City Council in brief

On Monday night, the city council sent two resolutions to the Economic and Community Development Committee. Below is a summary of the resolutions.

Web-based reporting app

The city council heard a resolution proposing a mobile app that would allow residents to report non-emergency issues to the city such as potholes or broken streetlights.

Currently, there is a channel for citizens to issue complaints or requests to the city in the form of a web portal.

But Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan described this process as “rudimentary”, saying that he tested the web portal by reporting an issue a few weeks prior to Monday’s city council meeting and never heard back.

Logan said the proposed app would streamline the reporting process by giving citizens live status updates on their complaints. It would also allow residents and city officials to generate statistic based reports on how many requests were being filed for specific issues and how long it takes for them to get resolved.

“What this does is it introduces not only convenience to the residents of Waltham, but it also introduces accountability and transparency and the operation of our local government,” he said.

A copy of the resolution can be found here.

Noise Ordinance Amendment

Logan introduced an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance following a complaint from a resident.

He said the amendment would bring the city’s noise ordinance in line with state regulations. 

As it stands, the city defines a violation for tonal noise, or noise with a single pitch (such as a hum or buzz), as five decibels over background noise. 

This amendment would bring the threshold for a tonal noise violation down to three decibels over background noise, in line with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s policy on noise control.

It would also list the Building Department as an official enforcement agency for noise violations, allowing them to write tickets.

Logan said he decided to pursue the amendment after a resident in his ward paid for a noise study of their area.

According to an email Logan sent to The Times, the resident hired Cavanaugh Tocci, an engineering consulting firm, for the study after having issues with noise coming from a business on Calvary Street.

In other news, the council

• Recessed a hearing for a modification to a special permit for 180 Third Ave to March 24. The modification would allow Boston Properties, the building’s owners, to build raised surfaces so that generators and bollards can be installed on the site. Bollards are short poles that prevent vehicles from driving too close to a building’s perimeter. The address is the site of 180 Citypoint, a life sciences building currently under development.
• Approved a special permit amendment for the McDonald’s at 789 Main St. The amendment extends the dining room’s operating hours to 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and 6 a.m. to midnight from Friday to Saturday. Drive-thru operations will be open until 2 a.m.
• Approved an amendment to the city’s “Garbage, Trash and Refuse” ordinance for a first reading by the city council. The council tabled the matter. A copy of the amendment can be found here.
• Approved an amendment to the dumpster license ordinance for a first reading by the city council. The council tabled the matter. A copy of the amendment can be found here.
• Approved sending a funding plan for new bike racks on Moody Street to Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy and Micheal Chiasson, the director of public works.
• Approved the confirmation of John Everett White to the Waltham Biosafety Committee.
• Sent a zoning amendment for the transfer of ownership of marijuana retail outlets for a public hearing with the Board of Survey and Planning.