The Town Council will discuss proposed changing the locations of three poling places for this fall’s elections on Tuesday. The agenda also includes the vote on the water/sewer rates. Beforehand, a Council subcommittee will discuss proposed changes to the Noise Ordinance.
The Town Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m on Tuesday, Aug. 11, and will be held on Zoom and broadcast by Watertown Cable.
Town Clerk John Flynn is proposing moving the location of three precincts for the state primary on Sept. 1 and the the Nov. 3 Presidential Election. The precincts have been located at Hosmer School and Cunniff School, both of which are under construction.
Precinct 2, which normally votes at the Hosmer, will move to the Hellenic Cultural Center. The facility, located at 29 Bigelow Ave., already hosts voters from Precincts 1 and 3.
Flynn proposes moving two precincts that normally vote at Cunniff School (11 and 12) to the E. Joyce Munger Apartments at 100 Warren Street. The complex, owned by the Watertown Housing Authority, is just a few blocks east of the school.
Water/Sewer Rates
The proposal heard by the Council in July calls for water and sewer rates to go up by 8.6 percent. The Council will hold a public hearing where people can comment, and then a vote will be taken.
Consultants hired by the Town recommended the increase, to not only fund Watertown’s water and sewer operations but would start a five year process of building up a 15 percent reserve fund.
See the full Town Council agenda, with links to reports, by clicking here.
The Town Council will be televised through WCATV (Watertown Cable Access Television): https://wcatv.org/government-channel/, and on Comcast Channel 99 and RCN Channel 13.
The public can join the meeting online at https://watertownma.zoom.us/j/92991331344, or by audio only on phones: at (877) 853-5257 or (888) 475-4499 (Toll Free) and enter Webinar ID: 929 9133 1344 #
Comments and questions can be sent via email to vpiccirilli@watertown-ma.gov
Noise Ordinance
Changes to Watertown’s Noise Ordinance will be discussed during a joint meeting of the Human Services and Rules & Ordinances subcommittees beginning at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Among the proposed changes include adding a section for “Noises which disturb the reasonable quiet, comfort, repose, or health of others.” This is proposed to be enforced between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Another addition would be an exception for the noise rules for “Religious, political or non-commercial public gatherings to the extent such activities are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
Updating the Noise Ordinance has been an ongoing discussion for more than a year. One major addition is the noise standards, which include maximum levels of sound and the duration of the sound during different times of day and in different locations. For instance, a 65 decibel noise would be allowed for less than 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in residential districts. In an industrial zone, the level could be 75 decibels for 10 minutes during that time. At night, the maximum level would be 60 for residential area and 70 for industrial areas.
See the proposed Noise Ordinance by clicking here.
The subcommittee meeting on the Noise Ordinance will be televised through WCATV (Watertown Cable Access Television), http://wcatv.org/government-channel/, and on Comcast Channel 99 and RCN Channel 13.
The public can join the meeting online at https://watertownma.zoom.us/j/92991331344 or by audio only on phones: at (877) 853-5257 or (888) 475-4499 (Toll Free) and enter Webinar ID: 929 9133 1344 #
Comments and questions can be sent via email to jgannon@watertown-ma.gov
Yes! On the noise ordinance, 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. should already be standard – wrap it up time – for towns like ours where most residents expect and give mutual respect to their neighbors. After hours, go to where a boisterous nightlife serves essentially as their raison d’etre, e.g. casinos, clubs, the waterfront, etc., if you want, but you’ll grow to appreciate you have a Fortress of Solitude in Watertown to return to.
The noise ordinance applying between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. I can agree with.
The restrictions on 65 decibel noise that would be allowed for less than 10 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. is over the top, hair on fire nonsense.
Unfortunately our community has been plagued with leaf blower and urban noise ‘Karens’ over the last few years, and there’s no sign of them going away any time soon.
With all this talk about Covid …. they actually want to move a polling location to Public Housing, where a lot of elderly live… Brilliant !
Why don’t they just move Precincts 11 and 12 to the North Fire Station on Orchard Street. That’s where they moved Precinct 12, when 10 had to move to the Cuniff temporarily.
The caption under the image at the top of this story is from the March presidential primary. In-person early voting for the state primary will run from August 22nd through the 28th. In-person early voting for the general election will be between October 17-30.
Every registered voter in Watertown should by now have received an application to vote early by mail in the state primary and general elections. Applications to vote early by mail must be received by the clerk at least four days before election, but that does not guarantee that your ballot will be delivered to you and returned in time to be counted. Applications and ballots should be returned as soon as possible to ensure that you your vote is counted. Residents who have requested to vote early by mail may return their ballots as soon as they are received.
More information is available from the Commonwealth Secretary at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/covid-19/covid-19.htm.
The difference is that people are overly sensitive and easily offended by everything. There used to be a greater tolerance level, realizing that humans aren’t perfect. Most people are very considerate. The rest of them can be dealt with on an individual basis. We seem to be creating more and more rules and regulations that encourage people to tattle on their neighbors – not a good thing. Remember the brown shirts in Nazi Germany!
I believe there is a need for noise ordinance given our City(approx 32K strong!) is the 13th dense city in MA and quality of life matters. I agree that people should talk to others when there are issues and not go right to the police or town, however, if there is no actual ordinance, and folks are not being respectful, then there is nothing the town will be able to do in order to give people some peace/direction with regard to noise. This is Watertown and all of these meetings are open to the public for discussion. Give your opinions and come on down to a meeting(well now a zoom meeting!).