Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

No one, you're late. Recording in progress.

So, welcome everyone. This is a meeting of the zoning and planning committee and indeed it is the last meeting of the zoning and planning committee for the year and of the term. So, it is a certain historical moment in its own right. Um, and uh we are very grateful to be joined by all of you online and those of in the room. When we go around, we'll ask people to introduce themselves because they'll do a better job than I will, but I want to make sure that we make sure everyone is recognized. And um we're going to have several items for discussion tonight. And then a number of items are on the agenda, but they are all anticipated to be voted nan so that they can be refiled if the doctor so desire in the new term because we're not going to have time to deal with them in this term. And then at the conclusion of all of that uh heavy lifting of committee business, we will um celebrate two of our number in the planning department who are uh departing and just to thank them very much. Miss Ky, Mr. Heath. Um that doesn't mean we don't thank where's Zach there. Zach, we thank you. But you're you're coming back for more. you're coming to you're at least on the um uh return engagement list and we're delighted ahead. So, thank you.

Of course. Um so, uh I'd also I want to thank Miss Holden here who's to my left who's managing all of this process and has been an invaluable part of the committee. I would say that um on the table for those who are attending in person are u some uh fluids uh some eggnog just plain eggnog um nothing nothing exotic but also some magnificent cookies u the vice chair's function in this committee has been uh extraordinary and this is another opportunity to notice how extraordinary it has been because he has brought us cookies from an which he has supplemented with other resources

cookie minimum They're they're they're meant to be they're meant to be tried out and take a plate and some napkins and then we don't have to wait till the end because we'll just get st.

All right. So, u with that let me just start with the um two items that are somewhat parallel to each other and therefore it'll probably be make sense to discuss together. They're item 6324 and that's uh referred to public facilities and zoning planning committee requesting an update on the status of the implementing the climate action plan. And then the second item is a discussion of climate resiliency to hear updates and plans and the packet items themselves are extensive but I won't take time to read all of that in the record so that we can get underway. I do want to recognize however at the outset that we're joined by the vice chair of the committee and councelor Oliver councelor Albbright from W 2, councelor getat in the room from W five. Uh we're certainly glad to have councelor Liry from W one as a as a visitor and guest and all of that.

I thought this was a joint meeting and I had to be here. Oh, you came for the we're delighted to have you. Councelor Danberg has joined us. And then online we have councelor Wright. Um and we are also joined by Councelor Palis online. I see councelor elect online. Also councelor Block online. Have I missed anybody on Oh, excuse me. Councelor Kelly over here on Sorry. Apologies. And council right. And councelor Wright I mentioned. And then we're also joined by Mr. Lee of the law department. Thank you very much.

And now councelor Kman. And now, Councelor Krenman. All right. Those of you online who who are still tempted by the cookies, you're welcome to to move on over here. But in the meantime, we will we will get underway. Um so, I think I'd like to turn the meeting over to um uh Miss Burick and then would you introduce the people who are going to assist you in this process so that we can make sure that we've got everybody uh properly accounted for. Is that all right? You're muted, Miss Burick. I just Can you unmute? There we

Okay. I didn't think I was being allowed to unmute myself. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, thank you, Councelor Baker. Um, so I want to introduce to this group somebody you probably already know who's Caroline Weiss who's sitting next to you, has the benefit of the eggnog cookies, unlike me. um and uh she is the city's climate action coordinator and um we were under the impression councelor Baker that we were going to present mainly tonight on the um development of climate action plan 2.0 although we're happy to also talk about part of that was going to be talking about progress under um climate action plan 1.0. So I'm happy to proceed. We're happy to proceed in any way you'd like.

No, I think you have the material you provided in background I think is really helpful and I just wanted to make sure that we give adequate uh justice to that because you have quite an extensive pres presentation and I'd like to have you have the opportunity to do that for people who haven't seen it and then take us through it and then we can have people ask questions as we go. Meanwhile, we'll try and sustain ourselves in in your absence with cookies and and fluids.

Right. I I get that you're sustaining yourself. Um so, um the presentation that you're referring to is uh both an update on progress under CAP 1.0 and um and in more somewhat more depth uh the development of CAP 2.0. So would you like me to start there? Yeah, I well I would start with a sort of progress report and then tell us where you're going. I think that would be helpful if that's

okay. Happy to do that. And um that's actually in the presentation that you have um slides four and five which focuses on uh where we've been under uh CAP 1.0. And is that up on your um are you seeing that is that showing on your screen or we see um use less and green the rest. This is just the opening sort of title slide.

Okay. Well, you might if we're talking about progress under um cap 1.0, Oh, it would be great if you would flip to SL slide four which has a timeline of progress. Yeah. So, just to clarify, I should just jump ahead a few slides. Yeah. So, are you going to run the slides or Yeah, I'm running the slides. So, I joined the meeting remotely. So, I'll share the slides when you're ready to advance and just let me know. But it sounds like you'd like me to jump to the timeline. Yeah. To slide four. Is that was that what you have as numbered as timeline as slide four?

I don't I don't know if you can see what we can see, but very quickly that we

Well, I'm I I'm looking at my copy of what I believe you're looking at. So, this gives the timeline of past progress both under CAP 1.0 know and where Newton has been really since 2010 and um I think it is a moment for some there's there's a lot we shouldn't be congratulating ourselves about but we should stop for a moment I think and congratulate ourselves about what we have accomplished. So starting in 2010, in fact, Newton was one of the first um group of green of designated state designated green communities and under that program um the city has received um actually many millions of dollars in state grants. Um I'm not going to read this whole um timeline to you, but um we uh adopted the first climate action plan in 2019. Uh and since then the specialized code was adopted by the city council which is the most the state's most progressive building code. Electrification electrification ordinance also adopted um requiring all new construction major and major renovations to be all electric. Village center overlay district. Um Berto actually um signed into law and um a Berto administrator just recently hired. So um there's been an enormous amount of progress. Um, if you look at the next slide, can you Caroline or

whoever is managing this? Um, if you call up the next slide on progress. Um, there's there's a lot that's been accomplished both under CAP 1.0 and outside of CAP 1.0. For example, uh Berto was adopted. The fossil fuel-f free ordinance was adopted. Neither was actually me even mentioned in CAP 1.0. And we're we're we're trying to implement all of CAP 1.0 and then CAP 2.0, but we're not bound um sort of with any rigidity um not to take up other measures that come our way. So, I just want to highlight on progress since CAP 1.0. Um, I'm not going to read you the whole thing. Uh, work with partners, especially uh, Green Newton, Mothers Outfront, 350.org. We, the city had the wisdom to hire, um, Caroline Weiss as our new climate action coordinator. Um, and formerly known as a city energy coach. Um, and Caroline runs the energy coach program. So I've already mentioned a number of other things on this list. Uh all um new schools are all electric. Mun several municipal buildings are now all electric. Um and for the first time in the city's public buildings, we have ground source heat pumps at Franklin and Countryside elementary schools. Um so which is a huge hugely important. I'm happy to talk more about that. Um, then moving on to slide six. Um, I'm going to be uh painfully frank and say some of this is disappointing. We, uh, as you can see, and again, I'm

not going to read all of this, 1500 heat pumps installed in the last six years. That's not enough. Um, I'm sure all of you understand why how important it is and why that's important. We can't clean uh natural gas and fuel oil that we use for heating but electricity can be clean if it's generated by renewables and therefore um very important to um move towards electrification of everything that can be electrified. I want to point out that of the 20 uh plus megawatts of solar um on city facilities that includes uh five about 5.5 megawatt sorry um uh megawatts on residential and commercial projects that actually that number actually includes um solar on municipal facilities of which there's about 5.5 uh megawws currently. and a lot more on the in the works. So, just I want to just give you some context on that one. Some of you may have heard me say this in the past, but in the beginning years of the Patrick administration, I served for all eight years in the Patrick administration. In 2007, our climate team in the Patrick administration was discussing what we should articulate as the states the states solar goal. And we struggled with the question of whether four megawws as a stake goal would be viewed as laughably ambitious. So notice we're now at 20 megawws. We said four megawatts might be ambitious for as a state goal. We're now at 20 plus megawws in Newton. The state's at about 5,500 megawws.

So, for those of us who need a bit of uplift, I think that's at least worth noting. Um, but not all these numbers are as high as we wish they were, obviously. Um, so would you like me, Council Banker, would you like me to go on with Thank you. because we've been joined by other members of the council and council alike. So I want to recognize councelor Wright has joined us now in person for the cookies

and councelor guest is here and also we've been joined online I think by councelor Frell and councelor Roach is here and anybody else I haven't seen Katie that is count among our counselors or counselors like no okay all right Um, so just pause for a second. Anybody have any questions so far? Vice Chair,

great. Thank you. Thank you for uh the info here. And I'm just kind of I just want to make sure I'm tracking along with a couple of these uh numbers. When we talk about 1500 heat pumps, are we literally talking about head units or homes with head pumps? I think we're talking about homes. Homes, you think? Yeah, thanks for that clarification. Yes. Okay. All right. That Well, that's better than individual because Yep. I would imagine that a lot of homes in Newton would have multiple at least head units if not the exterior units. Sure. Yes.

And if I could add, it's likely an underestimate as well. From 2019 to 2023, there were about 1,200 heat pumps installed as part of Massave. So that's not counting heat pumps installed without mass haven as a new and data from mass haven has not yet been released for 2024 or 2025. So just from a quick landstar permit data there's about 250 additional on top of that 1,200 which is likely quite a low estimate.

Great. And that was going to be my next question overall because you start to look at the you know the total amount of solar installed in residential and commercial projects and I was just wondering how do we know this comes from mass CCP pts which is production tracking system data. So there's actually a statewide website called MA greenhouse gas inventory that was recently released and it pulls from state databases and you can search by municipality. So 20.8 megawatts installed is actually directly from that source which comes from the smart data set and and then like are all installers required to report what's installed where is that pretty I know this is very comprehensive okay

but it is from 2023 20224 so again the numbers are higher right it's probably off a little bit but okay very thank you I appreciate it's all good counselor right

um what would be helpful and maybe you can redo this is um here's our progress, but this was our goal. So, we can see if we over, you know, went beyond or if we're, you know, falling short and then maybe some bullets on some ideas on how to meet these goals because it's great to have all these numbers, but again, until you told us about the solar, you know, it meant nothing um to me, you know, compared to what the goals were. So, that would be very, very helpful. We do have an upcoming slide that I can skip to if it'd be helpful to give some of that context.

Oh, you can do it along the way. And then what one's something interesting I just had mass save to do to see about heat pumps and I was shocked that it was going to be $75,000 and they told me I had to keep both of my furnaces. No, that's not true. I I I'm I'm not questioning that you were told that, but it's not true that you have to um keep your furnaces. That's not true.

So, I have a really old house and I think that's why they were saying that I needed um to keep my furnaces because I mean, why would I get heat pumps if I going to have to replace my furnaces anyways along the way, especially for that price? No, that's as I said that's it's not the case that you have to keep your furnaces. Well, I think what I'm going to suggest is we go through the presentation and then come back to the sort of where do we go with this both for the city's aggregate conversation and also individuals like you who are getting information that may not be fully accurate but I have councelor Liry want to ask a question and then counselor.

Yes, thank you very much. Um, Ann, I was wondering uh how much more opportunities do we have to put on additional solar on school and municipal properties and locations? Um, do you how much we'd like to be there? And also, isn't solar important for us in order to um because electricity is getting more expensive? If you can um that would really help defay the cost because it's just going up a lot.

Yes. Yes. Okay. So, um, as I said, there's I think I said there's about 5.5 megawws now on city facilities. There's about another 1 and a half megawws um of solar capacity on municipal buildings that's that are in the final stages of construction and awaiting uh utility interconnection. And then there's another eight projects beyond that that we're working on getting under contract. Um I would be surprised if there are a lot more opportunities, cost-effective opportunities for city projects beyond that. Currently, think about roofs. You're not going to put solar on roofs that you know are need to are going to need to be replaced or significantly repaired in in the near term. And um although I would love to see solar on every municipal parking lot, well on every large parking lot, um it's more expensive to put solar on parking lots than on rooftops. So I would be surprised if there are a lot more rooftop opportunities beyond what we've already done and beyond what's in the works

currently. That is okay. Yes. I mean I was wondering if we had a goal of of of what our so what we'd like to see in the next five years for example for the amount of silver solar installations that we have on a school and municipal property. Is there a number there or Well, as I said, there's eight in the currently in the works under construction and no uh no, sorry, not eight. 1.5 megawws more under construction and another eight projects that we're working on getting under contract. Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, I want to make sure we get through the presentation, but councelor gets and then um

the only question I have is comparative, you know, in terms of other municipalities, you know, our goals, you know, in terms of just regionally what how we're doing and Yeah. Yeah. Well, um good question. Um, Newton actually has, well, I believe I can't say this with absolute certainty, but my I'm pretty close to certain that Newton has more megawws of solar on city facilities than any other municipality in the Commonwealth. So, with respect to solar, we're not doing well enough, but we're doing better than everybody else.

Thank you. Anyone else? Um, councelor Denver. Yes. Um, question about the percentage of the total electric bill, so to speak, that uh we now cover with our solar. I'm sorry, I don't maybe I didn't hear everything, but I'm not sure I understand your question. City's bill.

Yes. The city had the the city gets an electric bill. Let's say all of our 85 buildings and everything. We we have a number that our electricity costs us. Do you know what percentage of that bill of that of the total amount that we owe electric companies we are covering with the solar that we have? Um, if this answers your question, I think we are generating with solar on municipal buildings about 40% between 35 and 40% of um the well is it of the cities anyway of those buildings. Um,

that's right. It's about solar demand uh uh electricity demand of total consumption or energy demand total consumption on the buildings that we have solar about 35 to 40% of total city electricity consumption saving us about a million dollars that's I can definitely double check and get you numbers do we have any buildings that generate more electricity with the solar than the electricity that those that that particular building consumes

well at any given moment Yes. So, um you can certainly imagine in the summer when a school is closed uh or not operating uh as a school um that it's feeding more energy, electricity into the grid than it's using at that point. So as a result of that, the city builds up credits which it then can call upon um when it's not generating as much electricity as the building is using. So it's it's a sort of momentby-moment question.

Um okay, I I think that answers um close enough my question. Thank you. So, um, Miss Bur, can you not see the slides and they're not being shared? I mean, we can see them. I'm just wondering just to make it easy on you. No, I I can't I can see I'm looking at my own copy of the slides and my own notes. Well, we'll just try and make sure that Miss Weiss is keeping current with you and vice versa. But does it sound like I'm talking about something you're just I just want to make it easy on you. Uh, but you're looking at the progress since cap 10.0 and you were talking. Yeah, that's what I'm looking at.

Is there any other highlights? We can read those, but is anything you want to just pick out that you want to add to that slide? Otherwise, we'll move on. Well, in addition to congratulating this city for its wisdom and hiring Caroline Weiss, which um is a a move that Sam and I thank our lucky stars for on a daily basis. Um, I I just think the city council should be proud of itself for um the progressive measures that um it has adopted in the last uh however many 18 months or whatever it's been. the specialized code, um, Berto, the fossil fuel fuel-free ordinance, which by the way makes us one of only 10 uh communities in the Commonwealth that um can require uh all new construction to be all electric. So, I mean, I think those are in addition to the brilliant work, frankly, that uh Josh Morse does in making sure that new schools are all electric and municipal buildings are electrified whenever there's an opportunity for that.

Okay. Okay. Um, we also have various gadgets, not solar powered though. Councelor Alra, you may come to this later. I don't know. But I'm curious um if our electri electrification ordinance has affected the number of new new starts yet or are things going along as they always have.

As far as I know, yes. Um we need to do reporting for the state by June 30th of this year. So last year before I realized we didn't have to report that year because our ordinance was adopted January 1st 2025. I was already looking at around 40 new construction projects. Um so we're working with ISD to more efficiently pull that data for this June and we'll have those numbers. Okay. So you'll have it. Yeah. So yeah. It definitely is affecting new construction and major renovations. I just don't have specific numbers.

All right. Good. One of the things, Miss Lice, I think will be helpful is if as you listen to these questions, as you think about the next time you come back and we have another conversation about this this issue about goals and about where we are compared to our peers and things like that, it' be useful just a structured conversation on that. Yeah. Okay. Next slide. Do you want to go? Excited. So, are we going now to um Well, we talked about five and six. So, yep, I have seven up on the screen now.

You have seven up. Okay. So, you want to go beyond that to progress?

Are there any questions before we get to slide seven? Okay. I'll go ahead with slide seven then. Um so challenges of which there are obviously many um vehicle miles traveled have increased slightly. We don't know what we don't know why. Um we suspect it's a some kind of COVID artifact. People started going into the office more that kind of thing. Um there was less driving for a while related to CO. That's our guess. We don't know for sure. Um, residential electrification is a challenge. No, no surprise in that.

Um, we are moving forward thanks to the energy coach program, community first partnership, which is a collaboration with Green Newton to increase participation in um, massave energy efficiency programs. But there's there's no getting away from it. residential electrification is challenging. Um, and Newton Power Choice, some of you may be aware, um, we've just signed an recently signed and announced a new Newton Power Choice contract. So since the beginning of Newton power choice, um Newton absolutely led the state uh in the percentage of renewable uh electricity credits racks that we that people had an opportunity to purchase um under Newton Power Choice and we are not including new uh renewable energy credits in the new Newton Power Choice contract because of reasons I can go into but related to changes in federal policy. um which means it would not be but it would be costly but not productive in terms of encouraging new renewables for us to include the purchase of Rex in Newton Power Choice. We are under Newton Power Choice looking at a couple of other opportunities but they're not fully baked yet. other opportunities to um in to include uh to include um support for renewable energy as part of Newton Power Choice. In any event, we're not there yet. Newton Power Choice, however, the new contract is lower in price. uh the re the price is lower than the uh just uh the earlier the current actually um Newton power choice contract and is also less than the current um basic ever so basic service price. So

there's a benefit under new Newton power choice in terms of price but not renewables other should I move on to slide eight barriers to progress question from councelor Rice just a quick question vehicle miles travel have increased it'd be nice to know from what year to what year from 2019 no 2020 to 2025 are the years available in the mass vehicle census is where we've been getting it from as things are like so that's not granular enough to really tell us much right so that so on that excuse me I have to be recognized you would like to ask a question

thank you um so that's an aggregate of vehicle miles it's not by household you hear that yeah I'm good it provides an aggregate for the vehicle miles traveled in total in Newton. And then you can also look at like the average daily number of vehicle miles traveled. So like per car or vehicle registered in Newton. And you can also look at the percentage of vehicles that are electric vehicles that are plug-in hybrid hybrids. So this is all data that we're we'll be tracking on our dashboard which I'll share more about in a few slides. But the site's great. I recommend taking a look. Okay. But there's no data that would allow us to map the vehicle miles traveled to neighborhoods.

Not that I'm aware of, though. That would be great if there if there were. Not that I'm aware of, unfortunately. Okay. Um I want to keep the slide moving, but counselor, just quickly, um how do we how do we know um how many vehicle miles have been traveled? How how is that? How do you know? I have a rivet. How do you know what's on my dashboard?

It's a state database. So, I actually should look more into the attributes of where they're getting that data from. But, I know that the vehicle counts are from vehicles registered in Newton. So, I'm sure there's some like calculation applied to determine by number of vehicles registered and how many miles they're tracking on state roads to get some kind of estimate. But, that's a really great question and I will look into it. Thank you. No, I don't think it's quite that specific. Who's looking at your your dashboard, right? Besides you, counselor. Uh the people who are looking at her dashboard besides her are the folks who are doing the yearly um Yeah. Right. Oh, good point. Yeah.

And they're required to the mileage to to report the mileage. Yeah. Very smart. It very smart. But again, I think this is the kind of question for the next time you come around, it'll be okay. Um, and would you like the next slide? Slide eight. Yeah.

Are we on slide eight? Okay. Um, so barriers to progress. Don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but obviously the role of federal and state government. We just uh just mentioned for example um Newton the effect on Newton power choice of changes in federal policy. Um, also, as I'm sure many of you know, there have been changes recently in federal policy affecting vehicle um, vehicle mileage standards. So, we're at the mercy in some respects of the federal government. Um, the city doesn't have uh absolute authority to do everything it wants with respect to sustainability and and many other issues. For example, um we can't adopt our own building or electrical code. We have to adopt we we have some choices in terms of the state uh building codes that are available. Three to be exact. But um we can't uh promulgate our own building code. Um there are number of other ways in which the city has respects in which the city has li somewhat limited leverage. Obviously, we have limited city budget and resources. Um, we're I I think I I want to call out the fact that we're very fortunate to have a robust sustainability team. Um, you're seeing two of us and of course Sam who who sorry he couldn't be here tonight and also now we have a Berto administrator uh Darius Bailey. So, we have a a pretty robust team. But if we had all the money we wanted or that I wanted anyway, um I would love to be able to put more money into supporting subsidizing electrification both initial costs, capital costs of electrification and operating costs. Um then obviously we had the COVID pandemic. No need to bel

labor that um and we need a cultural shift, right? And that's both a barrier and I would say maybe our most significant challenge. If everybody were as convinced as um a lot of us are about the need for addressing climate change, then we wouldn't have to work so hard on getting people to drive EVs or take public transportation or um put heat pumps in place. But anyway, so I'm not probably telling you anything you don't know here. Um, any questions on this or should we go keep going?

I think the the point about the the subsidizing electrification and again part of the challenge I suspect that all of us run into is just the information gap between what is available out there and what people understand can be done. And we've even had counselor Wright indicate that there's some information that may not be accurate coming even through sort of official or semiofficial sources. So part of the longer range issue that I don't think we can solve tonight, but again is how do we take advantage of Miss Weiss and her team here to make sure the public is well informed and then can make the right decisions. But we can continue on in that process.

Yeah, super super important point. There's a lot of misinformation out there, including misinformation about whether heat pumps uh perform in cold weather, which they do. We'll have a test tonight and maybe maybe you can find out, right? Well, I think as I've mentioned a number of times, we have a house in New Hampshire in the mountains that doesn't have a furnace. Um and and we're still surviving comfortably. So your um demonstrative evidence of that. Anyway, so let's go on to the next slide.

All right. So I'm going to take this next section which is about the process of developing our updated climate action plan. You may recognize the slide from when we presented back in May, but I thought it would be helpful to provide some more context and show where we are now. Um, so back to April when the process for updating this plan started, our team had conversations with department heads about what they were working on and what they were planning for related to climate action. And those conversations haven't ceased. They've been ongoing as your and Zach attest to. Um, we also got some early input from our environmental community here in Newton back in April, which I can thank Demi for helping me organize. Um, we then in drafting our outline assessed our progress with where we'd been in CAP 1.0 know and identify both ongoing and new initiatives um which informed that outline. Uh over the summer we wrote our draft climate action plan which we were glad to finally be able to share in October of this fall which we've engaged the community on and I'll share greater detail on that in the next slide. Um, more recently, our team has been going through all of that feedback, which has been incredibly informative, and we're very grateful to all of you that have provided feedback into our community for helping improve the plan. And there's been ongoing revisions of that draft. Currently, I'm happy to say the draft is in the hands of our graphic designer um, who will make it prettier and more accessible to read, I think, than just a text heavy word document. and she's also helping develop our dashboard which will be an independent website that we'll link to on our city site sharing our pro our progress on various metrics identified in the draft plan. Um in the next term we're looking forward to working with the new mayor and council to docket the plan with council and after that our main focus will be of course implementation and continuing to improve our measurement of our progress. So a text tex text heavy slide but I thought it'd be helpful to provide detail here. So as I mentioned we're we've been having ongoing conversations with several city departments.

Sustainability is not does not live alone in our team but really is is being worked on by so many different staff. Um on the community side we've engaged with folks in here in Newton way back in April at Earth Day all the way through the pumpkin smash in October. I would table at community events, often with a large poster saying, "What would you like to see in Newton's climate action plan and a category for each chapter and people get to write what they wanted to see?" And it sparked some great conversations. And there were also several presentations about the plan, such as a climate prep week at the library and our November 3rd public presentation. Once we opened the plan for public comment, um residents were and counselors and community was notified through our website, the mayor's newsletter, our climate newsletter, social media, over 30 direct emails to community organizations. Um, and I'm probably missing something there, but we we really put some effort into making sure it got out to people, especially given a limited turn turnaround time. And comments were accepted through an online form, email, and that listening session we had on November 3rd, which I think went really well and was nicely attended. Um, since then we've been going through an iterative review of all the feedback we've received and revising the plan. Um, alongside the development of our public dashboard, sharing the metrics that we have so far, which we'll continually add to, and I'm really excited to release that to the public hopefully within a few weeks in a draft form. Um, so now to get to a bit of the substance of the second climate action plan, its goals are twofold. So the plan reaffirms the city's commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050 by mitigating climate change or reducing our emissions and differently in this plan increasing the city's resilience. So whereas before we still have the climate change vulnerability assessment now there's some resilience elements um woven into the second climate action plan. Um, so the goals of course you can see are to reduce our emissions, to prepare our community for the effects of climate change and extreme weather that we're

already seeing here in Newton in terms of hotter days and more extreme flooding and so on. And because climate action brings so many benefits from health to possible financial savings, likely financial savings and stronger resilience. Um, so this is what I this slide is what I was referencing previously in terms of some milestones we've put out there. We've heard a lot about um specific goals for our strategies in the first climate action plan. And one way that we can help track our progress at least until we have more robust data is by looking to the state's clean clean energy and climate plan which which also sets a 2050 net zero commitment and provides goals for 2030 as you can see in those first couple bullet points. Newton comprises about 1.2% of Massachusetts households. So objectively speaking and there could be an argument that these milestones should be higher um we would be by 2030 aiming to install around 6,000 heat pumps which as you can see is now around 1500 have 10,800 EVs registered in Newton and about 100 megawatts of solar installed in Newton. So, as you can see, we have a long way to go to accelerate that progress, but we're excited about some things that are along the way that are raising the profile of climate issues, such as fur the electrification ordinance, as we've mentioned, as well as the continued work of energy coaching, neighbor to neighbor education, like sustainable sustainable streets, events like tomorrow's heat pump pizza party, which anyone is invited. I'm looking forward to that. Um,

say that it's a little slower again. Heat pump pizza party and and when is the heat pump pizza party? Tomorrow at 6:00 at the library. free pizza. We'll be talking about heat pumps and why they're good for the environment and for a climate action plan and providing some information on how to get started and what financial incentives remain available. And you're sure it's free pizza, not free heat pumps? Free pizza. I wish we could do both. Okay. Okay. We had all the resources in the world that we'd be handing out heat pumps, but Yeah. Council, right? Um, under the mass clean energy and climate plan, it's 8360 megawatts of solar and then under us is 100 megawws. US.

Okay. Oh, that is the number. Okay. It should be 1.2% of the 8360 number. Okay. Thank you. I have a couple questions, but I'm going to say them let you get through. So, next slide. Yeah. I'm sorry. Was there another question? you real quick. Those milestones, are those existing milestones or these are new milestones that are part of 2.0? The Well, okay. So, let me just back up. They're existing state milestones that we've calculated Newton's percentage of and we've added them to the updated draft of 2.0, which is not yet on the website. We hope to post the designed updated draft in a few weeks on our site. If that makes sense. I can go back. Makes sense.

Yeah, if I could add if I could add something to that. Um what Caroline said is abs is obviously accurate. There is an argument as she mentioned that Newton share share should be higher than 1.2% of mass households given that um that we're a wealthier community than many other households in the uh than many other communities in the Commonwealth. Let me let's just carry on for a bit. We've saved some questions at the end because I just want to get through the because some of the questions may be answered as we go by. Sure. Okay.

Yeah. So, this quick slide, but I just wanted to provide a screenshot from our dashboard. I'm excited that it's moving along. It will cover each of the four chapters in our climate action plan or the four main ones as you can see at the bottom there. Um, and is is looking pretty robust. So, keep an eye out for that. We will publicize it when it's ready to go. Just just a highlight there. Um, and into some of the substance. So, we have four main chapters as I mentioned in the climate action plan. The one not on the screen yet that we'll get to next is resilience. But these first three chapters um cover strategies for mitigation or reducing our emissions to limit the future impact of climate change. In each of these chapters, they're subdivided into actions and strategies that we commit to continuing and others that we're committing to exploring. Um so, for example, I'll just name a few of these in building energy. It's the strategies in the climate action plan 2.0. involves decarbonizing city buildings, continuing along that route, supporting residential electrification, implementing building codes and standards like Berto, and becoming a climate leader community, which is the next step up from the state's um green communities and offers even more funding for decarbonizing municipal buildings. Our next chapter on transportation and mobility is about goals and strategies that um would incentivize EVs such as installing EV charging stations where we can. Um prioritizing infrastructure for sustainable transportation, reducing those vehicle miles traveled um by making new biking and walking more accessible. And on the city side, adopting a zero emissions first vehicle purchasing policy, which is actually a part of becoming a climate leader community. And then of course consumption disposal includes strategies like educating the community further about reuse and waste reduction, improving recycling and composting collection in city facilities and again on the city side implementing an environmentally preferred purchasing policy and then I'll turn it to Ann to cover

resilience. So before you leave that for a minute, um just any any questions on for instance um many years ago we bought a a at the Rumford Avenue compost bin which actually nobody knew how to put together and so it was I finally got somebody to help me but it was a it was an interesting idea that I think the city can help with but you know you don't know that it's there. um you wouldn't buy one. So it's the information side of this is really I think a vital part of what you're doing. So I'm inviting you to do a part of your model too.

Me too. Absolutely. And I look forward to similar events like that to just raise awareness and education. Okay. C I'm just curious the climate leader community which you said is a step step up. So are there other are there cities and towns that are in that? Yes, there's already I want to say around 20 um 20 ahead of us.

We actually haven't we wouldn't have been eligible for funds through this program yet anyway because we the city recently received that $500,000 grant for the heat shiller at the library. So, we were on a three-year hiatus from state grants in the green communities user climate leaders program to begin with. And once Sam came on board, we've have been working on the application right away, which includes getting the zero emissions first purchasing policy developed or adopted and writing a decarbonization roadmap for which we have technical assistance. So, it's moving along as quickly as possible. We're not losing out on any funding right now because we're not eligible. I'm looking for the prestige. Yes. Well, we're we're moving along as quickly as we can. Thank you.

Absolutely. Okay. You want to go on? Yep. Um, just going back to the, if I may, just going back to the compost issue that was raised a moment ago, I just want to point out that the city of Boston provides free compost collection. Um, so and provides an indoor bin for um, collecting compost inside and then an outdoor bin for dumping all the inside all the collected compost into. And that gets picked up once a week. Free a free service. So just just flagging that. time business. That's good to know. Councelor Albert,

so I'm you know I've been an advocate for doing that in Newton and I'm wondering um is Boston saving a lot of money in trash collection because all the heavy stuff is going into composting. Do you happen to know that? I don't know the answer to that. I would love to know that. And if and if also doing it and if they're doing the same thing, it would be impetus because I think our contract is coming due or for wheeler trash incinerator it is. And so I need know that probably. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, we again this is the kind of question I can testify that I carry it out in the backyard myself and it doesn't cost the city anything.

That's great. Mine mine cost me $100 a year. Um so uh Brazilius this is an important new one I think not new but important dimension of this. So who's going to carry this one to his wife or you going to Yeah. On resilience I I'm going to take this one. So are we now on slide 17 on resilience? Yeah.

Okay. Um so the city is in fact very deeply involved in what resil what we've been calling resilience and is often called adaptation efforts. Uh the CAP 2.0 does touch on these issues but a number of other plans are much more of city plans are much more focused on them and um I'll run through what those plans are quickly and who's in charge of them. There's an open space and recreation plan that um is uh and the planning and parks and recck department is in charge both planning and parks and recck departments are in charge of that plan and next updated in 2030. The hazard mitigation plan and comprehensive emergency management plan uh both are now being updated and I think are nearly complete and the fire chief is in charge of that one or those two um storm water infrastructure improvement plan which is obviously crucial um and that's the department of public works and uh Jonathan I believe presented on uh that and some of these other plans as well to public facilities just a few months ago. Um a phosphorus control plan uh DPW is in charge of that one and then a tree planting plan uh that's within the capital improvement plan and that's parks and wreck specifically Mark Welch that's being updated every year. So um there's a lot going on on the resilience and adaptation front just it's not mainly within the purview of the sustainability

team although we we are touching on it certainly in this uh latest climate action plan. So there there's one that's sort of there but not that new contract that DPW just signed to do a plan for our storm water infrastructure really fits onto this slide. Well, there there are a number of issues sort of subsumed in in the DPU the D sorry um

uh the DPW activities on storm water including the storm water ordinance which um is aimed at uh getting construction projects to retain storm water and reduce any downstream impacts. phosphorus control plan and uh which is an EPA federal EPA requirement, storm water infrastructure um improvements having to do with management of uh uh street sweeping, catchbas and cleaning and the like uh keeping the whole system functioning well during rain events. Um, so there are a lot of pieces of of all this and I might mention here as well that one of the recommendations we got in feedback on CAP 2.0 know was to establish a biodiversity commission and we have instead indicated our intention to establish a biodiversity working group which will assess the health of the city's forested lands and open spaces and set targets uh for preservation and reserv restoration efforts on municipal lands among other things. So there's there's just there's a lot as you could see going on on the resilience and adaptation front. Just not all within uh CAP 2.0 or even within the work of the sustainability team.

You covered a couple of those in a couple of slides further out. But so carry on. Okay. So I think we're moving now um to slide 18. We Is that right? Are you ready to go on to that? Yeah, you're good.

Okay. Um, slide 18 is um refers to a new chapter that is a a chapter that was not included in CAP 1.0 on what you can do and it addresses buildings, transportation, consumption, and adaptation or resilience. Um the the piece that always astonishes me um so was the piece we wrote on what you can do with respect to food consumption and the fact that approximately onethird of the food produced in this country is actually wasted. So um although we have some recommendations with respect to or at least some provide some information on what kinds of foods no surprise to any of us I think are particularly or especially an issue with respect to greenhouse gas emissions just wasting less um not buying not going shopping when you're very hungry for example um storing food appropriately not always paying paying attention to the expire by dates on all foods. It matters with respect to some foods, for example, infant formula, not with respect to other foods. Um, so uh there are lots of ways to minimize food waste. And then we have a lot of other recommendations about food consumption and about transportation, about buildings. Our I would say our most important buildings recommendation is to get a massive audit. um really crucial. There's no reason to be um if you're going to electrify your house, for example, to be oversizing the system, which you would be doing if you're not

adequately insulated. So, again, you can you can read what's on this slide, but I think it's uh I'm really pleased to have this new chapter. I just let the record show what I mentioned the outset that the vice chair is assured that the cookies that are not eaten tonight will go home and not be thrown away. So, I just want you to know that eat those cookies, please.

Um, can I just comment on one thing? This this individual opportunity I think is really an important one. Um, and there's some fluids here too that um I hope that you will uh uh wise. We could talk about that maybe more offline, but when I recall when we were talking about the override a number of years ago, people could go in and see what their particular tax would be. And if there were some way that the city, you could take your property and say this is, you know, what are you spending on this amount for gas or oil or whatever you're spending. If you were electrified, maybe you would be spending less or you would be in other words just rule of thumb that might incentivize people to call up mass and say come see me or even a link because I think that part of the challenge again is what people can learn on their own before they go to the step of of having an audit.

You should speak to the energy commission. They're very interested in providing data about individual homes with what they're spending on. Yeah, I've tried to get it figured out at my house, but unfortunately it's so old and creaky I have some difficulties, but never mind. That's a side. Councelor Vanber.

Um, Miss Burwick, Dr. Burwick just mentioned insulation and the importance of of insulating. Um, this weekend, uh, this past weekend, there were six of us in the house. We had set the house. We we went down for a couple of days um unexpectedly and we had set the house at 60. Um it it it's uh all electric with heat pumps and the walls are 9 in thick uh with 6 in of uh regular wall plus 3 in on the exterior. And we set the h setting the house at 60 um with with six people basically living in the house. It uh raised the temperature to 68 degrees

without raising the temperature of the the heat pump. So you're create a whole new form of envy. Green envy. All right. Yeah. It's it's amazing what the just the um windows on the south. You don't have a lot of southern south windows. Uh it's just the heat from the bodies of the people in the house that raise the temperature 8 degrees. Impressive. That's impressive. Okay. Any more comments on this page or questions? I can wait till the end. Yeah. Yeah. No, we're not quite. We're almost there. Okay. Next slide. Okay. I think we're going to slide 19. what we heard.

That's right.

Is that right? Um so, um we heard a lot and actually most of it in extremely useful. There was there was a lot of thoughtful very thoughtful feedback which we appreciated. Um there was a lot of sentiment that we should have goals, metrics and specified actors for every strategy. um which we did not fully adopt. We partially adopted not actors for every strategy. Um assessment of CAP 1.0 we we did address that as you've seen. Um there were a number of recommendations for policy goals, some of which we uh adopted, some of which we did not. I'll run through some of them quickly. Berto for small buildings. We think we should get our legs under us uh on the Berto we have adopted. that's a big enough task and learn what we can from that before we go further. Electric school buses, we agree. Um and as we've said in the draft, um the school department is doing its own climate action plan which we will support them on and we will work with them on identifying um land for um parking school buses. That's the at the moment the chief obstacle I mentioned already we one of the uh pieces of feedback was to establish a biodiversity commission instead we establish uh committed to establishing a bio diversity working group. Um then there were a number of other um uh recommendations which would take city council action, explore opportunities for reducing light pollution from commercial buildings, city provided composting we've talked about and uh uh pay as you throw curbside trash program. um that for

example uh supporting that with the much smaller uh blue trash barrel and a and the same size green recycling bin I think might go some way in that regard. Also I I I on the exploring opportunities for reducing light pollution for commercial enterprises. I am rarely awake and driving around at midnight, but on the rare occasions when I am, I am astounded um driving down for example um oh you know down uh Nem Street, Highland Avenue, that whole stretch uh at the number of buildings, commercial uh buildings that are fully lighted at midnight and I'm sure throughout the night. So, I think there might I understand that there are some security concerns, but I think if that's the concern there, it's being over addressed and I'd love to find a way to get to that, but obviously that would take city council action. Um, so I think I'll stop there. Caroline may want to add something.

Let me just pause and just counselor Kais has his hand raised. I just want to ask if he want to ask Miss Weiss to comment first and then you ask your question or you want to ask your question now. Councelor Caleb. Uh you could go with Miss Weiss and then I'll ask my question. Thank you. You're welcome to and covered everything but All right. So, okay. I just want to make sure that you close the loop. Okay. Councelor Caleb. So, Miss Burwick, on the policy goals, um you have six here. What are the next steps and how are you are you evaluating them to see which ones you move forward with or are you waiting for council action? What what what actually is how do we actually get some of these explored and moving?

Sure. Well, um yeah, it's it's very specific to the particular policy goal, right? for example and there were others I I picked we picked um uh a subset there are others but just sticking with the ones we have here on the list Berto let's let's get some experience with uh Berto as it's been enacted for so that's just a question of getting experience electric school buses as I mentioned we need to find land to park school buses and and the city and the sustainability the city the school department and the city sustainability team have committed to working on that. We committed to that in the um in CAP 2.0 biodiversity working group I just touched on. Um and then the then there are a number of items that would require city council actions such as as we mentioned reducing light pollution from commercial enterprises at night, city free city provided composting, pay as you throw curbside trash program.

Okay. So you're not docketing these. You want us to do this? Well, I at this point I'm just flagging them. The climate act, we're just saying these were all I'm all we're doing at the moment is said saying these are things we have heard and we think we certainly think some of them are worthy of consideration. Some would require city council action, some would not.

Thank you. as I hear it there. We're we're we're awaiting the plan itself and then I think that will generate some docket items as I hear it. But I there may be some things people want to anticipate and move on sooner than that. That's certainly possible. But as I hear it, your your efforts are going into putting the plan together and making it as user friendly as you can and then have people think about what you do next. So that leads to the question I'd be asking. When do you expect that you'll be ready with this to come back to us?

So the updated draft should be ready within a few weeks designed and ready for sharing and for any further feedback and then we'll work with the new mayor to bring it to council. So that could be January, but I'm not sure yet. Okay. But soon not we've gone through all the feedback and we're not losing sight of any of it either. Some of these actions Dan has mentioned that require further work with council or further exploration of how they would work are we're not losing sight of we have a full like postclimate action plan to-do list of action items to address as a team and figure out okay what's the next step forward

I guess I can't speak for the future council necessarily but I think it would be an advantage to have you come back before the budget process certainly and and have enough time to begin to think about what can be docketed or what can be acted on before we get because the budget sort of consumes us as you know April and and but it'll be it'll it'll be April soon faster than we think. We'd be happy to be invited back. Say again. We would be happy to be invited back.

Um I think I think I can't speak for the future council but I think there's interest around the table among at least me and perhaps others. Um, let me go to people now who've been patient about asking questions until we got through the presentation. Is there anything you want to say? Oh, excuse me. Just explain uh what is the what is the QR code take you to? That's the draft. Yeah, it takes you to the page that's called climate action plan where you can read both the first climate action plan covering 2020 to 2025 and the draft that we released on October 23rd and where the link will be posted of the updated and graphically designed draft in a few weeks. Okay. Thank you. All right. Now colleagues questions you want to ask that you haven't asked councelor Le.

Yes. Thank you very much. So thank you so much for the presentation. Um it's really exciting to hear um you know I knew we were always doing a good job. I know we have areas of improvement and I love that we're still focused on this and I'm there's a couple of things that I think are really big priorities and one of them is um the resilience around flooding, storm water management, utilizing our parks and open spaces. I'm also well aware that that would be that would cost a significant amount of resources above and beyond what the city has. So, I'm wondering if we're looking at any potential funding sources um both private and and from the state if that would be available to do that. Um flooding is on everybody's mind. Um and I'll just say um I think if the city provides composting and we we're actually talking about a pay as you throw program that would put us towards a much closer zero waste goal and that would be critically important. um they always call pay as you throw the third rail of politics, you know, but the idea and we've discussed this in the sustainability team working group um um about a having a smaller blue car and if you want a larger one you would have to pay for it like Brookline has a similar model. could start off easy like that. And it would be interesting to know what the cost would be to offer um black earth composting um similar to what the city of Boston does and I believe the town of Watertown also does that. Um and it also gives you a good idea of how much food you waste.

Yeah. And it's amazing how heavy that food waste is. And now I've been a participating in that for a few years. I cannot imagine putting food waste in my trash anymore. It's just would be important to me to do it. Um and um also I really like the idea that that's going to be composted and um um as as opposed to anorobic digestion. That's important that's reinvesting in our soils and um you know minizing carpet. So those are my comments and points that I don't really have a question, but those are what I think are just a real priority.

Thank you. And I know you did mention um funding sources for resilience and flooding and I can't speak to all the funding sources that I'm sure like DPW has, but I will mention we're applying now. It's due on the 15th for the municipal vulnerability preparedness 2.0 process, which is essentially a two-year planning process for resilience with a $50,000 action grant that then makes us eligible for future action grants from the state to fund resilience related projects and has funded resilience projects in the past for parks and wedd total. I will because I don't think it's been updated since July. So glad we're ticking up. I hope it's been treating you well. Yeah,

let me just answer I have a thought too that you talked initially about the federal government with the federal government taking the role of actually discouraging a good deal of the alternative energies still my understanding is the economics still favor them in many cases that that solar and EVs and all of these things still that's right

make sense but they their sales have gone down because the subsidies have gone away. But I think that um again this is part of the public education but if as part of the plan that the education can be that even if there is not a tax subsidy there are still things you can do that will benefit you and all of that because I think the sort of public commentary has been well these were only happening because there were subsidies and when the subsidies went away you know the value of them disappeared and I don't think that's what I understand to be the case but I It's not. Maybe everybody around this table knows that, but I'm not sure that's generally available perception.

No, that's absolutely right. Um the federal subsidies have gone away of course but there are still state subsidies but apart from that just as you are saying um there are economic reasons uh without subsidies for favoring solar and wind for example um as compared to fossil fuel generation. But I I want to be honest about the um cost of electrification. People cannot expect even with the new heat pump rates to save money on the operational costs of electrifying. So I think we need to be honest with people about that. So we can't be we can't be sending the message well you'll you will save money if you um go to heat pump heating um and then people come back and won't trust anything we tell them. So we need to be honest in that regard. I think what you're really saying is how much are you spending on gas or oil and and electricity and and what's your energy budget compared to

Yes. So if if you're heating with electric resistance heat or with fuel oil, you will save money going to a heat pump. uh your energy costs will de well your building energy costs will decrease. If you are currently heating with natural gas, converting to a heat pump system will not save you money. It is the right thing to do. There are still state subsidies for initial capital expenses, but it won't uh it's not going to save you money if you're heating with natural gas. Well, again, this is the kind of information that people need to understand where they can make those trade-offs.

Yeah. And and we're doing um a frequently. So, we discovered when we put out some information on um the new Newton Power Choice prices and the new state um heat pump rate that there was a lot of confusion and a lot of questions that even addressing those issues didn't answer. So, we're hoping to do a comprehensive or not we're hoping to, we will do a comprehensive uh set of frequently asked questions and answers um related to energy use and costs.

One other thing I I think the light pollution idea is a wonderful one. kind of seems crazy to have people just shining lights not only into the sky where they you can't see the stars anymore but to waste that now again how you make the conversions is another story but council over the um just the you know living where I do I can see over to city hall and the war memorial and the aldermanic chamber the lights are on so much in in the night and in the early morning. So, you might want to check out why that is. Why don't they turn off those lights? I don't know. We should look into that.

Absolutely. Please do. North High School, too. Well, that's a good point. I mean, the city itself could be a pathfinder on this. Not after midnight. I mean, I figured out if finally how to make my Christmas tree lights go out. That was a big victory. Um, other comments, anybody? councelor like to defer to counselors and then come back come back to you.

The only comment I would make is this quite a bit of the content we've discussed in public facilities and I do think going forward the two committees really should together or in some way you know move forward together. it it seems as if it's appropriate for us to to you know in terms of these policy goals to try and quickly um coordinate um and then you know I just sort of feel that we also have to have a context we have to understand how this is impacting build in the city you know in terms of the electrification requirements and I just sort of because we're hearing that you know in the sense of what's coming out and what's what's being reported back from ISD So I just don't want it to be the kind of thing where you know we have to find the balance and we have to sort of work through but understand the impacts.

Right. Absolutely.

Council Lro. So I won't get into all the different pages. Thank you. I won't all the different pages that um I had comments. I assume that this was the highlights and it's been a little bit since I read. I can't remember if everything's in it. Just want to point out two things if I may. One is um even in the highlights um making justice neighborhoods a priority in resilience. Um and the other is on the website if um you could put on and keep current next steps. So as soon as the new draft is ready or you know they say we're working on a new draft it's ready we're planning to go to city council sometime January or February would be very helpful for those like me who are tracking and I'll add well actually one other two other things. Can we find out what the environmental cost to actually collect um recycling and trashes? because my suspicion is weekly recycling is unnecessary given most that stuff is clean and that um there's a cost to stop and pick up very lightly loaded barrels. Um and then on the parking lot lighting I think there may be insurance concerns. So, for instance, I go by Whole Foods and its lights are on well after a closing, but I suspect they may be there for insurance concerns, which doesn't mean it can't be solved, but it is a an unintended consequence of something else

or Okay. Uh, any other questions? Um, thank you, Miss Burwick, and thank you, Miss Weiss, and for and thank Mr. itman as well though he is not here but he's obviously actively act I could work and we appreciate that um so this item I think will return in the future but in a different form so I'd entertain a motion on both no action necessary just so that we clarify where action necessary on both of them okay thank you all those in favor say I

opposed abstension okay the eyes have it um now let me go to uh just to note that there is a memo on 30224 aligning zoning to propose use and new development. It's an extensive uh presentation and Miss Pyra, we promise not to ask you to discuss it, but we did ask you to present it. So, I don't know exactly how you can do the walk that fine line between telling us what's there without telling us what's there. I'm going to defer to Mr. Well on this one who put this uh presentation memo together though I'm happy to fill in any other questions. Sure. Happy to.

You want to come to the table where you can hear a little heard a little better. I'm happy to. Sure. So discuss but don't present. Well present but don't discuss.

Present but don't discuss. Okay. Um, well, I I I think the the couple things that I would highlight is it, you know, this has been an item that's been on your on your agendas on your for a bit now. Uh I would say from spring summer of this year through the fall some really key highlights are we kind of did some analysis of the issue here which again is that you have um residential development occurring uh in businesszoned properties. And this is a kind of a historic um uh kind of hold hold over so to speak in that if you look at the maps of where these areas are um these are in typically parts of the city that were developed earlier on um where you had um business multif all different housing technologies um industry street kind of all next to each other. And as the zoning code changed um from the first one out to the 1920s um you see uh these areas um these zoning districts which allowed a whole host of building typologies in multif family residential mixed use business industry um to it getting more and more you know bifurcated and separate um and kind of less and less and less and these are these kind of holdover areas is uh around uh and adjacent to village centers, a lot of them. Um and

because of that over the last 10 20 years, uh developers have kind of found a way to exploit exploit the the development potential of that business zoning district for fully residential development. It requires a special permit. It goes through the city council. Um and the most uh the largest um amount of these parcels I mean the largest amount of where this development is happening is intermong up and down Adam Street. Uh and the the the exercise was to to kind of learn what to do about this. And we ended up going out um walking around the neighborhood of Council Oliver and Councelor Liry. Um and you you saw um kind of particularly along Adam Street this happened but it's on Watertown Street. It's on California Street um predominantly in in Donam uh you saw uh the new development that was occurring um approved by the city council under special permit. You saw the kind of typical historic development patterns that are there. Um and we tried to identify okay where could this where does this make sense and where does it not make sense. Uh and the the kind of what we what we have inevitably presented to all of you was two options to explore. Um, one in the short term is that uh areas um off of Adam Street, areas um and we can Adam Street is kind of the proxy of kind of the commercial or um larger mixeduse street um within the city areas that are that are in this situation where they're residential development but they're zoned business um those

could be reszoned. those could be reszoned to the most in most cases and almost all cases the adjacent multi-res the MR zone and then the second option uh which would require kind of longer term study was to modify the dimensional um uh rules within the business zoning district maintain the business zone particular again using Adam Street as kind of our proxy um is that um we want to see that commercial uh development makes sense there. If it were to be fully commercial, then so be it. Um but if you were to develop residential um uh then we could modify the rules and regulations, the setbacks, the heights, etc. to something different uh so that it would better uh guide such development if and when it were to occur. Um and those are kind of both things that are up uh for uh moving forward in the new term uh when it comes along.

Super. That's a very nice presentation discussion commentary. Are we discussing this? Well, we can say a little bit. Sure. I don't want to because we're going to not discuss it in terms of action tonight. It's just it's a little like climate. We're going to come back to it, I think. But let me sort of a question. Um, recently the land use committee had before it um or formula cleaners in Newton Newton 1102 Street. So, and it's been empty for a long, long time. And it came to the council many years ago to become housing and they turned it down

and it applied again for housing and they turned it down because they'd rather have commercial but the place is sitting vacant for commercial. So, uh the question I guess is what can we do? What can we do to make it more commercial friendly? uh if if if we really want that site to be commercial, what do we do to make it commercial friendly and if there is anything so I know I don't expect you to have the answer to that but I think that's a question that needs to be answered.

I mean I mean the general rule for for commercial is you need more people to support commercial. Um and this in particular is a is a pretty small site and it and it might make sense that residential might make sense. I think you can take these in their case by case basis. I think what's happening in and off Adam Street is the the scale of development that's being improved um and the immediately adjacent the immediately adjacent use um uh being typically you know one or two single or two two family homes um or smaller scale multif family that uh those those two side by side from like a mass setback, etc. are kind of cl sometimes be clashing with each other. And in this case, you know, it might not it might not very well be the case. Uh or you allow a certain amount of development of residential above to cross subsidize the the residential below. Um but those numbers aren't insignificant, right? It it takes something to to support that that retail or commercial space below.

Now that I think about it, that it seems that that came to the council once before when we were doing marijuana shops and they wanted to put a marijuana shop there and they said there wasn't enough parking so they turned that down too. Well, now there's no requirement.

I'm gonna ask people to be because we got a few things I want to finish up with the meeting, but let me just recognize councelor Okay. Um I I think that these are all questions that are that are very interesting and and need to be dealt with. Um one of the things that um that I think governs um what people build in any given era is what the economic conditions are and what can get financed. because we will all remember the uh Chescent Hill the Wegman's Plaza that was supposed to it was designed with two 19story towers uh or tall towers. I think they were about 19 stories and they never got built because that was in 0809 07 and 0809 when the housing uh crashed. Um and when the uh design after it gets uh get gets goes through city process when they go to put it out to the banking and investment community they're not going to get any takers or the the um return the rate of return investment rate of return that would be required in order to cover the risk of building something in an in a at a time when the absorption of that product isn't happening is so high as to make the um the project unfeasible, financially unfeasible. And that's a lot of what's going on, for example, at Riverside. um they uh and and also at U Northland

had to do away with the commercial portion of it because they they knew that they would have a lot of difficulty going out to the investment world and getting that the financing in place at a percentage that um you know you can build anything if you don't care how much what your interest rates are and and you know somebody will give you the money to do it But that doesn't mean that it will get um it will get leased. Um, and so I I would like some to hear some discussion um in in the on ongoing discussion in the future about uh Newton not wanting to lose its commercial base and what can be done in order to either encourage or uh build whatever. I think local as you say if you've got enough residents residential to support local businesses then that type of um of commercial probably would work the office space after uh after COVID um who knows whether we'll ever absorb the onethird of the uh commercial buildings that are now empty. Um and and that's the main reason why is they're not being built because they can't be leased.

Um let me go to councel and then

um yeah just to follow up on council damber the economics of building in commercial spaces. Um I think what's important is that we understand that and speaking on as a member of the land comm of the land use committee there is a strong feeling among that committee and I'm sure it's most of us city council too to preserve our commercial spaces and I think that is important. Um, but I think we need to have some criteria about that. Using 1100 1102 Beacon Street as an example because it's very recent and it's being um withdrawn without prejudice tomorrow night at the land use meeting. They came before us twice um and um we had asked them to come back for other kind of modifications but I was a little frustrated because the reason why it was it wasn't going to go anywhere in land use was exactly because there was concern about building residential and a commercial space and I understand that the the problem this was a very limited space there were some economic reasons why it wasn't viable so the housing criteria about that. Otherwise, we should just tell people if they have a commercial property zone commercial beu and they want to do residential, don't come to the land use committee because it's going to be denied

unless we have some criteria about that. So, we we don't want to waste anybody's time or money.

Interesting. I mean, this is a unique site in that, you know, it's interesting we're not talking about the BCOD update. Uh there was another memo associated with that. You know, this was an area that was originally included as part of the the the the properties to be included within the BCOD and I think there are properties of this size which is small and difficult um that are moving forward in some way, shape or form. Um and I think the the dimensions and the allowance uh within that type of zoning framework could have produced a pathway for a property like this. Not all of course you know it's a small site and it still be difficult but um it'd be interesting to go to those property owners and say if these were the set of rules that you were working with you know would it be would it be viable to to develop a project like like you want

and that project has been vacant for five years Oliver then we go to counc great thank you just as kind of a I don't know a reminder I guess it's been a while I I mean it where we started or the genesis of this was really the off right the behind Adam Street kind of completely residential areas of nonantumm that still had lots that were zoned business.

Right. And again, the impetus here was our was our famous 20 Clinton where in part the F associated with that lot that was held over from the commercial side was I want to say it was 1.2ish two ish massive structures on that property led to just I think well just drive down Clint Flinton Street you'll see what I mean. So I do think that that is really important not to get lost in the the greater dialogue because I think everything you're saying is correct. We have to figure out how how to protect the commercial that we have in a smart way that allows for things to actually be be built there that people can make money on so that they will build it. Completely agree. But I don't want to lose sight of the you know the off Broadway so to speak RA Adams in this particular case. Uh I'm not going to go into great detail uh per chair's wish. I'll leave it there. But that's kind of again reminder that's where we came from. We're really start

just in while you were speaking I I looked this up you know in terms of looking at the map for the the BCOD um and it was it was actually proposed to be be BC2 um but it was considered a priority stream. So this is where we have to find the place where we can maintain a certain amount of commercial um but then possibly a lot a little bit more residential because this is actually one of those areas that actually lives in that world where like Adam Street, you know, it can support commercial and there is viability because there's quite a bit of housing um just already new housing in the area.

So I I I really do think it's important to think about that makes use. Okay. Just inside committee and then I'll come council. Um I'll be quick follow up with councelor um Oliver what he said. We came to this mainly for residential areas with commercial lots. What's happening in four corners that could happen on any beu lot. Um, so that's I think kind of a separate thing. I mean, you should have some standards there, but that could happen everywhere in the city. Yeah.

But what we wanted to address is is this other aspect. And I'll just say to that in the um memo presentation provided, we have a kind of um we have a map of recommended lots just off of Adam Street that could essentially be res taken up next term. Yep. I think that's great. Appreciate the economy with which this conversation is going forward given it's not the last meeting. I'm just curious if that was to be part of the BCOD. It makes sense to add it in to go back and add it in.

That is up to the council the new council to do terms. But it seems like that the developer doesn't want to do it. They want to do all commercial uh all residential and as VCOD and it's a primary um a primary street.

Yeah. It has to have commercial on the first floor. So, so my again I haven't been a part of these conversations but but my sense is um that mentality or that framework is based on the underlying zoning um which wouldn't allow as much as VC2. So it's poss and I don't know if this is true um but it's possible with the dimensional controls and the allowance of EC2 that you know a small providing a small um retail component on the ground floor and it would be small given that the lot is only 5,000 square feet um could be viable but I don't know that

councelor you've been patient what's your

um happy to wait so I'd like to offer a slightly different framework to think about which is productivity in the neighborhood and the 1102 is it beacon street seems to be a perfect example right yes it's great that we preserve commercial space but right down the street are a couple of buildings that are woefully underused and so it's almost like concentrating the commercial would be more productive from a revenue perspective than actually having commercial space the entire way and I just want to offer that as a possible alternative framework for looking at a property like this where possibly adding homes there net would have better greater benefit to the vacant commercial than maintaining that as commercial. So, um, you got a lot of homework. You You're still with us next term and thank you. And we have and you'll have conversation with the land use committee, I'm sure as well.

Thank you for a a non-presentation presentation. Okay. Um, okay. Um, I'd entertain a motion to any on that item, but again, this I suspect will come back. Oh, I promise you. Yeah. Uh so yeah um motion to nan 302324. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. Extensions. Okay. Um and then there are a whole string of items that I'm just going to move in if you permit me as the chair so that we can just send dispose of them properly. I'm just going to read the docket items but they're in the agenda. 2620. I'm sorry.

Are we going to take the second one? the VCOD before we go through out. Uh, sure you can. Where is it in order? I thought it was the next thing. Oh, it's the next, but it's it's 1 a.m. Oh, okay. Sorry. Planning to discuss it. We can pull it up if we want. But

so, let me read these. 2625. Uh, this is relating to the multi-resident zone. 8025 commercial office space. 29524 parking and village centers. We've gone to some discussion on a lot of these issues anyway. 2725 two family detached 25824 this is manufacturing districts in 8524 uh this is preservation of existing homes 4124 amend setbacks and to preserve existing buildings 4324 quarterly updates on the BC over overlay district. So um we move any in on all those items recognizing that um part of the work of the uh period of time between this committee and the new new council is just to spend a little time with Miss Holden and the vice chair to try and make sure that we don't lose these items and we're nannying from the possibility of people reviving them because they just don't remember that they're there. I mean I mean you may not want to do it but

I'll move that. Yeah. Okay. All those in favor say I. I think you piece that I think that I to speak to councelor writes. It's the the 4324. It's got some content um in the the packet to discuss the item. I'd like to discuss this before we Okay, we can do it before we before we vote. Should I say discussion on the vote? All right. All right. All right. Mr. L, you again have you have a Yes. Again, an economic opportunity, so to speak. Sure.

Economic in terms of time. Well, I guess if there was one takeaway to show uh from uh the last few months is that we are seeing uh preservation occur through uh enhanced development rights. Um, and I think granted that's been mostly at the periphery within the MRT, the multi-residents transit zone. Uh, but there have been four site plan approved uh projects uh where the existing home has been preserved. It's being renovated to multi-unit uh and another building is is being added that's also multi behind it. the adaptive read.

Adaptive. Just to be clear, this is 2625. 43. Oh, excuse me. 4324. Thank you.

Yes. So, I think that's probably the main takeaway. Um, I know uh through the historic commission 19, the Swedenborgian church at Newville has been moving through that. That'll be another example of kind of adaptive reuse uh with additional development and and so I think that we when properly calibrated um additional development can lead to preservation. Uh there's also situations where there is new fully new development coming in down the pipeline. a bit, you know, further behind. And I think those those larger kind of core village center projects are slowly getting the wheels moving. And I think there's a lot of external factors, the economy, labor, etc. um that are uh holding those back. Um, but I do think um we are going to see and are seeing better products um hitting the market in New because uh that are being built and and developed through village center zoning. 4749 Chase Street and New Center is is wrapping up. I think if you go down that street, those two buildings look like they should and have been there. Um, Council Gamber, I think, you can attest to that more than anyone else. Uh, 610 Floral Street is kind of framed out, which I I provided a picture of. Um, and of course, we'll see these adapted for use where the existing home is being st.

So, a couple questions. So actually the church was not part of BCLD and because the lot was too big and so they subdivided it and then that is now part of BCL but I don't think it was well it was also landmark so that helped it was always in the BCOD. Yes, it was always part I thought it was over 30,000. It was but that those lots were still in VCOD. They weren't okay because they weren't by Right. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. So I was just wondering so um units of permitting in the pipeline is 106 how much how many roughly is MRT of that 10650 units 75 um I would imagine it's in like the 20ish range right because what was the number 12 106 so well it's permitting pipeline Yeah. So take out 35 is the church. So so so about 65 then is MRT then.

And do you know if those are percentage of those roughly are actually going to rentals versus condos? We don't know and we don't need to know. This is just not something it's not on purp. There's no way that we can figure that out later. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. So my sense is that they also lean more towards condo than rental, but it's something we can track.

Yeah, I I would like to track that because that's something we want to do because those are smaller, more attainable. And if it's going all rentals because we have lots of rentals, per se, what else could we do to incentivize condos? Yeah, this echoes the inclusionary zoning conversation. Yes, it does. Yep. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Just real quick, I'm assuming that um and I'm going to butcher the address, but Washington Street is not in here. The um people are calling it the the uh uh um the Chinese restaurant. Yeah. Rice Valley. Thank you. 793.

It it's not in there because it's not it's going through any but yeah. Okay. But I guess I would highlight that they are looking to explore, you know, 100% affordable. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. I just can we go over that last slide for cleanup and I agree with some of these, but I need to understand what you're saying on this. So like the first one more tell us what slide you're talking about. Last one. Seven. Maybe bring it up. If he can pull it up, I think we should I can see it because I got a printed version. But the I'm going to need to

You want me to pull it up from the back? Sure. Sure. That'd be great. Thank you. So, allow more flexibility for unit placement in adaptive reuse. I think we require 25 ft 20 20 feet distance between buildings. that are you looking at making that smaller or what?

I mean, I think that's a possibility. What what it's really referring to is the how the units are divided within the building. So, right now, if you're going through MRT, every building needs three units or or three or four in a new building or three to six in a reuse. And I think um thinking about it more about units on a site um is a better way to think about it. Particular um for example, we've seen some reuse projects come in that that have carriage homes where it's not feasible for that carriage to turn into three units. But it could be feasible for it to be saved and turned into one or one unit where there are and then the main building is turned into four or five for a total of you know whatever it is. Um so I think allowing that sort of flexibility um uh could could go a long way into again further helping preserve while adding. in the second one.

Um, so I think what we're seeing the parking setbacks that are within uh the VCOD were really Oh, and this happened I think we talked about this in general is the MRT district is at a completely different scale than the the main BC2 and BC3 districts. And there are um regulations like parking setbacks that were really tailored more for that development scale uh and not MRT and I think they don't make sense in the same way for MRT and this is just a general thing that we need to really look in. So, um there are smaller sites, tight sites um that um if we if you could have parking um in different locations. Uh it would make a lot of times for a better layout. Um I think 6 to 10 floral is that's going on in the Newton Highlands, which I think is going to be a really great project. Um but it's it's odd the number of curb cuts and things like that to make it work and it's a subdivided site. It's two lots. Um that's because of the parking setbacks that why it's being um formed how it is. And I think you could end up with a better situation if those were made more lenient and flexible. I'll just add the 312 Lake AB as another example where because of the parking setback, the parallel parking space had to be closer to the front of the building, not in front because that wouldn't have been allowed for zoning, but um it would have been a better outcome for it to have been on the other side of the driveway, but it couldn't be because of that parking setback.

And um I agree on number three. I think you want to specifically allow fully commercial, too. Yeah, that's a really easy one. That's just deleting one line within. So, I would recommend docking that and and then modifying the minimum distance between buildings. So, do you want to see it smaller or be a percentage of the size of the lot or

uh I wouldn't I don't know if I would say a specific number. I mean, I think if this were something that again, I think if we're we've seen preservation happen, we're if if we want to um allow preservation to occur on smaller lots with smaller buildings, you need to allow we need to allow things to get a little bit tighter. And the question that I would have is those conditions exist. I'm not saying that they are the norm. And I also don't think developers like want, you know, there there's kind of a there's a sweet spot where they need to sell these things at the end of the day. But I think um exploring um the 20 foot where we are now or 25 foot

25 and VC2 VC 20, right? So, so I think exploring that um a little bit more, we might say, "Hey, this might unlock um a lot more parcels that would utilize the adaptive reuse provisions if this were the case versus where they are now."

And one quick question. So, if we make any of these changes, especially like allow fully commercial, which like you said, it's just one line, it has to go to the state and they have to review it and get permission from it or what? No, that shouldn't uh so it's about um the zoning for state compliance is about the allowance of housing. So allowing fully commercial doesn't negate doesn't supersede or change the allowance of housing. So I I think if we were to make a change that were to prevent the housing the housing option within the zoning then that would be a different story if everything else. But would you need to submit them and actually ask for a

I think technically we're supposed to send them any changes that happen. All of these I don't see these affecting the calculation at all. They're generally, you know, a little bit more permissive or the commercial would be totally irrelevant. As long as you didn't require fully commercial, right? That would be a problem, right? allowing it doesn't change the number of housing units that could potentially be built. Can you guys write up the I mean, you clearly know where what needs to be modified. Can you just write up the docket language? Yeah. Before we get to docket, why don't we like discuss where we're going with these? Yeah. Well, they're they're interesting to discuss in the next

I agree. But let's discuss them and then get to the docket language. Hang on. Let me recognize people a little bit here. But I think that you've given us some things that are worth thinking about next time and you've got a memo about it. So let's but I'd rather not get an extended discussion tonight, but I think you've given us some things to chew on and uh but I my expectation is that we will have an update on the BCOD as part of the new terms uh menu of items that the committee will take up. Now what comes out of that and a docket item may be you know may emerge from that discussion but I don't I wouldn't pre

some of us might want to docket something on January 1 and be nice to have some language. That's all I'm asking for. You can ask for anything you want. I'm just not expecting anything to get done between now and January 1st. I I wouldn't think so since this is our last meeting. Fair to the home team here. I really I mean I appreciate what they've done but we we're losing our director and we're losing this car and I and but there are certainly it would be nice that you could then drop into your thoughts you know and just add them Zach is fully up to speed. Oh I know but you guys have been discussing

Oh yeah we've been discussing we've been tracking you know Zach's been tracking um things as they come up as we're seeing it through the process. Um, so my any of my thoughts have already been incorporated there. Okay. Um, but we have a motion on the floor. Any more discussion? I mean, it doesn't mean councelor you can't get pocket items. I don't mean to minimize that. I just I just wasn't expecting that to emerge as a precious. What? I'm sorry.

I just said they're precious. Uh our time is we're trying to figure out how the committee manages this time, but I'm not in charge of this and we don't know what I'll be in charge of. So we'll see. Um question uh any other questions. All right. Um all those in favor any say I I

opposed. Abstension. The eyes have it. All right. Now we have one other item that's not formally before us, but we are joined tonight by Miss Kyra. very very grateful that she is here. And Mr. L, I hope you stick around. I want to say how much we've appreciated your assistance. Uh we had the assistance of Mr. Lee earlier. I think he's no longer with us. We've got other members of the council here online as well as member of the committee, councelor Kais. I want to say how much I've appreciated the contribution that not only the staff but all of the members of the committee and those who've attended from a time to time who are not on the committee to do the work we've done. U we've really I think through the committee the council has done a fair amount of work in the last two years and what councelor and I have is a citation to read for Miss Cairo. We would like to uh honor her and also uh the planning director but he is not here.

He is sick. He is sick. Oh, he doesn't even get cookies. This is we have to do something to save something for missing.

So the the vice chair and I worked together to uh produce this uh city council accommodation to you. And there's a parallel version for him, but you know, with slight modifications for obvious reasons, but the content is the same. And so, um, what I I thought that the vice chair and I would do this jointly because we signed it on behalf of the committee. I hope that's all right, but we couldn't convene all of you in advance. Um, so this is um, City of Newton City Council commendation honoring Jen Kyra for her outstanding accomplishments. accomplishments during her time as deputy director of planning and development. You want to read the first

we're going down here. Yeah. Right. But so we're you're right there. Right. Jen Kyra began serving as the deputy director of planning and development for the city of Newton in 2019. And whereas Miss Kyra has been a principal advisor to the 2020 2425 Newton city council zoning and planning committee. Miss Kyra oversaw some of the following changes to Newton's zoning ordinances during the 2025 2425 term. Updates to the special permit zone change and site plan review fees

requiring special permit review for all retaining walls over four requiring requiring building height is measured from original grade instead of finish grade. Incorporation of the fast food establishment use into the restaurant use allowing for shared maker spaces and/or co-working and defining place of amusement use. Place of amusement use certificate flood plane ordinance updates. I get all that's great. uh revisions of the requirements for accessory or ADUs or accessory dwelling units, including changes required by the new state law,

preventing large homes from building from side setback to size setback through the creation of maximum residential facade buildout ratio. Fantastic work. removing parking minimums for commercial uses in commercial centers, allowing small changes to existing homes to be made by Wright and the creation of a new adult a day a day a day a day a day a day a day a day a day a day care use updating the inclusionary zoning ordinance right not not bad for two years

so now it says applause here now therefore it be known you wanted to read that part and in recognition of Miss Kyra's final meeting with the committee this term. The members of the zoning and planning commission wish to extend heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for Miss Kyra's service. We thank Miss Kyra for her dedication and wish her continued success in all her future endeavors.

This is a commendation off this 8th day of December on behalf of the zoning and planning committee of the Newton city council by chair arbaker and vice chair John Oliver. So Miss Kyra have a picture. Anybody got a camera that can take a picture with everyone? We can do that. Stand in the middle here and we'll stand around. Thank you so much for this

and just want to say this is clearly not all me. So much of this it is Zach and Nora and the rest of the team. and we appreciate them and they are they are certainly unindicted co-conspirator but they're lucky to work with all of you to smile again. Thank you so much. Where's his bobblehead?

And we have a parallel resolution signed for Barney and I'm sorry he can't be here but I'm happy to pass. Would you be the delivery service the post office? All right. Thank you for this. But thank you for I mean all of the uh formalities aside, we're grateful to you for your time and service to us and we don't always agree with you. I know what you don't misunderstand. However, however,

you sharpened my debate skills. I am thankful. I've learned a lot through this time. So, it's been great working with this committee and really proud of the work that we've done. Well, we've enjoyed working with you and good luck in your new role and but you've left a good team behind and Zach and we will certainly carry on with them. But thank you very much for all.

All right, I'll accept a motion to adjourn. Where's counselor prince when I need it? Is he here? There he is. Okay. Councelor. All right. Motion to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Thank you.