Riverside Details

LFIA Riverside Committee History 

The LFIA Riverside Committee continued the work of many dedicated Newton Lower Falls and Auburndale residents who met from 2006–2013, when the Riverside MBTA station site–which had opened in 1959–came under consideration for development. 

From 2018–2021, the LFIA Riverside Committee worked on behalf of neighbors to advocate for an appropriately sized project at Riverside that minimizes traffic and other negative impacts, provides access to affordable housing, preserves and creates open space, welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds, and benefits Lower Falls, Auburndale, and the City of Newton. 

Our Goals 

  • Educate the Lower Falls and the greater Newton community about current and future plans for Riverside.

  • Investigate the impact—social, political, economic, legal, transportation, environmental, educational—of development at Riverside.

  • Advocate for the interests and needs of the Lower Falls community.

  • Coordinate our activities with other neighborhoods such as Auburndale and other entities committed to smart growth strategies in Newton.

LFIA Riverside Committee Members: Randall Block, Ted Chapman, Debbie DeBotton, Nancy Finn, Barbara Gruenthal, Cyrisse Jaffee, Erin Kandamar, John McElduff, Liz Mirabile, Debra Ruder, and Kit and Charles Stover. We are grateful to Phil Wallas, Norm Sieman, Bob Schreiber, and other neighbors for lending their expertise on Riverside matters.

Mark Development Approved Special Permit (2021)

In September 2021, the Newton City Council approved Mark Development’s revisions to the Riverside Special Permit that had been approved in October 2020.

The 2021 revised Special Permit consisted of 10 buildings totaling 1.025 million square feet. The project includes:

  • 550 apartments, 20% (110) of which will be permanently designated affordable

  •  Two lab/life science office buildings standing 109 feet and 157 feet tall, respectively

  • 22,000 square feet of ground floor retail that will likely include a 5,000-6,000 square foot specialty grocer

  • 2,170 garage and street parking spaces 

The project provides for:

  • $3,020,000 in funds for neighborhood improvements, including off-site traffic mitigation, noise mitigation (such as a sound barrier), and possibly plantings along DeForest Road near Grove Street

  • $3 million for walking and biking trails behind the project.

  • $1.5 million for improvements to the Williams School

  •  $1.4 million for improvements to the City’s sewer system

To handle the additional traffic generated by the project, Mark Development planned to build a new highway ramp for 128 North and a roundabout at Grove Street and Asheville Road for 128 South. The developer also planned to create a 10-foot, two-way bike path from the Riverside complex to the Hamilton Community Center. 

Riverside Development Timeline

2006

  • Community meetings about the future of the Riverside Station began.

2009

  • The MBTA authorized an 88-year lease for the Riverside property with developer B.H. Normandy LLC, who filed a plan for a mixed-use development on the site.

2010 –2013

  • The Lower Falls Improvement Association (LFIA) and other neighborhood groups organized to provide input and express community concerns

2013

  • The City of Newton granted a special permit to build a development consisting of:

    • 290 apartments (15% affordable), with 438 parking spaces

    • 225,000 feet of office space with 571 parking spaces

    • 20,000 feet of retail space

    • 11,000 feet of community space

    • 1,000-car MBTA parking garage

  • The project eventually stalled, partly over a stalemate between B.H. Normandy and the MBTA about paying for the garage construction. 

2018

  • Mark Development (MD) partnered with B.H. Normandy on a new, 1.5 million square feet proposal—more than double the size of the previously approved plan.

  • June: Lower Falls neighbors revitalized the LFIA Riverside Committee to assess the implications of the new proposal and advocate for the best interests of the neighborhood.

  • December 2018 to March 2019: At the urging of the LFIA Riverside Committee, the City of Newton conducted a “visioning” process to gather feedback from residents. 

2018 – 2021

  • Our Committee mobilized as active participants and advocates, including: attending and speaking up at City Council Land Use, Zoning and Planning, and full Council meetings; organizing and sharing information at community sessions; conducting a neighborhood opinion survey; maintaining a website; raising awareness through letters-to-the-editor, signage, emails, and social media; and participating in numerous meetings with city officials and the development team.

2019

  • June: to counter MD’s zoning proposal, we submitted an alternative zoning amendment for a smaller development of 650,000 square feet and 441 residential units, with more open space and sufficient commercial/retail space to offset city costs and support future Riverside residents. 

  • The LFIA presented slides and a narrative to the Zoning and Planning Committee. A zoning petition and memorandum were also filed in support of the petition.

Visioning (2018–2019)

At the urging of the LFIA, the City of Newton launched a “visioning” process in December 2018 to find out what residents and other neighborhood groups would like to see at the Riverside site that has long been eyed for development.

The LFIA’s Riverside Committee articulated a list of topics that should be addressed during the process and voiced two concerns: that the two-month period allotted was too short, and that having the developer pay for the visioning process could undermine its credibility.

The Newton Planning and Development Department hired the planning consulting firm CivicMoxie to manage the process. Close to 300 residents attended the first open house, on February 10, 2019, and a smaller but equally passionate crowd attended the March 28 meeting, where draft principles were described. 

We were dismayed to discover that Mark Development had filed for a special permit to build a massive mixed-use complex at Riverside even before the visioning process had concluded (and that was nearly unchanged from the plan presented in September 2018), suggesting their lack of commitment to heeding neighborhood input.

Despite our best efforts and active participation, as well as important feedback from residents throughout Newton, the LFIA Riverside Committee was ultimately disappointed in the outcome of the visioning process and felt it did not reflect the many concerns of Lower Falls and Auburndale, the two neighborhoods that will be most affected by the Riverside development.

CivicMoxie presented its final Riverside Vision Plan to the public on April 30, 2019, at Williams Elementary School. 

2020

  • October: Although our zoning proposal was not approved, we continued to advocate and negotiate with MD. Eventually, the City Council approved MD’s special permit for a 1.025 million square-foot Riverside project. It included housing, offices, a hotel, retail spaces, public transportation areas, and green spaces.

  • During the lengthy process leading up to this approval, the LFIA Riverside Committee helped to:

    • Shrink the overall size from 1.5 million square feet to 1.025 million square feet, which we believe will lessen traffic and the burden on public services such as schools, roads, sewer, police, and fire.

    • Decrease building heights to lessen their visual and environmental impacts, including: the hotel (from 18 stories to 6 stories), the office building (from 14 stories to 11 stories), and building heights on Grove Street.

    • Increase the percentage of housing to 60%—including 103 affordable housing units.

    • Mitigate the impact of the development with measures that provide safe pathways for cyclists and pedestrians; enhance access to nature; and improve the experience of residents, office workers, visitors, and commuters. 

2021

  • January: MD proposed several changes to the approved plan, including replacing the planned hotel and office space with lab/life sciences buildings. We provided feedback on these significant revisions.

  • March: After MD filed amendments, we attended and spoke up at the city’s new round of public hearings on building heights and design, traffic, noise, lighting, lab safety, and so on. 

  • August: The city’s Land Use Committee approved the proposed changes to the Riverside zoning and special permit.

  • September: The City Council approved MD’s revisions to the Riverside special permit.

2022

  • January: The newly established Riverside Neighborhood Liaison Committee, formed by the City Council to address questions and concerns during construction and opening of the Riverside project, began meeting. 

  • April: As part of the Riverside development, there are plans to construct two roundabouts (small traffic circle) to manage the significant increase in traffic from the Riverside development. 

    • One of the roundabouts will be located at the intersection of Grove Street, the 128 South off-ramp, and Asheville Road. An initial design for the roundabout was approved during the Riverside special permit process. 

    • After reviewing the initial design, MassDOT requested some changes. 

    • This proposed redesign would eliminate the ability for drivers on Asheville to turn left onto Grove Street toward Auburndale. Instead, neighbors will need to use alternate routes (such as driving to Pierrepont Road or Pine Grove Avenue) to take a left toward Auburndale or to access 128 South. 

    • The stated reason for these changes is to reduce vehicle speeds.