Belmont – Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont Creates Clean-Energy Corridor

Climate Change, March/April 2026, Solar Power Comments Off

Feb 202026

Sustainable infrastructure has fiscal, environmental benefits By Peter Dizikes Belmont is entering a new era of local energy production. Today, renewable energy capacity is becoming a normal component of our public buildings and even the town’s vehicle fleet because clean energy offers both fiscal savings and environmental benefits. Consider the flurry of recent building activity on lower Concord Avenue. Over the past five years, the town opened the new Belmont Public Library, the Belmont Sports Complex, Home of the Skip Viglirolo Rink, and the Belmont Middle and High School, all heavily powered by renewable energy. Together, these structures are turning [READ MORE]

Profile in Belmont: Joe Arkinstall

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

By Elissa Ely You open the door of The Wellington Tavern and are seated. Soon after, a man comes by to welcome you. His accent is richly British and he is winningly attentive. You find him familiar. Once the beloved co-owner of Stone Hearth Pizza, Joe Arkinstall is the manager here, now. Unless it’s Sunday morning, he will almost always find you. Sunday mornings are for family church. “It keeps the soul nice and clean,” he says. Restaurant management is a profession of perpetual motion: overseeing front-of-the-house cleanliness and appearance; overseeing back-of-the-house payroll, inventory, staff schedules, supplies; meeting with the [READ MORE]

Moderator Candidates Answer BCF Questions

March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks candidates for town-wide office questions about issues facing Belmont. This year, Adam Dash and Mike Crowley are running for town moderator. BCF The moderator has broad authority over Town Meeting. How do you define the moderator’s core responsibilities in Belmont, and what principles would guide your exercise of that responsibility, particularly in contentious debates? Adam Dash I have the experience and skills to carry out the three main functions of the town moderator: (i) run large hybrid meetings, (ii) render legal rulings, and (iii) make committee appointments. I have done all three things [READ MORE]

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Board of Selectmen, March/April 2026 Comments Off

Feb 202026

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks candidates for town-wide office questions about issues facing Belmont. As of this publication Carol Berberian is the sole candidate running for Select Board. If another candidate emerges, see BelmontCitizensForum.org for their answers. BCF How do you propose to address Belmont’s structural fiscal challenges, and what specific budget or revenue strategies would you champion as a Select Board member? Berberian Belmont can build on the work of the Multi-Year Budget Advisory Committee to strengthen its financial future through realistic long-term planning and spending decisions that align with sustainable revenue. I will work to expand [READ MORE]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

Letter to the Editor: November/December 2025

November/December 2025, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Oct 312025

To the Editor: Love the publication of this article [“Where Does the Water Go?”, BCF Newsletter, September/October 2025], but there is an important correction to make: “It briefly enters Clay Pit Pond, then exits via a culvert beneath Concord Avenue, flowing into Wellington Brook.” should read: “It briefly enters Clay Pit Pond, then exits via a culvert beneath Brighton Street, flowing into Wellington Brook.” Basically Wellington Brook flows from the library to a culvert under Concord Avenue, and then into Clay Pit Pond. Water flows out of Clay Pit Pond into a culvert under Brighton Street into another part of [READ MORE]

Town Meeting OK’s Community Path Right of Way

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, November/December 2025, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Oct 312025

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. On October 22,Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to approve two warrant articles that clear the way for the town to assemble the right of way (ROW) for the community path. Article 5 authorizes the Select Board to acquire the land necessary for the community path. That land totals 265,805 square feet, and most of it is owned by public or nonprofit entities: 45.2% by the MBTA, 40.3% by the Belmont Citizens Forum, and 8.9% by the Town of Belmont. The Belmont Citizens Forum has communicated to the town its intent to donate the 107,172 square foot parcel [READ MORE]

Who Built the Homer House?

Construction and Housing, Historic Preservation, History, November/December 2025 Comments Off

Oct 312025

By John Beaty The William Flagg Homer House is a Belmont story with two mysteries. The first mystery is who was the architect who designed and built the Homer House. The second mystery is who William Flagg Homer was and how he provided the resources to acquire the land, hire an architect, and build this magnificent home. The Homer House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (1979) and has been a focal point in Belmont’s Pleasant Street Historic District. It is especially interesting because the artist Winslow Homer was Flagg Homer’s nephew and often visited during the [READ MORE]

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