The City Council will be considering a requirement for residents to shovel sidewalks on Tuesday night, and Wednesday the Planning Board will hear the proposal for a biotech campus on Pleasant Street.
The City Council’s agenda includes the amendment to the Snow and Ice Removal Ordinance that would require sidewalks in front of residential properties to be cleared within 24 hours of the end of a storm. The first violation would get a written warning, the second faces at $50 fine and third and later in one winter would get a $100 fine. There are exceptions for people “who are unable to meet the physical requirements of this section, particularly for low-income, elderly, or disabled residents, or for other unusual circumstances.”
The Council meets on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. See the agenda and details for participating remotely by clicking here.
Wednesday night, the Planning Board will hear the proposal for the former Canistraro site, located at 313 and 275 Pleasant St., 84-86 Rosedale Road, and 60 Acton St. The plan calls for a new life science campus includes a four story 133,324 sq. ft. lab/R&D/office building (including below-grade parking), a two story 9,847 sq. ft. retail building attached to a six level parking structure, an outdoor pavilion, as well as existing four story 53,183 sq. ft. lab/R&D/office building along Pleasant St and surface parking space on the 5-acre site. The hearing on 10-30 Manley Way has been continued to the Feb. 14 Planning Board meeting.
The Planning Board will meet on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. in City Hall. See the agenda and how to participate remotely by clicking here.
I encourage people to attend the Council meeting in person or on Zoom on Tuesday night to express your views about the proposed snow removal ordinance. It seems to me this would be an onerous duty for the city to enforce fairly. Would we have to add to staff at an extra expense to do this? Would another person have to be in charge of handling disputes with residents who couldn’t comply for serious and legitimate reasons in one particular storm? Would we need someone else to collect the fines?
We used to be a rather low-key town, but now that we are a city, we are in danger of losing the feeling that we always conveyed – a welcoming, non-intrusive, and not overly mandated one. Do we need a new law for everything to appease a few?
If we have a current city employee who would be dedicated to going around seeing who isn’t complying with such an ordinance, maybe that person should go around and see if we actually have a big problem with people not shoveling out after every storm. If there are consistent landlords or owners who aren’t being good neighbors or can’t get help shoveling, maybe send them a notice that the City encourages shoveling and see if they need help going forward.
The City is having trouble hiring snow plow drivers; many residents can’t find landscapers who will take on new customers at a reasonable price.
I don’t see a lot of places where the shoveling has not happened after this storm, even though we all had to go out twice to clean up our walks and driveways. Our ‘leaders’ just seem to want to emulate what Cambridge, Belmont and other cities do. They want and have short-term rentals too. In my mind they do not convey the feeling and environment for which most of us moved to Watertown.