City Council in brief: Zoning updates, council budget and more

Plans for citywide zoning reform are progressing behind the scenes, said Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris, chair of the City Council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee, at its Monday meeting.

Harris told committee members that contractor CommunityScale LLC, which the city hired to review and update the city’s zoning code, was not yet ready to present its results in a public forum, but had requested that committee members attend private zoning meetings to help finalize rezoning plans. The committee voted to deputize Harris and Ward 9 Councilor Robert Logan to work with CommunityScale.

The committee also heard updates about proposed zoning changes in west Waltham that would allow a mixture of residential and commercial development on three large tracts of land.

BXP Inc., the owner of the largest of the three properties, known as Bay Colony, held a neighborhood meeting on Mar. 3 to give neighbors a chance to deliver input on the proposed changes. As a result of this meeting, BXP’s team underscored a commitment to comply with conservation restrictions, take precautions to protect the Cambridge Reservoir and nearby wildlife populations and avoid blasting work that could disturb neighbors during construction.

The developer also said it would be relabeling some of its maps based on neighbors’ commentary, and requested that the three districts be renamed: from Mixed-Use Residential and Mixed Innovation and Residential Redevelopment Overlay District (MIRRODs) to Residential-Industrial-Commercial Limited Overlay Districts (RCIs).

One neighbor who attended the meeting, Joe Lester, wrote in an email to The Waltham Times that he was not completely satisfied with the results of the meeting. He requested that BXP increase its setbacks and codify a promise not to access nearby Old Conan Road. “Further changes to their [RCI] proposal are warranted,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the owner of another of the three districts, 1265 Main Street LLC, presented results from a fiscal impact study it had commissioned for the property. Consultant RKG Associates estimated that the development’s direct impacts would be a net financial positive for the city, predicting the development would bring in around $2.1 million in revenue while costing around $1.9 million in new services from the city.

The committee requested that Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy appear at its next meeting on April 6 to discuss the three proposed districts’ agreements with the city.

Legislative budget

The City Council also unanimously approved a preliminary legislative budget for this year at its Monday Committee of the Whole meeting.

The legislative budget, which pays for the running costs of the City Council, totals $491,574. The majority of its budget — around 78% — is allocated to paying councilors’ salaries.

The council also discussed a number of new line items to add into its budget for the year. It approved a request from Logan to add funding for a new non-emergency feedback app for residents to use to report problems to the city. Logan proposed the creation of the app last March as a way for residents to report issues directly to municipal departments.

The city’s IT department had identified CivicPlus as a good option to run such an app. CivicPlus offered a price of $3,750 for its first year and $7,000 for every year after. Logan clarified that although the request was through the legislative budget, that would not necessarily be a line item on the legislative budget; it was just coming in as a city council request.

Logan also requested $29,372 to purchase 15 Microsoft Surface Pro tablets for councilors to use as business computers. He said the council had purchased these computers before for security reasons, but the current ones are old, inefficient and nearing the end of their lifespans. Councilor-at-Large Paul J. Brasco spoke against reading such funding to the budget, arguing that councilors should purchase work computers with their stipends if they felt them necessary.

The council voted 9-5 to approve the request. Brasco, Ward 7 Councilor Paul S. Katz, Ward 5 Councilor Joey LaCava, Ward 1 Councilor Anthony LaFauci and Councilor-at-Large Carlos Vidal voted against the motion.

The City Council will give a final approval to the budget at its meeting next week. Councilors also discussed the possibility of adding further budget items at the meeting for modernized viewscreens in the council chambers to improve accessibility, and for improved document storage.

Additionally, the City Council’s committees:

• Voted not to entertain proposals to turn over the running and maintenance of Stonehurst to a private company. (Committee of the Whole)
• Heard an update from IT Director Donald Aucoin on the city’s progress toward ADA compliance for its website. (Committee of the Whole)
• Agreed to invite representatives from the Engineering, Public Works, Health and Building Departments to attend upcoming meetings and be prepared to discuss paths forward to address rodent infestations. Councilor Paul Katz had drawn up specific areas of action for each department to consider as part of his resolution to address the rat problem, which he first introduced in December. (Economic and Community Development)
• Discussed the possibility of hiring a Business Manager for the city. The Committee agreed to invite City Assessor & Chairman Francis Craig to an upcoming meeting to discuss the economic impact of commercial vacancy in Waltham. (Economic and Community Development)
• Accepted $36,063.04 for the Council on Aging, from the penultimate installment of a state grant. (Finance)
• Accepted a donation from the Robert Treat Paine Historical Trust to restore the estate’s grand piano, estimated to cost $35,000–$40,000. (Finance)
• Accepted donations of a historic telephone directory and Embassy Theatre tickets for the Waltham museum room. (Finance)
• Allocated $12,188 for a reimbursement for heating system improvements at Government Center. (Finance)
• Allocated $217,157 for safety improvements and maintenance at the Veterans Athletic Complex softball fields. (Finance)
• Allocated an additional $174,581 to the School Department’s funding for out-of-district special education programs. WPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Chad Mazza told councilors that this increase was partially due to rising special education costs, and partially to incomplete information reported to his office, meaning the district’s original budget did not reflect costs for 19 students. (Finance)
• Approved renewals for 12 private lodging house licenses and 10 lodging house licenses for dormitories at Bentley University. The committee tabled a discussion of a license at 77 Prospect St. which it had inspected last year and found “the worst of the bunch”; it plans to schedule a walkthrough of this lodging house at its next meeting, with another that the committee did not get a chance to inspect last year. (Licenses and Franchises)
• Renewed a used car license for JJJ Auto Retailers after informing the owner of the city’s ordinance requiring businesses to clear snow in front of their buildings, with the condition that he comply with the ordinance in the future. (Licenses and Franchises)
• Tabled a discussion of outdoor summer dining before hearing back from the Traffic Commission. (Licenses and Franchises)
• Heard updates to plans for a proposed hotel at 220 Moody St. (Ordinances and Rules)
• Voted to make a report on surveillance technology in towns neighboring Waltham from the Law Department open to the public. (Ordinances and Rules)