Town Hits ‘Reset’ on Envision

April 30, 2025
• At its latest meeting, the Envision Needham Center Working Group stressed the need for business input on the proposed pilot project along Great Plain Avenue.

Members of the working group momentarily put design details aside to address business owners’ discontent with the ongoing design process at its meeting on Monday.

The town has undergone “a pretty aggressive outreach campaign” to Needham Center businesses, Public Works Director Carys Lustig said. Town staff delivered flyers, contacted businesses via email and fielded in-person feedback from owners “to try to understand where the concerns are” and “help alleviate any immediate anxieties,” Lustig said.

While residents and owners alike have voiced their reservations, Lustig emphasized that nothing is finalized. The group continues to receive feedback, she added.

“I think there’s a perception out there that we have a plan and it’s done and we’re building it,” Lustig said. “And that is not reality. We have not come to a conclusion.”

Envision Needham Center would redevelop a portion of Great Plain Avenue, from Linden Avenue to Warren Street, by potentially reducing two lanes of traffic to one in either direction while also considering other added amenities, including a bike lane, wider sidewalks, crosswalks and trees.

The yearlong pilot for the proposed project would likely begin in the summer, but that timeline is subject to change. The Envision Needham Center Working Group is an advisory committee meant to pass recommendations onto the DPW and Select Board.

Of the working group’s three reserved seats for business representatives, two are now filled. Dianne Nanni of Michelson’s Shoes recently returned to the board, joining Paula Jacobson of the Charles River YMCA.

At the scheduled meetings with Needham business owners, including one this Thursday, Lustig said the town seeks “to acknowledge the general frustration” they have expressed, particularly with a perceived lack of communication. The meetings also provide an opportunity for the town to contextualize the project, Lustig said, calling it a “reset.”

“This has been going on for 20 years, and sometimes when your horizon is so long, we forget about it, because it’s not always on the forefront… The outcome may be the same, but I think we just want people to understand what the intents of the project are, how we got to where we are, and then get feedback in a constructive way, so that way it can inform the design process.”

Some group members lamented the possible loss of parking, placing blame on the bike lanes. Planning Board member Artie Crocker, who sits on the Envision Needham Working Group, said he feels the lanes are “taking up too much space” in the design renderings.

“I used to bike a lot, don’t bike a lot now, but I do have some concerns as far as how much emphasis we’re putting on how much bike lanes are going on in,” Crocker said.

The non-car space — including the expanded sidewalk — actually would eliminate the parking, not the bike lanes, Lustig said. The bike lanes constitute 10 feet of space across the street, she added.

The standard parking space is about nine feet, said Felix Zemel, who represents the Design Review Board. One design rendering includes both parking spaces and bike lanes, Lustig responded.

“It’s the amenity zones taking up the parking, not the bike lanes,” Lustig said. Another potential design adds parking and maintains a bike lane, she said.

Eight parking spaces would likely be eliminated to comply with construction regulations, Apex Design’s Cassandra Thompson said during the meeting. However, added parking on Dedham Avenue’s west side, as well as along Chapel Street, could make up for that loss, she said.

There are 103 parking spaces within the project limits, and after shifting spaces, there would be 80 to 90 spaces total, Thompson said. “That is not drastically different than where the town is currently,” she added. Wayfinding — or signage — could also help drivers find parking, she said.

“When we talk about these trade-offs, that is something that really has been at the core of this project, is creating a wonderful destination for visitors,” Thompson said. “If it’s just about cars, it’s just about parking and it’s not about that human scale or human experience once you’re out of the car, our design argues that is a disservice to the community, because people want to be in beautiful spaces. And you have wonderful bones there. We just want to make it incredible.”

The project’s overarching goal is to improve safety in Needham’s downtown for pedestrians, drivers and bikers, Lustig said. She encouraged business owners, ahead of their meetings with the town, to envision changes that would better suit their needs and address concerns.

“What would provide that level of comfort? Because I think the goal is, from this group, to get something that we would feel comfortable constructing in concrete and asphalt and paint and everything,” Lustig said, “but we just wouldn’t take that step yet because of the skepticism, not because we don’t think it’s the right course of action.”