Committee Recommends Six CPA Projects

By Peg Velie

This year the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) is recommending six projects to Town Meeting for funding, totaling $1,518,087. If approved, these projects will be funded via the Community Preservation Act (CPA). The CPA is a 2001 Massachusetts law that allows towns to establish a local fund dedicated solely to open space (including outdoor recreation), historic preservation, and affordable housing. Belmont adopted the CPA in November 2010.

May’s Town Meeting will be Belmont’s sixth for appropriating funds to CPA projects. In the last five years, Town Meeting has appropriated more than $6 million for 33 projects, including the following improvements:

• the Underwood Pool rehabilitation;
• tennis court rehabilitations at Pequossette Park, Winn Brook, and Grove Street;
• interior and exterior electrical upgrades at Belmont Village; and
• the restoration of the Wellington Station roof.

This year we received six applications, and all six are being recommended to Town Meeting.

Open Space/Outdoor Recreation Music Bandstand at Payson Park

The Payson Park Music Festival is requesting $5,000 for architectural drawings for a bandstand at Payson Park. The Festival, which is in its 27th year, presents 15–16 outdoor concerts each summer. A bandstand would cover the existing concrete slab and protect musicians and their instruments from unanticipated inclement weather.

Town Field Playground Restoration

The Friends of Town Field Playground are requesting $180,000 to remove the existing 20-year-old playground equipment and replace it. Three sides of the fence surrounding the playground will be upgraded as well. The area to be rehabilitated is limited to the playground and does not include the basketball court, the tennis/ pickleball court, the soccer field, or the baseball field.

Construction of Grove Street Park Intergenerational Walking Path

The Friends of Grove Street Park are requesting $780,087 to build an intergenerational walking path at Grove Street Park, with landscaping and seating. The plan includes two 55-foot batting cages to be installed in a graded, recessed knoll. Last year, Town Meeting approved $35,000 in CPA funds to design the path. Construction will follow the design plan developed under that grant.

The walking path is one element in the overall Master Plan for Grove Street Park. The Master Plan was commissioned by the town in 2015. The Friends of Grove Street Park was formed shortly afterward, to identify which improvements in the plan would serve the most residents. The neighborhood supported an ADA-compliant intergenerational walking path. This project will address deteriorated entrances to the park and the loss of trees and shrubs, will increase mobility inside the park, and add seating areas and benches.

Historic Resources McLean Barn Stabilization

Three co-sponsors—the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill, the Historic District Commission, and the Office of Community Development—are jointly requesting $200,000 to stabilize the deteriorating barn. The work will protect the barn from weather, animals, and vandals, and will arrest further deterioration. A conditions assessment and stabilization study is currently underway that will define the final scope of work. If the project is approved by Town Meeting, stabilization work can begin immediately.

The McLean Barn was constructed circa 1915. It was used as part of the McLean Farm, and sits on a 4.6-acre site directly south of Rock Meadow on Mill Street. It is one of the few remaining barns in Belmont in a semi-rural setting. The exterior is clad in brick with cast stone (concrete masonry) sills and lintels. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the McLean Hospital National Register District. (For further background on the McLean Farm, see the May 2001 issue of the BCF Newsletter at belmontcitizensforum.org.)

The barn was transferred to the town in 2005 with the condition that the town rehabilitate and reuse it and take reasonable steps to protect it from serious deterioration prior to reuse. The condition of the barn has deteriorated and it is in dire need of stabilization. This project is a first step toward a future plan for the building, ensuring that the barn is adequately preserved and protected while the long-term process is underway.

The barn is controlled by the Land Management Committee, some of whose members are appointed by the town. It is also protected by a conservation restriction held by the nonprofit Trustees of Reservations, and by a preservation agreement that specifies that the Historic District Commission reviews proposed projects on historic resources in this district, the McLean Hospital National Register District.

With a successful CPA-funded stabilization, the Land Management Committee will begin to lead a community conversation to determine the best uses for the barn.

Belmont Veterans Memorial

The Belmont Veterans Memorial Committee is requesting $103,000 to restore the historic Belmont Veterans Memorial at Clay Pit Pond and its entrance and path. Additional enhancement work will be done with the total cost of the project estimated to be $380,000. The memorial was dedicated in 1940 to all Belmont veterans from all the nation’s wars and was a gift to the town from the American Legion.

Community Housing Funds Set Aside for Housing Trust

The Belmont Housing Trust, a public nonprofit, was created by Belmont to help provide affordable housing for people with low, moderate, and middle-level incomes. The Housing Trust is requesting $250,000 be set aside for its work. Possible uses include the following:

• housing pre-development due diligence (including site surveys, phase I environmental work, and title searches);
• buy-down programs to buy long-term deed restrictions;
• subsidizing the construction costs of new housing production;
• purchasing land for affordable housing; and
• working with developers to build deedrestricted affordable homes in developments proposed in Belmont.

In February and March, the selectmen, the Capital Budget Committee, and the Warrant Committee will review the projects. In April, just prior to Town Meeting, the project sponsors will answer questions from the public at the joint League of Women Voters/Warrant Committee meeting.

Peg Velie is chair of Belmont’s Community Preservation Committee.