SAVE THE DATE
- JANUARY 29th -
Community Meeting & Discussion
This meeting will be hosted and run by the Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition’s steering committee. The Ward 4 Aldermen are expected to be in attendance and be available to answer questions.
The details:
Date: Sunday, January 29th
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Place: United Parish of Auburndale, 64 Hancock St.
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Place: United Parish of Auburndale, 64 Hancock St.
At this meeting, the RSNC and Ward 4 Aldermen will
- provide an update on the project,
- describe the process of how this project could move through city & state permitting,
- point out the formal and informal opportunities that we, as residents, have to influence and guide the planning and outcome (this meeting being one of those informal opportunities).
Please plan to attend and please be sure your neighbors know about this meeting.
Ward 4 Aldermen Docket a Request for Riverside Zoning
On November 9th and 10th, the RSNC Steering Committee and the Ward 4 Aldermen met with BH Normandy to discuss the status of the Riverside project and the possibility of an all-residential (possibly 40b) project. The steering committee and the aldermen felt that a mixed-use project of some type was still the preferred option, when looking at the balance of: major impacts (school, traffic, etc.), money available for mitigation of those impacts, annual tax revenues, and quality of life for the local residents. As a result of subsequent discussions, BH Normandy is now prepared to significantly lower the density of the project and is proposing to eliminate one of the two office buildings, a reduction that should have a large impact on the traffic problems. This reduction would be balanced by including a residential component comprised of 290 units- higher than their October proposal, but slightly lower than their June proposal. The developer has indicated that they are flexible on the mix of sizes of those units- which is the primary driver of school impact.
Docket text:
#400-11 ALD. GENTILE, HARNEY, SANGIOLO requesting establishment of a Business 5/Riverside Zone:
a mixed-use transit-oriented district at the site of the current Riverside MBTA rail station. The proposed new zone shall allow by special permit a single commercial office building not to exceed 225,000 square feet with a maximum height of 9 stories, two residential buildings not to exceed 290 housing units in total, retail space not to exceed 20,000 square feet, along with a multi-use community center. 11/17/11 @3:36 PM
a mixed-use transit-oriented district at the site of the current Riverside MBTA rail station. The proposed new zone shall allow by special permit a single commercial office building not to exceed 225,000 square feet with a maximum height of 9 stories, two residential buildings not to exceed 290 housing units in total, retail space not to exceed 20,000 square feet, along with a multi-use community center. 11/17/11 @3:36 PM
There still remains much work to be done as there are major outstanding issues.
Please contact members of the steering committee to help work on these problems as well as to let us know what you think about the project.
October's Community Meeting a Success!
The Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition would like to thank our Ward 4 aldermen and BH Normandy for working with the RSNC to coordinate October's community meeting. At least 10 aldermen, 4 aldermanic candidates, and State Representative Kay Khan were among the 190 in attendance.
The Williams School was packed with residents anxious to ask questions about BH Normandy’s fourth proposal for the Riverside MBTA Station site. After a 40 minute presentation, the developer’s team answered questions for two hours.
Newton Tab reporter Chloe Gotsis attended the meeting. Here’s a link to her story on Wickedlocal Newton. "Residents Concerned With Traffic from Proposed Riverside Development."
Chloe also started a Newton Tab blog entry entitled "Residents voice traffic concerns over Riverside development."
The blog discussion has been lively. Please post and express your opinion about this proposal.
Newton Patch.com Editor & reporter Melanie Graham was also in attendance and filed a more detailed report, "Traffic Still a Major Concern With Proposed Riverside Development."
You can join the discussion and submit comments about Melanie’s story at the Newton Patch website.Presentation slides from the meeting. 35 pages; PDF format; 3.5 Mb.
Handout from the meeting. 2 pages; PDF format; 1 Mb.
in the upper right hand region of the page.
Draft Environmental Impact Report
Approved By State as "Adequate"
On August 26, 2011, Richard Sullivan, Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, issued a certificate of acceptance for BH Normandy Riverside's Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).
While the DEIR has been accepted, the certificate sets out a number of comments and directives to be incorporated into the final EIR submission.
"I have determined that the Draft EIR is sufficiently responsive to the requirements of the MEPA regulations and the Scope to meet the regulatory standard for adequacy. While I find the Draft ElR to be adequate, there are significant issues that must be addressed in the Final EIR. In particular, additional consultation between the Proponent, MassDOT, MBTA, FHWA, the City of Newton and its residents is necessary to further develop access alternatives."
This finding followed 2 months of public review and comment on the DEIR. The MEPA office received 26 comment letters from community residents, state agencies, the City of Newton, the Ward 4 Aldermen, the RSNC, and other civic and environmental groups.
Thanks to all who put in the effort to provide feedback to the State.
It really made a difference!
The next step in the MEPA process is for BH Normandy to ceate and submit a final Environmental Impact Report which takes into account the comments and directives set out in the MEPA certificate.
Following that filing, there will be another 30 day comment period. A week after that, the Secretary will issue a ruling that the final EIR is adequate, even if certain aspects of the Project or issues require additional analysis; or that the final EIR is inadequate- requiring the developer to file a supplemental EIR and begin this process again.
Certificate Excerpts- Scope and Conclusion.
Certificate- Complete.
MEPA Process, Status, and Documents- including DEIR and DEIR Comments.
Select Quotations from the Certificate
In particular, additional consultation between the Proponent, MassDOT, MBTA, FHWA, the City of Newton and its residents is necessary to further develop access alternatives.
It is clear that consensus has not been reached for the proposed access plan and additional consultation and analysis is required to demonstrate that local and State interests are balanced appropriately.
I strongly encourage the Proponent to consider reducing the project size further to minimize traffic generation and to consider reducing the number of lanes proposed for Grove Street.
The Final EIR should include analysis of removing the curb cut from the Hotel Indigo and/or analyze the driveway as right-in, rightout only.
Proponent should consult with DCR regarding potential mitigation for impacts to DCR roadways, including Recreation Road, Park Road and Quineboquin Road.
The Final EIR should identify how vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian access can be improved and/or expanded between the project site, Hotel Indigo, and the Riverside Office Park as another strategy to minimize vehicle trips.
I encourage the Proponent to consider and commit to installation of solar PV systems on project buildings.
In addition, the Final EIR should describe in more detail projects proposed by DCR to provide access and rehabilitate pedestrian bridges through the Accelerated Bridge Program (ABP), including the Riverside Rail Trial, Recreation Road footbridge and the Riverside Park footbridge. It should address coordination with DCR regarding the feasibility of restoring the railroad underpass at the bottom of Recreation Road.
The Proponent should make a specific commitment to support DCR efforts for the Recreation Road multi-use path and/or hiking trails along both sides of Charles River in the project vicinity and should clearly illustrate how the proposed on-site connection is designed to support these efforts.
