The week ahead: Mayor to unveil first steps of her Lowell Street traffic plan

Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy this week will present to the City Council’s Committee of the Whole a plan to section off a lane on the east side of Lowell Street for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Lowell Street has been the subject of much attention for its heavy traffic, about which residents expressed fear and frustration at a recent South Side neighborhood meeting. Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris told The Waltham Times that she has been bringing concerns about the street to the Traffic Commission since 2019.

Since the neighborhood meeting, the Traffic Commission has voted to add an all-way stop at the intersection of Lowell and Myrtle streets. However, McCarthy wrote to the council that she has formulated a more involved plan based on neighborhood feedback, the first step of which is adding a pedestrian and bike lane. She said she plans to present the full plan to the City Council and to neighborhood residents.

City Council committees

The Committee of the Whole this week will also consider reappointing First Assistant City Solicitor Luke Stanton and discuss an easement for flood detection work on Pine Street.

In other City Council business, the Licenses and Franchises Committee will hold further discussions of National Grid’s proposed street openings for gas main work, discuss a sidewalk opening permit and evaluate a series of license renewals.

The Finance Committee will consider funding requests, including a request for $74,500 to fund an engineering program that searches for and attempts to eliminate sources of non-stormwater runoff going into stormwater runoff drains. Other requested funds include $13,638 for dues to the 128 Business Council and $10,000 to the Mayor’s Benevolent Fund, which the mayor uses to provide financial assistance to Waltham residents whose requests the city approves through an application process.

The Ordinances and Rules Committee is slated to discuss an amendment to the noise ordinance and may discuss a permit amendment to Middlesex Integrative Medicine, a marijuana store that has received some pushback from the committee in recent weeks.

The committees will meet at City Hall Monday evening, starting with the Licenses and Franchises Committee and Economic and Community Development Committee, both at 7 p.m.

Waltham Retirement Board

The Waltham Retirement Board will meet this week to discuss bookkeeping matters involving retirements from the last month — including two accidental retirements — and new hires in city government. It will also discuss a review of investments.

The board will meet Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. in the Hoover Meeting Room at City Hall and will stream the meeting via Zoom.

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 judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits, including the comprehensive residential permits outlined by Chapter 40B of the state’s general law.

This week, the board will be discussing the Alexan Winter Street, a Chapter 40B development first proposed to the ZBA at its July 8 meeting. 

This project, as well as other recently built and proposed projects in the area at 305 Winter St. and 455 Totten Pond Road, have received pushback from neighbors about traffic and local infrastructure capacity. The city halted another proposed project on Totten Pond Road by attempting to block further new development proposals through the safe harbor provision of Chapter 40B in August.

The board is scheduled to meet at the Clark Government Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

School Committee

The Waltham School Committee is an elected six-member committee chaired by Mayor McCarthy that makes policy and oversight decisions for the Waltham School District Board.

The School Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, in the James J. Cannon Lecture Hall of the old high school at 617 Lexington St. As of Sunday, Oct. 19, it has not yet posted an agenda to its website.

License Commission

The License Commission grants and reviews permits for serving food and alcohol, for entertainment and for some types of gaming machines across the city.

The commission will meet on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the public meeting room of the Clark Government Center at 119 School St. Its agenda will be posted online on Monday on the Licensing Department page of the city’s website.