Envision Needham Looks to Engage Business Community

April 23, 2025
• Since forming last August, the working group has yet to fill seats open to local business owners. The Select Board voted Tuesday to address that gap.

Facing increased scrutiny from residents and unfilled seats on its working group, the Select Board updated the subcommittee’s composition in an effort to accommodate potential new business representatives.

The Envision Needham Center project aims to revitalize a stretch of Great Plain Avenue and, in turn, incentivize pedestrian and bike travel to local businesses. That plan would also add bike lanes and likely reduce the two-lane street down to one lane in both directions, both of which several business owners oppose.

Eileen Baker, owner of Proud Mary on Great Plain Avenue, voiced that concern during the board’s public comment period on Tuesday. Baker and dozens of other businesses fear the proposed project would threaten their bottom line by backing up traffic and removing vital parking spaces, she said.

For that reason, Baker said they’re calling for “a pause on this project” and for representation from small businesses.

“We are the backbone and the personality of Needham Center. Empty storefronts will not make our town center more appealing,” Baker said. “Please listen and try to understand our point of view. These are our livelihoods at stake.”

A number of impacted business owners raised their concerns to former Select Board Chair Kevin Keane and Economic Development Manager JP Cacciaglia during a meeting earlier this month, as first reported by the Needham Observer.

The yearlong pilot was initially set to start in early July, but given recent feedback, that could change, Select Board members said. The bike lanes, however, must be included in that pilot, as they’re tied into the grant funding.

The impacted area stretches from Linden Avenue to Warren Street. Environmental Partners, the town’s chosen engineering firm, imagined one-way bike lanes flanking a one-lane street, along with a parking lane and other accommodations, during their presentation to the board last spring.

Despite public pushback and claims from business owners that they were ill-informed of the proposal, Chair Heidi Frail said the project is a “culmination” of various surveys in recent years. The town held walking tours of Needham Center in February and garnered community feedback last fall.

Frail reiterated that the plans are subject to change.

“I don’t think anyone is wedded to any idea,” Frail said. “The pictures that people have seen are really in the very first stage of development, and we’re still looking for feedback.”

The working group is tasked with providing input to the Department of Public Works on the project’s design, Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick said. She called it “a sounding board” for feedback and information.

Three seats were originally reserved for one restaurant owner, small business owner and property owner, all in Needham Center, but the board broadened those positions to include anyone from those three areas. Paula Jacobson of the Charles River YMCA is currently serving in her capacity as a business representative, but the other two seats remain vacant.

The Select Board unanimously approved amending those positions.

“I do understand that getting candidates is preferable to having no candidate, which is, I think, the status we’ve had,” member Marianne Cooley said.

Member Cathy Dowd said it’s important to field diverse representatives, including those who may object to the plan or elements of it.

“I think that this proposal is a very good one, because we do want to get the feedback on the committee… But we want to have people who represent a variety of views, in my mind including people who are quite skeptical, so that as smaller decisions about how this thing goes are on an ongoing basis, we want those points of view on the committee.”

The town may gather further input during meetings scheduled for May 1 and May 13.