ZoningMap

Map of village center zoning ordinance Newton's City Council passed on Dec. 4. Red represents Vc3 (highest density zoning), blue represents VC2 (medium density) and green represents MRT (lower density near residential neighborhoods). City of Newton

In December 2023, the City Council passed a zoning overhaul—the Village Center Overlay District—to bring new life to six of Newton’s villages while bringing the city into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.

Opponents of the plan warned that it would open the floodgates for developers waiting to fill the village centers with largescale housing complexes.

That does not seem to have happened. The city rezoned for up to 8,339 new housing units, and so far only one new housing unit has been created.

At a recent presentation to the Zoning and Planning Committee, Deputy Planning Director Jennifer Caira went through several statistics on how the VCOD has done in its first year as the law of the land.

It’s important to note that property owners may stay with the old zoning rules or opt into the VCOD.

What could be keeping developers from opting into the VCOD? Caution, possibly.

“This is still somewhat new,” Caira said, adding that some projects were already planned when VCOD took effect and that a lot of developers don’t want to be the first in a new zoning system.

The controversy around the VCOD battle of 2023 may also affect participation, Caira said.

“I guess some are reluctant to utilize it,” she said. “They want to be a good neighbor, and they think people don’t want to see this.”

By the numbers

Of the 963 parcels included in the VCOD, only five have been permitted for development under the new VCOD (three residential properties, one commercial property).

One new housing unit has been created, and eight new units are currently in the permitting process. And there are around 40 more potential units coming that are still so early in the process they’re merely conceptual.

Caira showed the committee several properties that had gone through the VCOD permitting, including the first of those residential properties to get VCOD approval—a lot on Chase Street in Newton Centre that’s being split into two lots with two units on each lot—to give the committee an idea of what kind of permits are being sought.

The two commercial permits include one for the plaza at 759-759 Beacon St., where Coco Ramen and Peterson’s Jewelry are. And don’t expect to see any new housing on that lot, because their opt-in to VCOD was about parking.

“They weren’t doing any other exterior work—no additions or anything like that—and no new businesses are coming in,” Caira explained. “But this gave them some more flexibility around seating because they wouldn’t be subject to parking requirements and otherwise would have needed to come get a special permit for the parking waiver.”

The other commercial VCOD permit was for a property at 2-8 Hartford St. in Newton Highlands (where Rox Diner is).

“Again, no exterior work but it allowed for additional seats to be provided and potentially additional staff, because we also tie (non-VCOD) parking requirements to the number of staff,” Caira said.

The biggest VCOD project so far is in Newtonville, on the lot with the Church of the Open Word, across from the soon-to-be-completed Cooper Center for Active Living.

That property is set to have a housing complex built on it with more than 30 units (exact number still to be determined), while the church building is protected because it’s a designated historical landmark. This project hasn’t gotten any permits yet because it’s still under evaluation by the Historic Commission.

Moving forward

How should the city promote participation in the VCOD? Caira suggested the City Council relax zoning restrictions on carriage houses and  allow bigger building footprints in the parts of the village centers in the MR1-zoned areas of the VCOD (between residential neighborhoods and the hearts of the village centers).

So far, 116 communities have agreed to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. WBUR has a color-coded map showing which cities and towns are in compliance, which are not, and which—like Newton—are in “conditional compliance.”

Newton’s “conditional compliance” status relates to a zoning change made last year requiring special permits for retaining walls, and that’s currently being ironed out by the Planning Department and the Zoning and Planning Committee.

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