Newton City Council Edges Closer To Rezoning City

NEWTON, MA — The city is edging closer to updating the city's zoning ordinance. For the past decade the city has been working on an overhaul of Newton's zoning code: A code that will help lay the ground rules for the future of Newton's housing and development, and affordability.

It's a hot topic.

Zoning decisions have been inextricably linked to the level of income inequality and racial segregation Newton and other communities have faced. And yet, the last time the city significantly updated zoning related to residential neighborhoods was 1953.

Since then, Newton’s demographic has increasingly become less economically and racially diverse, because of the cost of housing and. Newton residents are only 4 percent Black and 5 percent Hispanic or Latino compared with the state's average of 9 percent and 12 percent respectively.

Newton’s median single-family home value is more than $1 million and a two-family is $865,000. Average rents are about $2,800. Less than 6 percent of Newton's housing stock is permanently deed restricted as "affordable," for low and moderate income households.

Small and large businesses across the city have for years been decrying the fact that many of their workforce can't afford to live in the city.

"Newton’s strength derives from being a welcoming and inclusive community and so we must ensure our zoning reflects and promotes these values," said Mayor Ruthanne Fuller in a statement Friday that praised the work of the city council thus far.

The latest

The Planning Department has given a draft of an updated zoning ordinance (Article 3) for the residential districts to the City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee, which is now working its way through the tome. City Council is ultimately responsible for approving the final iteration, which won't likely come to a vote until late next year.

Some of the goals the planning committee had with the draft include, diversifying the types of housing available; expanding affordable housing to accommodate a wider range of household incomes and circumstance, encouraging energy efficient construction, discouraging out of scale new homes, promoting less use of cars and providing support for local businesses, and updating the language of the zoning law to be more clear.

Among the questions the committee members are considering:

• Should two-family homes be allowed “by right” in more parts of Newton if the bulk and dimensions of the structures are required to be in scale with and sensitive to the context of the neighborhood? Should they be allowed only near public transit or village centers?

• Should existing single family homes be allowed to be converted to two or more units by right within a certain size building? If so, everywhere? How many units should be allowed? For what size property should this apply?

• Where should three-unit buildings, small apartment buildings and larger buildings be allowed by right?

• Should minimum parking requirements be reduced or should maximum parking requirements be introduced?

• Will these changes help Newton with character-rich, economically dynamic, walkable, livable neighborhoods and support village centers that are accessible to a broader range of residents?

• What are the financial implications of the various changes being considered? What kind of change can be expected and in what length of time?

Going back

Newton established zoning for the first time in 1922, and was designed to separate manufacturing and industrial areas from residential areas. The city leaders at that time decided to reserve the majority of Newton’s vacant land for house lots, making Newton a residential community.

By 1940, Newton’s population had grown to nearly 70,000 and the Board of Aldermen adopted a new zoning ordinance that introduced more categories of zoning districts. The Aldermen specified areas of the City where only single-family homes could be built as well as minimum size requirements for lots in order to build a house. Thirteen years later, in 1953, the Board of Aldermen adopted another zoning ordinance that further increased the minimum lot size requirements to build a residence in Newton. The city's current zoning ordinance was updated slightly in 1987 in 2015, but largely draws its rules for what can be built and how many housing units are allowed in particular areas from that 1953 ordinance.

More recently, in 2010, the Board of Aldermen started a Zoning Reform effort. They focused on making the existing zoning ordinance easier to understand and to administer. Since then, the Zoning and Planning Committee has been working with Newton’s Planning Department to do a comprehensive update.

After the committee finishes with the residential zoning update it will turn to look at zoning for village centers.

"The City Council is rightly exploring a range of options for our updated zoning to remedy our 'opportunity' gap," said Fuller. "While pretty arcane, these zoning rules directly influenced how Newton’s built environment developed over the last century and, in turn, influenced greatly who can afford to live here today."

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