A group of Weston residents railing against an Chapter 40B complex planned for a site near the town high school attack the sewage it will generate, despite the prominent place given the project’s wastewater treatment plant on the site and in the developer’s public presentations. Image courtesy of Cube3 Architects

The prospect of a handful of middle-class renters moving to town has rich homeowners in Weston and Newton, two of the state’s wealthiest communities, stamping their feet. 

And my, oh my: What a temper tantrum they are throwing! 

In Weston opponents of plans for 200 apartments near the town’s high school have posted signs around town playing up the millions of gallons of sewage they claim the new rental project will generate each year. 

In a nasty and somewhat perplexing flourish, the group, Preserve Weston even lists on its website the weight of all that bodily refuse – 107.6 million pounds, if you’re curious – it claims will emanate from what it has dubbed “The Weston Whopper.”   

In Newton, where the median single-family home price now exceeds $1.2 million, housing opponents thankfully appear free from the scatological obsessions of their Weston counterparts. 

Still, RightSize Newton is incensed about Northland Investment Corp.’s plans to build 800 apartments – as well as offices, restaurants and eight parks – on what is now a dreary, 23–acre parcel dominated by parking lots, a struggling shopping plaza and a former mill. 

In the wake of the project’s approval by the Newton City Council, RightSize Newton is weighing plans to put the project before voters in a bid to preserve this pristine suburban tract in its natural state. 

Sewage Claims Don’t Pass Sniff Test 

In terms of sheer, let-them-eat-cake arrogance it’s hard to match the Weston NIMBYs. 

Preserve Weston’s campaign, and the Weston Whopper signs dotting the town, oozes with contempt for apartments and the people who rent them, seeming to suggest that, like sewage, they are nothing more than just a noxious burden thrust upon the community. 

The real “whopper” here is not Texas developer Hanover Co.’s proposed 5-story complex, but the claims being made by opponents. 

Preserve Weston contends “sewage effluent” from the new apartments would make its way into Bogle Brook and then “flow through Weston High School into Nonesuch Brook.” This, in a state with some of the most stringent environmental regulations in the country. 

To their credit, Weston town leaders are aware of the problem and detail their efforts to boost the number of affordable units in a page on the town’s website.

The developer’s plans “do not explain where all this sewage will go,” a claim that seems odd given the developer has done to great pains to play up plans for a private wastewater treatment facility dressed up to look like a “Weston house.” 

It’s not just the sewage nonsense that’s offensive, though. 

From some of the claims being made by Preserve Weston, you would think someone had proposed building a federal lockdown facility next to the high school, not apartments. 

The new apartment complex, and its 353 parking spaces, would be “just 1,000 feet from Weston High School.” 

Which would be just awful, because all know that apartments, especially large rental buildings, are known to draw all sorts of undesirable characters. 

“Please donate today to protect our town and kids,” the group cries. 

OK, let’s get real here. Protection from what? What in the world is the danger here? Are they afraid a bunch of bored empty nesters will start drag racing around the high school parking lot? 

Campaign Looks Like Snobbery 

Beyond the absurd fears, there is also a strong element of snobbery at work. 

The Preserve Weston website juxtaposes the rendering of the new apartment building with the Welcome to Weston sign. 

“What a beautiful addition to Weston,” the group sneers. 

While it probably won’t win any architectural awards, it looks like any other upscale suburban, glass–and–brick complex. 

In fact, to the vast majority of people who don’t own multimillion-dollar homes in posh suburbs like Weston, it probably looks like a pretty nice place to live, with a “luxury pool,” a fitness center and a clubhouse. 

The rents certainly won’t be cheap.  

Just a quarter of the apartments will be rented out at below–market rates that, in theory at least, are affordable to middle–class families, ranging from just under $1,500 for a one–bedroom to $1,787 for a three–bedroom. 

The other 150 units will be rented out for what the market will bear which, in Weston, is quite a bit, ranging from $3,100 for a one–bedroom to nearly $5,000 a month for a three–bedroom. 

Let’s face it: Fifty apartments affordable to middle–class families is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands of new apartments, homes and condos needed in Greater Boston over the next two decades, according to housing experts. 

And that’s just to keep up with current demand. 

To their credit, Weston town leaders are aware of the problem and detail their efforts to boost the number of affordable units in a page on the town’s website. 

Scott Van Voorhis

Just 3.7 percent of the town’s housing stock is considered affordable, well below the minimum 10 percent required under the state’s Chapter 40B law, according to Weston’s website. 

But well-meaning town officials can only do so much. 

The real outrage is this: In the midst of a regional and national housing crisis, NIMBY jerks in upscale communities like Weston are hell bent on demonizing multifamily housing and the people who live in it. 

And with the scatological “Weston Whopper” campaign, opposition to new housing in Boston’s suburbs has hit a new low. 

Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.