General Meeting minutes, Feb 11, 2007
General Meeting February 11, 2007 Peck Room ANTS
Opening:
Present Dani Krasa opened the meeting of about 36 people, including the three Ward 6 aldermen at different times. Kathy Knight had handled distribution of the blue notices which Dani had prepared and an email was sent to the about 150 names on the BTNA list. An agenda was distributed. In the absence of an ANTS representative, he noted the near completion of their new chapel at the end of the quadrangle.
The Terraces:
Fran Seasholes prepared an update including that 200 to 210 trees have been planted with the $305,000 allocated to the Tree Warden for replacement. Eight of the 48 housing units are in final stages of construction and management is with Dannon Management. The Housing Authority has received payments so far of $750,250, $604,450. and $821,250 with a fourth and final payment pending completion; for the Real Property Acquisition Fund for affordable housing. The drainaige and Bowen upper playground work including new water bubbler have been completed. Before the city signs off on the property there will be a review to check compliance with the orders including the walking path.
A resident of The Terraces, Greg, spoke of the formation last fall of a condo association and the intent to have a liaison with BTNA and in other ways participate in neighborhood concerns. They are currently working on their own recycling service since their internal roads are not served by the city. They have a responsible landscape service and will look into neighbors' concerns about overhanging bushes and sidewalk maintenance.
Langley Road:
Simon Laskey reported on the projected reconstruction of Langley Road 's surface and sidewalks which has been delayed during The Terraces construction but is expected to go forward this summer. The Riverside T area in Newton Centre is projected for work this summer also, necessitating bussing in the area, but working around the Langley Road work. There was discussion of the importance of getting any neighborhood recommendations for traffic calming and pedestrian safety to the appropriate bodies in a timely fashion. There is no current action on Hebrew College's earlier proposal to open an entrance to their campus from Langley Road.
Chestnut Hill Square:
Updates were given by Aldermen Ken Parker and George Mansfield and others on this large development on route 9 where the Omni grocery store has recently closed. The project has passed all the state approvals but has not been submitted to the Newton Aldermen for special permits for which 16 votes will be required. There is focus on the needed tax revenue it will bring and on the traffic mitigations proposed, including potential new lanes and lights. Our area currently lacks convenient grocery shopping. Sean Roche has been following this carefully as BTNA's traffic chair and is looking for more help to work on the process of influencing the Aldermen appropriately on this big neighborhood inpact.
Newton Center Task Force:
A recent public meeting reported on the 20 months of work by citizens to propose improvements and potential development to the N.C. business area. Fran Seasholes, Anatol Zuckerman, Russ Feingold, Vicki Danberg and a representative of Friends of Newton Center offered differing perspectives on the Task Force proposals, all of which include removing the 155 parking spaces from the central triangle and creating attractive public meeting and passageways there. The final report to the mayor will recommened proposed changes for regulations on city owned and privately owned properties, thus requiring approvals of the Aldermen. These could include parking structures, diagonal where there is now parallel parking, height and density changes to allow housing over commercial, a design competition for the triangle, changed traffic controls and pedestrial passages or management of the kinds of desired commercial usages. Copies of a diagram of the triangle and possible consensus points were distributed.
Other Concerns:
Alderman Parker listed some of the other projects of local or city-wide concern including proposals for increasing city revenues. Bowen School has a 47% increase in population projected, so one step is to redistrict the children in the new Avalon housing (Route 9) to the Memorial Spaulding and to bring temporary classroom(s) to sit on concrete next to the playground which is undergoing renovation with CPA money. Sean Roche described the process neighbors have done to reduce speeding on Daniel Street through the approval of a change in the intersection with Jackson Street. Mitigation money from the recent area projects is being used. Nancy (Honic?) said that two other Newton Center organizations would like to have contact with BTNA over mutual interests.
BTNA on-going business:
There was acknowledgement that the BTNA had been dormant for several months and that we need to elect new officers and pay attention to our by-laws. Adam Peller is now in charge of the website and membership list and will serve as the communication hub through the internet. Maria Termini offered to chair a nominating committee to solicited ideas, at leafdancer@earthlinks.net. There will be a general meeting for election and information on a Sunday evening in May at ANTS (Hebrew College indicated it wouldn't be available). People were urged to let their neighbors know about BTNA and get on the list.
minutes by Fran Seasholes