By CHRISTIAN MAITRE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Residents and business owners at a public meeting last week spoke both for and against proposals to reconfigure Moody Street.
Each person had three minutes to voice their concerns. The meeting was designated as a citizen input hearing, meaning public input could be provided, but there were no responses from the planning department or Nitsch.
Some voiced support for plans to make Moody Street more pedestrian friendly by changing the existing traffic flow or even eliminating vehicular traffic.
Others, however, said such changes would hurt businesses along the street and negatively impact surrounding neighborhoods.
Still others found fault with the process to date, saying a recently released feasibility study did not include enough input.
The back-and-forth comments at the meeting, held last Thursday, Nov. 21, put a spotlight on how significant Moody Street’s future is to Waltham and show that its future configuration is far from settled.
Study lays out options
Last week’s meeting comes after the fall release of the Moody Street Pedestrian Mall Feasibility Study.
The study calls for a more pedestrian- and biker-friendly Moody Street between Pine Street and High Street. The study examines whether to change that stretch of Moody Street from being a two-way to a one-way thoroughfare or to being fully closed to motor vehicle traffic.
The city’s Traffic Commission voted at its Oct. 17 meeting to gather more public opinion rather than accept the feasibility study and move forward with the process.
The study follows several years of temporary traffic reconfigurations along the street. The city, which had shut down Moody Street to traffic for occasional short-term events in the past, implemented the first long-term shutdown to parts of the commercial area during the warmer months starting in 2020. The city implemented that plan to allow for outdoor dining along the street during the COVID-19 pandemic and repeated it in subsequent years due to its popularity.
The city had contracted Boston-based Nitsch Engineering to conduct the feasibility study, determine how a few different proposed options would be implemented and detail each option’s potential impact on traffic in the area.
Bryan Zimolka, senior project manager at Nitsch, summarized the study at last Thursday’s meeting. He said the first option allows for only northbound traffic on Moody Street, the second allows for only southbound traffic and the third would completely eliminate all motor vehicle traffic.
Residents, businesses respond
Members of the public were offered three minutes to share their thoughts on the study and the proposed traffic plans.
A variety of opinions were shared over the course of two hours.
For example, resident Gary Markowitz said the third option would disproportionately impact the residents living on streets around Moody Street as traffic would be redirected into their neighborhoods.
“The high-density residential nature of these streets, considering families, children and playgrounds in the vicinity, likely make them unsuitable to take on the burden of intensified traffic,” Markowitz said. “This pedestrian mall option would also put undue burden on the residents of Ward 9 with elevated noise, air pollution, trash and pedestrian safety.”
On the other hand, multiple residents voiced support for a pedestrian mall, saying that they chose to move to Waltham after spending time on Moody Street when it was closed to vehicles .
“That pushed me to move here,” Sergio Michaelsen said.
“We had a pedestrian mall during summers here in Waltham that was very successful, it was one of the reasons I chose to move here,” said Mitchell DiPanni. “I want one place in town that can just be for people, not for cars.”
However, some business owners said they are concerned that the proposed changes would create parking issues for their customers and delivery trucks as well as negatively impact their customers.
Mireille Balian, owner of ChicMed Laser & Esthetic Center, said she supports improving the street’s aesthetics but is worried that the pedestrianization of Moody Street would negatively affect businesses that serve customers from outside Waltham.
“We need to take into consideration people outside the town are coming to see us and how that affects the businesses,” she said.
Property owner Steve Panosian said he opposed any changes and wants the Moody Street traffic pattern kept as is. “As a landlord for Lowell Street and on Moody Street, this is impacting my livelihood if we do any of these changes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matthew Frederick, a resident and urban designer, criticized the scope of the study.
“There are no interviews of residents, there are no surveys of business owners, there’s no interviewing of restaurant owners or non-restaurant owners to see what their different interests may be. No city should move forward on the basis of what we know at this point,” he said.
Frederick called for city officials to seek out more responses to ensure they hear from a diverse set of residents and business owners as well as those who can’t make it to a meeting.
Dan Taylor said residents throughout the city, and not only those who live and work on and around Moody Street, should have a voice in the city’s decision on this topic.
“I don’t agree with those who think that the people who have businesses and live on Moody Street necessarily own the street. It is owned by the whole city, and the city has a right to have a vision of what we want things to be like,” he said.
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