Newton Council Panel Holds Brookline Route 9 Rezoning Item, Flags Traffic Concerns

NEWTON — March 9, 2026 — Newton council panel scrutinizes Brookline's Route 9 rezoning and hears its own affordable housing deficit laid bare. The Land Use Committee, chaired by Councilor Baker, convened a cross-municipal session Monday in which Brookline Town Administrator Charles Carey defended a proposed overlay zoning that would allow buildings of up to 175 feet along Boylston Street near Chestnut Hill, with the largest immediate project — a City Realty proposal closest to Newton — contemplating roughly 887,000 square feet of floor area, about 270 residential units, and 204 hotel rooms. Carey said the zoning requires a two-thirds vote at Brookline town meeting expected in May or June 2026 and acknowledged that a proposed R-cut traffic modification at Hammond Street "doesn't make intuitive sense" to many residents, adding that no change to Route 9 can proceed without Newton-Brookline-state consensus. In the second half of the meeting, the Newton Housing Priorities Task Force reported a combined affordable housing pipeline of 2,705 units existing or permitted but warned that 302 affordable units face expiring deed restrictions within 10 years — including a Benchmark-owned Cabot Park property with 20 affordable units whose restrictions expire in 2026, following the already-confirmed loss of Evans Park's 23 affordable units. The committee held both items unanimously.