The week ahead: Planning Dept. to present on success of last year’s federal grant

The Planning Department will hold a public hearing this week on the Community Development Block Grant plan for program year 2025-26 and present on how it benefited the city.

The CDBG is a federally funded program that distributes money to municipalities to fund quality-of-life improvements for vulnerable populations. 

At the upcoming hearing, residents can learn the amount the city received from the federal government, where it went and how it helped people. In-person attendees will be able to comment. Residents can also submit written input to the Planning Department office until Sept. 18. 

The presentation is required by the annual CDBG process. It will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 10 a.m. at the Clark Government Center. Draft copies of the plan will be available on Wednesday and can be found on the city website or at the Planning Department office at 25 Lexington St. 

Below is a chronological rundown of other city meetings scheduled this week.

Retirement Board

The Waltham Retirement Board will meet to discuss new city hires and retirements as well as two accidental disability retirement applications, a pension forfeiture and an investment performance review. 

The board will meet Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. in the Hoover Meeting Room at City Hall and will stream the meeting via Zoom.

Zoning Board of Appeals

The ZBA is a five-person board charged with reviewing new and existing buildings that might violate the city’s zoning code. 

The board has the power to grant project-specific variances to the code, overrule judgments made by the building inspector and grant specific types of special permits, including the comprehensive residential permits outlined by the state’s Chapter 40B statute.

It will hear four zoning cases this week. Two of the applicants have been before the board before on other properties: Robert Kaitz of SAM-EJ Realty Trust, who previously won approval to build four townhouses on Williams Street. and Tico Inc., which previously received approval to open an indoor basketball facility in a Clematis Avenue industrial park. 

The other two cases, involving properties at 92 Gregory St. and 110 Felton St., are new to the board. 

The board will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Clark Government Center.