A plan for four attached single-family homes at 60 Brookside Ave. in West Newton hit a wall of city council opposition on Monday night.

The majority of the councilors voted for the special permits needed to proceed, but the project needed a 16-vote majority instead of the usual simple majority. The vote was 13 in favor, 11 against.

The project had been in committee hearings since last October and has undergone several site plan changes in that time.

There’s currently a two-family building on that site, and the new project was set to put four detached homes there, which saw some pushback from neighbors due to its density and questions around parking.

That density required a special permit, and so did the plan for parking. Parking will be under the buildings, with one at-grade parking stall for deliveries. That means it will need a retaining wall that’s taller than the four feet allowed without a special permit.

To give some perspective: The existing two-family house has 3,272 square feet of floor space. Combined, the new homes would have 9,138 square feet of floor space.

The current owner bought the property last fall for a little more than $1.6 million and then immediately submitted a plan to demolish it and build the four detached single-family homes on the lot.

The item was put up for “second call” at last month’s full City Council meeting, which meant it was to be brought up for a vote. That’s when Block blocked the discussion and vote by utilizing a power in the city’s charter that allows a councilor to delay debate and vote on an item until the following meeting, and that delay doesn’t get voted on.

Block said he was “chartering” the Brookside project discussion to urge his colleagues to watch a Land Use discussion from June about the project before voting on it.

At this week’s meeting, Block threw down some math and called foul on what he said was a step backwards in the fight for affordability.

“I asked a real estate appraiser to assess what these four units will sell for,” Block said. “His answer is between $1.4 and $1.6 million. What is proposed at 60 Brookside is that two housing units of 1,600 square feet that are worth about $800,000 each are to be replaced with four housing units of 2,300 square feet that will each sell for about $1.5 million. These numbers tell an interesting story. This plan will not make Newton more affordable. In fact, it does the opposite. It will make the housing at 60 Brookside more expensive than it is now.”

Councilor Pam Wright said she was voting against it because of opposition from abutters.

“We received a lot of emails. Some supporting the project–some opposing it, some residents who changed their minds, then they changed their minds again,” Wright said. “Last week, I mapped out the emails from the residents who opposed the project. What was striking was that the people who live next to the project or directly across from it were opposed. The support was generally from people further down the street or on other streets who would not experience the immediate impact.”

Wright noted that the project requests “significant” setback requirement waivers–setback requirements deal with how far back from a property line or the street a structure has to be–which made it a nonstarter for her.

Councilor Susan Albright, who voted in favor of the permits, said the project addresses Newton’s housing shortage because it doubles the number of housing units on that site.

“I hope that when push comes to shove, or perhaps when push comes to vote, that we will pass this project because we know that it alone won’t solve the crisis, tt alone won’t make Newton more affordable, but it will be serving as a model for how we can make housing in Newton more affordable.”

Albright addressed Block’s concerns that it will make Newton less affordable because the units will cost $1.6 million by pointing to Newton’s already pricey real estate market.

“That sounds like a lot of money, and I agree it is a lot of mone,y but all the new houses in Newton these days are selling for $4-, $5-, $6 and $7 million, so that is the context of these units.”

Councilor Becky Grossman said she visited that street to get a feel for the neighborhood, and the project’s design won her vote.

“I’ve never had a problem with density of units, but I want it to fit in and be beautiful and have a welcoming feel,” Grossman said. “And sometimes we have projects that come before us and I still think the density is okay, but the design might not be that nice. And in this case, I think the design is really beautiful. And I really do think that it fits in.”

You can watch the entire discussion on NewTV.