Citizen's Petition Calls for Lower Home Heights

NEEDHAM, MA — A local resident has submitted a citizen’s petition to address the height of homes in Needham.

Tuesday night, Paul Dawson gave the board his petition, which calls for the maximum height for homes to be decreased from 35 feet to 31 ½. Homes will have the option to hit the 35-foot mark, if their side and rear setbacks are increased by 50 percent.

Dawson said he submitted the petition because few regulations from the Large House Review Study Committee have passed.

“I firmly believe we can have our cake and eat it. We can continue to modernize our housing stock, developers can continue to build, real estate agents can continue to sell,” Dawson said.

While the board liked some of the ideas in the petition, they recommended action at the Annual Town Meeting, rather than the special in the fall.

Chairman Matthew Borrelli said the fall is usually a busy time for zoning by-laws in anticipation for the fall meeting.

“I think some of the things have merit but they need vetting. I like some of the stuff I see, I think some of the timing of this would be better suited in an annual,” he said.

“The ideas are intriguing and well thought out and they need to be discussed in a way that’s compatible with the other discussions that have been going on,” Selectman Maurice P. Handel said.

The board voted to accept the petition. It now goes to the Planning Board for more discussion.