Letter to the Editor, September 2022

 Construction and Housing, Newsletter, Open Space, Parking, Sept/Oct 2022  Comments Off on Letter to the Editor, September 2022
Sep 092022
 
Letter to the Editor, September 2022

To the BCF editor: Anne Paulsen’s recent column [“Do We Need a High School Parking Lot?” BCF Newsletter, July 2022] argued that if parking were eliminated west of Harris Field, then there would be “plenty of room for tennis courts and some open space as well.” Whether tennis and a rink could both fit has been studied intensively by numerous informed parties: the High School Building Committee, a sports architect from Perkins+Will, rink architect Ted Galante, the Select Board, the School Committee, and the Preliminary Rink Design Committee.  None of these efforts found a layout that could accommodate a rink, [READ MORE]

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Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff

 Construction and Housing, Newsletter, Open Space, Sept/Oct 2022, Town Committee Meetings  Comments Off on Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff
Sep 092022
 
Belmont is Sitting on a Fiscal Cliff

By Max Colice, Elizabeth Dionne, and Dan Barry Belmont is effectively insolvent. It cannot pay its operating expenses and pension debt without one-time federal aid. Compounding this problem, Belmont’s operating expenses are rising faster than its revenue. Unless Belmont increases its revenue, the town may have to cut services drastically.  Like every other town in Massachusetts, Belmont’s revenue comes mainly from property taxes. The Board of Assessors assesses each property’s value, then computes the property tax by multiplying the property value by the property tax rate. Even though Belmont’s property tax rate is relatively low, its single-family property tax bill [READ MORE]

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Affordable Housing: A Primer

 Construction and Housing, July-August 2022, Newsletter  Comments Off on Affordable Housing: A Primer
Jun 212022
 
Affordable Housing: A Primer

By Tomi Olsen The Belmont Housing Trust (BHT) is committed to enhancing Belmont residents’ knowledge of affordable housing. We would like to define some terminology to make it clearer when we talk to the community about the need for affordable housing and ways to accomplish it.  The BHA and the BHT There is often confusion about the difference between the Belmont Housing Trust and the Belmont Housing Authority (BHA). Each is a distinct organization. Housing trusts are typically nonprofit organizations while housing authorities are state agencies. The BHT, like other housing trusts in the Commonwealth, is a nonprofit corporation (501c3) [READ MORE]

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Belmont Hill School Plans To Pave Woodlands

 Construction and Housing, Environment, July-August 2022  Comments Off on Belmont Hill School Plans To Pave Woodlands
Jun 202022
 
Belmont Hill School Plans To Pave Woodlands

By Justin Roe Belmont Hill School has always held itself out to be a good neighbor and a responsible member of our community. The Belmont Hill School Sustainability Club is proud to be “Mindful of the rising importance of promoting environmentally sustainable practices and environmental stewardship in our world today and in the future . . . to reduce our school’s impact on the environment and educate faculty and students alike about environmental issues in areas such as energy consumption, waste disposal, and climate change.” These are inspiring words. Nevertheless, Belmont Hill School has recently revealed plans to pave over [READ MORE]

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Belmont Needs More Affordable Housing

 Construction and Housing, May/June 2022, Newsletter  Comments Off on Belmont Needs More Affordable Housing
May 052022
 
Belmont Needs More Affordable Housing

By Tomi Olson and Rachel Heller Belmont has great schools, restaurants, and local businesses and is located near job centers in Boston, Cambridge, and the MetroWest area. The Boston area’s burgeoning life sciences industry alone is projected to create up to 40,000 new jobs by 2024, but our region’s economic engine is hampered by a lack of housing near jobs—and Belmont’s limited housing supply is part of that problem.  Population growth, together with housing production that hasn’t kept pace, has made housing shortages in appealing parts of the country like ours front-page news. Our region builds much less housing every [READ MORE]

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CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects

 Construction and Housing, Environment, Historic Preservation, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space  Comments Off on CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects
Mar 032022
 
CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects

By Juliet Jenkins The Belmont Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted to recommend funding seven projects totaling $2,058,554 for FY 2023, to be voted on at the annual Town Meeting, through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) current funding round. Following the CPC’s public hearing and vote on December 8, 2021, the proposed projects were filed with the Belmont Town Clerk and set for voting by Town Meeting in May 2022.  Projects supported with CPA funding must create or preserve affordable housing, historic resources, open space, or recreational facilities. All CPA proposals are developed and created by Belmontonians, and each project directly [READ MORE]

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Clean Energy Policy Needs to be Equitable

 Climate Change, Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November-December 2021, Solar Power  Comments Off on Clean Energy Policy Needs to be Equitable
Oct 292021
 
Clean Energy Policy Needs to be Equitable

By Aditya Jain As a high school intern with State Representative David Rogers’ office in the summer of 2020, I learned about the legislative process through Massachusetts Bill S9, the Climate Roadmap bill, which was signed into law in March 2021. During the summer of 2021, I researched equity in Massachusetts clean energy policies, interviewing experts in Massachusetts policies on clean energy access, technology, and workforce trends.   What is Environmental Justice? The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, [READ MORE]

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Four Projects Proposed for CPA Funds

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Construction and Housing, May-June 2021, Newsletter  Comments Off on Four Projects Proposed for CPA Funds
May 042021
 
Four Projects Proposed for CPA Funds

By Elizabeth Harmer Dionne Belmont’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) has recommended the following projects to Town Meeting for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding in FY2022. Phase I Consulting Services for Payson Park Renovation Organization: Friends of Payson Park (Linda Oates, Susanne Croy, Jay Marcotte) CPA Category: Recreation Amount requested: $35,000 This is the first step in renovating Payson Park, which suffers from inadequate access, crumbling infrastructure, and haphazard layout. Phase I involves an assessment of existing site conditions, neighborhood consultation and feedback, a conceptual design, and a proposed budget for construction costs. Due to changes implemented by the CPC in [READ MORE]

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Building Booms on Belmont’s Border

 Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Construction and Housing, January 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Traffic, Transit  Comments Off on Building Booms on Belmont’s Border
Dec 302020
 
Building Booms on Belmont's Border

By Meg Muckenhoupt Since aggressively upzoning the Alewife area a decade ago, Cambridge has permitted hundreds of thousands of square feet of new development in the Quadrangle neighborhood adjacent to Belmont, and bordered by Fresh Pond Parkway, Fitchburg line railroad tracks—and Concord Avenue. Now, even more development could solve some long-standing transportation issues, or it could make getting out of Belmont or traveling around the entire Fresh Pond area even more difficult. Why build in the Quadrangle now? Unlike the rest of Cambridge, the Quadrangle has a history of sparse development. Originally one of the lowest-lying areas of the Mystic [READ MORE]

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Letter to the Editor: Affordable Housing

 Construction and Housing, Newsletter, November 2020  Comments Off on Letter to the Editor: Affordable Housing
Nov 082020
 

To the Editor: Overall, it’s positive that the Belmont Citizens Forum devoted two articles to the topic of affordable housing in Belmont in the September/October Newsletter. However, it was disappointing that the picture of 40B was incomplete, and neither article acknowledged the benefits of increasing the stock of housing—both affordable and market rate—including social, racial, and economic benefits for the residents of Belmont and the region. “How Affordable Housing Works in Belmont,” by Meg Muckenhoupt, incorrectly states the townhome number of the 91 Beatrice Circle site development as 32. The developer originally proposed 16 units and then revised it to [READ MORE]

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