Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont Center Parking: It’s Complicated

Newsletter, November 2015, Parking Comments Off

Nov 062015

Belmont Center Parking: It’s Complicated

By Evanthia Malliris It’s a common sight in Belmont Center, cars poking along Leonard Street, seeking that sweet reward, an open parking spot! A quick dash to the dry cleaners, pick up a coffee, and you’re on your way—and not even late for work. But what if you can’t find that space? Maybe you’ll circle the block a few times, and if you’re not lucky, just head home. You’ll do the errand another time. But why not just park in the large municipal lot behind the Leonard Street businesses, or on a residential side street? After all, it’s just a [READ MORE]

Should Waverley Station Close?

Newsletter, November 2015, Transit Comments Off

Nov 062015

MBTA to hold November 16 Session on consolidating Waverley, Center stations By Sue Bass Should Belmont continue to have two commuter rail stations that people can walk to? Or is it better to have just one station with a parking garage that people can drive to? That’s not officially the topic of the MBTA commuter rail presentation on November 16, but it’s the question hovering over the event. Formally, the meeting is about the T’s need to spend $15 million or more on a station that serves only 117 daily riders—or to close the station entirely. This issue arises because, [READ MORE]

Bike Paths Open In Somerville, Cambridge

Bike Paths, Newsletter, November 2015 Comments Off

Sep 162015

Bike Paths Open In Somerville, Cambridge

By Meg Muckenhoupt Two new bicycle paths opened in Somerville and Cambridge this summer: an extension of the Somerville Community Path from Cedar Street to Lowell Street; and a path through Flagstaff park in Harvard Square for bicyclists heading north on Massachusetts Avenue. At the ribbon-cutting for the Somerville Community Path on August 18, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone made remarks recorded by the Friends of the Community Path: “Somerville as a community has a certain set of values that we believe in and we planned and envisioned the future together based on those values .. and an important part of [READ MORE]

Belmont Center Bridge Clean At Last

Historic Preservation, Newsletter, November 2015 Comments Off

Sep 162015

By Grant Monahon After many years and the efforts of many residents and businesses, Belmont’s 100 year old granite bridge has been cleaned. The project, initiated by Angelo Firenze when he was a selectman, has been undertaken without public funds. The cleaning was commplished with a combination of town-wide professional support and generous donations to the Belmont Citizens Forum from many residents and businesses, including the Belmont Center Business Association, The Belmont Savings Bank Foundation, and the Flett Co. The hard work of actually removing the dirt and grime has been possible through the perseverance and energy of Dante Muzzioli, [READ MORE]

Make a Garden in Your Sidewalk “Hell Strip”

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 162015

Make a Garden in Your Sidewalk "Hell Strip"

By Kate Bowen Hell strip. There. I wrote it, but I didn’t coin the phrase. That credit is given to Lauren Springer Ogden, a renowned gardener, who came up with the term “hell strip.” You know exactly what I am talking about: that evil zone between you and the road. It might be paved; it might have some weeds; it might have some tidy grass; or it might be bursting with life—a microcosm of annuals, perennials, and wildlife. Many Belmont streets have paved shoulders. The town does not formally encourage restoring paved hell strips, and open shoulders are often paved [READ MORE]

Winn’s Brook Gets “F” Grade for Health

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 162015

People who visit the Mystic River and its tributaries have a new, more precise way to find out how healthy the water is near them. Last summer, the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) worked with the Environmental Protection Agence (EPA) to create a new location-based “report card” for the Mystic River. The grades are based on bacteria counts. The state has maximum allowable bacteria counts for swimming and boating. High bacteria counts result from illicit sewer discharges to storm drain systems and urban stormwater runoff. A higher grade indicates that the waterway complies with state standards; a lower grade means [READ MORE]

How to Measure Belmont’s Stormwater

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 162015

By Sumner Brown Stormwater can be troublesome. Those drops of water add up, causing floods, overflowing sewers, and reduced water quality. Belmont is striving to remedy its stormwater problems, and we need to monitor the effects and measure the results. Water Flow in Alewife Brook Rain falls on the ground and finds its way into streams. We can measure the overflow from rainstorms by placing flow gauges where major streams leave Belmont, So far Belmont has only one such stream flow gauge, in Alewife Brook. The gauge is operated by the US Geologic Survey. It is shared with Arlington, Somerville [READ MORE]

EPA Proposes Expanded Stormwater Permit

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 162015

by Nancy Hammett Belmont, like other urban communities throughout the country, must obtain a “permit” under the Federal Clean Water Act in order to discharge water from its storm drains into local streams and ponds. This permit (the “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” or “MS4” permit) imposes a number of responsibilities on the town. These requirements have been in effect in Massachusetts since 2003 and a new version of the permit is in the offing. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expects to issue the new regulations by the end of this year, and they will take effect six months [READ MORE]

Homeowners Can Reduce Yard Runoff

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 162015

By Fred and Anne Paulsen We have lived for a long time with a cracked concrete driveway complete with weeds growing through the cracks. To the rear of our house, the driveway widens to include a large impervious parking area. As part of the Stormwater Working Group’s (SWG) efforts to reduce the pollution of runoff from streets and parking lots, all townspeople are urged to allow much of their rainwater and snow melt to infiltrate into the ground. Frank Frazier, a SWG member, wrote a handout for the Belmont Building Department with instructions for porous repaving and relevant web sites. [READ MORE]

Stormwater Forum Details Flooding, Pollution

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 142015

Stormwater Forum Details Flooding, Pollution

By Sumner Brown In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft of stormwater regulations which would impose new and difficult requirements on towns. They are stringent enough that I wonder if any town with a development history similar to Belmont’s could meet them On September 10, The Belmont Citizens Forum hosted a stormwater forum titled “Water Trouble” featuring panelists familiar with the proposed regulations. They were Ralph Jones, managing director of Cadmus consultants; Wayne Chouinard, Arlington town engineer, and Matthew Shuman, Watertown town engineer; Julie Dyer Wood, director of projects at the Charles River Watershed Association; Patrick Herron, deputy [READ MORE]

10 Ways You Can Reduce Stormwater Pollution

Newsletter, November 2015, Stormwater Comments Off

Sep 102015

The Mystic River Watershed Association suggests these 10 simple things that you can do to help reduce water pollution in your municipality: 1. Don’t litter: litter ends up in sewers, or in rivers and streams. 2. Practice organic lawn care: minimize the use of fertilizers and pesticides, especially where run-off may occur. 3. Conserve water: excess water in the sewage system can lead to sewage overflows into our waterways. 4. Always pick up pet waste, especially along riverbanks. Pet waste contains harmful bacteria that contaminate the rivers. 5. Use rain barrels to capture rainfall to use on your lawn or garden. 6. Never dump [READ MORE]

Heustis Farm Grew on Uplands Site

Historic Preservation, July 2015, Newsletter Comments Off

Jul 152015

By Anne-Marie Lambert This article is the second in a series of articles about the history of the Belmont Uplands. For Part 1, see “Uplands Area Transformed Over Centuries” in the September/October 2014 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter. We don’t know how exactly how Warren Heustis of Putney, Vermont met Lucy Ann Hill of West Cambridge (now Belmont). We do know they married in 1845, and that Warren brought farming skills to Belmont that would turn “useless swamp land” into one of the best performing farms in Belmont, the Heustis Farm. This is their story. Today it is hard to imagine [READ MORE]

Town Meeting Votes $100K for Path Study

Bike Paths, July 2015, Newsletter Comments Off

Jul 102015

By Meg Muckenhoupt On June 3, Belmont Town Meeting approved $100,000 for a feasibility study for a Community Path, a shared-use path for walkers, joggers, bicyclists, in-line skaters, and other non-motorized travel. According to Russell Leino, chair of the Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee (CPIAC), it will work on a request for proposals over the summer and expects to engage a design/engineering firm to carry out the study this fall. The results should be available in spring 2016. “Once the feasibility study is in hand, the next step is to make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen based on that,” [READ MORE]

What is the Future of McLean’s Open Land?

Historic Preservation, July 2015, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jul 102015

What is the Future of McLean’s Open Land?

By Sue Bass Piece by piece, the remaining open land in Belmont is being protected—or developed. The Belmont Uplands were bulldozed. The town’s last farm has been saved, protected by Lydia Ogilby and her family with an agricultural restriction. A dozen houses are filling what used to be two six-acre estates off Concord Avenue on Belmont Hill. But nearby open space is covered by conservation restrictions, thanks to descendants of the Claflin-Atkins family that once farmed the land, particularly the late Anne Allen. The fate of two major open areas remains undetermined. Officers of the Belmont Country Club insist that [READ MORE]

Mugar Site Plans May Mean More Flooding

July 2015, Newsletter, Open Space, Stormwater Comments Off

May 122015

Along the north side of Route 2 in East Arlington lie seventeen acres of wetlands almost entirely in the 100-year floodplain. Despite its potential for flooding, this parcel has been the subject of various development proposals over the years. Recently Oaktree Development of Cambridge showed Arlington town officials a preliminary sketch of a proposed 219-unit housing development on the parcel owned by the Mugar family and adjacent to the Alewife Reservation. The Oaktree developer intends to invoke the state Chapter 40B statute to circumvent certain local permitting processes and bylaws by including a certain percentage of affordable housing in the [READ MORE]

Porous Pavement Can Drain Sloped Sites

May 2015, Newsletter, Stormwater Comments Off

May 122015

by Kristopher Houle, P.E. A longer version of this article, including several references, originally appeared on the Ecological Landscape Alliance’s blog. Many green infrastructure alternatives exist for reducing stormwater runoff. Porous asphalt is one that has clear benefits. In New England, porous asphalt has been used successfully in sidewalks, parking lots, subdivision roads, and highways. Research has demonstrated its function for stormwater attenuation, recharging local waterways, runoff treatment, and chloride source control. As an engineer and practitioner, I commonly see projects that would benefit from its use, but porous asphalt has been excluded from the final design for reasons relating [READ MORE]

Path Neighbors Can Choose Trees For Privacy

Bike Paths, May 2015, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

May 122015

Path Neighbors Can Choose Trees For Privacy

By Meg Muckenhoupt Community paths allow more people to travel without using cars—and a lot of people want to do just that. It is estimated that more than 2 million people walk, run, and bike the Minuteman Bikeway in Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford each year. Understandably, neighbors living in homes abutting new paths are often concerned about the effects of having so many visitors passing by their yards. Different communities have varying approaches to living with bike trails. Today, 22 years after the Minuteman Bikeway officially opened, about a quarter of properties abutting the Bikeway in Arlington have no [READ MORE]

Belmont Farmers’ Market Begins 10th Season June 11

May 2015, Newsletter Comments Off

May 122015

Belmont Farmers' Market Begins 10th Season June 11

The Belmont Farmers’ Market opens on Thursday, June 11, 2-6:30 pm, in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot, rain or shine. An all-volunteer organization celebrating its 10th year, the Market offers a variety of organic and conventionally produced food in a range of prices. Find everything you need for a healthful and satisfying dinner. Visit www.belmontfarmersmarket.org for vendors and updates. Food Assistance Programs Benefit the Community The Market accepts SNAP benefits (food stamps) and matches up to $25 for each SNAP shopper each week, thanks to generous donations to the Market. Benefits are processed quickly and easily at the blue [READ MORE]

What Will Our Future Commutes Look Like?

May 2015, Newsletter, Traffic Comments Off

May 122015

What Will Our Future Commutes Look Like?

By Meg Muckenhoupt Where will residents of Belmont and neighboring towns travel in 2030, and how will they get there? Last winter provoked massive debate about the MBTA’s failure to transport hundreds of thousands of commuters to jobs and schools. But in January, before the snows started, Waltham mayor Jeannette McCarthy raised some eyebrows by announcing that she supports building an elevated electric monorail to run from Burlington through Waltham to the Fitchburg/South Acton commuter rail and beyond to Westwood. Will our future hold decrepit, decaying subways and clogged roads, futuristic transport fit for Epcot Center, or some mix of [READ MORE]

Rogers Works to Keep Rivers Flowing

March 2015, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 122015

By Dave Rogers On November 4, 2014, at an event at Habitat here in Belmont, I was honored to receive a Rivers Friend Award from the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance. I received the award for my work supporting increased Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) funding and my successful efforts to protect the rollout of major changes to water supply rules in Massachusetts. Both of these issues are important for those of us concerned about careful environmental stewardship. Between 2008 and 2012, battered by the decline in state revenue caused by the global recession, funding for DEP was cut dramatically. Although [READ MORE]

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