City Council takes initial vote to approve west Waltham neighborhoods, considers expansion

City councilors at their meeting this Monday took the first step to approve a plan to add three new neighborhoods to the west side of town.

Councilors voted to preliminarily approve residential, commercial and industrial zoning overlay districts that would allow housing on three lots: a large parcel of land near the Cambridge Reservoir known as the Bay Colony; a lot at the end of Jones Road, which branches  off Main Street just west of I-95; and the area behind the Market Basket plaza at 1265 Main St. 

Before the vote, the council held a joint public hearing with the Board of Survey and Planning where the companies at the center of this plan — BXP Inc., formerly known as Boston Properties, and 1265 Main Street LLC — told  councilors and residents about changes they’ve made to the districts with the council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee.

BXP and 1265 Main Street proposed the project in December. Since then, the companies have presented a mockup of what they might build on the land, agreed to limit construction to a maximum of 2,000 homes between the three lots, and most recently, worked with the committee on final language for changes to the city’s zoning code.

The council will make a final decision on whether to approve the three districts after receiving a recommendation from the Board of Survey and Planning’s special Wednesday meeting. Once the zoning changes are approved, the companies will have to return to the council to get special permits for each stage of construction before they start building.

Bay Colony still stirs neighborhood unrest

Throughout the zoning process, the Bay Colony proposal has proven controversial among neighbors in the nearby Lincoln Woods neighborhood.

Two residents came to speak against the development at Monday’s public hearing, reiterating worries about BXP potentially infringing on a wooded buffer zone between the development and neighbors’ property, fears about damage to homes and disruptions during construction and concerns about the permissiveness of the RCI overlay districts’ zoning requirements.

BXP Vice-President of Development Kier Evans assured audience members that the company will build on the footprint of the existing parking lot and will not disrupt the existing buffer between its buildings and Lincoln Woods. It plans to build shorter, lower-density townhomes on that border of the property — although Evans cautioned that BXP hasn’t finalized any part of its layout for the site.

Evans added that details about construction would be part of the special permit process. He explained that the RCI districts’ rules on subjects such as density were more permissive to account for the fact that BXP plans to subdivide part of its property into smaller, more closely packed lots, and that the company will face further scrutiny during special permitting.

Highway traffic improvements

The board also heard more details about nearby traffic improvements tied to the rezoning plan. BXP is partnering with the state to fund a new connector road between Main and Weston streets to help reduce traffic in the area and connect the two parts of the rail trail. The project, which will begin in July, is estimated to cost $30 million; the state has committed $15 million to the project and BXP has agreed to pay any additional costs.

Evans said  BXP also plans to pay for smaller traffic improvements in the area, including restriping and signalization around the I-95 Weston Street exit, and 1265 Main Street plans to extend the current Tower Road toward the new buildings at the back of its lot. The state has also committed to rebuild the Main Street bridge over I-95 starting in 2030.

Lincoln Woods resident Gerard Dufromont said this was a good start, but added that the area’s roads still aren’t capable of handling an influx of residents. “If you want to take commercial property and make it residential, that’s fine. But let’s build the structure around it [that’s] needed for those people to move.”

A new addition at Jones Road

The council also heard a first presentation from the owners of a lot at 1432 Main St. who want to add the lot to the Jones Road RCI.

1432 Main St., owned by Ferris Development Group LLC, houses a fully leased life sciences and lab building at street level that dips off into land directly adjacent to the Jones Road parcel. 

CEO David Ferris said the company had previously applied for a special permit to build another lab in that space but the downturn of interest in Waltham lab space has made it hesitant.

He said the parcel will be surrounded by residential development as a result of this new zoning district, as well as developers building in the area through Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B, and he doesn’t think he’ll get interest for a lab. 

The company proposes a 150-unit apartment building with no additional retail. It proposed a $750,000 contribution as a proportional match for BXP’s traffic infrastructure.

Ferris also suggested that the city ask his company, BXP and 1265 Main Street to evaluate their properties for tax purposes at an additional $50,000 per unit for three years after any special permit is granted, paying additional taxes while they build and lease the housing units.

Resident Tom Benavides spoke in favor of the project as a source for transit-oriented housing; it sits at the intersection of the rail trail and the Fitchburg line where BXP has proposed building a multimodal MBTA station.