Zoning Board approves last in a series of Winter Street residential developments 

After a year of negotiations, the Waltham Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 at its Tuesday meeting to greenlight plans for a pair of apartment buildings at 245-246 Winter St. dubbed Alexan Winter Street.

The vote came after Assistant City Solicitor Michelle Learned presented a new draft of the special permit that she had negotiated with the development’s legal team, saying the document was ready for a final vote.

Learned said the new draft addressed many of the city’s priorities. She compared it to the one for another recently approved nearby development with the same type of special permit, The Residences on Winter at 455 Totten Pond Road.

The Residences on Winter will offer 72 of its 340 units at a rate calculated to be affordable to households making 80% of the area median income, and 13 at an affordability rate calculated for households making 60% AMI. Alexan Winter Street is offering 67 of its 323 units at 80% AMI rates and 14 at 60% AMI rates, representing a slight proportional increase of the lower-income affordable units..

The Alexan will offer the city a $2 million mitigation funding package to offset the increased infrastructural needs of its residents. This funding will go first to remedying any issues with local sewer capacity; then to creating sidewalks down Totten Pond Road, which the board asked the city to put in before residents move into the buildings; and then to other city needs such as schools and police, at the mayor’s discretion.

The ZBA heard from one neighbor who remains concerned about the project’s impacts on the neighborhood before unanimously voting to close its public hearing. The board then took its final vote on the project, where only member Glenna Gelineau voted in opposition.

ZBA Chair John Sergi expressed appreciation for board members, Learned, the project’s team, and residents who came in to speak. 

“I thank all the public for their input into this case. It was a difficult case,” he said.

This new development, owned by real estate company Maple Multi-Family Land East Coast, is the last project the city accepted under Chapter 40B of Massachusetts General Law before it announced it met safe harbor criteria. The 40B statute allows developers a fast-tracked process that lets them bypass some restrictions such as residential zoning limits, provided they build enough affordable housing. By declaring safe harbor, the city has announced it has enough affordable housing that the statute no longer applies.

Alexan Winter Street is the third development proposed and approved for that neighborhood under the Chapter 40B law. The other two are The 305 at 305 Winter St. and The Residences on Winter, which the board approved last month after initially rejecting the permit weeks before.