The Newton Land Use Committee on April 1 kept the public hearing open and voted to hold the petition for 75 Prescott Street so the applicant can revise parking and site-plan details requested by the committee and planning staff.

Attorney Lawrence Lee, representing the petitioner, and the project's architect presented a plan to convert an existing two-family house into a four-unit single-family attached condominium with an addition to the rear. The site is in the Newtonville Historic District and the project has an existing certificate of appropriateness from the Historic District Commission, Lee said. Planning staff described the relief required: a change of use (to single-family attached), nonconforming height extension (driven by grade changes), and multiple parking and setback waivers because the two existing curb cuts and driveways would remain in place.

Planning staff said the development is close to the Newtonville village center and commuter rail station and that the added two units are consistent with the Comprehensive Plan's aim to add housing near village centers. But the committee focused on the proposed parking layout. The petition proposes eight outdoor parking places (two per unit) in two driveways: each driveway would contain two side-by-side spaces and two tandem spaces. Several councilors and planning staff said the tandem spaces as drawn are short (the plan lists 8-by-16-foot compact spaces on the left and 9-by-19-foot spaces on the right) and leave little distance between the parked car and the sidewalk. Councilor Andrea Kelly (chair) and others said they were concerned about cars intruding on the sidewalk and public safety.

Architect Federico Ricciano and Attorney Lee told the committee they would work with planning staff to try to shift the layout, relocate landscape islands and service areas and otherwise reconfigure to provide more depth for the tandem spaces. Lee also said condominium documents routinely require that vehicles