Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/watertown-square/page/13/)
This letter was inspired by the commenting process on the Watertown Comprehensive Plan. If you haven’t participated yet, it’s not too late! But I wanted to get this letter in front of a wider audience because this problem affects all of us. Too much land in Watertown Square is wasted by ground-level parking lots. Watertown is small by area, and we only have one central downtown location.
Icon ArchitectureA view of the proposed project at 104-126 Main St. from Main Street. A five-story mixed use project with housing units on top of retail and commercial space may be coming to Main Street. The development would include properties that currently include the Post Office, a restaurant, a boutique and other properties. The pre-application plans were sent to the to the Watertown Planning Department for review on March 31 show 146 residential units in four stories.
The Town Council approved a change to Watertown’s Zoning Ordinance that would allow life science labs as well as light industrial uses in the downtown area near Watertown Square, but only in structures built 84 years ago or before. The amendment was proposed by Berkeley Investments, the new owners of the building now occupied by Sasaki at 64 Pleasant St., which plans to create life science lab space and preserve the historic mill building, said Assistant Town Manager Steve Magoon. The Zoning amendment changes allowable uses for structures built before the Zoning Ordinance was adopted in 1937, and would allow light industry, non-nuisance manufacturing, laboratory/research, and renewable research. It only applies to the Central Business (CB) zone, which is around Watertown Square. The uses would be allowed by right in the qualifying buildings under 4,000 sq.
Watertown’s current parking meters will be replaced with “smart” meters that offer a range of payment options. Watertown’s parking lots will be getting new meters which allow for paying by credit card and with cell phone apps in the parking plan approved by the Town Council on Tuesday night. The Parking Management Plan was the result of studies that go back to the fall of 2018. It included studies of how parking is used in Watertown, public meetings and surveys and presentations to the Council’s Joint Committees on Public Works and Economic Development & Planning. Other parts of the plan look at pricing of meters and who sets them, way-finding signage for the municipal lots, looking at finding private lots for the Town to partner with, and even creation of a pedestrian path through the lot near the Watertown Library.
One of the banners now hanging in Watertown Square. This one features the artwork of Hosmer School students and show their families’ migration story. The following information was provided by the creators of the Watertown Square Banners Project:
The next time you travel through Watertown Square take a few minutesto admire the colorful new banners hanging on poles throughout the square. They were the brainstorm of local graphic designer Carole Katz and feature works developed by students from the Hosmer School and the Watertown Middle School. Driving through the square one day Katz decided the square needed some colorful banners to replace the current historical banners (that she designed) that have been hanging for several years now.
The Watertown Fire Department responded to a fire just a block from the Central Fire Station early Saturday morning, and put out the blaze before it spread. The fire occurred at 85 Main St., in an office building next to the Santander Bank, while the Fire Station is at 99 Main St. “It was a working fire and came in at 2:07 a.m.,” said Fire Chief Bob Quinn. “The fire was contained to one room and we were alerted by the alarm system.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time, Quinn said.
The Town Council Chamber was filled with residents there to hear about the decision on rezoning parcels along Galen Street. Developers are interested in building biotech lab buildings on the site south of the Charles River. Residents concerned about the impact of a proposal to change the zoning for properties along Galen Street jammed the Town Council Chamber Tuesday night. The change paves the way for a biotech lab project to be built on east side of Galen Street on property that includes for the former Colonial Buick GMC dealership. After hearing from the public during public forum, and then having a 1.5 hour discussion of their own, Town Councilors voted 8-1 to approve the zoning change requested by the owners/developers of the property.
The new lights on the trees on the Watertown Square Delta can change colors and display patterns. The lights on the trees in Watertown Square have gone high tech, and will be lit for more than just the holidays. Residents may have noticed the lights around the trees on the Watertown Delta shine not only brighter, but in different colors. This is the result of the new light system installed by the Department of Public Works, said Jesse Myott, the DPW’s Director of Administration and Finance. For years, the lights on the trees in the Watertown Delta were all white.