Bike infrastructure gets a big boost in City Council committees

Plans to bring a city bike-sharing program to Waltham gained more momentum this week, as the City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee advanced the initiative.

Councilor-at-Large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur told committee members that they are able to move forward with the bike-sharing program she had proposed in 2022. At the committee’s last meeting on Oct. 6, councilors raised concerns that they may not have followed the proper bidding steps for an infrastructure project on that scale, but Bradley-MacArthur reported at this week’s meeting that the city has since received no bid challenges for adopting the Bluebikes program. 

Traffic Engineer J. Michael Garvin also reported at this week’s meeting that the Traffic Commission, following  a presentation by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s Bluebikes program, voted to recommend the city join it. 

Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris requested that the committee change the language of the original resolution, which talked about the possibility of adopting the bike-share program. The committee amended the resolution to say that the council will work with the mayor and the city’s chief procurement officer to implement the bike-sharing program by spring 2026.

The proposal will return to the full City Council for a vote next week.

South Side bicycle infrastructure

Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy also presented a proposal to add a bike lane to the South Side’s Lowell Street at the Committee of the Whole’s Oct. 20 meeting.

Lowell Street has been a hot topic for residents because of speeding and traffic issues; at a neighborhood meeting earlier this month, neighbors said they felt that speeding and traffic management on the corridor put them at risk. The Traffic Commission voted last week to add stop signs at one of the street’s intersections.

McCarthy wrote to the council that she has formulated a more involved traffic plan based on neighborhood feedback and that she plans to present it to the City Council and residents. She said she is trying to address traffic issues on the South Side as a whole in her plan so traffic flow didn’t simply shift from Lowell Street to a neighboring road.

This week she appeared in front of City Council to ask whether the council wanted to add a bike lane to Lowell Street. She specified that adding a lane would not involve eliminating sidewalks, additional street parking or granite curbing.

McCarthy specified that she didn’t have a final plan for the bike lane but that she didn’t want to proceed with planning before the council decided whether they wanted her to implement a bike lane. 

She added that the Traffic Department told her space would be tight, so she was considering other options to connect bike infrastructure on the South Side. She presented possible routes which bikers could take to the Riverwalk and to Waverley Station.

City councilors voted to hold off on a decision until they ask residents for further feedback at an additional neighborhood meeting.

In other City Council business

• The Committee of the Whole approved the reappointment of First Assistant City Solicitor Luke Stanton and congratulated him on 20 years of service. 
• The Committee of the Whole heard a presentation from Greater Waltham Recovery Solutions, Patty’s House and the Waltham Police Department as part of a resolution celebrating September as Recovery Awareness Month. 
• The Licenses and Franchises Committee renewed five used car sales licenses — one with the condition that the dealer update its site map — and three permits for businesses to hold extended hours. The committee also asked the CVS at 12 Harvard St. to appear at the committee’s next meeting to explain its hours before voting on its extended hours permit renewal. 
• The Licenses and Franchises Committee discussed National Grid’s proposal for a gas main update in the neighborhood around Felton Street. National Grid representative Mary Mulroney updated councilors on questions asked last week at the project’s public hearing. Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan said that the company’s construction materials storage plan was still lacking and requested that representatives return with a plan that wouldn’t involve storing materials on the street. City Solicitor Katherine D. Laughman explained that National Grid would have to separately approach owners of private ways to get permission to replace pipes on their streets. City officials also requested the company provide an updated plan for a request to move Hall Street vent poles. 
• The Licenses and Franchises Committee heard updates on a sidewalk opening on Tavern Street for electrical work. 
• The Public Works and Public Safety Committee asked city departments to provide updates on six private way repaving and street opening projects that councilors proposed between 2017 and 2024. 
• The Finance Committee approved $74,500 in funding to the Engineering Department from unused project funds for a project to detect and eliminate sewage contaminating stormwater drains that flow into the Charles River from locations near the Public Works yard and Elm Street bridge. Councilors expressed concern that this project was still addressing requirements identified many years ago, but City Engineer Robert Winn told the council the project was on its final steps and should be completed soon. 
• The Finance Committee approved $13,628 to renew the city’s membership in the 128 Business Council. 
• The Finance Committee agreed to reserve $10,000 for a trial of a Mayor’s Benevolent Fund, which the mayor will use to fund one-time emergency requests for constituents who fill out an application. The program will be modeled after one McCarthy ran during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and one that the city had funded through an anonymous donor. 
• The Ordinances and Rules Committee discussed which city official is responsible for enforcing noise complaints. Logan pointed out that the Police Department lacked a decibel meter or trained officers to operate such a meter. The committee discussed whether the Building Department could give out noncriminal tickets, ultimately voting to request Laughman review the ordinance and present her findings at the next meeting. 
• The Ordinances and Rules Committee discussed a special permit amendment requested by Middlesex Integrative Medicine. Ward 3 Councilor Bill Hanley raised concerns on the applicant’s ability to respond to comments from Laughman before their original permit lapses on Dec. 12. The committee voted to request the applicant’s lawyer submit a proposal for an approval permit timeline to the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 3.