Newton Land Use Committee Approves Two Residential Permits, Advances Riverside Review

NEWTON -- October 7, 2025, Newton's Land Use Committee approved two residential special permits and pressed forward with its review of the 757-unit Riverside mixed-use development at its October 7 meeting. The committee voted 6-1 to grant a special permit for a four-unit, three-story residential building at 1062 Beacon Street, with Councilor Tariq Lucas the lone no vote and Councilor Randy Block calling himself "a very unenthusiastic yes" over parking and congestion concerns; the project, presented by attorney Lawrence Lee of Rosenberg, Freeman and Lee, carries a floor area ratio of 1.29 and stands 35.8 feet tall near the Four Corners neighborhood. The committee then voted 8-0 on a three-unit attached single-family project at 16-20 Winter Street in the Upper Falls Historic District and 8-0 on a 109-square-foot mudroom addition at 30 Kingsbury Road. On Riverside, attorney Steven Bookbinder disclosed the unit count had risen from 750 to 757 after Buildings 2 and 3 were redesigned as two distinct structures along Grove Street, with density shifted to a new seventh story on Building 1; parking analyst Elizabeth Tibbitz of 128 Business Council presented a 980-space shared garage plan and argued a 1:1 residential parking ratio is "fairly conservative for a transit adjacent development," a claim Councilors Block and Laredo pushed back on, citing the site's proximity to Route 128 and the Mass Pike.