Government

LETTER: Council Should Not Appoint Community Preservation Committee

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Editor,

In a recent letter, Patrick Fairbairn suggests an ordinance be created wherein the Town Council would interview, vet, and directly appoint the citizens who will make up the Community Preservation Act Committee while omitting some very important details and facts. To set the record straight, here are the facts and here are the issues. The draft ordinance Mr. Fairbairn referenced was created with the input and recommendations from Invest in Watertown. This group consists of the staunchest supporters and most active advocates for the CPA’S passage. This begs the question: Does prevailing on passage of the CPA Tax automatically make one an expert on the who, what, when, where, why and how our CPA money should be spent?

Government

Council Votes to Sell East Branch Library, Will Become Part of St. James Church

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After nearly 100 years in Watertown, the East Branch Library building has been sold and could become a park in the short term and will become part of the St. James Armenian Church campus in the longterm. 

Tuesday night, the Town Council voted to sell the property at 481 Mt. Auburn Street to the church for $1.2 million. See some of the background on the sale here. The decision was a bittersweet one for East End Town Councilor Angeline Kounelis, and others on the Council.

Development

Planning Board to Consider Marijuana Dispensary, Morse Street Apartments

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On Wednesday night, the Watertown Planning Board has two major agenda items – the medical marijuana dispensary proposed for Elm Street and the apartment complex on Morse Street. Two weeks ago, Natural Selections – the group seeking to open the marijuana dispensary – received a the vote it needed from the Town Council to move on to seek a special permit from the Planning and Zoning boards to open up a dispensary at 23 Elm Street in East Watertown. On Wednesday, April 12, the dispensary will appear before the Planning Board for the first time. According to the application submitted by Natural Selections, the dispensary would occupy 2,755 square feet of Building 2 on the site (behind A-Affordable Auto Insurance) and will have 22 parking spaces. Before the vote is taken by the Planning Board there will be an opportunity for resident to give their input.

East Branch Library

Town Council to Consider Sale of Watertown’s East Branch Library

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The long vacant East Branch Library may be sold by the town, if the Town Council approves the proposal on Tuesday night. 

The 2,684-square-foot building at 481 Mt. Auburn Street was built in the 1920s and closed in 2006 after the main branch of the library was renovated and expanded. Now the town is considering selling the building and .28 acres of land to St. James Armenian Church for $1.2 million. The town put out a call for bids, which had to start at $1 million, and received just one bid.

Environment

Conservation Commission Looking at Stormwater, Path Projects at Arsenal Mall

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Representatives from the owners of the Arsenal Yards will appear for the second time before the Conservation Commission this week seeking approval for a path and a stormwater system which would change the landscape and require removing and replacing trees in the area. The Conservation Commission meets Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Lower Hearing Room in Town Hall. They will discuss the project that would be within the 200-foot buffer from the Charles River, which falls under the Conservation Commission’s authority. Approximately 58,000 of land would be temporarily impacted by stormwater and regrading work located in the northwest corner of the parking lot. The area does not have stormwater treatment, currently.

Government

Town Council, Town Officials Salute Watertown’s Fallen Firefighter

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This week, the Town Council and Town officials honored fallen Watertown Firefighter Joseph Toscano with a moment of silence at the end of Tuesday’s Town Council, and shared their condolences. Town Council Mark Sideris spoke on behalf of the Town Council. “We express our condolences to his wife, his family and his firefighter family in Watertown and across the state,” Sideris said. Sideris also thanked Watertown Fire Chief Mario Orangio and the Fire Department for arranging the funeral for Toscano on March 22. “It was a day that we can say we were all proud to be from Watertown,” Sideris said.

Government

MBTA Officials Discuss Ways to Improve the 70 Bus, Other Transporation

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The MBTA may change to bus routes in Watertown, adding new routes and improving all routes by making changes to fare collection, but all these moves will take some time. Wednesday night representatives from the MBTA and other transportation officials spoke to the Town Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Transportation. They also went into some options that had not previously been discussed in Watertown. The focus of the meeting was on the 70/70A bus, which runs through Watertown on Main Street and Arsenal Street and goes from Waltham to Cambridge. The route is one of the longest in the MBTA system, said Melissa Dullea, director of Planning and Schedules for the MTBA.

Government

Group Behind Second Medical Marijuana Dispensary Pulls Application

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The group seeking to open a medical marijuana dispensary on Arlington Street told Watertown officials that they will not go forward with their application. A Community Meeting had been scheduled for Thursday, March 30 for the applicant to inform the public about plans for the site. Earlier in the day, however, the Watertown Department of Community Development and Planning announced that the meeting was cancelled and the petitioner, Alternative Therapies Group, was pulling out. “The Petitioner has confirmed by an Email just received by the Department of Community Development & Planning that they do not intend to go forward with a Dispensary at 36 Arlington Street,” said an email from Watertown Senior Planner Andrea Adams.

This comes two days after the first application for a medical marijuana dispensary cleared a major hurdle by getting a Letter of Non-Opposition from the Town Council. The applicants for the site on Elm Street still must get a special permit from the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.