Around Town

LETTER: Watertown Square Plan Decision Should be Made by More than Just Council & Planning Board

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Dear Editor,

It appears Watertown has had Comprehensive Planning Study after Comprehensive PlanningStudies. I served this fair city in a few elected positions for a number of years and am dumbfounded by what I see today. I have considered or prided myself in being a positive person or at least I strived to be. I know many people associate me with flipping burgers; however, before I was a Burger King Franchisee, I spent twenty-five years with the United States Public Health Service (PHS), principally working with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). My first assignment out of College was in Los Angeles, then Albuquerque, New Mexico then Boston.

Government

Next Watertown Square Area Plan Hearing Set for July 16

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The City of Watertown provided the following information:

The Joint Hearing to discuss the Watertown Square Area Plan will continue on July 16, at 6 p.m. in the Watertown Middle School Auditorium at 68 Waverley Avenue in Watertown. This is a continuation of the Joint Hearing held on June 13 and June 27 in the same location. 

This Hearing will be a hybrid meeting, meaning you will have the opportunity to participate virtually on Zoom or in-person. You will also be able to watch the Hearing live online on WCA-TV. 

Access the Plan Document, Q+A Sheet, Hearing’s Recordings, and the June 13 Hearing’s Presentation

We encourage everyone to visit the project website to learn more and to access the plan document. Printed copies of the Plan Document can be found at the Watertown Library and Senior Center. The City of Watertown has also developed a packet of responses to questions about the Watertown Square Area Plan that have been collected from the previous Hearings. If you missed it, we encourage all to watch the recordings of the June 13 and June 27 Hearings, as well as access the slide presentation given by the Project Team about the Plan Document. For more information about the project, or to ask a question about the Joint Hearing, please visit the project website. 

You can also contact the City by dialing 311 in Watertown or by calling 617-715-8660. https://www.watertownmanews.com/2024/07/01/city-council-planning-board-weigh-in-on-watertown-square-area-plan

Government

City Council & Planning Board Weigh In on Watertown Square Area Plan

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Traffic flows and affordable housing remained front and center issues for city officials who gathered on June 27th to discuss — for the second time this year — the comprehensive redevelopment plan for Watertown Square. The discussion among the City Councilors and Planning Board members circled around what the sticking points of the Watertown Square Area Plan were and how, exactly, they should move forward. “Watertown Square is a failed concept. It’s been failing for 30 years. We need housing.

Around Town

LETTER: Reflections on Deliberations by City Council & Planning Board on Watertown Square Area Plan

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I’ve participated in every public meeting since October 2023 and I have publicly supported a renaissance for our city center through the Watertown Square Area Plan … both the 4 Corners streetscape and the proposed zoning changes to enable new housing of at least 3,300 unit capacity. I call these “imaginary units” because the concept of unit capacity assumes that existing landowners will tear down whatever exists on their property today and build housing up to the plan limits (an unlikely scenario at best). I strongly oppose the suggestion to limit “imaginary units” to 1701, either as a so-called “Phase1” or as a final number. The phased approach suggested by one Planning Board member seemslike a thinly veiled attempt to kick the controversy down the road in hopes that a highernumber will ultimately be rejected. However, the 1,701 number is too low to achieve our goalsto make Watertown Square a vibrant, attractive city center and an economically viable place forsmall businesses.

Around Town

LETTER: Charles River Chamber Supports Watertown Square Plan

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Dear City Councilors and Planning Board:

The Charles River Regional Chamber enthusiastically supports the Watertown Square Area Plan. This refreshing reimaging of Watertown Square was created through a remarkably collaborative public process and positions the square to become something we can all be proud of. This plan transforms the square’s most frustrating and unwelcoming traffic patterns, replacing it with a vision that welcomes pedestrians, cyclists, bus commuters, and drivers. 

This plan greatly enhances our existing restaurants’, retailers’, and other merchants’ long-term viability while opening new opportunities and a desirable environment for new businesses.  

This plan smartly unlocks opportunities for multi-family housing, addressing a desperate need for employers struggling to hire, young professionals and their families to live, and for seniors looking to downsize. And this plan creates new open public spaces, transforms the Delta into a desirable destination, and opens access to our favorite river. While there may ultimately be a need to adjust particular building heights or the angle of an intersection, those are deliberations for a later time through the zoning process, streetscape evaluations and other subsequent steps.  We also are concerned that the ultimate execution of this project is carefully managed to minimize disruption to existing businesses.

Around Town

OP-ED: Decouple Sections of the Watertown Square Plan from the State Housing Requirement

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By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

Part Four: “Great things are done by a series of small things done together.” – Vincent van Gogh

Part One: We looked at the results of the June 13 joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Board and why public input is so important. Part Two: We looked at our City’s failing public communication system and how, for some, this might be politically advantageous. Part Three: We looked at my experiences meeting with Watertown residents and looked at the one part of the Watertown Square Area Plan with a deadline: The MBTA Law Compliance (zoning for 1,701 State mandated housing units). Today, in Part 4, we’ll look at the other components (topics) of change (with no deadline, but which are being forced into one plan and one quick deadline by the City). These topics would benefit from a slower, more thorough and nuanced approach.

Around Town

OP-ED: What I Learned Speaking to Watertown Residents; MBTA Law Deadline

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By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

Part Three: “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.” Mark Twain

This simultaneously cynical and humorous quote by Mark Twain would just about summarize the feelings of the many disaffected voters in Watertown at this time. As I walked Watertown streets with informational flyers, knocking on doors, having really full and substantive conversations with residents, the phrase I heard most often was “disappointed in the decisions our Council has been making and the direction this City is taking.”

I heard stories about how and why they came to Watertown and what kept them here. I heard how year after year decisions made by our government are making it less compelling for them to stay. Everyone had a story … the man whose oncology researcher sister-in-law left a brand new apartment on Pleasant Street (and Watertown) a few years back, because the rat problem was so out of control.

Around Town

Save the Date for the Next Watertown Square Area Plan Meeting

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The City of Watertown provided the following information:

Save the Date: The Joint Hearing to discuss the Watertown Square Area Plan will continue on June 27, 2024 at 6pm in the Watertown Middle School Auditorium at 68 Waverley Avenue in Watertown. This is a continuation of the Joint Hearing held on June 13 in the same location. We encourage everyone to visit the project website to learn more, and to access the plan document (PDF). This Hearing will be a hybrid meeting, meaning you have the opportunity to join virtually on Zoom or in-person. You will also be able to watch the Hearing live online on WCA-TV.