Some good news: I noticed that there is some housing construction along the short stretch of Greenwood between Brandeis and Dudley which may be adding much needed sidewalks. This was a gap in the sidewalk network, so close to South and the middle schools, and therefore buses traditionally have had to serve parts of the neighborhood that are well within the required distance.
The bad news: from the permit, it looks like they’re building the driveway like a small street.
If I’m reading the plans right (last page, bottom right) the sidewalk has pedestrian ramps and warning pads sloping down to the driveway, which is 16’ wide. This is not typical for Newton. Perhaps there is a good reason for it to be this way?
I may be a little late to the game here. Wondering if this should be fixed. Also wondering if Newton should have a policy of not permitting sidewalk construction like this for a private driveway.
It looks like this project was done by right. We are working in zoning reform to set a maximum driveway width. It seems like this could have/should have been narrowed. As for the detectable warning pads maybe this is because the driveway is lower than the sidewalk? Where is this in the building process?
Even projects done by right don’t get to define their own curb cuts, right? Doesn’t property owner have to conform to some normal conventions?
It’s still relatively early in the building process, but under construction. Months away from constructing a sidewalk, I’d say. I’m curious to know whether inspectional services should have approved these plans. Also curious to know whether they could make a call and ask the developer to do the right thing.
Something to be considered “by right” has to pass some process in the first place that determines whether it complies to building code and if not, it cannot be built “by right.” Was this approved by Inspectional Services? What is this “Pedestrian Ramp For One Continuous Direction of Pedestrian Travel To Be Installed If Required By City of Newton”?
Yes, it absolutely does seem between the pedestrian ramps and the granite driveway curbs that they’re setting it up to replicate a street, not a private driveway. And if it replicates a street, is it not a street? Or do they have some ‘plan’ to post a sign saying “private street”? Lots of process things here that don’t look right.
I checked with Inspectional Services. The sidewalk portion should have been reviewed by Engineering. I’m still waiting to hear from the Engineering department.