Following the multi-hour meeting about Watertown’s Winter Parking ban, City Manager George Proakis updated the City Council about next steps and urged residents to sign up for the City’s alert system. Also, Council President Mark Sideris requested a review of Watertown’s Demolition Delay Ordinance, and Proakis provided information on Federal grants received by the City.
During the Jan. 28, City Council meeting, Proakis tried to summarize his presentation at the Jan. 21 special Council meeting on the request to remove the Winter Parking Ban.
“I do believe that while there is a certain level of simplicity to this question that we face, there is a substantial level of complexity to actually making a change to the policy of how we use our curbs and how we do parking,” he said. “That level of complexity was reflected in the Comprehensive Plan when it said we would engage in a study in the medium term. Nonetheless, I have started a conversation with the Council President and we will continue to work to figure out, with the staff, a way we can put together either a study or version of it sooner than the medium-term timeframe that was addressed in the Comprehensive Plan.”
During the meeting, many residents suggested allowing vehicles to park overnight unless there is a snow emergency. Those would be announced by sending messages to residents. Proakis noted that days before the meeting a snow emergency was declared, but many residents did not get the announcement.
“If we were ever to move to a system that really depends on snow emergencies, then we really need to work on how we are going to make that possible but for the short term I encourage residents to sign up their cellphone for Everbridge. Everbridge is our reverse 911 system that pushes notices out to people.”
To sign up for Everbridge, text 888-777 with the message: WATERTOWNMA
Another way to sign up for Everbridge alerts is to click here.
The system does not send out many messages, just alerts, he said. Messages can be sent citywide, or directed to a certain street or neighborhood.
Residents needing help signing up can call 311, or outside Watertown dial 617-715-8660 to reach Watertown’s 311 staff.
Demolition Delay Review
City Council President Mark Sideris asked the City Manager and the City staff to review Watertown’s Demolition Delay, because he worried it could impact upcoming City projects or projects in Watertown Square.
The City Council updated the Demolition Delay ordinance in 2022, and among the changes was it allowed the Historical Commission to put a delay of up to two years on a project.
“In general, I am not opposed to an ordinance that protects historic buildings, especially the oldest of our historic houses,” Sideris said.
Using a demolition delay can allow the developer to find an alternative to demolition, Sideris said, or if one cannot be found, the house can be photographed and historic parts can be salvaged and reused.
Sideris said has had some concerns about how the demolition delay has been used.
“We agreed that the commission would use discretion where to use the delay, including some potential flexibility,” he said. “That appears to have not happened in some recent cases, on a couple of Capes.”
He added: “My concern moving forward is that there are some circumstances that this ordinance is not consistent with other goals. Now as I see it applied to individual homeowners I am concerned how it will be applied to important projects the City Council approved, like the key economic development sites in Watertown Square where we have specific plans where certain locations should change and evolve, and we want to make sure they can do so. Also, important projects like the Middle School where we need to renovate the building to reach our education goals.”
Sideris said he also still wants to see the neighborhoods to be protected. H
“I asked the Manager and the City staff to take another look at this ordinance and recommend some potential changes to the City Council to make sure it does not impact not only our City projects but other area in the community where there may been overreach — that is my word — and also want to take a look to see if other types of houses may not need a delay.”
Federal Grants
As the Trump Administration looked at possibly freezing Federal funds, Proakis provided information about the Federal grants that Watertown receives.
“Some are embedded in the day to day of our budget, and some if they dropped out then it is a program that we would not be able to do,” Proakis said.
The Watertown Public Schools receive about $1.6 million that are used in multiple programs for a variety of things, including teacher training and student programs.
The City has a grant for tree planting of $970,000, and $19,000 in a FEMA Hazard grant. Another grant of $250,000 has been earmarked for stormwater tree trenches.
Watertown has also received a $20,000 public arts and culture grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The City received a $806,000 Safe Streets grant from the Federal Highway Administration.
The MAPC and Mass Tech Collaborative provided $60,000 of digital equity using ARPA funds.
Recently received grants include a $3.5 million Federal Highway Grant for EV chargers, and a $57,000 grant from FEMA for cancer screening for firefighters.
Proakis said the status of the grants remain unclear.
“The only thing that is clear is nothing is clear,” Proakis said “As we learn more I share what the circumstances are, and we’ll go from there.”