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Washington Street Zoning Code - Draft Two

Public comment period ended on March 13, 2019. To read and view the entire spread, be sure to zoom out using + and - buttons in menu at top of document.
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Or New Center in Detroit. (New was new around 1920 or 1930, I think, so the trees are big.) link
Other nice trees for variety: Sweetgum, Kentucky Coffeetree ('Espresso' cultivar if you don't want big pods). Tuliptree where there's a big enough space. See Marc Welch for a more comprehensive list.
Zelkova also vase-shaped.
Do you mean Katsura as a separate line?
Love Amur maackias! Not native, but bulletproof. They seem to survive trauma, and not get attacked by caterpillars.
Nobody should be recommending green ash until/unless there is an effective biological control for Emerald Ash Borer. I doubt you could even buy ash trees from a reputable nursery. They probably haven't even been growing them for years.
Sugar maples and red maples are beautiful, but the city has not done a lot of planting of maples in recent years, in an effort to diversify species, since most street trees are still Norway maples.
Suggestion
I hope this list is meant to be suggestions, not a list from which trees must be chosen? There is a much longer list of species on the city's Tree Species planting list.
This is where columnar trees would be appropriate.
Again, this should be the jurisdiction of the Director of Urban Forestry, not the ISD commissioner.
No,no, no - this should not be up to the ISD commissioner. It should be the Tree Warden or his/her designee, who in Newton is the Director of Urban Forestry. Someone who cares about, and is knowledgable about trees.
in reply to amysangiolo's comment
It does say set back 20ft from the primary facade. Maybe that's the front of the primary building, not the back? But it's not clear because 'primary facade' is not yet defined. This is what's in the definitions on pg 6-209:
Façade:
The exterior wall of a building oriented in whole or in part toward a
civic space or a thoroughfare.
Facade, Primary: [blank]
Question
Say what? Chassis? The back cottage can be a mobile home?
This is huge for an 'accessory building'. I think 24x36 is about the footprint of my whole house. And why a first floor height of 15ft, and upper floor height of 12, when 8ft ceilings are pretty standard in houses. And it's really 2-1/2 floors since the top doesn't count. We're supposed to be reducing carbon footprint. Why heat all this extra volume?
in reply to amysangiolo's comment
Agree. 3ft way too small. Abutters would be able to hear music, smell cigarette smoke, be woken up by noise.
in reply to NRensing's comment
Question
Does Logan Airport have something like that?
Question
Same question about each of these: will the rent be discounted for independent local retailers, or will they have to pay same as national chains?
in reply to Pam's comment
Thank you for making this point repeatedly! I think every building type proposed is taller than the preferences found in the Newtonville Area Council survey, and that survey only asked about floors, without getting into the heights of stories potentially being taller. Who expected a new 3-story building would be so much taller than current 3-story buildings, when they were taking the survey?
Would the space reserved for independent local businesses be at market rents or lower rents than the rest of the building? Ending up with upscale 'boutique' local businesses is not the same as keeping the local businesses we have now because they're in older more affordable buildings.
All of these residential uses appear to allow "Lodging" which according to the Use section, includes hotels, hostels, rooming houses and tourist rentals. This would be a major change that has not gotten much attention.
Why are stories allowed to be so high? Thought we were trying to reduce energy consumption.
in reply to albemarle's comment
I believe historically, 2 kitchens were not allowed in a single-family. But now with the accessory apartment ordinance, that may be different.
Are you adding drive-throughs because you realize there won't be enough parking? How does adding drivethroughs 'reduce the negative impacts' on abutting properties? If the impacts are negative, don't add them.
This would be very tall when added to the too-tall building heights that are being proposed.
Need to require preservation of historic buildings, not just the facades, and not as an excuse for an extra story.
Who wants to encourage tall stories? Most people want to keep heights lower than what's being proposed.
"Should be considered" is has no teeth. If we want to retain shopfronts, require it. "Average shopfront can be no larger than average of what's being replaced" for example.
Question
Why would we want corrugated metal siding?
Answer
For anyone wondering what a 'pork chop return' is. (I was) link
Um, yes. How would you have a gambrel or mansard roof if that were not true?
"Except by special permit" basically means it'll be approved, the way our City Council works.
Somewhere in the code it should specify that plantings should not encroach on sidewalks/passageways. I'm thinking of the properties where the hedges have grown into the sidewalk easements, requiring pedestrians to step off into the street.
Question
Is the building in the civic space required to be a civic builging?
I'm concerned that too much screening might encourage break-ins and other unlawful activity.
This is important. Making people move their car multiple times because they are patronizing different businesses just adds traffic and discourages them from making a stop at the smaller businesses along the way. Needham street is a case in point.
Question
8 parking spaces for 12 houses? Are the rest of them living car-free? Where do they park? Where do their visitors park? Service and delivery vehicles?
in reply to TaiSut's comment
On the other hand, failing to require onsite parking and providing free street parking (as is now the case) just transfers the costs from the individuals to the community!
in reply to Jane Hanser's comment
Agree! Recipe for gridlock. Not enough people could potentially get to work in this area by transit -- only those who happen to live on commuter rail further west who can commute inbound in morning etc. Or a feasible bus route. Most would be in cars.
Where are the solar roofs?
Looks like HUD or Agriculture or those huge Senate Office Buildings in Washington DC. Or Moscow. Not preserving village feel. Only 12% of NAC survey respondents expressed a preference for 5 or more stories as maximum height. And the 59% who wanted 3- or 4-story maximums were probably thinking of story heights of exisiting buildings, not buildings with extra tall first floors, and first floors elevated up to five feet above ground level.
It not be possible to include in the code, but parking garages should have electronic monitoring/indication of available spots with either online reporting or exterior signage indicating how many are available, to limit drivers circling the area searching for spots.
Would the additional floor by special permit have to be set back from the facade?
This seems like a very important and desirable development option (think Marty's and Whole Foods). Requiring a flat roof might be too restrictive.
Different set of building types, and some with similar but different names, vs the list of building types in the city Zoning Code draft. Is a duplex the same as a Two-unit residence? Shop vs shophouse?
in reply to Pam's comment
Agreed. The roof of this building would be about level with the fountain on Chestnut street!
This is a completely different set of numbers, with smaller setbacks and therefore less open space than "Neighborhood General" in the draft Zoning Code for the rest of the city, where "Neighborhood General" is also supposed to be the transition between village centers and residential areas. Ridiculous and confusing to have two districts with the same name be different based on where in the city they're located.
A 10 story building could be about 160'-170' tall. According to the city's topographical map, West Newton Hill is only about 215' tall. That's totally out of scale with anything else in the neighborhood.
in reply to lpalepu's comment
I don't expect it will be enough to pay for the public improvements. The net positive fiscal impact (if in fact it really is positive -- that needs closer examination) was described as being available to help fund public improvements. But if it's used toward public improvements, it's not helping the overall fiscal situation (e.g. our $1billion pension and OPEB liability). And the Vision Plan estimates the cost of just making the WN and Newtonville stations ADA accessible at $31-46 million. Making them ADA accessible AND increasing frequency (which I think means having two tracks) at $86-129 million. See pg 183 of Vision Plan draft 2 for their ballpark estimates of costs of improvements.
The density of these buildings are too big for the village of West Newton and its narrow streets and historic homes. This looks like the Back Bay.
I see the need to include this in the code, but I hope the city would encourage 2 story retail/office or mixed used buildings wherever possible.