Newton's full City Council sent a proposed rule requiring council approval for all National Grid non-emergency gas-pipe street openings back to committee on a 23-0-1 vote.
The Tuesday, Sept. 22, vote to recommit docket item #273-26 came less than two weeks after the Public Facilities Committee approved the same measure 8-0 on Sept. 9. Councilor Dahmubed was absent from the full council vote.
The recommittal followed a formal memo from National Grid's Director of Gas Regulatory Strategy Amy Smith, dated Sept. 18, warning the change would sharply increase the council's permit workload. National Grid currently files an average of five Grant of Location requests per year. Under the proposed rule, Smith wrote, that number would jump to 300 to 400 annually for non-emergency work.
Grant of Location approvals take an average of four months, according to the memo, compared with days or weeks for a standard street-opening permit. National Grid argued that the backlog could push necessary work past the April-to-October construction season and delay projects until the following spring.
The utility also warned the rule change would slow safety work, including replacement of leak-prone pipe, leak repairs, upgrades to district regulator stations required by state pipeline safety regulations and customer-requested service relocations.
What the rule would change
The proposal, sponsored by Councilors Leary, Roche, Dahmubed, Malakie, Albright and Bixby, would eliminate Newton's decades-old "two-foot rule." That rule has allowed National Grid to open streets for gas work within two feet of existing infrastructure without council approval. The measure would also direct the Department of Public Works to post all gas infrastructure street-opening permits on the city website.
Newton has observed the two-foot rule for 50 years, Commissioner of Public Works Shawna Sullivan told the committee at its Sept. 9 meeting. Emergency gas work would still proceed without a Grant of Location under the proposal.
Sullivan said at that meeting that "DPW and the Mayor's office have no strong opinion on whether the rule should be changed."
Climate activist and Newton resident Peter Barrer documented that in 2025, National Grid installed 30,200 feet of replacement plastic pipe on Newton streets. Only 24% was approved by council Grant of Location. The remaining roughly 23,000 feet was installed without such approval, most by a National Grid subcontractor, according to a memo Barrer submitted to the committee.
Senior Assistant City Solicitor Andrew Lee confirmed in a July 17 memo that eliminating the two-foot rule is "wholly within the City Council's authority." The rule is not found in Massachusetts law or state Department of Public Utilities regulations.
What's next
The Public Facilities Committee, chaired by Councilor David Kalis, was set to re-examine the item at its Sept. 23 meeting. The outcome of that session was not available at publication. The docket item carries a 180-day deadline of March 7, 2027. Residents can attend committee meetings in person in Room 204 at Newton City Hall or join via Zoom (Meeting ID: 846 5041 1624).
