The week ahead: City Council returns for the fall with a new zoning plan

This week marks City Council’s return from its summer break to its regularly scheduled meetings. The council’s regular session will be kicked off with a big development in the city’s ongoing rezoning efforts, as it plans to formally accept an initial draft of a new zoning plan from contractor CommunityScale. 

Waltham’s zoning laws were last reviewed in 2015 by a specially convened advisory committee. According to the committee’s final report, that was the first comprehensive zoning review in 25 years. 

Only one policy change came out of the review, but the committee raised a number of transparency and clarity issues with Waltham’s zoning laws, and described “broad dissatisfaction” with the city’s policies at the time. It recommended the city do more proactive zoning planning.

At a public hearing earlier this year, residents expressed their opinions on the new zoning plan, endorsing a range of policies including increasing density through multifamily and small-lot housing, protecting trees and green space, and allowing flexible and mixed-use development that would accommodate neighborhood stores and home businesses.

At the hearing, the council passed responsibility for next steps over to its Ordinances and Rules Committee. The committee’s chair, Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris, said their next steps would involve collecting feedback privately from other stakeholders in the city.

Historical Commission

The Waltham Historical Commission is a seven-member board charged with preserving and overseeing Waltham’s historic buildings and properties.

This week, the commission will be discussing a historic marker for the former St. Charles Borromeo Church, as well as the preservation of art deco architecture elements from the former Fitch school.

The commission will meet at 7 p.m. Monday over Zoom. The passcode for the Zoom meeting can be found on their page on the City site.

City Council

Along with the rezoning plans, City Council will be holding public hearings on a redefinition of fast food restaurants in the city’s ordinances that applies the label only to smaller restaurants; the resurfacing of Milner St.; and a petition to amend a plan for a lab space at 180 Third Avenue to add an additional emergency generator.

The council will also tackle business such as a plan to transfer the former Lawrence School from the Facilities Department to the Housing and the Recreation Departments to construct senior housing and a hockey rink; accepting state funding for the library; and celebrating various achievements by city residents.

The council will revisit a discussion from its Aug. 4 meeting about approving $8.5 million in renovations for the outside of the Howe and Administration buildings on the Fernald property for future city use. At the council’s August meeting the Long Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee expressed concerns about the cost of these renovations, and Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy agreed to bring relevant city officials to the next meeting to answer counselors’ questions. 

It will also revisit a resolution banning cryptocurrency ATMs and an allocation of $7.4 million to replace “gooseneck” water connections that might contain lead.

City Council will meet at City Hall in the council chambers at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The ZBA is a five-person board charged with reviewing new and existing buildings that may violate the city’s zoning code. 

The board has the power to grant project-specific variances to the code, overrule judgements made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permit.

This week, the board will be reprising a case it has been deliberating since early June about a group of multi-family houses in Waltham rented out by a company that runs a roommate-matching service. The city maintains that the company’s usage constitutes a lodging house under Waltham’s zoning, which is disallowed at the sites of some of the houses and is subject to regulation at others. The company argues that since it is renting its apartments to groups of roommates who live together as a unit, the lodging house definition shouldn’t apply. 

Some renters and housing advocates in the city have argued that classifying these properties as lodging houses could endanger the legal rights of renting with roommates in Waltham. Because of those potential widespread implications, as well as nuisance reports at some of the properties, this case has attracted a lot of attention from Waltham residents. 

When it last discussed the case in July, the board decided to delay its decision until this meeting, which will be held at the Clark Government Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Parks–Recreation Board

The Parks–Recration Board is an eight-person board that oversees the city’s public recreational spaces and programming.

This week, it will be discussing the hiring of a new Facilities supervisor and specific requests for two fall sports tournaments and a youth field hockey program. 

The board will meet on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Waltham Recreation Department at 510 Moody St.

Board of Library Trustees

The Board of Library Trustees is a five-person board appointed by the mayor and charged with establishing policies for the Waltham Public Library. 

This week, they’re discussing a building grant and continuing with a policy review.

The board will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Trustees Room of the Waltham Public Library.