Newton's City Council will vote Monday night on whether to confirm Catherine M. Feerick as the city's next Director of Planning, filling a months-long leadership vacancy in the department that handles permitting and development across Newton's 13 village centers.

The vote is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Aug. 10 at City Hall. Katie Whewell has been serving as acting director during the vacancy.

Feerick won unanimous support from the Zoning & Planning Committee on July 20, advancing to the full council on an 8-0 vote. The City Charter gives the council 30 days to act on the mayor's appointment, a deadline that falls Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Village-center focus

At the July 20 committee hearing, Feerick laid out priorities that land squarely on Newton's business landscape. She told councilors she wants to build a residential base that supports and expands business interests in the city's historic village centers, drawing on her economic development work in Attleboro and Foxborough, according to the committee's official report.

Feerick told the committee she fully endorses human-scale development for Newton and stressed the importance of avoiding large-scale projects that can harm the neighborhood feeling, according to Fig City News. She also addressed the tax base, saying the goal is to grow commercial revenue without increasing the burden on individual homeowners.

On historic preservation, Feerick said historic architecture may need to be used in new ways to foster community engagement, and she discussed reducing car dependence by building complete communities where walking is more accessible.

Background

Mayor Marc Laredo nominated Feerick in mid-July, announcing the pick via email to the community. She previously served as Foxborough's Director of Land Use and Economic Development and held an economic development role in Attleboro, where she worked on the city's mill district redevelopment.

Whewell has been supported during the interim by Chief of Long-Range Planning Nora Collelo and Chief of Current Planning Cat Kemmet.

HDC merger stalled

In other business at the same July 20 meeting, the committee signaled it will not consolidate the Auburndale, Newtonville and Upper Falls Local Historic District Commissions into a single body. A straw vote went 3-5 against the merger, with one councilor noting the proposal likely lacks the 16 votes needed for full council approval.

Director of Community Engagement and Inclusion Hattie Kerwin Derrick told the committee that the challenge in finding new HDC members "is not new" and that membership has declined across multiple administrations. A councilor noted two active applications for the Auburndale HDC were stalled because the administration had paused interviews pending the consolidation proposal.

What's next

Monday night's council meeting can be watched live on NewTV (Comcast 9, RCN 13, Verizon 33) or on NewTV's YouTube channel.