a community space.”

Some have suggested the city build a new gathering area on the Green. That would present accessibility issues, as one woman at the meeting—who was there with a family member in a wheelchair—pointed out. People with mobility issues would be confined to the paved pathways on the Green and would be separated from their groups.

Others suggested putting a gathering plaza on the park behind Mason-Rice Elementary School, but then others said that would be too far from the village center businesses.

Gloria Gavris, Spark Newton board chair, said that while her organization has had success with events on the plaza in both winter and summer, she is concerned about the lack of parking for nearby businesses. She wants to see a gathering space, even if it’s on the Green, that helps Newton’s business and arts communities together.

“If I were to have a wish list, and I think that’s what we’re talking about tonight, I would like sufficient electricity so that we can program music and events,” Gavris said. “I’d like some sort of raised platform, so our artists and musicians are not perhaps sitting or standing in mud or snow and slush performing, and also that could be used for the protests and public gatherings on the village green to have our speakers speak with a microphone as well.”

Coming from the complete opposite direction, Lindsey Gulden said she thinks the village center has too much parking and liked that the plaza took some of the parking away.

“That is the core of Newton, where we literally cover it with asphalt, and that seems a bit of a waste,” Gulden said, suggesting the city add parking near the fire station instead. “I think setting aside a large public lot for private cars is a waste of common space. And I think if we had more viable places where families could come, take advantage of the Newton Centre businesses, hang out, we would actually increase traffic and increase business.”

Mike Halligan said that he was disappointed that Morse and Rice didn’t bring data showing how much the plaza was used and how much it drove people to nearby businesses.

“And honestly, the fact that we’re having this discussion now rather than in the summer or two months ago means that continuity that you said was really important—‘We have this thing, and we’re going to keep it because we value it, and here’s its transition,’—was kind of lost.”