The week ahead: City budget hearings start on Tuesday

The city’s annual budget hearings will start this Tuesday, June 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

During these meetings, City Council’s Finance Committee can question individual department heads on their budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year beginning in July. The committee has not released a list of which department budgets it will discuss this week and which it will discuss at its second budget hearing on June 16. 

The council received Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy’s final recommendations for the city budget at a meeting last week. Her recommended budget of $399,492,794 was $18,392,224 less than department heads originally requested in their own budget drafts.

Below is a chronological rundown of other city meetings scheduled this week, June 8 through 12. 

Historical Commission

The Waltham Historical Commission is a seven-member board charged with preserving and overseeing Waltham’s historic buildings and properties.

The commission will examine how renovation plans for the masonry of the Waltham Post Office could affect the historic building. It will also discuss the site of the Waltham Fields Community Farm and review development plans for 995 Main St., 1265 Main St. and 719-723 Main St. 

It will meet at 7 p.m. tonight, Monday, over Zoom. The passcode for the Zoom meeting can be found on the commission’s page within the city website.

City Council 

City Council is scheduled to hear public comments on the final language for three proposed zoning overlay districts near the Route 128 corridor. These districts were proposed in December to allow two companies, BXP Inc. and 1265 Main St. LLC, to build three new mixed-use residential neighborhoods.

The council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee has been working with the companies to draft plans and regulations for the three lots at 1265 Main St., Bay Colony and Jones Road that would satisfy city concerns and address neighbors’ complaints. 

City Council plans to vote on this zoning amendment before it breaks for its summer session. However, that wouldn’t be the last time the districts go in front of the council. The landowners will have to return to City Council to apply for special permits to build each individual stage of their developments.

At the same meeting, City Council will hear new requests to expand some of the city’s overlay districts designed to incentivize redevelopment. FD Special Opportunities II-A LLC, owner of the 1432 Main St. lot that borders the proposed new Jones Road overlay district, is asking the council to change the language of the new zoning overlay to add its lot to the district. Another company, Union Avenue LLC, is requesting the council extend Waltham’s Riverfront Overlay District to include its property at 181-185 Felton St.

The council will also discuss resolutions honoring the Jewish Family School, congratulating Rose Marie Richard on her 100th birthday, and requesting a Bigbelly trash container near a Railroad Street parking lot.

The council will meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Housing Authority

The Waltham Housing Authority works to provide affordable housing options for Waltham residents who face barriers to housing. 

It will hold its monthly meeting this Tuesday at 4:30 p.m over Zoom and in person at 110 Pond St.

Biosafety Committee

The Waltham Biosafety Committee is a five-person board, including the director of public health and the chair of the Board of Health, in charge of reviewing regulations and permits around using or experimenting with recombinant DNA technology.

This Tuesday the committee will hear a presentation from pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk on its research. It will meet in the auditorium of the Clark Government Center at 5 p.m.

Library Board of Trustees and Building Committee

The Board of Library Trustees is a five-person board appointed by the mayor and charged with establishing policies for the Waltham Public Library. 
It will hold its regular monthly meeting at 2 p.m. on Thursday at the Trustees Room of the Waltham Public Library. Members of the public can also attend the Building Committee meeting over Zoom, and connection details can be found in the committee’s agenda.