Good Morning,

Max Woolf, here — your chamber’s public policy manager — stepping in for Greg.

When making plans this weekend, make sure to catch one of our communities Independence Day celebrations.

• Needham’s 4th of July celebration kicks off tonight (Thurs.) at Memorial Park. Starting with food and dessert at 5:30 p.m., the event transitions into a pie contest and concert, concluding with a fireworks show. The parade is on Friday.
  
  
• While Watertown is not hosting a celebration, just across the river, Newton will host its annual celebration at Albemarle Field tomorrow (Friday) at 1 p.m., featuring carnival rides, live music and a fireworks show after dark.
  
  
• Wellesley held its official fireworks in May as part of Wellesley’s Wonderful Weekend activities.

Now, I know zoning talk can make your eyes glaze over...But stick with me, this one matters. It could make it even even harder to build housing in Newton.

Can Newton close the can of worms it opened?

Newton’s rules around affordable housing are under review, and one idea that alarmed us in May (scroll down here) is back on the table.

The Fuller administration originally proposed applying affordability rules to newly constructed buildings with as few as four units, rather than the current minimum of seven.

But last week, Fuller’s planning department walked back this proposal after the mayor agreed with us that it was a bad idea.

The concern? Small multi-family projects often don’t generate enough revenue to offset the cost of an affordable unit, especially in today’s high-cost construction and interest rate environment.

And if the math doesn’t work, small developers will walk away and homes won’t get built.

Overregulating the number of affordable units in Boston and Cambridge has been blamed for stifling housing development, and the administration correctly recognized that this proposal could do something similar in Newton.

Still, some city councilors want to press forward.

Including Councilor Pam Wright, who even floated the idea of applying affordability requirements to two-unit projects, a suggestion that, amongst others, prompted city attorney Andrew Lee to flag as likely illegal.

While Fuller has tried to withdraw the idea, the can of worms is open. In response to councilor pressure, the city’s consultant will now study whether the change is feasible, and the findings will likely shape a draft ordinance expected this fall.

There are many other promising proposals under consideration as part of the city’s broader review of inclusionary zoning. Making it more challenging for small developers to build is not one of them.

Chestnut Hill developer finds leverage 

A delayed rezoning process in Brookline has prompted a developer to look for leverage.

City Realty, owner of a largely vacant office park at 1330 Boylston Street in Chestnut Hill just over the Newton border, has filed a 40B application after the town’s year-long negotiation with NIMBY neighbors stalled, according to Brookline News.

Brookline had hoped to rezone this stretch of Route 9 for commercial or mixed-use development to strengthen its tax base. However, City Reality is now considering the 40B route, which would bypass local zoning and permitting control to build a mostly residential project, unless the town acts quickly.

The message: Approve the commercial zoning soon, or risk losing the opportunity to control the outcome and shore up your tax base.

State budget includes new retirement savings mandate 

Tucked into the new state budget is a proposal that would require many businesses to automatically enroll their workers in a retirement program.

This proposal drew criticism from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which called it "another payroll mandate" and worried that small businesses, who are already dealing with unemployment and medical leave requirements, “do not need the additional burden and compliance costs of yet another”

However, this program would not require businesses to fund or match retirement accounts, according to Chris Lisinski  at State House News .

Rather, it mandates businesses with 25 or more employees to automatically enroll their employees in a state-managed retirement savings program and redirect payroll deductions from each participating employee.

This amounts to more of an administrative cost than a tax, unless a business fails to comply, in which case it would face fines of $250 per employee per year.

The program, along with the rest of the budget, still awaits Gov. Maura Healey’s signature before becoming law.

Speaking of the guv   

Maura Healey’s favorite travel app is none other than Needham’s own TripAdvisor.

According to a Globe interview, Healey relies on TripAdvisor as a tool for discovering new things in new places and looks to the website for suggestions on where to go and what to do.

However, her excitement for our region does not extend to vacationing in our chamber communities. She plans to visit the beaches north and south of Boston, and truthfully we can't blame her.

Friday Grab Bag (on Thursday) 

• Newton resident and serial inventor/biochemist  Robert Langer has pulled in $38 million in funding for his new company's once-daily pill for obesity. Boston-based Syntis Bio Inc is working on a drug that treats obesity differently from GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy. The BBJ has the full story.
  
  
• Watertown’s trash collectors have gone on strike. Republic Services, which operates garbage collection services for more than a dozen towns, failed to reach an agreement with its workers’ union Monday Night. Watertown News has more.
  
  
• Banker and Tradesman has an op-ed about how Wellesley’s Terraza Development demonstrates community compromise on housing. It does not mention how this year’s town meeting nearly overturned the ordinance that made the compromise possible.
  
• Beacon Hill’s newly passed budget includes a provision to eliminate tenant-paid broker fees. If signed by the governor, whoever hires the broker —often the landlord, not the renter —would be responsible for covering the full cost of broker commissions.
  
  
• Horizons for Homeless Children is seeking volunteers in West Roxbury to support its Playspace Program by playing with children experiencing homelessness for two hours weekly. Opportunities are available Monday through Friday. Details
  
  
• The grand reopening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony of Arsenal Park in Watertown will take place on July 15, 2025, at 4 p.m.
  
  
• Artists have until July 27 to enter the City of Watertown’s open call for artists for its "A Pleasant Landscape" banner project in Watertown aimed at beautifying the fence screen at the former Sterritt Lumber site at 138 Waltham Street.
  
  
• Housing Navigator Massachusetts is a searchable database for affordable housing that tracks over 160,000 affordable and some middle-income units across 260 cities and towns within Massachusetts.

Let’s hope this project gets the state’s attention 

Watertown’s Willow Park redevelopment cleared its final local hurdle, earning unanimous approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals last month. The project will transform the existing 60-unit public housing site into 78 new deed-restricted affordable homes, increasing both the quality and quantity of the housing.

With local approvals now secured, the next step is to secure state funding, which is expected to occur in early next year.

The timing coincides with the Healey administration’s newly released five-year, $2.4 billion plan to fund housing, which significantly increases the share of the state’s capital budget dedicated to affordable housing development and rehabilitation.

Willow Park is exactly the kind of project this plan is designed to support, replacing aging public housing with modern, energy-efficient homes that allow residents and workers to remain in their community.

High drama this week on WBZ radio 

WBZ radio's Dan Rea grilled Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller on Monday — and also spoke with City Councilor John Oliver, Adams Street resident (and school committee candidate) Arrianna Proia and many mostly angry callers — about the erasing of the red, white and green lines on the streets of Nonantum.

Fig City News’ Martina Jackson has a good recap, too.

And that’s all you need to know today – Unless you need to know that Americans will enjoy 150 million hot dogs tomorrow.

Max Woolf (he/him)

Public Policy and Government Affairs Manager

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.4316101

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