Residents ‘chat with a planner’ on a ‘21st century’ Newmarket

Attendees talk among themselves at the meeting on Newmarket Revival. Katie Trojano photo

Residents from Dorchester and South Boston gathered at the Dorchester Brewing Co. last week grabbing a beer or a glass of wine before participating in a Boston Planning and Development Agency-sponsored “Chat with a Planner” meeting that focused on the PLAN: Newmarket initiative. 

The area included in the study lies within a half-mile radius, or about a 10-minute walk, of the Newmarket Commuter Rail Station and the Andrew station. 

The event was the third in a series of three “chat with a planner” meetings, which, BPDA Senior Planner Ted Schwartzberg said, help establish a two-way dialogue. “We’re getting the word out about what we’re doing so that way we’ll have some sense of what the issues are, and also we want to hear from people that come to these events so we know what they are concerned about.”

The initiative is a land-use planning study meant to lay the groundwork for establishing Newmarket as a “21st Century” jobs center by analyzing how to protect existing jobs while encouraging new ones in the Newmarket area and following recommendations outlined as a part of citywide planning through the Imagine Boston 2030 initiative.

“We’re trying to create a set of guidelines that allow us to help the area continue to flourish as a center for jobs,” said Schwartzberg. “Right now, there’s a lot of shipping and distribution, and we don’t necessarily want that to go away, but as other job producers come in, we’ll need to look at things like transportation needs and climate resilience.”

He added that that the Newmarket team is coordinating with other city planning efforts, like the Mass Ave Redesign project and Climate Ready Boston. “Right now, most of these roads are designed for 18-wheeler trucks. We want to look at how we can make them accessible to pedestrians, bikers, etc.”

Planning topics to be explored going forward will include mobility, jobs, business, climate resiliency, arts, culture, homelessness, addiction and recovery, among others. 

The BPDA is hiring consultants and expects to begin the public planning process as spring moves in, Schwartzberg said.


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