Newton makes it too hard to open a business and too hard to build a house, according to all three Ward 6 at-large City Council candidates at a recent debate hosted by the Charles River Regional Chamber. In the details, however, is where Sean Roche, Lisa Gordon and Ted Gross disagreed.

Businesses need customers to survive. Gross and Gordon both think adequate parking is a crucial concern. “There should be enough parking in the village centers,” said Gross. “We have to remember a lot of our customer base is people from Brookline and Needham and Wellesley,” said Gordon.

Roche, however, took a different tack, saying the current required parking minimums for businesses are hurting them, and the City should instead be focused on building more housing around village centers to increase local foot traffic.

The Newton Centre Plaza project has had mixed reactions, including around parking. Gross felt like the location of it, which removed some easy parking spaces, was a poor choice.

Roche supports it, but thinks it hasn’t been as successful as its proponents claimed–but nor has it been as bad as its detractors anticipated. However, he thinks Newton Centre could use significantly more attention.“It is seven strip malls around a common parking area,” said Roche.

He wants to see more use of the triangle. He thinks Newtonville is a good model, although Gross disagreed with this.

“Newton Centre definitely needed some love,” said Gordon. “I think the roll out wasn’t the best,” she added.

In part, she felt the City didn’t have enough communication with small businesses. This has been a pressing issue in Newton and a frequent refrain among candidates across races: “I also think the City needs to be very thoughtful about doing work on a street. The communication with our business owners could be strengthened,” she said.

This poor communication extends not only to existing businesses, but to those attempting to start one. The regulations around opening a business are incredibly complex. “Right now it’s a maze,” said Roche. Gross praised the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance for always having someone available to explain requirements to candidates, and wants City Hall to have more staff to help businesses.

This government maze also creates issues with housing, another crucial economic issue in Newton. The special permit process, in particular, creates numerous delays. Roche noted that the permitting process is so slow that by the time a building is finally approved, the developer may no longer be able to secure financing. He said that the City needs to make it financially viable to build housing other than the most expensive kinds, which they can do by reducing the regulatory burdens. He wants to see more kinds of housing available, not just expensive ones.

Gross also expressed frustration over developers tearing down small houses to build large houses, and he also thinks they should be expected to make the old house’s building material available to be reused for new housing.

“Out migration is a problem for a whole host of reasons,” said Roche. “We need more homes and more different types of homes,” he added. He thinks Newton needs more options for young adults, young families, and seniors, including having more buildings with elevators for seniors.

“I think we need more housing for the unhoused or people who cannot afford housing,” said Gordon. She sees it as a positive development that there have been numerous new projects approved. “I would like to see our teachers and our people who work in Newton be able to live in Newton,” she added. All three supported allowing existing single family homes to be converted into duplexes and triplexes.

Gordon also thinks that commercial space is important, and that Newton needs to remember that businesses are connected. If an office building of doctors and lawyers is replaced by housing, the dry cleaner down the street starts to struggle.

Gordon said she is no longer as vehemently opposed to marijuana dispensaries as she previously was, although she is still frustrated by what she sees as a lack of democratic process in allowing dispensaries. Both Roche and Gross think their presence in Newton is fine.

The candidates were ambivalent on tax breaks to incentivize large companies to move into or stay in Newton. Gordon suggested that Newton should start asking large companies why they choose to move to other communities, as opposed to assuming the reasons. Roche thinks Newton should stop subsidizing private golf courses, which would potentially free up that land for large commercial development.