Council sends gas rule, housing grant to committee

Select Board · Meeting of September 22, 2026

NEWTON — The Newton City Council voted 23-0 to approve a batch of committee reports, then sent a $1.9 million affordable housing grant recommendation and a proposed gas-infrastructure permitting rule back to committee. Councilor Kalis, chair of the Public Facilities Committee, said National Grid's Amy Smith objected by letter after the committee had already approved 8-0 a measure requiring council review of non-emergency gas street openings; the full council referred it back rather than finalize it. Councilor Grossman, chair of Finance, walked members through a dispute over $600 requested for a disability pride event, calling it "much ado about a difference of $17.33" after learning the actual cost was $582.67; the council amended and approved that smaller figure unanimously.

The council also unanimously voted to send a $1.9 million Community Preservation Committee grant for the Newton Affordable Housing Trust to the Zoning and Planning Committee after discovering the item had been misassigned to Public Facilities and Finance, though only Public Facilities had voted on it. Councilor Roach asked whether the referral would be expedited; Councilor Baker said he could not yet commit to a date.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,111 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of September 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.