Neighbors For A Better Newtonville Sues City Over Senior Center Plans

NEWTON, MA — Neighbors for a Better Newtonville (NBN) announced on June 3 that it has filed a lawsuit against the City of Newton.

This lawsuit, filed in Middlesex Superior Court, addresses the protection of the current Newton Senior Center building, originally the Newtonville Branch Library, as well as the park in front of the building, both of which are at risk due to the city’s proposed plans to build a new Center for Active Living (NewCAL).

In March, the Newton Historical Commission (NHC) voted not to nominate the Senior Center for further landmark study, allowing the city's plans to replace it with a brand new Newton Center for Active Living (NewCAL) to continue.

However, NBN claims the NHC “failed its responsibility” to protect the historically significant building and that the city would be in violation of Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution if it builds on a public park.

“If Newton tears down historic buildings, if it builds on city parkland, we will be sacrificing the very things that make Newton special,” NBN President Fred Arnstein said in a statement. "The city’s current proposal is a reasonable design but it needs a different site.”

Arnstain said NBN is filing a lawsuit against the city for three primary reasons:

1. The only public green space in Newtonville village center will be eradicated by this project despite being designated as a park in 2004 with the spending of Community Preservation Act Funds.
2. This building is testimony to the perseverance and determination of the citizens of Newtonville who raised $30,000 in the midst of the Depression in order to build a branch library. In 1992, The Board of Aldermen charged the Historic Commission with the task of preserving this historic building. The NHC has failed to fulfill its intended role.
3. The proposed New Center for Active Living is a badly flawed project for these reasons:
   1. It is built on .6 of an acre when the NewCal design team determined that they needed 2 ½ acres for sufficient senior services and outdoor activity space.
   2. It has 31 parking spaces when it needs 97 according to the feasibility study and 210 according to the zoning guidelines.
   3. It requires seniors with canes and walkers, who are not dropped off or able to park on-site, to walk a block or more from the Austin Street parking lot or nearby streets, to access activities.

In response to the lawsuit, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller defended the city’s plans for NewCAL in a community update Friday.

“Some residents have filed a legal challenge,” Fuller said. “The complaint has been reviewed by our Law Department. We’re confident that we are in full compliance with the law.”

Fuller said the city is on track to break ground next summer, with completion of the project anticipated in the summer of 2025.

The History of the Newton Senior Center

The existing Senior Center building was constructed as the Newtonville Branch Library in 1938, a Depression-era Public Works Administration project, and was the largest of the city's branch libraries.

At its dedication in 1939, an array of prominent officials were present and the event was headlined by Robert Frost, who read his poem, "Mending Wall," lines of which are contained in the building's stained glass windows along with the words of “There is No Frigate Like a Book” by Emily Dickinson.

In 1992, in accordance with a Board Order, the city repurposed the building from being a library to being a Senior Center and demanded that “All feasible means be taken to preserve and/or replace the architectural elements, both interior and exterior, which give the building its historic character.”

In 2005, in accordance with an additional Board Order, Community Preservation Act funding was used for the purpose of the creating a park in front of the Senior Center.

Since then, the building has been deemed historically significant multiple times, including in a 2012 Newton Public Buildings Survey and a 2020 Newton Historical Commission Demolition Review Decision.

The city has also received multiple letters from notable organizations and individuals in favor of preservation, including The Living New Deal, Historical Architect Lance Kasparian of the J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Arts & Crafts Stained Glass author Peter Cormack, and Historic New England.

What some residents are saying

Several Newtonville residents have come forward with their concerns about the city’s plans for the Senior Center, including Laura Duffy, who has lived in the city for over 30 years, and Norma Swenson, who has been a resident for 70 years.

"I don't think people are aware of what a truly flawed plan this is,” Duffy said. "I hope articles like this are going to wake people up to say, ‘Why would we go along with this?’”

“It’s an insufficient setting with insufficient parking, its claustrophobic, and there’s the little park,” she continued. "I see young mothers with babies sitting there and high school kids eating their lunch there. I like that, why would we give that up? The city keeps saying it's not our park. The city has not taken any steps.”

Although the NewCAL renovation and expansion plans include incorporating the stained glass windows and other historically significant elements from the existing senior center into the design, Duffy and Swenson said that isn’t enough.

“Thats not good enough for what’s in there, because everything inside was designed as a unit,”Duffy said. “This was a very important moment in Newton. You’ve got to always be inspired by history and the people who came before you. I don't like this cavalier attitude by the city.”

“It's not only cavalier in my opinion,” Swenson said in response. “It's a whole attitude by the city that past is past and now we need to urbanize the city. I’ve lived in Newton for 70 years. You’re destroying what is a very unique and precious part of who you are. People don't realize that they’re damaging the thing that makes Newton so desirable, the tradition in architecture always was that you build in keeping with your surroundings.”

Newtonville’s Historic District is over 140 buildings, but it is a National Register of Historic Places district because of just five buildings, said Swenson. One of those five buildings is the Senior Center.

"Historic districts dont last forever, and if we put a modern monstrosity in the place of one of those buildings, we could lose the whole district,” she said.

“There’s a charm, there’s a history, there’s a loveliness. and boy it's going to disappear if we just sit around,” Duffy said.

Swenson also expressed concern for the seniors, who she feels have been taken advantage of in this situation and not kept well informed.

“Seniors have been told this is the best they deserve,” she said. “And I think they deserve so much better.”

Other residents are in favor of the city’s plans for several reasons, including because there is limited space available in Newton for new buildings and the plans include accessibility improvements and new resources seniors are looking forward to having.

“Unfortunately Newton is extremely limited of available space and they’re trying to keep the larger green areas green,” Louis Atamian said. “I am personally excited about this being renovated properly by tearing it down because we are going to get a gym and a lot of space to use thats not currently available or we would have to got to another location to get."

“It's just about where your values are and, for the seniors who use it, our value is in utility,” he continued.