Worcester City Council Agenda Preview: March 11, 2024
Zoning, Council Rules and Procedures, Bald Eagles, Honorary Street Names
The City Council meeting is Tuesday at 6:30pm. The agenda is here.
Zoom link: https://worcesterma.zoomgov.com/j/1613631913
Zoning: There’s a request to rezone a group of properties on Malden Street, Malden Terrace, Reynolds Street, and West Boylston Street from single family residential to low-density residential, which would allow single-family homes, duplexes, and possibly three-deckers. This will go to the Planning Board for discussion.
Housing: There are a lot of requests for reports on housing, including eviction prevention programs, modular tiny homes, high-density zoning, and using vacant lots for housing.
Bald Eagle: Councilor Pacillo would like the Manager to ensure a bald eagle family nesting on Massachusetts Avenue will be safe and secure.
DOJ Report Meeting: The Council will use its March 25 meeting to discuss the Department of Justice’s report on the Worcester Police Department.
High Winds and Recycling: Councilor King would like a plan to delay recycling pickup on days with high winds.
Women’s/Irish History Month: Councilors Mero-Carlson and Toomey, respectively, would like the Council to declare March Women’s History Month as well as Irish American History Month.
Challenging the Mayor’s Rulings: The Council asked for a report on “challenging the ruling of the chair,” meaning decisions the Mayor (or whoever) makes as part of chairing Council meetings. The Clerk’s report notes that, as laid out pretty straightforwardly in the Council’s rules, any Councilor can move to appeal any ruling of the Chair to the full Council. Additionally, the Clerk notes any change to the Council’s rules requires someone to propose the change, then for 2/3 of the Councilors to vote in favor at the next Council meeting.
Open Meeting Law Complaints: Last week, a couple complaints were submitted that the Council’s Education Committee had put out a press release, despite never discussing the press release in open session. The City Solicitor has a report noting that there’s certainly a good argument this was a violation, and recommending a joint meeting of the Education and Municipal Operations Committees to publicly discuss this. (I think the Education Committee has 14 days to respond in writing to the complaint, which was made March 4; they don’t have a meeting scheduled for several weeks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if their handling of the complain generates additional complaints.)
Other Meeting Changes: The Municipal Operations Committee wants various things posted in the Council chamber, including a list of rules for public participation and a clock showing how much time a speaker has left.
Honorary Street Names: The Public Works Committee has approved an ordinance, now to be considered by the full Council, with guidelines for honorary street names. An honoree should be “a past or current resident… that made a demonstrable and significant positive impact on the community or contributed to the cultural, economic, educational, intellectual, political, or scientific vitality of the community or have made an extraordinary contribution in the service of humanity. Commercial and corporate recognition does not qualify.” The honorary street name will remain for 10 years, and unless the Council wants to name that street after someone else at that time, there’s an automatic renewal for another 10 years.