Zoning Board anticipates finishing Winter Street apartments’ hearings next month

A large apartment building project that city departments have been discussing since last summer is nearing its conclusion, project representatives said. At the Feb. 3 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, board members said they anticipate closing the public hearing on the case the next time they hear from the developer at the meeting on March 24.

The project, which will be named The Alexan Winter Street, would sit at 245–265 Winter St. Its developer applied to the ZBA last July for a comprehensive special permit through Chapter 40B of Massachusetts General Law. This policy incentivizes affordable housing construction through a special permitting process overseen by local zoning boards.

At the February ZBA meeting, project representative Mark Baranski said his team has been working with the city’s Law Department to draft final language for the comprehensive special permit. He expects to deliver a full draft of the permit in time for the board’s March 24 meeting.

ZBA members had asked the development team and its own consultants about outstanding concerns raised about the project in previous meetings. 

Neighbors have asked the board to examine the project’s traffic studies and ask why developers didn’t study the project’s impact on a series of intersections west of I-95. The developer’s traffic architect, Matt Kealey of VHB, cited figures demonstrating that the Alexan Winter Street building would increase traffic at one of those intersections by less than 1%, which doesn’t meet state criteria to warrant further study.

The board’s traffic consultant, Bob Michaud of MGM Engineering, agreed with Kealey and said he examined the traffic study and found it appropriate in scope. When board members asked about the joint impacts of this development and another proposed Chapter 40B project at 455 Totten Pond Road, Michaud said the board would have to commission a corridor study to answer their questions. He recommended that the board require the developer to contribute to Waltham’s traffic mitigation fund to address any joint impacts from the Winter Street development and other nearby projects.

City Engineer Robert Winn also spoke to clarify some concerns he previously voiced to the board over the project’s sewer output. He said that project engineers had eased his concerns about the capacity of sewer lines on Winter Street, but he still had concerns about how the building would affect sewer lines on Totten Pond Road. He said he was waiting for an analysis from the 455 Totten Pond Road team to determine the impact from both projects.

Baranski discussed the possibility of installing eastbound sidewalks on Totten Pond Road near Lexington Street, which ZBA Chair John Sergi previously requested the developer fund in collaboration with the 455 Totten Pond Road project. Baranski said his development team intends to build a new sidewalk going westbound on Totten Pond Road to a nearby bus stop, but that the team was still pricing out the cost of Sergi’s original request.

ZBA officer election

At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Zoning Board also elected officers for the new year. 

The board unanimously voted to extend the term of its three current officers—John Sergi, who serves as board chair and runs weekly ZBA meetings, Mark Hickernell, who serves as vice chair and Matthew Deveaux, who serves as board clerk.