Waltham 2023 Council Candidates Discuss Housing Issues

Waltham has an election coming up this November 7, when all city councilors are up for election. City council is perhaps the most important election when it comes to addressing the housing crisis -- all zoning laws are voted and decided on a local level. Traditionally, it is very difficult to learn about local candidates’ housing priorities in Waltham. But this year, Waltham Inclusive Neighborhoods and the Waltham Community Leadership Group sent out a questionnaire to all 26 candidates for city council. It contains 12 questions relating to housing policy in Waltham. 10 candidates responded!

The full responses of the city council candidates can be found online at walthampolitics.com/questionnaire.

The housing crisis is the biggest issue facing many Waltham residents, especially those who are low income or renters. It is a great credit to these 10 candidates who responded, but there are still many (mostly incumbents) who didn’t consider housing policy worth their time. So please email and call any city councilors who didn't complete this survey and ask them to fill it out. We can’t fix our housing crisis if those in charge don't address it.

Make sure you have a plan to vote this November 7! It’s the simplest and most effective way to affect housing policy in Waltham.

One topic the questionnaire's topics was the MBTA Communities Act. Waltham must soon modify its zoning code to allow for 3,982 units of housing by-right at a density of at least 15 units per acre. At least 50% of this new zoning must be within a half mile of our commuter rail stations. This new zoning is allowed to be subject to affordability requirements as high as 20% so long as it can be proven to be economically feasible. So the candidates were asked- how do you believe Waltham should respond to the MBTA Communities Act?

Emma Tzioumis (At-Large):

The MBTA Communities Act is an opportunity to address housing affordability that removes one of the largest barriers in Waltham - political will. We must comply, or risk losing state funding. I support complying with the MBTA Communities Act, and complying thoughtfully and intentionally instead of submitting documents at the last possible moment. To be successful, we must increase our planning capacity by funding and staffing a robust planning department, and consulting with external consulting planning firms as needed.

Colleen Bradley-MacArthur (At-Large):

By only acknowledging what we’ve done in the past regarding housing density near transit and failing to provide a roadmap to accomplish the goal of affordable housing PRODUCTION…then we’re stuck with the status quo. That said, the MBTA & the state need to up their service and service considerations of this is to succeed.

George A. Darcy III (At-Large):

This first thing that needs to be done is to compute whether or not Waltham currently meets the required minimum under the new MBTA Communities Act. The Waltham Business C zoning district allows 30 dwelling units per acre "by right" - which is double the requirement of the MBTA Communities Act of 15.

Stephen L. Duffy (At-Large):

This Act is a horrible overreach of authority by the state. The provision of the act are terrible. I believe that we need to look at this further as a community. The city needs more time to develop a plan that satisfies the state. In short, the city should respond the way they have been by meeting benchmarks of the act. However, I believe this is an area to use our law department.

Emily Saperia (At-Large):

The City of Waltham must comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The City has submitted a plan, but not yet made the zoning modifications required to allow for the 3,982 units of housing by-right. It is unethical to wait.

Lizzie Gelles (Ward 1):

Unfortunately, I don’t have sufficient understanding of issue. I do, however, agree that housing proximity to transportation is important for economic and environmental reasons.

Bill Hanley (Ward 3):

The MBTA communities act is coming to Waltham, and it is my hope that we have a fair amount of time to plan for it and implement it. As mentioned above when talking about Assembly Row, Waltham lacks available, large spaces for development near our commuter rail stations. This summer, the state gave some flexibility to communities in how implement it. Waltham is currently in an approved status. Multi-family housing will be able to be built by right and I would have loved to have seen The Merc and Edison on the Charles built differently.

Robert B. Davis (Ward 7):

I believe this could be achieved but looking to have our citizens have a job within the city would be great. Cutting down on the commute and traffic is beneficial not only for the city but the state.

Robert G. Logan (Ward 9):

The City of Waltham must comply with the MBTA Communities Act, and should do so in good faith and without unnecessary delay. I’ve always been an advocate of increasing our housing stock in order to produce affordable housing, and a believer in Transit Oriented Development. However, in implementing the MBTA Communities Act we must be careful to do so in a way that does not displace or negatively affect low-income and working individuals and families in the downtown area.

Eamon Dawes (Ward 9):

We should be enthusiastic to support this as it gives us a great opportunity to update our zoning code. We have 5,500 units of multi-family housing within a ½ of a Commuter Rail station and we only need to have ~4,000 by-right so the solution will come from making more of our existing housing stock legal. I think Waltham should update the zoning in its Residence B and C districts to allow for a by-right density around 20-30 units per acre. This would in effect legalize much of the housing on the South Side as well as the Charlesbank Apartments on South St. Additionally the office buildings on South St should be converted to a Business district which would allow for housing to be built there. There are many students at Brandeis who live off-campus and being able to give them more housing options closer to campus will make sure that they have plenty of appropriate housing choices.

The following city council candidates in contested races did not respond: Anthony LaFauci (Ward 1), Paul Tracey (Ward 3), John J. McLaughlin (Ward 4), John Tracy (Ward 4), Paul S. Katz (Ward 7), Randy LeBlanc, Kathleen B. McMenimen, Patrick J. O’Brien, Thomas M. Stanley, Carlos A. Vidal, Paul J. Brasco, and Tim King (all At-Large).

If you'd like to read the complete responses of all candidates, you may view them at walthampolitics.com/questionnaire.