By AUBREY HAWKE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
City officials last week voted to finalize a new zoning proposal to make Waltham compliant with the state’s MBTA Communities Act.
This action from the Ordinances and Rules Committee comes at the last minute: To comply with the MBTA Communities Act, Waltham must submit a final proposal to the state by the end of this calendar year, and the proposal still needs City Council approval before that can be done.
The City Council, in conjunction with the Board of Survey and Planning, will hear the proposal at a Dec. 16 public meeting.
The zoning action has been in the works for a while.
Earlier this month the state responded to Waltham’s initial zoning proposal aimed at meeting the MBTA Community Act requirements .
After that communication, the city was left with two options for approved zoning. Waltham’s Law Department presented both options to the Ordinances and Rules Committee on Monday, Nov. 18.
Both options change the city’s original plan for lowering the setback requirements for buildings and the minimum number of parking spaces required per unit.
The first option proposed reducing the setback from 20 feet to 10 feet. This proposal maintains the city’s original plan of having the buildings hold four units each.
The second option would allow developers to construct eight-unit buildings, essentially just pushing two four-unit buildings together, and would reduce the setback from 20 feet to 12 feet. These buildings would still have a height cap of four stories.
Both options reduce the minimum number of parking spaces required per unit, from two to one.
Impact on environment, neighborhood feel
Ordinances and Rules Committee members as well as other city councilors who do not serve on that committee also considered how the proposed changes would impact the environment and feel of the areas governed by the zoning. Those areas include 55 acres near the Brandeis/Roberts MBTA Commuter Rail Station in Ward 7 and 25 acres near the Waverly station in Belmont near the Waltham city line.
Ward 7 Councilor Paul S. Katz told The Times that his constituents worry about potential new development harming the neighborhood feeling of the area. But he said “people are also fully aware of the housing shortage. And generally speaking people want to see more housing get built.”
Katz said he thinks the proposed zoning is a good middle ground that is fair for everyone and that the area chosen in his ward is a good candidate for this rezoning.
However, he said he is worried that the population increase that would come with new development could stress the ward’s infrastructure.
“It could vastly increase the population of this corner of the city,” said Katz. “We have to be careful to look at the infrastructure of this part of the city.”
During the committee meeting Councilor Robert G. Logan emphasized that the zoning measure would require developers to provide at least one parking space per unit but would not restrict them to only providing one space.
Joe Landers, state executive officer for the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, said he thinks cutting the parking spaces down to one per unit makes sense given the nature of the MBTA Communities Act and the closeness of the units to commuter rail stations.
“That’s the whole premise of the MBTA Communities Act: to try to get people to use the public transportation versus automobiles and keeping more automobiles off the road,” said Landers.
Final decision
In the 3-2 vote by the Ordinances and Rules Committee, councilors Cathyann Harris, Caren Dunn and Logan voted to move forward with option two. Randall J. LeBlanc and John J. McLaughlin voted against it.
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