Mormon Church Starts To Develop Carlson Ave Woods In Newton

NEWTON, MA — After three years of planning and back and forth, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Morman Church, started clearing trees Wednesday on a 5.5-acre parcel of land along Carlson Avenue to make way for a church meeting house and 210 spot parking lot.

The church bought the forested area in 2017 on Mount Ida College’s campus before the school was taken over by UMass. And at the time, groups from Save Carlson Ave. Woods! to Green Students Movement popped up to fight the development along with a second separate proposal to build eight homes, as development that would destroy habitat and cause flooding and traffic. In 2018, the second, bigger project was stopped, and groups claimed victory. But the process to build a meeting house plugged on quietly with plans to begin construction in 2019.

Now, as the trees are taken down in the wooded area, some young neighbors are saying they did not receive enough notification.

The Mormon Church’s plans

With church facilities in Belmont at capacity, the group had been looking for new space when they landed on Newton in 2017. The plan is to build a 19,000 square foot meeting house, a 210 space parking lot, on the 5.5 acre plot at 70 Carlson Ave, by next summer.

The city mandated process required the planning department sponsor a neighborhood meeting on the project. It was held in city hall last year, weeks after the church held its own pre-meeting with the neighbors to get input.

According to John Bezzant, project manager with church’s facilities department, all the abutters were notified.

"It was very well attended. We presented the details of the project, answered questions and took suggestions," he told Patch. "The project was revised to address comments and concerns."

The city then issued a report on the project, meeting comments and how the group addressed them. Then per the city process, the group submitted its building permit application this past spring.

On July 28, the city issued a construction permit.

Three days later on July 31, the general contractor sent a letter to the neighbors to let them know the project had the green light and would begin the first week of August.

The project meets the requirements of city zoning such as setbacks, heights, open space, landscape buffers, with the exception of a couple of waivers, according to Bezzant. One of the exceptions was that the group got permission to have lower light levels in the parking lot. Because there were no variances needed, there were no more public hearings required.

"Going forward, the contractor is trying to be very conscientious about the site disturbance. We’re sorry for the noise of the tree clearing," said Bezzant. "It won’t last long and is over with first."

The project is expected to be finished next summer, he said.

"We’ll try to be sensitive to neighbors’ concerns," Bezzant. "The site superintendent is happy to talk with neighbors as they walk past or over their back wall. We look forward to good and long lasting relationships with the neighbors."

Pushback
In 2018, the process garnered much attention and neighbors said they were vocal. The latest development has caught at least a few of them off guard.

"Neighbors suddenly received the ... letter informing them of the construction," said Nolan a member of a student-led environmentalist coalition called the Green Students Movement.

The students said after hearing nothing for more than a year, it came as a surprise and are calling foul and saying they didn't feel like the church listened to their issues the first time around.

"In order to avoid the scrutiny that they faced in 2018, the church is undergoing this process as under-the-radar as possible - there has been literally zero media coverage since 2018," said the representative.

The group said they contacted the Ward 8 city councilors to see if there's anything left to be done.

"Our main goal for the forest was to spread publicity and get people aware of what the church is doing," they told Patch in an email.

But, the church said it has followed protocol and city requirements.

Bezzant said they addressed questions and concerns in 2018 about landscape screening, hours of operation, exterior lighting, intensity of use and storm runoff.

"Explanation of the design satisfied most questions and concerns," he said. "We added gates to the parking lot to control off hours access, added motion sensors to the parking lot lights so they weren’t on except when needed and increased the capacity of the retention basin."

There's a wetland buffer along the north side of Carlson Avenue and the Conservation Commission has issued an Order of Conditions pursuant to the Wetlands Protection Act, in an effort to protect that. The church will also have to replace trees it cuts down.

Also in 2018, Mount Ida was slated to sell eight other parcels of land. But after UMass announced it was acquiring the college, plans to develop that land ended.

Read more about the Save Carslon Ave. Woods! group. See the 2017 Mormon Church’s plans, including the 100′ wetland buffer, at NewtonMA.gov.

Got a tip? Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, a column, event or opinion piece.