Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont Could Tax Land Differently

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Max Colice Town Meeting changed Belmont’s zoning bylaws last year to allow new housing development and is considering more zoning changes to allow new commercial development, partly in an effort to increase property tax revenue. But simply changing the zoning doesn’t guarantee more development or higher property tax revenue. How else can Belmont encourage new housing construction and commercial development? One very old idea for encouraging development is the Land Value Tax. Instead of taxing both land and buildings like the current property tax, a Land Value Tax applies only to land, not to the buildings. Under a Land [READ MORE]

Opinion: What is a Town For?

Construction and Housing, March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Meg Muckenhoupt This issue contains an article by respected Belmont residents arguing that a proposed overlay district in Belmont Center will lead to a net loss to the town. Those calculations are at odds with the numbers produced by the Warrant Committee, which predict an annual net increase in town revenue between $127,000 and $857,00 (see bit.ly/BCF-Overlay-Fiscal). Which numbers you believe are more credible depends on your assumptions—chiefly assumptions about school enrollment. Children cost towns money. They’re expensive to educate, they like to play in parks that are expensive to maintain, and they increase the need for traffic enforcement [READ MORE]

March/April 2026 BCF Newsletter

March/April 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Feb 202026

Read the March/April 2026 BCF Newsletter In this issue: Analysis: New Revenue from Overlay Doubtful The Select Board has repeatedly claimed that the Belmont Center Overlay proposal will help address the town’s high property taxes and provide additional funding for our schools. Read more. Belmont Center Zoning: More Information The analyses by the Office of Planning and Building(OPB) are very different from the figures published in this newsletter, and there is far more information available about the Project than can fit in the BCF’s print Newsletter. Read more. Opinion: What is a Town For? Most towns could balance their budgets [READ MORE]

Will Anything Get Built?

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. The real estate developer focus group convened by Office of Planning and Building Director Chris Ryan in early-mid 2025 provided important, if disappointing, feedback on the economic feasibility of building in Belmont Center (see “Developer perspectives: condensed and edited transcript”). The transcript of that meeting is full of daunting assessments of the current market for commercial real estate. 20% to 30% vacancy rates for office space in Boston and Cambridge. (In January 2026, subsequent to the focus group, OZK Bank wrote off $72 million of its investment in renovated office space in the former Sullivan Courthouse [READ MORE]

Developer Perspectives: Condensed and Edited Transcript

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

Last spring, Belmont Office of Planning and Building Director Chris Ryan interviewed a group of 11 local real estate professionals with diverse backgrounds: some specializing in affordable housing, or mixed commercial-residential projects, or hotel/commercial, others from real estate investment firms. The goal of the session was to assess the level of interest in a rezoned Belmont Center with a potentially two-to-three time greater density than currently allowed, and to solicit advice on how to make the project attractive. (Note that the scale of allowable buildings has been reduced in most areas since this meeting.) The meeting transcript is 20 pages. [READ MORE]

Belmont Center Landlord Perspectives

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. The Newsletter contacted four Belmont Center landlords with questions about their perspective on the proposed rezoning measures, and whether and how the new zoning, if adopted by Town Meeting, might influence their plans. Scott Tellier, principal at Tellier Properties which owns 31-43 Leonard Street in Belmont Center (Irresistables, Santander Bank, Brueggers Bagels, Union Pharmacy), as well as 375 and 385 Concord Avenue in the proposed Center Gateway Overlay, and Kevin Foley, principal at Locatelli Properties which owns 49-89 Leonard Street, the largest parcel in Belmont Center (Butternut Bakehouse, Champions, Lagree Lab, Brooksy’s, Revolve, Westcott Mercantile, Patou [READ MORE]

What the Select Board Said on the Overlay

March/April 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. and Michael Widmer The Select Board (SB) discussed the Belmont Center rezoning articles at its January 26, 2026 meeting (link to video; discussion starts at 2:42:15), and again on February 9 (link to video; discussion starts at 1:58:30). Select Board members rebutted many widely expressed public criticisms. (Of course the three SB members have distinct views about the rezoning, and many of the views summarized below were expressed by only one or two SB members, but they are largely in agreement about the big questions.) What follows is author Stanton’s interpretation of SB members’ statements on [READ MORE]

Belmont Center Zoning Project

March/April 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Feb 092026

The analyses by the Office of Planning and Building(OPB) are very different from the figures published in this newsletter, and there is far more information available about the Project than can fit in the BCF’s print Newsletter. In the interest of fairness, we are providing links to analyses by the Office of Planning and Building and the Warrant Committee and alternative viewpoints on this proposal. The town’s Belmont Center Zoning Project Site The Warrant Committee’s Belmont Center Overlay Fiscal Impact Analysis, which found that ”the overall fiscal impact of developments built under the proposed Belmont Center Overlay District is likely [READ MORE]

Belmont Needs You

January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

Not tomorrow. Not “when things calm down.” Now. Your town is under constant pressure: from development, traffic, climate impacts, infrastructure, and policy decisions. The Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter exists to keep watch. But we cannot report, investigate, or inform without writers willing to step up. We want sharp minds, steady pens, and citizens willing to roll up their sleeves. If you care about Belmont’s streets, wetlands, budgets, bylaws, boards, trees, trails, taxes, wildlife, rezoning plans, or the future your neighbors will inherit, then consider this your draft notice. Pick up your pen like others pick up a shovel or a [READ MORE]

Correction — January/February 2026

History, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

The article “Serving Those Who Served” (BCF Newsletter, November/December 2025) contained a mistaken identity. The gentleman pictured on the left on page 3 (and above) is Mr. Robert Young, a 100-year-old veteran, not Robert Taylor. We apologize for the mistake, and we salute Mr. Young’s service

Belmont Farmers Built Chicago Skyscrapers

History, January/February 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Dec 182025

Belmont Farmers Built Chicago Skyscrapers

By Edmund McDevitt In 1831, in the section of Watertown that later became the south part of Belmont, Peter Chardon Brooks was born. The child was to become one of the most important historic figures in the development of the skyscraper. Little is known about his family’s residence in Watertown. Peter Brooks’s grandfather, the original Peter Chardon Brooks (1767–1849), was, at the time of his death, quite possibly the wealthiest man in Boston. His wealth came from a marine insurance business, some of which insured ships involved in the Atlantic slave trade—no surprise, given that the family were slaveholders prior [READ MORE]

First Church History

Historic Preservation, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

John Howe (left) speaks with attendees after his talk at the Beech Street Senior Center about the history of First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist, which was built in 1890 in the Romanesque Revival style. The church is one of Belmont’s important historic buildings, adjacent to the 1853 Lyman Underwood House. His presentation included photos showing the church in its original location on the north side of Concord Avenue, with the railroad tracks at street level. Howe was a long-time Belmont resident, and remains an active member of First Church. The Belmont Historical Society hosted Howe’s talk last November.

Bicyclist Rides the Henry Knox Trail

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Historic Preservation, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

By David Webster When I lowered my bicycle on the grassy bank of the Sudbury River in Wayland and stared at the granite marker and historic broken Stone Bridge, time froze. The marker identified this place as being on the Knox Trail. I imagined steam rising from sweaty horses and oxen and then evaporating into the frigid winter air as the straining animals pulled their heavy loads of captured cannons across the bridge towards Boston. This winter marks the 250th anniversary of an extraordinary Revolutionary War event that was pivotal in forcing the British evacuation of Boston in 1776. During [READ MORE]

Profile in Belmont: Ken Stalberg

January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

By Elissa Ely Few of us recognize our path in this spinning world until long past childhood. It’s usually vague, convoluted, unclearly marked. If we’re lucky, we don’t wander down too many side streets leading nowhere (or worse, to unhappiness). For some, the wandering never ends. Ken Stalberg, former “Mailing Maestro” for the BCF Newsletter, principal violist with the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Boston Classical Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, as well as a violinist with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, took a straight path from a young age. His mother was an amateur pianist (“and a very good [READ MORE]

Beth Lambert: Restoring Rivers and Wetlands

Environment, January/February 2026, Water Quality Comments Off

Dec 172025

Beth Lambert: Restoring Rivers and Wetlands

By Jeffrey North This article is part of the Belmont Citizens Forum’s series on environmental leadership in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), part of the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), works to restore and protect rivers, wetlands, and watersheds across the commonwealth. From removing aging dams to revitalizing salt marshes and wetlands, DER supports projects that strengthen ecosystems, improve climate resilience, and reconnect communities to nature. The Belmont Citizens Forum spoke with Beth Lambert, director of DER, about the division’s statewide restoration priorities and her vision for the future. Jeffrey North conducted the interview. BCF What [READ MORE]

Why Recycling Stagnates

Environment, January/February 2026, Recycling Comments Off

Dec 172025

Belmont’s options for dealing with waste woes By Jeffrey North Dr. Jonathan S. Krones, associate professor of engineering at Brandeis University, gave a virtual presentation titled “Garbage 101: How the waste system actually works, and what we can do to achieve a more circular economy” sponsored by the Belmont Public Library last November. The talk offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at how waste and recycling systems actually function in Massachusetts and around the country. It also delivered a clarifying message to communities like Belmont: our recycling system is struggling not because residents are necessarily doing it wrong, but because the [READ MORE]

OPINION: Treat Invasive Plant Removal as a System

Environment, January/February 2026, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Dec 172025

OPINION: Treat Invasive Plant Removal as a System

By Jeffrey North Belmont’s conservation lands—Rock Meadow, Lone Tree Hill, Habitat, and our many wooded edges and wetland buffers—face a quiet but relentless challenge. Aggressive invasive plants threaten the fundamental health and richness of our local native plant communities, and consequently the fauna that rely on them for food and shelter. Invasive species such as glossy buckthorn, bittersweet, knotweed, and tree of heaven do not care about property boundaries or budget cycles. Yet our response to this threat is fragmented: volunteers clear a patch, a contractor mows a section, a grant funds a pilot project. Then, when the effort cannot [READ MORE]

How Rail Trails Can Serve Public Housing

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 172025

How Rail Trails Can Serve Public Housing

Drake Village, Arlington, and Lessons from Across the Northeast By Jeffrey North & Vincent Stanton, Jr. Development of the Belmont Community Path is proceeding in two phases. Phase I is close to the 100% design threshold. Planning for Phase 2, which will run from the Clark Street Bridge to the Waltham border, started in late 2022 when the town hired Pare Corporation and Toole Design. The Pare team studied the route options during winter and spring 2023 and recommended a final route to the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC) in May 2023 (see “Belmont Community Path Route Take Shape, BCF [READ MORE]

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