The City of Watertown released the final version of the Watertown Square Area Plan, which was endorsed by the City Council and Planning Board. Read the full version, which includes all the amendments and additions added during the July 16 public hearing by clicking here, and see some of the highlights in the announcement provided by the City, below.
The Watertown City Council and Planning Board held three Public Hearings between June and July to discuss the Area Plan. After discussions among themselves and hearing from the public, the Council and Planning Board officially endorsed the Plan on July 16, 2024.
What is in this Plan Document?
Much of this Plan Document remains unchanged from the initial draft released on May 30, 2024. At its core, the Area Plan highlights two main topics: a reconfiguration of the streets and open spaces in the Watertown Square area, and a rezoning of the study area.
Redesigning the Streets & Open Spaces
The ‘Four Corners’ street reconfiguration (below) aims to address some of the issues with the present-day road network of the Square. Ultimately, this new street design makes a few key changes to the Square that can benefit the community from a transportation perspective, an increase in safety for pedestrians, and a promotion of the features that mean the most to this community. These include:
- Increase in 3.4 acres of open space that was once pavement (adding to the Delta, between streets, and along the Charles River).
- A simpler intersection that turns the Square into a 4-way as opposed to a 5-way intersection to reduce wait times at the lights.
- Wider sidewalks and additional parallel parking to increase safety for pedestrians and increase pedestrian traffic throughout the Square to benefit our businesses.
- A decrease in the amount of space to store vehicles.
Rezoning the Square
The Watertown Square Area Plan also includes a zoning redesign aimed at achieving a couple of main goals. The first is that it establishes a standard to help predict the buildings that we will see developed in the Square in the future.
Also, as part of this Plan, there was the need to recommend zoning that abides by the MBTA Communities Law. The goal of the MBTA Communities Law is to allow for the opportunity to produce more housing by-right, however compliance can still be met whether new housing is produced or not.
Below we have detailed some of the ‘quick hits’ of the plan’s zoning recommendations, though we encourage all to engage with the zoning section of the Plan in greater detail starting on page 32.
Zoning Redesign Quick HitsThe zoning approach focused on three main standards:
(1) each building’s maximum allowable stories, (2) the requirement for the top floor of buildings to be stepped back from the street, and (3) an establishment of parameters for the front design of buildings. A tiered approach to zoning the Square, starting with the tallest maximum heights at the center of the Square (5+ stories), all the way to the shortest maximum building heights as it approaches the neighborhoods that surround the Square (2+ stories). At the center district of the Square, retail will be required on the bottom floor, while upper stories will be for housing and/or office space.The zoning approach in the Plan aims to create a “sense of place” and vibrancy to the center of the Square, while not encroaching on the neighborhood districts of Watertown, as heard in feedback directly from the community.
“The resulting [zoning] code will provide more predictable and better-designed outcomes.”- Watertown Square Area Plan, pg. 36
Read the City Manager’s Introduction
An addition to the Plan is an introductory letter penned by City Manager George Proakis. The City Manager highlights the three things that must happen in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of retuning the Square to a place where Watertown residents, present and future, want to go and spend their time. Those can be summarized as:
Prioritize people out of their cars: Whether someone is driving to the Square, biking to it, takes to bus, or lives within it, there is a need to make sure we are prioritizing the experience for those who are on a Watertown Square sidewalk as a pedestrian. From an amenities and safety perspective, the Square and all residents will benefit greatly from this approach. Combining retail and housing: Housing and retail together help one another sustain and thrive. As seen in several surrounding communities in Massachusetts, having enough people who live close and can walk around to spend money is critical to bringing back a downtown. Housing is the key to the short- and long-term chances of revitalizing our downtown. Great public spaces: We need great trees, great river connections, and areas in the middle of our City where people want to spend their time. This plan reclaims over 3 acres of space, and it’s vital that we make these space great, green, and sustainable.
What are the Changes from the Draft Plan?
During the Joint Hearing process, amendments were voted on and passed after careful deliberation and hearing comments and responses from the community and City staff. These changes include added details to the next steps of the process, the zoning of specific lots, and more. Below are some of the changes made during the Hearing process that are reflected in this plan:
1. Added Details on Redevelopment Opportunities
The City Council voted to amend the Plan’s details about redevelopment opportunities around the Square. First, the order that these opportunities were referenced in the Plan has been rearranged, highlighting the City-owned parking lots first, followed by the Library expansion and others. Additionally, the Plan adds implementation language about the City-owned properties (such as the former police station), Watertown-Belmont Church, and the MBTA bus yard site. To get the details of those sections, please visit page 52.
2. Sites Added to and Removed from the By-Right Zoning Map
During the Hearing process, the decision was made to remove the MBTA bus yard from the by-right/site plan review zoning area, which is south of the Charles River on the east side of Galen Street (red lot along Nonantum Rd). It was also voted to add the lots on the north side of Arsenal Street, east of Irving Street to the by-right/site plan review zoning area as seen on the below updated map.
3. Affordable Developments
With a keen eye on affordability, the final Plan now includes two affordable housing bonuses, as opposed to just one in the draft Plan. What this means is that developments would allow for a total of two additional floors under the proposed zoning limits as long as the units are at or below 65% of the area median income to promote affordability here in Watertown. Learn more about affordable developments on Page 48.
4. Addition of the ‘Change in Height’ Map to the Appendix
Appendix 3 of the Plan now includes the Change in Height Map, which depicts the height change between how tall buildings are currently zoned, versus how they are proposed to be rezoned in this Plan. This map shows that the proposed zoning does not substantially increase the building heights compared to the existing zoning in the Square, and some buildings are taller than the proposed zoning in this Plan. Half of the buildings/lots will have no change in heights, while the other half are increasing by .5 or 1 story.
What is Next with the Watertown Square Process?
As City Manager Proakis said, the endorsement of the Area Plan Document was just the end of the beginning. And there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved, give input, and engage throughout this process (and we hope you do!).
First is to approve the zoning, which will begin this September. The City staff is writing zoning that reflects the endorsed plan, and will present this to the City Council and the Planning Board to approve. During this process, there will be opportunity to give comment and engage with the Council and Planning Board. To comply with the MBTA Communities Law, the new zoning must be adopted before the end of the 2024.
Next, the City needs to design and build a public realm. This includes partnering with State Agencies, hiring landscape architects and engineers, and designing the finer details. This will start, most likely, in 2025 and would be an on-going process. There would still be an opportunity during this stage to engage the City and meaningfully give input during this step as well.
During this time, the City Council will also discuss and decide on what potential reuse of land should and must include. This includes deciding how and when we work with developers for projects that involve city land, as well as conversations with owners of neighboring properties to sort out how these projects might be able to move forward. The Community Development and Planning Department has also bolstered their already impressive staff to include two new Senior Planners on Open Space and Economic Development that will surely be involved with the rest of the CDP team in working on these steps.
To stay up-to-date on the next step of approving zoning this fall, visit the project website to find dates and times of those meetings as soon as they are announced!
Missed the final Hearing? You can watch the recording to get caught up!
Questions? Feel free to reach out!
For more information about the project, please visit the project website. You can also reach out via email to us at team@watertownsquareimprovements.com.
You can also contact the City directly by dialing 311 in Watertown or by calling 617-715-8660.
This is the exact time of year when a traffic study and other related studies should be conducted – when most New England towns are emptied out of their local residents who go elsewhere to stay in second homes. I call it tumbleweed season because one is more likely to run into a boule of tumbleweed than a person, car or pet. In the 80s ,when I was a kid, it ran from late June to late August. Lately, it has been running from late March to mid November because of weather patterns, the retired-employed ratio, new work policies and younger generations not being able to get a foothold in the first home market, never mind the second home one. If it continues, towns are likely to be empty for more than half the year.
There are benefits like being able to zip around the metro area in less in a matter of minutes , zero lines and obtaining a reservations anywhere at any time. In many cases, local restaurants have a walk-in policy during this time. However, the costs outweigh the benefits. The inefficient capture of space creates economic costs for small businesses, those needing housing and the employment market. It also burdens residents in term either having to pay for more in property taxes or going without crucial infrustruce fixes.
It’s about time that the comfort of some is being de-centered. The hoarding of space is not a new problem; it has been festering now for 3o years. Change is long overdue, and that change cannot be more of the same. And it can’t be change that addresses that way we lived in the 80s, when most people in town were actively employed, travelling out to places of employment, staying elsewhere on a occasion and driving everywhere. It has to address the way we live now, and it has to make the usage of space more efficient for all populations, especially those less enfranchised.