Envision Considers Rebrand Following Public Opposition

July 21, 2025
• “It’s a dirty word in some circles in this town,” a committee member said.

Much like the Neighborhood Housing Plan created to comply with the MBTA Communities Law, the term “Envision” has drawn skepticism and contention.

As three new potential designs are in the works, the Envision Needham Center Working Group discussed a name change to back away from that negative perception.

Justin McCullen, a committee member who also sits on the Planning Board, said the name “Envision” is tainted. Rebranding the project could help “to set ourselves up for some level of success,” he said.

“It’s a dirty word in some circles in this town,” he said.

Apex Design is currently drafting three different configurations and simulations for Great Plain Avenue with the intention of increasing safety and improving the downtown:

• a two-lane roadway with no turn lanes
• a two-lane roadway with pocket turn lanes
• a four-to-three way roadway, which slightly modifies the existing infrastructure

Residents and business owners criticized previous iterations of the plan because they involved a road diet, reducing the current four-lane road — and in some areas, three — down to two lanes. That plan included bike lanes, to which some also objected. The concept plans in development will not include bike lanes and will “maximize parking options,” Public Works Director Carys Lustig said.

Committee member Liz Hay, studio owner of Barre3 Needham, voiced her support exclusively for a four-lane plan, meaning any rebranding doesn’t matter to her. In other communities that instituted a road diet, including Newton and West Roxbury, traffic has increased onto side streets “and decreased business,” she said.

McCullen argued that Needham is less dense, meaning the pedestrian-to-car ratio is different. Traffic modeling, as well as optimizing traffic signals, could alleviate potential concerns, he added.

Around Needham’s downtown, businesses continue to display “Not Our Vision” signs in their windows. A listening session on the project back in May resulted in dozens of critical comments, which prompted the Select Board to charge this working group to return to the drawing board to develop three plans.

Lustig said she views this renewed effort as a project restart, as their previous work “did not hit the goals that we had.” Even if it’s simple safety improvements, Lustig said the town must act to redevelop its downtown to last for the next 50 to 100 years.

“The goal of this committee is to address issues that we have in the downtown, and there are identified structural problems that we have in the downtown,” Lustig said. “We have sidewalks that are too narrow, we have drainage that is underserved and we have a propensity for flooding in the downtown corridor. And if we don’t do a major renovation of the downtown, whether it’s literally just tearing everything up and putting it back down the way it is with enhanced piping systems, you’re going to continue to need to have those risks.”

The working group also debated how to name each of the three plans, as that also poses potential bias concerns. Members considered using numbers, letters, colors, names of streets and other descriptors before settling on a random number generator.

Previously, Lustig had called the four-lane modification solution “the minimal plan,” but the group discussed the need to remain “value-neutral.”

Needham may also forgo a pilot-funded grant from the state, after a potential 12-month pilot set to start this month was pushed back following residents’ concerns. The Town will need to decide by November whether or not to keep the $320,000 grant and whether to implement a pilot at all — Lustig said that decision may vary depending on how drastic of a change residents adopt.

For Artie Crocker, chair of the Planning Board and a committee member, business viability and buy-in holds more value than the grant funding. He suggested Apex quantify economic impact in its modeling.

The working group outlined other evaluation criteria for Apex to measure the success of the three plans, including delivery access for trucks to businesses and snow removal.

Lustig said the town plans to conduct another outreach campaign for businesses, including leaflets, and another person suggested officials connect with business owners via certified mail to ensure they successfully reach them.

In evaluating each of the three plans, Lustig said there will need to be consensus, and cost will play a factor.,

“I think it’s quite likely that we’re going to get three different plans, and in each plan, there will be trade-offs,” Lustig said. “And that’s the survey, that’s the community engagement, that’s what we want to understand.”

This article has been corrected to reflect a misattributed quote. Needham Local regrets the error.