City Council in brief: Hour-long fence argument stalls Waltham Fields license

The City Council is split on how to act on a three-year license proposed by Mayor Jeanette A. McCarthy for Waltham Fields Community Farm’s use of city land.

In a presentation to the Committee of the Whole on Monday, Mayor McCarthy told councilors it has taken more than a year to reach the proposed license agreement, after the WFCF rejected an initial proposal for a lease that she opened up to bids from the public. 

The WFCF is operating without a leasing agreement, although the mayor repeatedly told councilors the city was allowing the organization to stay on the land in the meantime. “Even though everybody thinks I’m a big bad landlord over here, I haven’t bothered them.”

The mayor’s license agreement is very similar to the one the organization previously agreed to, with the same rent of $8,472 per year for the land. There are a few new additions requested by the WFCF pertaining to the organization’s ability to serve alcohol, operating hours and driveway use. 

The most controversial new lease term, however, was added by the mayor, requiring the WFCF to repair the fence around three sides of the land to improve security and discourage theft. “When you look at all the money for [its] cleanup… the City of Waltham has made major investments in that property,” she said. “What I’m saying is, ‘I want you to fix the fence.’ ”

Not all councilors agreed. Ward 6 Councilor Sean T. Durkee, who represents the farm’s ward, and Councilor-at-Large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur argued that because the fence is on city property, the city should pay to maintain it. They said this requirement showed the city was difficult to work with for local businesses.

Others, such as  Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris and Ward 1 Councilor Anthony LaFauci, said that because the WFCF is using the land and it’s their crops that are at risk of theft, it’s entirely reasonable for the nonprofit to pay for fence repairs, pointing out that the WFCF was voluntarily paying for the permanent addition of a pergola to the property.

Ward 2 Councilor Caren Dunn and Councilor-at-Large Emma Tzioumis argued that the proposal didn’t contain enough information on the fence repairs for councilors to be able to make an informed decision. 

“I’m not going to approve [the license] if I don’t have the information. Just now, I have learned a number of things… that are nowhere in here,” said Tzioumis. Dunn asked for the mayor to provide documentation of the repairs the fence required and a cost estimate from the WFCF for the repairs, but the mayor did not directly engage with the suggestion.

The discussion got heated, with the mayor saying she was not prepared to negotiate further on the document. “If you’re not going to agree to it, I’m going to go back in my office,” she said. When Durkee asked her questions about the fence, she suggested those questions were fed to him by WFCF staffers and alleged that he had a disqualifying conflict of interest. 

As time wound on, councilors expressed frustration at the length of the discussion. “It could be $100 to fix the fence. We’ve gone down this rabbit hole for an hour about the cost of fixing a fence, and we don’t know anything about how much [it would entail],” said LaFauci. 

Councilor-at-Large Carlos Vidal asked to amend the license agreement to require the WFCF to send its annual reports on the organization’s benefit to Waltham directly to the City Council; this passed with three votes against it, from Bradley-MacArthur, Durkee and Tzioumis.

The council was unable to come to a conclusion on the license agreement before the end of the meeting. It ultimately voted to table the matter, although four councilors voted against the motion — Councilor-at-Large Paul J. Brasco, Harris, LaFauci and Vidal.

The council further agreed to the mayor’s request to table two other license agreements for Waltham community farms, from Green Rows of Waltham and Healthy Waltham.

Additionally, the City Council’s committees:

• Heard a presentation from the Charles River Watershed Association on how Waltham can become more resilient to environmental harms in the ongoing climate crisis. (Committee of the Whole)
• Heard a report from the Health and Engineering Departments about what Waltham is doing to reduce rodent activity. (Economic and Community Development)
• Heard a short presentation from 22Mohawks, a group that does suicide prevention work for veterans and first responders. The organization pairs at-risk individuals with dogs, holds parachuting retreats for patients to bond and operates a daily check-up app that can connect users with mental health professionals. The committee asked organization leaders to return in two weeks to discuss their work in more detail. (Economic and Community Development)
• Accepted donations for the City Hall Museum Room of a pair of wooden skate guards from Richie Dagostino; a Nov. 16, 1943, edition of Boston American and a 1984 Centennial Edition of the News Tribune from Julia DeCola; and Yasmin Azid’s “Stay, Daughter: a Memoir of a Muslim Girlhood” from Bradley-MacArthur, Dunn, Ward 3 Councilor Bill Hanley and Council President Robert G. Logan. (Finance)
• Approved an additional $1.2 million of funding for the Department of Public Works for snow and ice removal over the past winter. Much of this funding will go toward paying overtime for contractors. This brings total spending on snow removal this fiscal year to $5.1 million. Although the city only budgeted $1.4 million for the year, councilors noted that snow and ice removal is unpredictable and “the only line item we’re allowed to overspend on,” further professing trust in the DPW’s work. (Finance)
• Approved an outdoor dining permit for Vinotta Restaurant. (Licenses and Franchises)
• Approved secondhand dealers’ license renewals for Milano Gold, ReChic and L&V Collection Jewelry, LLC. (Licenses and Franchises)
• Approved two old docket items, the Handicap Resolution and a resolution to create a checklist for best practices in high-intensity development, which councilors judged they had already successfully implemented; filed away a resolution about solar energy by former councilor George Darcy; and suggested new language to amend a council budgeting rule that doesn’t align with council procedures. (Ordinances and Rules)
• Asked the Law Department for guidance on a request from City Engineer Robert Winn to amend the City Council’s zoning amendment process. (Ordinances and Rules)
• Received new designs for the outside facade of the proposed hotel at 220 Moody St., which McCarthy said she preferred to the hotel’s original design. Councilors also asked the mayor about her thoughts on the air rights easement the developer had requested. She said she wanted clarification whether the developer was seeking a lease or an easement for the air rights. (Ordinances and Rules)
• Received updates from BP Inc. on next week’s public hearing for the three proposed mixed-use zoning districts in west Waltham. Vice-President of Development Kier Evans said the company had sent notice of the hearing to three neighbors who it had failed to notify earlier, and said next week’s discussion would involve multiple concessions to neighbors, including creating a larger setback from and moving a multifamily building away from the Lincoln Woods neighborhood. (Ordinances and Rules)