City Council in brief: Affordable housing requirements, new committees and more

The City Council considered a resolution at its Monday meeting to update the city’s affordable housing requirements according to guidelines from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris told the council that during the council’s 2024 and 2025 discussions about compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities Act, the city Law Department started working with the MAPC to propose changes to Waltham’s ordinances around housing.

She said these changes would set new affordability requirements for new development and incentivize production. “We can actually build affordable housing at a percentage that keeps us in safe harbor in the state, which is critical,” Harris said.

“We need to change policy, and we need to change policy aggressively this year,” she added.

The resolution proposed that the council work with the Law Development and Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy to strengthen “inclusionary zoning ordinances” based on these MAPC recommendations.

The council referred the resolution to its Ordinances and Rules Committee.

New committees

This also marked the first City Council meeting of the new year, which means the council reassigned councilors to subcommittees for 2026.

Here’s a breakdown of the committee assignments:

Finance	Public Works and Public Safety	Licenses and Franchises
This committee discusses financial matters, including salaries, grants and donations to the city and new spending from city departments. Its chair also runs the council’s annual budget hearing.	This committee discusses items involving city roadways and traffic, resident services like snowplowing and trash collection, water and drainage systems, public land and emergency services.	This committee discusses utility poles and underground wiring, license grants and renewals for businesses and some types of non-zoning special permits.
Sean T. Durkee (Ward 6) Paul S. Katz (Ward 7) Tim King Anthony LaFauci (Ward 1) Randall J. LeBlanc	Caren Dunn (Ward 2) Paul S. Katz (Ward 7) Tim King Anthony LaFauci (Ward 1) Emma Tzioumis	Paul J. Brasco Paul S. Katz (Ward 7) Robert G. Logan (Ward 9) Emma Tzioumis Carlos A. Vidal
Ordinances and Rules	Economic and Community Development	Long-term Debt and Capital Planning
This committee discusses changes to the city’s regulations, ordinances and zoning plans, as well as items related to land use and many special permits.	This committee discusses a variety of items including programs funded by the federal Community Block Grant, Waltham Housing Authority projects and programs for public health, public spaces, and transit.	This committee discusses loan requests from city departments and large capital projects.
Caren Dunn (Ward 2) Bill Hanley (Ward 3) Cathyann Harris (Ward 8) Robert G. Logan (Ward 9) John McLaughlin (Ward 4)	Bill Hanley (Ward 3) Cathyann Harris (Ward 9) Tim King Joey LaCava (Ward 5) Colleen Bradley-MacArthur	Sean T. Durkee (Ward 6) Bill Hanley (Ward 3) Tim King Joey LaCava (Ward 5) Colleen Bradley-MacArthur
Veterans Service	Kevin M Ricey Award	Cable Access Committee
This committee meets to discuss Waltham’s veterans services.	This committee meets occasionally to discuss recipients of the Kevin M Ricey Public Service award.	This committee meets occasionally to discuss funding for the Waltham Community Access Corporation.
Paul J. Brasco Sean T. Durkee (Ward 6) Randall J. LeBlanc John McLaughlin (Ward 4) Carlos A. Vidal	Bill Hanley (Ward 3) Cathyann Harris (Ward 8) John McLaughlin (Ward 4)	Caren Dunn (Ward 2) Sean T. Durkee (Ward 6)  Cathyann Harris (Ward 8)

Additionally, the City Council:

• At the Mayor’s request, voted 12-2 to go into executive session to discuss updates to a real estate matter. Ward 5 Councilor Joey LaCava and Councilor-at-Large Carlos A. Vidal voted against the request.
• Forwarded more requests from McCarthy to its committees for discussion next week. The Finance Committee will discuss donations of historic memorabilia and children’s toys, as well as a rebate grant from Eversource Energy for public streetlights. The Long-Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee will examine loan authorization requests of $5,100,000 for the Koutoujian Playground and of $771,600 to plan the relocation of the Consolidated Public Works Department.
• Forwarded an application to renew a secondhand vehicle sales license to the Licenses and Franchises Committee.
• Gave final approval for two items the council had preliminarily voted to approve in 2025: a $6.8 million loan to redo streets and utilities at the former Fernald State School and an amendment to the city’s Noise Ordinance to clarify which departments are responsible to enforce it.
• Opened public hearings on two special permits for commercial developments: one to allow a larger-than-permitted floor area ratio for a hotel at 220 Moody St. and a fast-food permit for a Jersey Mike’s at 864 Lexington St. The council forwarded both permits to its Ordinances and Rules Committee.