The week ahead: City Council comes back for its fall session

Location: Over Zoom, at a link posted on the Historical Commission’s agenda page on the city website. (Passcode: Waltham!)

The Historical Commission oversees construction work at historic Waltham properties. This week, it will review development plans for a three-family home at 51 Bacon St. and a gas station at 962 Main St. It will also consider whether to delay the demolition of additions to a farmhouse at 399 Lexington St., as well as two Central Street buildings.

Location: Council Chambers at Waltham City Hall, 610 Main St.

The City Council will also honor Hispanic Heritage Month, discuss rule changes around housing affordability policies in the MBTA Communities Act and pop-up secondhand dealers’ licenses, and remember Yolanda Cellucci, a Waltham community member and fashion icon who died earlier this month. It will discuss a request from the School Committee to rename the former high school building at 617 Lexington St. after former superintendent Jack Daddona.

It will additionally host five public hearings for two new secondhand dealers’ shops, an ATM, a fuel storage license, and a special permit modification to turn the Crescent Suites hotel into an apartment building. It will send a series of requests from Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy to its committees, and consider allocating $98,672.05 to build better environmental drainage and stormwater infrastructure at the Embassy Garage.

Location: Hoover Committee Room at Waltham City Hall, 610 Main St. and over Zoom. 

The Retirement Board oversees Waltham’s retirement plan for its municipal workers, including policy, investments and overall finances. This week, it will discuss a slate of new hires, its board rules and examine and reconcile its bank statements.

Location: Auditorium at the Clark Government Center, 119 School St.

The Waltham Biosafety Committee reviews permits for and regulations around using or experimenting with recombinant DNA technology. This week, it will hear a presentation from Stoke Therapeutics, a disease research company headquartered in Bedford.

Location: Basement meeting room at the Clark Government Center, 119 School St.

The ZBA reviews construction projects that might violate the city’s zoning code. The board has the power to grant individual variances to the code, overrule judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits. This week, it will discuss a requested second-floor expansion of a single-family Lakeview Terrace home.

Location: Auditorium at the Clark Government Center, 119 School St.

The Board of Health addresses potential public health incidents in the city, including communicable diseases, foodborne illnesses, and housing and environmental safety issues.

This week, it will consider working with the Massachusetts Health Officers Association on tobacco compliance inspections and discuss health violations at Happy Feet Reflexology.

Location: James J. Cannon Lecture Hall at 617 Lexington St.

The Waltham School Committee, elected by voters and chaired by Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, makes policy and oversight decisions for the Waltham Public Schools.

This week, it will continue discussing WPS enrollment data. It will divide into its subcommittees and consider a budget transfer request for the upcoming year.

Location: Council Chambers at Waltham City Hall, 610 Main St.

The Traffic Commission, composed of department heads from around the city, reviews changes to Waltham’s streets and infrastructure. The commission is also coming back from the summer to a packed docket: it plans to discuss an initial traffic plan for a 293-unit development on the Bay Colony property; updates on MBTA bus routes and shelters in Waltham; modifications to city car chargers; and the renewal of its PayByPhone contract.

It will hear updates to existing redesign plans at the Beaver Street railroad crossing and Main Street’s intersection with Gore, Warren and Barbara streets.

It will consider a series of traffic improvements on Pine Street and the nearby Embassy parking lot; rapid response flashing beacons on Moody and Linden streets; stop signs on Mokema Avenue and Adams Street; and new street safety studies on Wadsworth Avenue, Fuller Street, Angleside Road and Charles River Road.

It will discuss parking requests including modifying Adams and Grant streets’ on-street parking, removing a disability parking space on Clinton Street, allowing free Main Street parking for Waltham Chamber of Commerce members and allowing free parking for a Waltham Open Studios event on November 7.

Location: Auditorium at the Clark Government Center, 119 School St.

The city will hold a public meeting to discuss improvements along Forest Street, open to all. McCarthy, Ward 1 Councillor Anthony LaFauci, Ward 3 Councillor Bill Hanley and Ward 4 Councillor John McLaughlin will be present to discuss city plans.