The week ahead: Will the Council override the Mayor’s Bay Colony veto, and will non-union workers get a raise? 

Monday’s special City Council meeting promises to be jam-packed, with a pile of business stacking up since its last meeting in June. The next meeting is scheduled for September. Notably, on the agenda is Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy’s veto of a set of zoning changes approved by the council in June — changes allowing real estate firm BXP Inc. to build over 1,000 units of housing at its Bay Colony property on the western side of the Cambridge Reservoir. 

Fearing the project will overtax traffic and the infrastructure, immediate neighbors have pushed back on the immense project. The Mayor opposes the changes because the new housing would be at the end of the parcel, close to an existing neighborhood, rather than in the middle of the parcel.

It has also, however, garnered support from affordable housing advocates in the city, who say it’ll bring a much-needed infusion of housing to Waltham. Two other large projects are also in the works. 

City Council and committee meetings

In addition to the Bay Colony veto, councilors plan to return to a number of postponed topics from June’s meeting, including a permit request to build a boutique hotel on an empty Moody Street lot; an update on the Bluebikes bike-sharing program the council voted to approve last fall; plans to repave the city’s private ways; and Waltham’s annual Kevin R. Ritcey Public Service award. 

The council will also consider a special act to allow the city to provide healthcare to the Mayor — who currently does not receive health insurance from the city — and changes to city employees’ pay under a new bargaining agreement with the laborers’ union, as well as proposed raises for non-union positions.

The council will hold public hearings on a street opening on Gale Street and a fast-food permit for a Cava location in the Market Basket plaza. It will also hear a list of requests from the mayor, including for new equipment for the 911 and engineering department; funding for municipal water and sewer projects; the appointment of Debra Catalanotti to the Waltham Council on Aging and Diane Lane to the Board of Cemetery Commissioners; a donation to the Fire Department and two requests to rename parts of the former high school at 617 Lexington St.

It will also discuss whether to use eminent domain laws to install traffic safety improvements at Pelham Road and plans to go into executive session to discuss the possible purchase of lots at 600 Main St. and 14–16 Spring St. Additionally, it will hear details from the Mayor about the applications for multiple new city-run affordable housing properties.

The council’s special Monday meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers.

Disability Services Commission

The Disability Services Commission is scheduled to meet on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., over Zoom. To request further meeting information, participants can contact the DSC Chairperson, Mark Johnson, at markj@walhouse.org.

Purple Heart flag-raising

The city’s Veterans Office is holding a ceremony this Friday to commemorate National Purple Heart Day. 

Attendees will raise a flag at 10 a.m. outside City Hall to honor Waltham residents who have received the Purple Heart or died in combat while serving in the U.S. military.