It’s been several years since the Northland Development first met Newton’s approval process. But a pandemic, construction delays and a change of plans have the project in committee limbo.

So, the local housing advocacy group Newton for Everyone is urging the City Council to get the project approved and asking supporters to do the same.

NFE is asking people to submit letters to the City Council in support of the project, which aims to add more than 822 new apartments (144 of them set as affordable) to Upper Falls.

“It would be a great loss to the community if this transformative project were to be effectively denied by the City Council after all these years!” a message from NFE to the community reads. “Show the City Council there is support for the necessary changes at Northland.”

The Northland project was originally approved by voters in a referendum in 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic—specifically, how it normalized remote work—reshaped the commercial real estate market. Now, office space is out of demand while the need for more housing has spiked.

So, the company announced several months ago that it was seeking changes to the project plan, converting the Saco-Pettee Mill building into 100 housing units instead of offices and cutting five planned small residential buildings while reducing the footprint of two other residential buildings.

The changes, according to the company, will cut the footprint of the buildings by 160,000 square feet, which also means less traffic than the previous version would have brought to Upper Falls.

At recent public hearings, in which the proposed amendments and the dismal office space market were discussed, most speakers seemed to like the revised plan but others had questions and concerns about parking, traffic and other things that come with development.

The next public hearing for Northland is set for April 15.